SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
French immersion students from Sir John Franklin High School are scoring higher in their advanced placement (AP) tests than most across the world, according to Micheline Ricard.

Micheline Ricard, French program head at Sir John Franklin High School, said her students are scoring some of the best results in the world in French language and culture.

The high school's 18-year-veteran French program head said her students have been scoring nearly perfectly in French language and culture tests which are used to grade the students' comprehension of course material and are reported to colleges and universities worldwide each July.

Ricard said it's a good time for the Yellowknife Education District 1 (Yk1) high school to toot it's own horn about achievement in French since the immersion program is celebrating it's 35th year in the district.

She said the high school's French immersion stream boasts around 25 students in each grade which allows administration to run a full program including math, sciences, social sciences and language arts.

She said part of the reason her students do so well is because they're given a strong foundation in French in Yk1 elementary schools.

"When they arrive in Grade 9 they are bilingual already," said Ricard. "So I don't have to start at zero. I just have to see that they're prepared and where they should be by Grade 12."

Ricard said she isn't sure why French is so popular in the city but that the program is still going strong after 35 years.

"For years and years we've had perfect results (in) advanced placement in French language and culture," she said. "We've built on that for years."

Emily Smith, now 21 years old, is a product of Ricard's immersion program and is studying international development and environmental sciences at Trent University, in Ontario. She said she thinks the AP course she took in high school was a helpful stepping stone toward her higher education. AP courses can be claimed toward total university credits meaning she won't have to take as many courses to graduate. And it was Ricard who pushed her toward the field she is currently studying.

"When we did that AP course we did it as a group, we came together as a little community," she said. "It never felt like it was a chore. And Madame Ricard, I think she's engaged in her students learning. It's actually fun. I was in her social studies class as well as French, and she has a passion for engaging her students in her subjects and events across the world. That pointed me toward international development and environmental sciences. They are things I think are really relevant to the issues we face today."

Smith said she plans to return to Yellowknife after she's finished her schooling.

"Not necessarily permanently, but I will be back for a few years," she said.

Pam Schlosser, an English math teacher at the high school with two students in the French immersion stream, said she thinks parents push their children toward bilingualism because of where they came from.

"There are a lot of people here from the Maritimes," she said. "I'm from New Brunswick and if you didn't speak French basically you had to leave to find work."

She said her children started learning French early on which has made it easier for them to follow along with course material including math and science.

"They've learned all their terminology in French," she said, adding that transitioning to all-English classes doesn't seem to pose a problem later on. "Often I have many kids who transfer from a French math class to an English math class. And it doesn't cause problems. If they get the process they get it. Yk1 has a really strong group of teachers for these kids coming up. They've had exposure to wonderful teachers who have instilled a work ethic in them."

Ricard said she thinks her students excel because the program is hard on them.

"I think the rigor is very important," she said. "I like to do what I do."

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