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R.R. 5, Bowmanville, Ont. April 2nd, 1976. Dear Mr. Chant: Repiying to your letter in iast week's Statesman, per- sonally this time, as 1 am not fond of public debates. I don't suppose your anit-British bias or my pro-British one will change much but I wouid like to answcr your arguments by paragraph, as you did mine. lst - about the language. The English did win the battie of the plains of Abraham, and the French were granted equai status as far as lang- uage and culture went. I am not sure if this waqs at confederation or before. Can- ada is still an English speak- ing country though and other nationalities that come here iearn Engiish as a matter of course; StiR using their own language and customs if they wish. If Quebec had become a state of the Union would this have happened? As Mr. Pear- son said years ago, it wîll be hard for them to maintain an island of French Canadian culture in a sea of 250 million English speaking people, but they can keep trying. It is an amazing fact that Engiish is almost a universai language, in that you can travel around the worid without knowing another one. This wasn't donc by coercion of force cither. 2nd - You mention that wc have borrowcd words from Greck, Latin and French sources, so what, ail the casier to understand one another. Also regarding the Qucbcc and Napoleonie code of iaws, of which I know nothing., A good iaw is good no. matter whcre it came from. 3rd - As far as British repression of writers etc. You wiil have to name dates and places, my history being wcak in spots. On the other hand, look at ahl the "Greats" Britain bas produced in evcry field of human endeavour. In literature, Shakespeare, Bun- yan, Milton, Tennyson, Dick- ens and others, who have heiped shape thought and influenced rcforms in their own times. In 1215 thc Magna Carta brought much needcd law rcform to Engiand, this was 200 years before white men set foot in America. Maybe they weren't aiways adhercd to. In the 1300's Wycliffe made the first trans- lation of the Bible into 'Engiish and the Wcsley's in the 1700's founded Methodism. Wiiber- force in the late 1700's aboiished slavery in England fifty years before the civil war in the states. You could go on Letter to the Editor Excelen Prgress and on. These are some of the reasons we can be proud of our British heritage. 4th - What you said in your letter was "Canada is a member of a crumbiing Em- pire known as the British commonwealth, whose mem- bers have nothing in common, especially wealth. 5th - Tradition -- dictionary meaning "Long cstablîshed and gencrally accepted cus- toms." It doesn't make much sense to class poverty, war and pollution as traditions. These are man made evils and flot peculiar to any one country. Tradition could also mean Christian ethies which we have had for nearly two thousand years. Although be- liefs and faith go a lot deeper than tradition. In ail this time 1 can't see that anything can improve on them. 6th - Why Britain continues to support the monarchy is their own business. Consider- ing the billions that govern- ments spend these days, two or three million is not ail that much. Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip are kept busy as (figureheads), if you i;ke, binding the near billion souls in the commonwealth to- gether. 7th - It seems that your biggest pain is the Olympics. You can blame or praise Mayor Drapeau for them; whichcvcr way you feel. For his delusions of grandeur, Canadians have paid for Expo, are paying for Mirabelr and this one he was going to take care of himself, remem- ber! He prefers to spend the money this way instead of cleanîng up Montreal, so why should the rest of Canada pay for it. If the Queen has courage enough to face ail that opposition, more credit to her. God forbid that she be another Kennedy or Martin Luther King. That would be a very black day for Canada. No Ted, the worid didn't start with your generation, nor is it likeiy to end there. Again, very-sincerely, Mrs. W. Craig P.S. You have a real talent for expressing your ideas and I hope that you make good use of it. Five-year-old Ryan Burdett explains the concepts 'over, under, behind and in front' completely in French with the help of a puppet. Next