French immersion and French minority-language education represent recent educational innovations. French minority-language education in Newfoundland and Labrador, and particularly in St. John's, is still in the evolutionary stages. It is likely, however, that historical aspects of the establishment and development of these programs contribute or have contributed to some of the problems which they may be experiencing. It is for this reason that, in order to understand the problems relating to the principalship of a combined French immersion and French minority-language school, it is necessary to have some understanding of the general context within which the programs operate. This chapter therefore provides background information relating to the history, clientele, general organization and characteristics of the two programs.

FRENCH IMMERSION PROGRAMS

                French immersion began in Canada in 1965 in St. Lambert, a suburb of Montréal, Québec, with a small group of Anglophone parents. Disillusioned with traditional methods of language teaching, they began lobbying the Protestant school board of the region to offer an immersion class. The idea of French immersion programs was relatively new and uncommon at the time. It is thus not surprising that the school board was reluctant to begin a program in its schools. Faced with the board's opposition, the parents themselves began sponsoring language classes for the children and assumed responsibility for the costs. The school board finally initiated a program "when faced with the favourable publicity of the parents' classes in the local press and by (sic) the persistence of parents who regularly attended board meetings" (Canadian Education Association, 1983, p. 11). Thus, Canada's first immersion program began.  

                In 1969, the Official Languages Act made English and French the official languages of Canada. In 1970, through the Official Languages in Education Program, the federal government moved to institutionalize bilingualism by providing financial support for educational programs such as immersion. The objectives of this program were "to enable Canadians to have their children educated in the official language of their choice and to permit students to learn their second official language" (Commissioner of Official Languages, 1990, p. 11). Immersion programs quickly spread across Canada such that enrolment grew from the first class in the St. Lambert experiment to 228, 000 students in 1989-90 (Commissioner of Official Languages, 1990, p. 25) (see Appendix A for growth of French immersion in Canada).

                The success of the program has in part been attributed to the involvement of parents. De Lorenzo and Gladstein (1984) maintain that:

parent support was a crucial factor in the continued success of immersion programs. Existing immersion parent organizations have been instrumental in convincing both skeptical administrators and prospective immersion parents of the fiscal and academic viability of immersion programs. (p. 16)

                Many of these parents were so intent on success in their efforts to have a French education program in Canada that they formed a strong lobbying group, Canadian Parents for French, a volunteer organization currently with more than 17,000 chapters across Canada whose leadership has been "outstanding in terms of advocacy and the preparation of information material for parents" (James, 1986, p. 20).

                Carey (1984) explains how social, cultural, economic and political factors have influenced the growing popularity of the program:

some parents as well as government agencies saw immersion as a uniquely Canadian vehicle through which to produce social interaction and communication between Francophones and Anglophones, thus leading ultimately to a greater empathy and understanding between the two linguistic and cultural communities. Many parents and teachers also saw the enrolment of their children in immersion programs as a means to an enriched and diversified educational and perhaps cultural experience leading to enhanced career opportunities for their children. (p. 246)

                Carey summarizes the success of immersion programs by pointing to the fact that "the St. Lambert experiment has become a landmark in French language education not only in Canada but around the world" (p. 246).

                French immersion programs began in Newfoundland in 1975 in Cape St. Georges on the Port-au-Port Peninsula as a result of a cooperative initiative among the school board, church and parents. The program was chosen as an option because French first-language schooling was not available to French-speaking residents of the area at the time. As such, the program did not really correspond to the pattern of establishment of most French immersion programs. In 1977, the Roman Catholic School Board for St. John's established the province's first 'true' early immersion program. Central Newfoundland saw its first early immersion program one year later, in 1978, under the Terra Nova Integrated School Board in Gander. The Avalon Consolidated School Board in St. John's established the province's first late immersion program in 1979 and followed with an early immersion program in 1981. Since that time, other boards such as the Roman Catholic School Board for Labrador and the Humber St. Barbe Roman Catholic School Board in Corner Brook have initiated programs. In 1991-92, there was a total of 13 of the province's 27 school boards offering French immersion programs: four boards were offering both an early and late immersion program, seven were offering only early immersion, and two boards were offering only a late immersion program. At the beginning of the 1991-92 school year, school boards in the province were offering a total of 11 early immersion programs and six late immersion programs.

                Although the growth of immersion programs "was at first rather slow, and limited to urban (sic) areas of the province, recent years have seen a considerable increase in both areas and numbers involved" (Province of Newfoundland, 1986, p. 21). Participation in immersion programs has grown from one school with 56 students in 1975 to 34 schools with 4,328 students in 1990-91 (see Appendix B for statistics pertaining to immersion enrolments in Newfoundland and Labrador).

                The four most important characteristics of an immersion program are that, first of all, it:

is an optional program to which every student has access in principle. Second, the program serves a primarily unilingual Angolophone population. Third, for early total immersion, teachers use only French, the second language, as the medium of instruction in the initial years. Finally, immersion students study the same curriculum content as their peers in the regular English program. (Lapkin, 1984, p. 4)

                What distinguishes immersion from other second language programs is its emphasis on teaching 'in' French as opposed to teaching French itself. The intention "is that the new language is to be learned by use while learning something else and not by formal language instruction" (Stern, 1984, p. 4). Students study mathematics, science, social studies and many other such subjects in French and acquire the language in the process.

                Immersion programs are traditionally housed or organized in either dual-track schools or immersion centres. Lapkin distinguishes between these two types of schools:

In an immersion centre, daily school announcements are made in French, the school secretary speaks French, students are disciplined in school corridors in French, and so on. Students in centres hear French spoken by the majority of adults with whom they have contact during the school day, both inside and outside the classroom. The proportion of French material on display in immersion classes and in the school corridors is greater in immersion centres than in dual-track schools. Also, a greater number of school assemblies and special school events are carried out in French in immersion centres. In contrast, in dual-track schools, the principal is usually an Anglophone, half of the teachers speak only English and the opportunities for hearing French outside of the classroom in school are quite limited. (p. 5)

                Genesee (1987) outlines the aims of French immersion programs as follows:

1. to provide the participating students with functional competence in both written and spoken aspects of French;
   
2. to promote and maintain normal levels of English language development;
   
3. to ensure achievement in academic subjects commensurate with the students' academic ability and grade level; and
   
4. to instill in the students an understanding and appreciation of French Canadians, their language and culture, without detracting in any way from the students' identity with and appreciation for English-Canadian culture. (p. 13)

                During the 1991-92 school year, 4,673 students were enroled in French immersion programs from Kindergarten to Level 3 in schools in Newfoundland and Labrador. Of these, 3,850 were enroled in early immersion programs and 823 in late immersion programs. The Kindergarten to Grade 5 enrolment was comprised of 2,408 students housed in 21 dual-track schools and one immersion centre in St. John's with an enrolment in 275. The following figure illustrates the breakdown of French immersion program enrolments for the 1991-92 school year for Newfoundland and Labrador.