The Principal of St. Mary's Catholic School in Listowel is excited about plans to offer a new French Immersion Grade 1 class this fall.
Principal Jane Hartin said a French immersion education has many benefits.
"For the academics, learning a second language strengthens your first language skills. Also it's shown to bring cognitive and academic benefits to a student. And the ability to speak a second language has been shown to enhance reasoning, creative thinking, and problem solving skills," she explained.
Hartin added having a second language also increases employment opportunities.
"There are 200 million French speakers around the world and they're saying by 2050 that they anticipate that French is going to be the most spoken language," said Hartin.
Parents should call the school before the end of the month if they would like to sign their child up. Hartin said the Grade 1 students usually adjust to the French Immersion program quite easily.
"Students adjust quite nicely to the program, especially here at St. Mary's. Our Junior Kindergarten and our Senior Kindergarten students currently have French instruction three days a week, so this is just something that they're already used to," she added.
The French Immersion Program includes 120 minutes of French Literacy, along with a half hour of English Literacy daily. Students will study Science, Social Studies, Health, Drama, Dance, Physical Education and Visual Arts in French, while Mathematics, Religion, Music classes will be taught in English.
