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The Goderich Signal-Star, 1984-11-14, Page 1Goderic � E� ALL ROUNDC�A0911i�1U�9t°i"�P'NEWSPAPER IN CANADA (Circulation Class Si00 - 4500) C.C.N,A. Better Newspaper Competition 1984 EE.IcNALST 136 YEAR -46 GODERICH, ONTARIO, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1984 50 CENTS PER COPY Immersion discussed at meetin BY PATRICK RAFTIS French Immersion is the latest hot potato for the Huron County Board of Education to handle. A -public forum on the subject, held at Goderich District Collegiate Institute on Monday night, attracted about 100 in- terested area residents. While many in at- tendance were in favor of the French Im- mersion program, most came to learn the answers a number of questions traditional- ly posed by the program's detractors. I3illed as a debate, the discussion was ac- tually a public information meeting, featuring three pro -immersion speakers. The first speaker was Russel McGillivray, a former supervisor of the Carlton Board of Education, one of the first public school boards in Ontario to im- plement the program. French Immersion first began, in the Ottawa -Carlton area, in 1970; as an experi- ment a few parents wanted to try, said McGillivray. It has since spread to the point where some boards in every province offer the program, with about 150,000 children across Canada taking part. "French Immersion is no longer looked on as an experiment. It's no longer a trial and error process — if it ever was," said McGillivray. Higher education is now available to im- mersion graduates, with some universities offering programs totally in French, to native -English students, he added. McGillivray said the immersion pro- gram is far more successful than the tradi- tional Core French programs which, "gave us all a smattering of French." Progress for students taking Core French is "so infinitesimally slow," that it's difficult for a teacher to see what has been accomplished, McGillivray said. He called Core French "an intellectual exercise and not much more," while stating that French Immersion gives students a feeling that "a language is something to be used — rather than supply learned." He encouraged parents to think of the program as "vocational training," and cited journalism, social work and law, as just a few of the professions in which bill- ingualism is increasingly becoming an asset. McGillivray said many boards do not of- fer French Immersion, because they feel the program is to expensive to set up. McGillivray downplayed the expense of the program, saying that a big part of im- mersion consists of "teachers with a class in front of them. That has to happen anyway." While special books are needed for the program, McGillivray called this a one- time expense and said that there are More than 100 people attend public meeting on French education here Monday. Parents discuss pros and cons of g im lementin immersion implementing program in county schools grants available to offset the cost of the program. RESEARCH Gail Litt, a Kitchener researcher, who has been involved with studies on the ef- fects of French Immersion was the next speaker. She discussed a number of com- mon concerns about the effectiveness of the program. Most studies have remained consistently positive on the attitute of graduates of the immersion program, she said. The results tend to remain positve regardless of whether the student was involved in an early or late immersion program, she add- ed. Litt addresed one of the major concerns among parents of children in French Im- mersion — the effect of the program on the. child's English learning capabilities. "French Immersiotf constitutes no threat to 'a child's personal or cultural identity; or his first language," studies cited by Litt have concluded. Although Grade 1 students tend to have lower test scores than . non -immersion students; Litt said the immersion students are often out -performing their English - Legion Branch 109 members had a busy day on Sunday. In the morning, they participated In the annual Remembrance Day services held at the Cenotaph anddn the afternoon, they took part in the Mariner's Service to Commemorate the PresidenteSorm of November 11, e shown Branch President John A. MacDonald and Auxiliaryrty' laying a wreath at the latter service. Wreaths were also laid by the Province of Ontario; the Goderich Kinsmen Club; the Town of Goderich; and Don Taylor. The service was held in the mausoleum at Maitland Cemetery and chaired by John Doherty with words by the Reverend G.L. Royal and Ron Pennington ( founder of the service), and music by piper Bert only counterparts by Grade 5. According to some researchers, listen- ing skills tests too difficult for Grade K-3 Core French students, resulted in near - perfect scores when given to immersion students. Immersion students can attain "native - like" proficiency in listening, reading and comprehension of French; while their speaking and writing French performance is not as good, but still acceptable. Research shows, says Litt, that French Immersion tends to enhance, rather than hinder, a students ability to learn other subjects. She also said that immersion students have fewer social differences with French students. LATE STARTERS Carmeta Abbott, an assistant professor at St. Jerome's College, Waterloo and a co- founder of the K -W area's first immersion school, works with latecomers to the French language. She works with students at the other end of the spectrum. They come to university and want to have some French. "For many it has become a personal conviction," she said. "Most of them are aware of the immer- sion program. They just sigh as they strug- gle and wish that they could have learned that way," said Abbott. Late learners of French, said Abbott, de- pend heavily on the written word, therefore not developing the fluency of the earlier -immersed student. Immersion students are "less hung-up about trying to speak," she added. Abbot called the program, "The Great Canadian Success Story" and said that Americans and Europeans are now trying to emulate the program. She empasized the importance of paren- tal involvement in the program and recommended parents make a point of reading, in English, to their smaller children. She also advised parents to take advan- tage of any opportunity to let their child experience a francophone environment, through exchange programs, trips and so on. QUESTION PERIOD Following the speakers' comments, the floor was thrown open for questions and comments from the audience. Among the first to speak was Cletus uaiton, representing an organization call- ed Concerned Citizens for a Better Basic Education. • Dalton charged that the meeting did not constitute a true debate because there were no anti -immersion speakers