RR#1, AL-33
Bowen Island, BC V0N 1G0 Canada
Tel 800-668-6288 (North America)
Tel (+1) 604-947-0015 (International)
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www.aimlanguagelearning.com
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April 8th, 2008
The Honourable Kelly Lamrock
Department of Education
Place 2000
250 King Street
Fredericton, New Brunswick
E3B 9M9
Re: The Reform of French as a Second Language (FSL) Resources
Dear Minister Lamrock,
I am writing in respect to the announcement made last month concerning the reform of the FSL programs in New Brunswick. We are very disappointed in the Minister‘s decision to eliminate primary second-language (L2) programs, given that almost all contemporary research has indicated the benefits to students of elementary L2 programs.
We are not questioning the validity of Intensive French programs, but feel that a range of options should be available to French teachers in New Brunswick. We concur with Canadian Parents for French that early immersion has had a long and successful track record in Canada. We also are at a loss to understand why you have not considered our program – the Accelerative Integrated Method (AIM) – that is now being used in 4,000 schools across Canada, and that has been successfully piloted in School Districts 16 and 18 in your province. Because the AIM is designed to be used in Immersion and a regular Core French class (approximately 150 minutes per week), it is easy to implement and does not cause scheduling/human resource problems that are likely to arise with an Intensive French implementation.
We invite your ministry to re-evaluate its decision and have a closer look at alternative programs such as ours. This could be a happy and rewarding compromise. For more information on the AIM Language Learning visit our website at www.aimlanguagelearning.com.
Yours truly.
Matt Maxwell, Ph.D.
President
cc: Graham Fraser, Commissioner of Official Languages
Canadian Parents for French - New Brunswick and National Branches
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