Saint-Laurent

Vois grand

Noreau Sonia - TC Media

13 février 2013 à 10h54 2 minutes de lecture

You want your little bundle of joy to be bilingual? Several schools in Saint-Laurent offer immersion programs which might help your kid to reach his or her linguistic goals.

Children whose mother tongue is French and who wish to better master the English language can attend Morand-Nantel-Beauséjour School. The goal of this intensive linguistic program is to help children in the 6th grade to express themselves in English in everyday situations.

This program is targeting children who can barely express themselves in English. « The goal is to make them comfortable in another language, especially to be able to speak it, » said Mr. Nahas. In addition to a strong desire to learn, children must have good grades prior to their enrollment. In order to be accepted in the program, their records have to be assessed.

« There must be nothing in their grades suggesting they could fail. Afterword we have to measure their linguistics abilities. The students must be beginners and have acceptable behaviour,” summarized Mr. Nahas. They have to pass the same evaluations as any sixth graders in Québec; they learn the material in five months, instead of ten. « In this program students have a success rate of nearly 100%,” says Mr. Nahas.

The remaining five months are dedicated to the English language. The three classes of 24 students spend that time exclusively in English. They are expected to speak, write and read in English, during their classes.

Nous sommes bilingues

The English Montreal School Board recently launched an Internet Web site in French only: www.noussommesbilingues.ca. This web site is at the disposal of Francophone parents interested in enrolling their kids.

The Board is offering an immersion French program starting at kindergarten. The kids have 68% of their classes in French. Two other levels basic and bilingual are also available.

The English school system offer classes in French in High School as well. Teenagers study in French and in English. At the end of High School, they get a bilingualism certificate, says Nathalie Lacroix-Maillette, school director at the English Montreal Board School on the new website.

Several programs are available in high school and in elementary school. Students in those programs get 38% to 73% of their training in French.