year 20 of the 27 children enrolled in 'French immersion' will continue it in Grade 1. Madame Smialek thinks that if the youngsters have the opportunity to carry on with the program until Grade 3, they will be so advanced in French that they will neyer forget it.. Bienvenue. Welcome to bv- lingual Bowmanviile, .Actually, Dutch is rightfuliy the second tongue in this area, tbough since September, French has been the working (and piaying) language in one classroom at Ontario Street Public School for the past eîght months. Since September, 27 kinder- garten students have been involved in the program which is calied 'French immersion' simply because ail the regular and special activities are conducted in Canada's second officiai language. Under the direction of Madame Anne Smialek, the children are making excellent progress. Fromr the first day of the school year Madame (as the children eall her) has not spoken one word of English-- and the resuits are really quite amazing. According to their teacher, the littie ones soak up the new language like sponges, and they have learned more u.,able vocabuiary in eight months than most high school French students can master in a couple of years. In fact, after several years of experience teaching French, Madame Smialek is convinced that immersion is tihe way for chiidren to learn a new language. Originaily ( from a Spanish town near the French border, Madame Smiaiek taught French from Grades,1-8 for the Etobicoke Board of Education before coming to Bowmanville four' years ago. She is so enthusiastic about the advantages of immersion that, when the position at Ontario Street was advertised, she appiied for the post, even though she has a voung family to look after as well. Madame Smiaiek's pro- gram is very similar to a regular kindergarten cur- riculum cxcept, of course, only French is spoken. In fact, the children believe that Madame can't spcak English, and even for visitors she docsn't betray her knowledge of their first language. "Bonjour, Madame, comment ca va?" "Tres bien, merci. Alors, que fait-il aujourd'hui?'" "Il fait froid, Madame, et il neige.~ Through games, puppet shows, songs and drills, the children have learned a great deal of conversational French, including concepts in other subjects such as arithmetic and science. For- the Chirist- mas concert in December, the cbildren prescnted a com- pleteiy French version 'of the nativity scene. WhiIc Madame confines her speech to French oniy 'and encourages the youngsters to use as much as possible of their newiy icarned language in response to ber questions, the children's informai con- versation is often an in- triguing form of 'franglais'. For example, "I have deux pieds", or "He is cinq ans old" are typicai at this point. Madame Smialck thinks that it wili be at least three years before the chiidren wil be able to think and speak entirely in French without having to translate their thoughts from Engiish. Yet, after only eight months of the program,, she is amazed at how easily hier pupils compre- hcnd the French that she speaks.' Immersion programns have often been criticized for re- tarding a child's progress in his native tongue. Critics argue that too-much French interferes with the normal devciopment of reading, speaking and writing skilis in English. Studies donc elsewhere re- fuse this premise, and one paper calied The Bilingual Education of Children, (by Lambert and Tucker) showed that by the fifth year of immersion, " there is no native language or subject matter deficit of any sort. In fact, the experimental pupils appear to be able to rend, write, speak, understand and use Engiish competentiy as youngsters instructed in the conventional manner via English." "At the samne time, the chidren have developed a compétence in reading, writ- ing, speaking and understand- ing French and English pupils follrhwing a traditional French-as-a-second language program for the samne number of years could neyer match." Rcmembcring the good oid days at high school when French-shy students fractured the spoken language and mcmorized vocabuiary iists from "Cours Moyen De Francais", the resuits of the immersion program at Ontar- io Street even at this early stage scem worthwhile. Yet, as the study by Lambert and Tucker