I can remember when I went to school there wasn't any other language but English taught at the primary level. One couldn't embark on a new language until they entered secondary school and the choices were pretty slim. We could study Latin or French. Parisian French (we were told). Unless one was going to be a priest or a pharmacist, Latin didn't do much for you at all. French was very basic. It was all about grammar and not conversation. Needless to say, the languages classes were not bulging at the seams!
How the times have changed. When my daughters were in school, there still wasn't "immersion", but they could take language classes. But they weren't offerred in the schools, they had to go to extra classes on the weekend at another school in the district. Both my girls jumped at the opportunity and were enroled in basic German and French. It didn't last long as winter was over and when the nice weather came (in Ontario), no kid wanted to be "in school" for half a day on a Saturday!
Now we jump to 2000 something. My granddaughter started elementary school and my daughter decided that she should be in French Immersion for all the reasons that we want our children to have as many tools as possible when they face the real world several years later. We all enjoyed listening to her little French accent as she would speak to us in French and thought how wonderful it was going to be for her when she finally ventured out into the land of careers!
Then she got to Grade 3. Multiplication Tables! Need I say more? She struggled so much that homework sessions were filled with angst and tears...for both my granddaughter and my daughter. To say they were both frustrated would be an under-statement. That summer, she came and stayed with me during the week and I promised to help her with her math so that when she went into Grade 4, she would be up to snuff. I got all the exercise books I could and we would sit at the dining room table and agonize over the problems and exercises. Her cousin, visiting from the States and a year behind her, was going through these exercises with no problem at all. This only added to Ems' frustration and led to stomping down the hall and flopping on the bed in tears. It was horrible! And it didn't have to happen. So...why did it, you may ask?
Well, after long discussions with a PhD in Math and Physics, I began to understand that Math is a language in its own. Have you ever tried to read calculus or algebra equations? Unless you understand the "language", you can't do it! So, here we have a child whose first language is English, in a French immersion class, speaking and learning her second language trying to understand yet another language...math! It was so difficult for her to do. I spoke to several parents facing the same dilemna with their children in French Immersion. When it got to the math, they all started to have problems and the whole concept started to unravel. It made no sense to me!
I spoke to a teacher who was quite adamant that French Immersion be JUST THAT! No English whatsoever. Everything has to be in French. When I asked her why math couldn't be taught in the child's first language I was met with a strange look! My way of thinking is that the teacher's job is to teach the subject to the child and to do the job right. They have to make the child "get it". And if they can't, they had better figure out how to accomplish this. Whether it means discussing with the parent and working together to find a way or longer sessions after school with the child until they grasped the concept. But that wasn't happening. The parent was told that Em's was having difficulty and that she had better do something about it! They offered summer school to her...just what every 8 year old wants to do! The problem was that because everything was being taught in French, including the numbers, that the child couldn't grasp it. All it would take is to teach it in English. It worked when we did it with her...but it wasn't good enough because she had to translate everything into French. I think you might be able to see how frustrating it was for everyone!
Well, Ems did finally grasp math and excelled at it and is now doing really well in school. She no longer has anxious moments or bouts of frustration that lead to tears and everyone in the family breathes a lot easier. We aren't afraid to ask her how math is anymore! So how did they finally solve the problem? She was taken out of French Immersion. That was the only way the school/teacher felt Ems could learn math! Is that right? I don't get it. She is losing her French as she no longer uses it. No one in the family speaks it enough to have conversations with her. The friends she now has also do not speak French. She enjoyed the French classes until it got to the dreaded math. And because of that stumbling block, she had to "drop out". What did that teach an 8 year old? That if you can't get something and it proposes a great difficulty to you just drop-out. The teacher and the school should have persevered and worked with that child until she understood how to do the math.
As far as I'm concerned, Ems didn't drop-out...her school and her teacher did. I can tell you that she doesn't attend school in Delta. I would like to think that our French Immersion schools do not operate in the same fashion as Ems' does. French Immersion is an excellent way for our children to expand their education and open doors for them in the future. They are learning Canada's other National Language. That is wonderful. But they shouldn't be made to feel that it's only for people who grasp the concept of math in French as opposed to those that struggle. Maybe it's time for the program to be re-worked....
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