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Education Minister Kelly Lamrock wishes to thank all those who took time to submit comments.

Please note that we will only post submissions from people who have given us explicit consent to do so. We will not post the following:

Submissions received on-line that indicate "Not public" on the web form
Submissions sent direct by email, letter or fax which do not explicitly ask us to post their comments or which divulge personal information about third parties (in order to comply with the Protection of Personal Information Act)
Submissions that contain statements considered to be defamatory, libelous, hateful, or of a commercial nature.
Duplicate submissions

Please also note that because each submission must be reviewed in the context of the above, there will normally be a time lag of between 2-3 days between receiving a submission and posting it on the website.

As of 4:30 p.m. Friday, July 25, 2008, the French Second Language consultation has concluded. Any comments received after that time will not be posted, but will be brought to the Minister's attention.

Improving French Second Language Programming Within a Quality Education System(pdf)

Comments appear in the language received.

Kelly Lamrock - Politician or Statesman?
There have been various comments on radio and in the press attacking Kelly Lamrock, and warning that his actions as Minister of Education will negatively affect his chances for re-election. There have been calls for him to resign and even suggestions that the Premier should fire him from his current position. Such attacks are merely attempts to coerce the government into acquiescing to one viewpoint. Surely, no one truly thinks that Kelly Lamrock has opened up the issue of French second language education in NB believing it would make him or his government popular.

The Minister knows that early French immersion is very effective for some. He also knows that the early French immersion system is not accessible to all, and that a very significant result of this system has been institutionalized segregation. Further, he has a number of significant reports and studies showing that the educational system in NB has been failing to produce an adequate number of graduates with essential literacy skills. Over the past generation, this has translated into an unacceptable outcome for the majority of our children, for the general population, and for the economy of the province.

In his capacity as Minister of Education, Kelly Lamrock is working for the greatest public good, and showing leadership in seeking to address problems with an educational system that has been failing the majority of anglophone students. As well, he is seeking to enhance the learning of French as a second language for all anglophone students. Clearly, these changes involve making decisions which are not popular with a highly vocal minority. That he has not given up on this vision under the present trying circumstances, speaks well for his integrity.

There is a considerable difference between a statesman and a politician. Kelly Lamrock's actions demonstrate statesmanship, and can not be seen as the actions of a politician seeking short-term political gain. He deserves our support.

I believe that changes are necessary to our education system, but I do not believe that removing early immersion is the key. As a middle school educator, I find that the students in early immersion have stronger language skills in English than those that have been in the English program all along. I think that all parents deserve the choice of whether to put their child in English or French in grade 1. I believe that it is the core French program that should be removed. I believe this is a waste of time. This time could be used for improving the language or math skills of the students instead of learning the same vocabulary over and over. This 30 minute period everyday could be used to teach and enforce the Write Traits or reading in their own language.
I also don't think that streaming is a bad idea. Streaming student can give some students the level of attention that they need to succeed at the appropriate level, rather than just being pushed onto the next grade without achieving the necessary outcomes. It also gives the students that are more advanced more opportunity to do enrichment projects.

I am a mother to 2 daughters. One who has just completed grade 1 in the EFI program, the other who is 4 and therefore not in school yet.

It was a difficult decision for me to put my eldest in the EFI program because i was concerned that she would not learn english first and as our 1st offical language i felt that most important. When i did finally decide to put her in EFI i did so knowing that it would be up to me as a parent to make sure that her english didn't fall behind. Now i won't get into everything we do at home because that's not the point of this. What i do want to stress is that my place of work is run by a french speaking fmaily and I do not speak french. My 6 year old daughter can fully partake in a french converstaion with that family! She is 6! I have no regrets of putting her in the EFI program and i am saddened that my other daughter will not get the same opportunity.

I just don't see how you can force a child at the age of 10 and 11 to do something they don't want to do and have it be successful. In grade 1 it's fun to sign songs and to talk to your friends in french even outside the classroom. In grade 5 and 6 it just won't be.

If this new program doesn't work, how do I explain to my youngest daughter that she doesn't get the opportunity for the same jobs that he older sister does simply because the governement didn't allow her the opportunity to learn French in our bilignual province. Tell me that!

