Alberta Seeking New Brunswick's French Immersion Teachers

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If the province of New Brunswick carries out is plan to end french immersion it is school's there will be a flood of french immersion teachers on the market come September.

Alberta is looking to divert some of them its way.

A recent ad in the in New Brunswick newspapers encourages immersion teachers to apply for jobs in Alberta.

"The supply does not meet the demand, so we thought, let's try New Brunswick because of the bilingualism there," said Tom Sperling, acting deputy superintendent with Wild Rose Public Schools, which is doing the hiring.

Last March, New Brunswick Education Minister Kelly Lamrock announced that the province plans to eliminate its early immersion program offered to students entering Grade 1.

The french immersion program would be replaced by a the new program under which French-language education in English schools would begin in Grade 5 with a mandatory intensive five-month program. Students entering Grade 6 would have the option to enter immersion or take French as a mandatory subject until high school graduation.

Despite the fact that the government is now collecting public comment on the changes, it has stated students won't be returning to the same programming this fall.

Lamrock will be announcing Aug. 5 what second-language education will look like.


"Every province is aware of what's going on in New Brunswick, and the uncertainty right now regarding the French immersion program," Joseph Dicks, director of the Second Language Research Institute of Canada said. "We also know, of course, nationally, there is a huge shortage of French immersion teachers and particularly in the western provinces."

The government's plan to eliminate french immersion has met considerable opposition throughout New Brunswick.

Much of the concern centres on the report that was used to justify the change. If language is best learnt at an early age how does waiting until Grade 6 assist students to learn french? New Brunswick is Canada's only officially bilingual province.