Christine Grimard
Northern News Services
Wednesday, January 24, 2007

YELLOWKNIFE - Students at William McDonald school eager to learn French will get some help as Yellowknife Education District No. 1 introduces late immersion next year.

"The greatest thing is that we're not offering a program like this at the cost of anything else," said Tommy Samson, assistant principal at William McDonald.

Students enrolled in the Intensive French program attended a school board meeting last December, petitioning the board to continue the program.

Now late French immersion will be an option for students entering Grade 7.

"We wanted to keep going with it," said Jordan Shortt, 12, one of the students who petitioned the board. "I didn't want to go back to core French."

Without late immersion, the only choice the students had was core French, with some enrichment support.

"I chose French because I would have a wide choice of jobs," said Losha Braverman, 11, who would like to become a detective.

The funding for the new program comes from a plan unveiled by Heritage Canada in 2003 to double the number of bilingual secondary school graduates by 2013.

Jean-Marie Mariez, who supervises French programs for Yellowknife Education District No. 1, said the program is aimed at gifted students looking for a challenge.

Samson said that with eight students as a base, it is enough to justify introducing late immersion.

The school hopes to enrol 14 to 15 students in the program.