French Immersion enrollment hits another all-time high: Report

VANCOUVER – The popularity of French Immersion programs in B.C. shows no signs of letting up.

A new report out today says French Immersion enrollment has hit another all-time high in this province, which is the 16th consecutive year of growth.

But with more and more parents signing their kids up for French Immersion, it becomes increasingly tough to get in.

This year a record 49,500 students signed up, which is almost nine per cent of the total public school population.

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At the same time, enrollment in core or regular French, is declining, although a third of all public school students still take core French.

But there’s a new program that’s popping up at a select few schools, which if expanded, might be able to accommodate everyone.

It’s called Intensive French.

“The Intensive French program is for Grade 6 and 7 students so all of our Grade 6 students go into Intensive French and for the first half of the year they learn French language,” said Debra Nothstein, principal of Sir John Franklin Elementary School. “So reading, writing, listening, speaking.”

“It’s built on like a English kindergarten program, the same kinds of strategies used to learn English language in kindergarten, they use to learn French language at Grade 6.”