sug- gests, continuity is vital to the succesË of the program. After getting off to a good start, there was some doubt whether the Northumberland and New-' castie Board of Education would continueto fund French immersion in the future. However, at a board meeting on March llth in Cobourg, the way was cleared for continua- tion and expansion of the program next year. 20 of the chiidren in Ma- dame Smialek's present ciass wîll advance to Grade 1 next September and two more groups of youngsters wili be enrolled in the kindergarten programn. If enrolîment re- mains steady, the experiment wiii continue until the end of elementary school, though the board may periodically re- view the situation. Advertisi*ng helps g..ood things happen. The Canadian Statesman, Bowmànville, April 7, 1876 5 Police Search for Cari Durham Regional Police, Division 16, Bowmanville are searching for a blue car beiieved involved in a hit and run eariy Friday morning. The unknown vehicle caused damage of $1,000 to a 1974 Chev which had been left parked on Roser Crescent at, Martin Road. The vehicle. owned by Cali 275-5222 Ontario Car Rentals of Bond Street, Oshawa, had been lef t parked at 134 Martin Road by Frederick A. Larocque. Mr. arocque advised police hherd a noise about 5 am. Friday which is assumed to be the time of the mishap. Police would appreciate any inform- ation concerning the matter. - Toronto AREA CLASSES BOWMANVI LLE MEMORIAL HALL Liberty Street South Thursday -1:30 & 7:30 pa. Join us today We've got so much that's new to hel YO'u reach your goal. WEIGHT WATCHERS"ý( NEW PERSONAL ACTION PA" W1.111, ~C-nd. Lni.d.r.h,,1.d oo h rd , W,ý qht Wàtche,, Inl regioe.nd o-ne, M6. BY T HE DAY-WEE AR OR MONTH AS LOW AS Per day 219 KI NG ST. EAST BOWMANVI LLE Hwy. No. 2 East of Liberty Phone 623-4481 "The FrîendlyPope 'French' is alive and well in Bowmanville. Here French teacher Anne Smialek' carnies on part of the daily routine with 27 morning and afternoon kindergarten children in the 'French immersion' program at Ontario S treet Public School. By word and gesture, she questions the children about parts of the body in this photo. "Alors, qu'est-ce que c'est: C'est le coud". Most of the children enrolled in the class are from Bowmanville, though a few are from the Hampton and Newcastle areas. Parents are responsible for transportation to and from the sehool each day and ail except three of the youngsters also attend English Kindergarten. Northumberland - Newcastle Board of Education presents YOe-"GA at Bowmanville High School EVENING CLASSES' BEGINNING APRIL 15, 1976 Time: 7:00 p.m. Fees: $7.50 (Senior Citizens Free) For further information, contact Mr. Gary Milovick - 623-4416 or Mrs. Linda Pawley - 623-3680 Marie Ludwiçk, area director and franchise owner of the WEIGHT WATCHERS franchises in Sauf herm Ontario, the-Maritime Provinces, ond Newfoundland, will be giving an informative talk on the New Eating Management Technique "The Modules" 0ft THE OSHAWA Y.W.C.A.' 199 Centre St. Thursday, Aprllth at 7:30 P. M. This wiII be on OPEN HOUSE meeting. Aryone infieresfed k nvited f0 attend with no obligation to join. HELP THE HEART FUND Help your Heort & The Heart Fund. Weight Watchers mn Sou thern & Central Ontario, the Mari- time Provinces & Newfoundland will donate 70, a lb. to the Heort Fund for each lb. their members lose during heart month. FOR CLASS INFORMATION GIANT BAZAAR SO BIG! ROTARY HAD TO HAVE THE-GYM AT BOWMANVILLE HIGH SCHOOL FOR ITS GIANT BAZAAR-AND BAKE SALE. Coming on, Saturday, Mcay 1, '1976- THOUSANDS 0F DOLLARS 0F MERCHANDISE AND PERSONALLY BAKED GOODS WILL BE OFFERED, ALONG WITH GAMES 0F SKILL, ENTERTAINMENT AND MANY, MANY PRIZES -THAT'S SATURDAY MAY 1 - SALE - 1:00O - 5:00 pm, AUCTION -7:@00 p.m. -11:1@00 p.m. Collect your contributions now. Rotary wiII be canvassing Bowmanville on Saturday, April 24, for, citizen donations. Proceeds for senior citizen, youth and p layg round projects. Bowmanville - Get Ready ~AI!~'i ~SHEDIASIIONS 0 Shoes for the entirefmiy SAVAGE ~ S H OES for children NATU RAI IZERS 'ý for the ladies Men's Shoes b y . ... Kaufman -Greb -Dack and Richie Also . Wallobees - Bee Joys Your FmiyFootwear Hea dquarters ELLI SSHOIS 49 King St. W 623-5941 Bowmanville 623-5941 49 K.ing St. W. B.owmanvil'ýe