by Ric Stryde
Northern News Services

NNSL (Aug 20/97) - French Immersion in Yellowknife has been a great success since it started in 1980.

Still as popular as it was then, the program, which is offered all the way to Grade 12, continues to grow today.

"French immersion is intended to help students develop a functional level of bilingualism," says Lilly Oldham, principal at William MacDonald School and supervisor of instruction (languages) for Yk education district No. 1.

Oldham says that a second language will help in seeking post-secondary studies, finding employment, and even understanding Canada's French-speaking people.

To be recognized as a bilingual institution, a school must have French immersion students learning more than 50 per cent of their education in French.

Sir John Franklin School has become the newest school in Yellowknife to offer French immersion education, Oldham is happy to announce. Students there can even learn math, science and physics in French now, she said.

With high school level French immersion schooling now available, a student in the Yellowknife public education school system can go from Grade 4 to Grade 12, and in the Catholic education system from kindergarten to grade 12, and then get a bilingual education certificate recognizing proficiency in Canada's two official languages.

There are about 235 French immersion students in Yk Education District No. 1. The Yellowknife's Catholic schools have about 270 students in French immersion.

Throughout Canada there is some debate on when is the best time to enter a child in bilingual education.

Some are now saying that it is better to start a child in kindergarten, but others maintain that it is better to make sure that a child has the basics in his or her own mother-tongue before they pursue another.

"Yellowknife is fortunate to have two French immersion programs, with two entry points," said Oldham. "For some children it is more effective to start in kindergarten, for some it is better to start in grade four.

She adds that you can't say if one program is better than the other. "It depends on the child's attitude, their interests and their aptitude for second language learning."

No matter what the level of entry though, having two languages is obviously better than one.