Yellowknife (Dec 20/06) - Parents and students of William McDonald school new Intensive French class want their program to be continued next year.

The school started the class for students interested in improving their French in September.

Two of the students, Kirsten Knutson and Jordan Shortt petitioned Yk1 school board members to consider keeping the program next year.

The girls said that before Intensive French, they learned "nothing really" in their core French classes.

The Intensive French class has 10 students and class is conducted 80 per cent in French and 20 per cent in English.

Knutson and Shortt want to learn French well.

"You can get better jobs," said Shortt.

Shortt's father, Allan, said that when his daughter originally brought up the course he wasn't sure he wanted her to take it.

"She'd come home from a French camp," he said. "They found out (French) could be fun. She came home and she was bound and determined to try it."

But Allan Shortt, who said he never took any French himself, was worried his daughter's grades would suffer.

However he said he was glad to see his daughter get As in every class.

"Our biggest concern now is that when school finishes that they won't have the course any more," he said.

Sandra Benson's daughter is also in the class, and she's encouraging the school to keep the program going, or bring in a late French Immersion program. Benson said her daughter really wanted to take part in the course because "she wants to be a spy for CSIS (the Canadian Security Intelligence Service)," but she needs to be bilingual for that.

"They have to find a home for these kids to keep them motivated," she said.

Rachell Simmons, the Intensive French teacher at William McDonald, has previously taught Core French in Yellowknife.

"I'm more elated by how they are surprised at how proficient they are in the language," Simmons said.