FOG BLOG NEW BRUNSWICK LOG: GOVERNMENT REVERSES DECISION ON CHANGES TO FRENCH IMMERSION!

N.B. backtracks on scrapping French immersion in English schools The province of New Brunswick has backtracked on its controversial plan to replace French immersion with a new French-language learning program at anglophone schools in the fall of 2023.

“We listened intently to the voices of nearly 13,000 New Brunswickers who participated in our consultation sessions over the past month,” Education Minister Bill Hogan said in a news release Friday.

“We have taken all we have heard and incorporated it into our decision.”

The release said the province will be opening French immersion registration for Grade 1 students. The proposed overhaul would have seen French immersion phased out, with all anglophone students receiving half their instruction in French and the other in English.

The goal was to ensure that all graduates have a conversational level of French at a minimum, with those looking to specialize in the language given the tools to do so as they get older.

The current immersion program in New Brunswick — Canada’s sole bilingual province — offers up to 90 per cent of class time in French. The proposed changes have been met with strong opposition, especially during consultations in some towns and cities in the province.

Hundreds of people showed up to public consultations expressing anger and frustration, many of whom raised concerns students wouldn’t receive the same level of education they would in the French immersion program.