It seems ironic being the only bilingual province that we are cutting the French Immersion program. Have to taken a look at the job postings lately. My goodness even the young boy at Sobey's now has to know how to speak French. You are talking about more enrichment and Gym programs, who will do this and if you had the money to enhance these programs why was it not been used before now. And if you are so concened about the fact that Children are not grasping the concepts taught in English and Mathematics then why are we pushing these kids through with social promotion. I think other issues need to be addressed before you take away the only hope these kids have of being able to remain a resident of NB and feel they have to go elsewhere for better paying jobs because they do not speak French.

As a seasoned early years teacher, I have witnessed the rampant streaming - most parents of high performing students consistently choose to put their six year olds in Early Immersion, while students who struggle with literacy in their first language for one reason or another typically enter English. Learning to read and write, and learning to speak, are two very different skill sets. Literacy is more readily acquired in a language the learner already speaks than in a language he does not know. It does not make pedagogical sense to encourage struggling learners to learn to read and write in a second language first; not for the sake of balancing out classes. But even if we did convince the parents of struggling learners they should put their child into the EFI program (with resources), it still wouldn't create heterogeneous classes. How would we convince the parents of "Strong Performance" who now are choosing Immersion to put their children in English? There is no way to fix this streaming problem without eliminating our dual-track system.

Developing second language oral opportunities can be delivered in many ways. From Kindergarten years onward, children could be learning to speak French in courses such as Art, Music, Phys Ed, You and Your World, Core French, Buddy programs, etc. With the possiblity of lengthening the school day by an hour for K-2 students during this round of teacher negotiations, we would be able to provide many new enrichment opportunities for ALL children - working, playing and learning together.

There is no place for optional programming in public elementary schools - not in grade K,1,2,3,4 or 5. New Brunswick can lead the way, but this can only be achieved if we restore equality and fairness in our classrooms.

Please proceed with your recommendations. It is a corner stone for equal opportunity. All citizens of our great province should have access to both language skills.
Recently we were in a foreign country where the local population could speak Arabic, French and English. We were on a 12 day safari with a group from various parts of the world.
There was a couple from a small town in Quebec who could speak as little English as we could speak French. Thankfully there was a couple from the Netherlands who could help both couples. The locals could not understand how people from the same country could not communicate.
I have become much more determined to make sure our children can comunicate with each other.
Perhaps seniors should have access to a modified version of the grade five program.

I feel that is in the best interest for students to have the opportunity to enrole in Early French Immersion starting at Grade 1. In addition to this French Second Language should commence in Grade 1.

As a former teacher, principal, and district supervisor, I've witnessed - and lamented - the inequality caused by French Immersion in the class size and composition of the non-FI classes, as well as its deplorable streaming effect. I support the Minister's decision to do away with it. Furthermore, the argument re. 'choice' in education is a red herring. We entrust schools and teachers to make the best choices for students in curriculum and delivery. Choice doesn't come into it in mathematics or language arts or social studies or music ... or French. It has nothing to do with the NB courts or the NB Ombudsman, and I'm sad to see their entirely inappropriate involvement.

I am a french student in sussex middle school. I chose to be in french because I knew it would help me in my crear choise so i think it should be open to everone in 1 to 12. They have the right.

i am a french student and we should keep french emmersion because you will play games that help you learn french and other activities

I am a french emmersion student and i think the french program is great.It allows you to learn a new language. I think kids should be able to go in french if they want.

I think you should keep the french program because it gives kids a chance to get a better job in the future.

i chose french immersian because i like learning new languages and things. I know that french immersian will help me in the future with jobs and communication. i think they should give kids a choice on starting french immersian in grade 1 or 6.So they should keep it.

I am a Frnch Emersion student and i think kids should be able to go in french wenever they want because bilingual people get a better pay per hour.