on the panel. He offered to fill the role of adver- sary himself and gave a short discourse Turn to page 3. Car allowance for town will be reviewed at budget Goderich town council will examine the car allowance structure presently in place for some municipal employees when consideration is given to the 1985 budget. The administrative committee of council was asked to look at the car allowance rates paid to municipal employees after the recreation director asked that consideration be given to granting a monthly car allowance fee to an employee who often used his own vehicle for town work in maintaining ball diamonds. The request prompted council to ask for a review of the car allowance paid to employees and a recommendation. After meeting with some employees and receiving written submissions from others the administrative committee recommended the following; that the administrator, commissioner of works and pollution control plant operator receive $1,250 annually( the same as 1984); the building ihs ector receive $1,500; the custodian and recreation director, $900; the program supervisor $750; the arena manager $600 (the rate is presently $375); and the marina supervisor, $300: The deputy -clerk treasurer was added to the list aty $250 as was the arena assistant at $31,25 per month for five months. The committee suggested that the above rates would become effective January 1, 1985 and would be subject to a five per cent increase. The committee reasoned that the rates had not been reviewed for three years. Council took a different view on the matter and the motion to grant the increase was defeated in a recorded vote with reeve Worsell, Jim Searls, Bob Cornish and Glen Carey voting against. Mayor Eileen Palmer, Don Wheeler, Bill Clifford and John Doherty voted in favor. While Searls suggested the matter be reviewed at budget time, Clifford said considering the allowances hadn't been looked in three years he had "no hesitation in granting a five per cent increase." Carey cited the administrative committee recommendation as "premature" but his motion to table the matter until budget time was defeated. Wheeler pointed out that the original motion of council asked for a recommendation on the matter of car allowances. Reeve Worsell said that some industrial employees in town did not receive an increase this year adding that council may see fit to raise the allowance by only three per cent at budget time. PUC proposes increase in electrical retail rates Despite a higher increase in the bulkpower rate charged by Ontario Hydro, the Goderich Public Utilites Commission is proposing a smaller increase than last year, in the rate charged to it's customers. At the November 7 meeting, held in con- sultation with an official from Ontario Hydro, the PUC came up with a proposed average increase in electrical retail rates, of five per cent. Meanwhile Ontario Hydro's bulkpower rate to the PUC went up by 8.5 per cent. The increase is subject to approval by Ontario Hydro and the Goderich PUC. Ap- proval will be considered at the December -- Santa Claus parade set for. November 24 Santa Claus is coming to town! The annual Town of Goderich Santa Claus Parade is set for Saturday,' November 24 and the highlight of the annual affair will be, of course, a visit from Santa Claus. Parade organizer, recreation director Jane Netzke said many more entries are needed to fill out this year's edition and entry forms should be submitted to the recreation office by Friday, November 16. This year entrants are asked to depict the theme of Christmas in the Movies. The parade will begin at 1 p.m. and all entries are asked to lineup along Elgin Avenue by 12.30 p.m. The parade will again move along South Street, to The Square and around The Square to West Street. It was noted that a potentially dangerous situation exists when people throw candy off floats. Children, scrambling to retrieve the candy in great numbers, could easily be knocked in front of a float. Participants are encouraged to either hand out the candy or donate it to the recreation department for Santa's Court whichwill follow the parade in the Park Theatre. The Goderich CB club and Katimavik will be assisting the department with parade details. Over 100 apply for town job The evidence would suggest that the town of Goderich is an eviable place to work. Either that or a lot of people are simply out of a job. The town of Goderie-h recently advertised for a person to fill a position of tourist and industrial pro otions co-. ordinator. The advertisement which said the town required a full-time individual to co-ordinate promotion suggested that the applicant would be responsible to council. The town ran the ad in the Toronto Globe and Mail, the London Free Press and the Signal -Star. While resumes will be received until Friday, November 16; town administrator Larry McCabe said that 110 • applications had beenreceived at town hall. Also, tow marketing and advertising companies have asked the town' to consider the service of an agency over an individual. Expecting more applications before the end of the week, McCabe said they will be reviewed by the organizational review committee. If approved, the new rates become effec- tive as of January 1, 1985. Last year Ontario Hydro increased their bulkpower rate by eight per cent and the PUC increased the rate to its customers by 7.6 per cent. PUC manager Evert Middel said the commission was able to hold down the in- crease this year because cold weather in the first three months of last year resulted in a "good year" for the commission finan- cially. The commission finalized 1984 pay, raises for both managment and bargaining unit staff at the November meeting. Both groups received five per cent increases. INSIDE THE SIGNAL-STAIF-i Win championship The GDCI Senior Viking football team has done it again! On Saturday, they cap- tured the Huron -Perth Conference cham- pionship by defeating the Listowel Lords 32-0. For story and photos, see the front page of the Recreation section. GLT play opens A lot more effort goes into producing a Goderich Little Theatre play than meets the eye. For a behind -the -scenes look at GLT's production of Bus Stop which opens this evening at The Livery, see the feature on page 14A. Stress workshop A Practical Stress Control Workshop, sponsored by the Huron County Health Unit in co-operation with the Huron County Chapter of the Heart and Stroke Founda- tion, attracted 100 people to the Maitland Country Club in Goderich last Thursday. The workshop was so successful that another is being planned for December 11. Read all about it on page 11A. Vikes undefeated The GDCI Viking Senior and Junior • Girls' basketball teams have both corns pleted their regular seasons undefeated. For further information, see page 2A. 1 4