Mr. Kelly Lamrock;
I am writing in hopes that you will reconsider your decision to eliminate the Early French Immersion program in New Brunswick.
I am a graduate of the EFI program, and I will forever be grateful that I was able to be learn French at an early age. I am currently a studying Education outside the province and everything that I've learned thus far indicates that children a learn second language easier and better if exposed at an early age. Children lose the ability to learn another language as they get older, they lose the ability to pronounce sounds of another language properly. Delaying French instruction until grade 5 will reduce children's ability to become fully bilingual.
The key to making EFI more acessibile to all studens is making the resources available to help those who may need it. The current trend is to switch to English if a child is having dificulty in EFI, instead of working with that child to make learning French fun. There are many ways proposed by second language experts to improve EFI in New Bruswick I ask you, as Minister of Education, to please read these proposals seriously and work with second language experts to develop a plan for EFI that all students can take advantage of. Eliminating EFI and lowering the standards for French will not produce bilingual graduates. I sincerely hope you take this process seriously as the future of New Brunswick's children rests in your decision. Please listen to the people of New Brunswick and take their concerns to heart.
Regards,
Mr. Kelly Lamrock; I am writing in hopes that you will reconsider your decision to eliminate the Early French Immersion program in New Brunswick. I am a graduate of the EFI program, and I will forever be grateful that I was able to be learn French at an early age. I am currently a studying Education outside the province and everything that I've learned thus far indicates that children a learn second language easier and better if exposed at an early age. Children lose the ability to learn another language as they get older, they lose the ability to pronounce sounds of another language properly. Delaying French instruction until grade 5 will reduce children's ability to become fully bilingual. The key to making EFI more acessibile to all studens is making the resources available to help those who may need it. The current trend is to switch to English if a child is having dificulty in EFI, instead of working with that child to make learning French fun. There are many ways proposed by second language experts to improve EFI in New Bruswick I ask you, as Minister of Education, to please read these proposals seriously and work with second language experts to develop a plan for EFI that all students can take advantage of. Eliminating EFI and lowering the standards for French will not produce bilingual graduates. I sincerely hope you take this process seriously as the future of New Brunswick's children rests in your decision. Please listen to the people of New Brunswick and take their concerns to heart.

I feel strongly that early french immersion is wrong. Our children need to develop basic reading, writing, spelling, and math skills in the elementary grades. If they do not have these basics, they will struggle and possibly fail in the middle and high school grades. I believe early french immersion is one of the reasons our test scores are so low in New Brunswick. I know many students who entered late french immersion, are fluently bilingual and excelled in high school. I also know of children who started grade 1 in early french immersion, lacked basic reading skills in either language, struggled, transferred to the english program and required extensive tutoring to catch up to the grade level. From both a financial and educational perspective, New Brunswick cannot afford the early french immerson program.

Thank you.

Mr. Lamrock

I would have to agree with your decision in regards to the EFI. In just about every other country in the world where another language is taught, this would be a high percentage one assumes, the intoduction of the second language is not done until the 5th grade. These school systems concentrate on their primary language and then the second language, which is generally English.

I think we in New Brunswick need to do the same and concentrate on having our kids in the english districts, get a good grasp on english before beginning their education in french. There are too many students throughout this province who struggle greatly in reading and writing in english and one would assume that they are also stuggling in french.

I would support your changes 100%.

I am a retired primary teacher and administrator who worked in NB schools from the beginning of the implementation of French Immersion in this province. From the beginning it was obvious there were many probems. I saw children in immersion who struggled and then were put back into English only to struggle again as they were now behind. Teachers struggled as well! We soon had a real streaming problem as the better students gravitated to the immersion classes. With the coming of integration the problems got worse. The make-up of classes for many teachers left them in an almost impossible situation.
AS I watched the situation over the years, it seemed to me that the sensible thing to do would be to educate young children in their own language first. If there were problems, fix them at this time.Then introduce immersion in grade four to eveyone who wanted it. In the meantime, a good core French program would introduce children to the French language.
I don't agree with cutting the core program for those children in grades one to four. It was a good introduction to French and, taught by an enthusiastic teacher, made French fun, appealing and interesting for the children.
I am glad that someone finally had the courage to address the problems that immersion has caused even though I may not agree in full with what he has replaced it with! I think it might be wise to re-think the plan and introduce immersion a year earlier and re-instate core French in the early years. It isn't always I would feel confident that my opinion is the right one but I do in this case, having taught very young children for thirty years and having been an administrator in schools where immersion was implemented.
I hope some compromise may be reached which will please more parents and be the right thing for ALL the children in NB schools.

I believe the system we have in NB for EFI presently seems flawed. I also believe that children learn more at a younger age. With EFI being taken out of schools when children are most willing to learn the "new plan" seems flawed as well.

I also thought that the courts ruled that EFI was back in place for the 2008/09 school year. That is what I read in the Judge's decission.

Minister Lamrock, should we not work on a plan that actually fixes the problems with the old system before you impliment a new flawed system for EFI??

6 weeks of discussion in late June & July... nice try... but the next generation of children in New Brunswick should have a little more time than that?? Nes pas??

I just read Bernard Richard's report and this is what I have to say about that:

Bernard Richard is a francophone (and a Conservative, isn't he???). Does he have children??? Were his children enrolled in early English immersion??? NO - it doesn't even exist!!! Francophones can school their children in their mother tongue without dealing with streaming. Why can't Anglophones??? Did you ever notice that many of the letters to the editor and other complaints are being made by francophones??? If you took all their complaints out of the equation, the numbers would be very different.

Mr. Lamrock - I once again urge you to not back down.

To start intensive French in grade 5 seems a little late. Has the government thought about starting it earlier? Grade 3 perhaps?

I'm afraid the elimination of EFI won't stop the streaming, it will only be delayed and in effect magnified as all the "failures" drop out in grade six.

I like the idea of improving skills in the early grades and the equality of the process. However, it is well known that a second language is much easier learned at an early age, because of neuroplasticity.

Has any consideration been given to a 50/50 split of English/French be started from grade one? And make it the same for all. The more core subjects in the person's language and the lesser in the second.

I agree with Minister Lamrock's decision to restructure the FSL programming for, mainly, two reasons. (1) EFI is not capturing the majority of students (2) Because of number 1 it is putting a financial strain on English instruction that is having devastating effects on the preservation of the English language.

I do have two concerns with the minister's proposal. (1) When the fist class of grade 5 students enter the IF program without the benefit of an introduction to french in grades 1-4 they could face a major set back when they are faced with french only instruction with no introduction to the language. This will not become evident for a few years as the students participating in IF for the last few years have had the benefit of an introduction to the language. I would hope this would be an issue Minister Lamrock would put back on the table and reconsider. (2) Making grade 5 Intensive French mandatory for all students could very well turn out to be a winnable case for the violation of the Charter of Rights and the NB Education Act for parents who may wish to demand their right to English instruction. An alternative should be provided.

First and foremost I do not feel that the minister and this government has any intention to listen to the people of New Brunswick on this or any other matter that they intend to put foward from thier agenda. This invitation to public consultation has come on the heels of a court decision and not because our government chooses to listen or really wants our input.

New Brunswick has one of the lowest literacy rates in North America and I have not heard any mention of pulic meetings with the minister for people to voice their opinion, but we have been asked via print adds and mailings to go online or write letters to voice our concerns. This method of public consultation will exclude a large precentage of our population based on their ability to read and write.

For many years now New Brunswick has been seen as a world leader in offering its children the opportunity to learn french as a second language in the their early years, where most reliable research indicates that it is most effective. As a parent who has had children in both the english program and the early immersion program I understand the concerns around steaming in the english program as well as the benifits of EFI. I do not believe that doing away with a successful early immersion program is the answer to the steaming problem and I firmly believe that the proposed program will result in a huge decrease in the number of children who enter the french program after grade 5. When those children with learning difficulty reach grade 5 they will suffer from the need to now add a second language to their challenges and those who were not stuggling in school will now be faced with new learning challenges that they are not prepared for. Those new challeges may lead these children and their families to opt out of continuing in the french steam. Perhaps if we were to focus on giving teachers more help in the classroom and/or decreasing the size of the classes in the english program we would be able to lessen the effects of steaming.