French is Dying in Maine. Here's why.

laughs course a performer on played on a past-due named French deeply embedded in Maine's past but it's Spanish that's most often taught as a foreign language in Maine public schools in the most northern part of the state the decline of the French language may be due to the fact that just 40 years ago students were forbidden to speak it they punished us for speaking French no speaking French in French ville the irony isn't lost on local elementary school principal Lisa burner they used to segregate the french-speaking kids with from the English speaking kids Bernier grew up in French Ville raised with French as her first language but because of how she was treated in the very school she now runs she raised her own kids differently people of my generation my age chose to speak English first to their kids that decision has had unintended consequences now she says the language is rarely spoken by the new generation they understand the French but don't speak it French Ville sits just along the Canadian border it's part of the st. John Valley region which is deeply connected to its franco-american heritage Pauline Chamberlin grew up in the st. John Valley and now teaches French hers is a private French immersion class offered by a local French culture group Lea Cleveland say there is high demand for these French lessons right now I already have eleven kids for September and with only 12 students accepted each year Pauline says the program needs to find more qualified teachers in order to expand more French teacher definitely because the domain is there and it's going up more and more but fewer and fewer are training to meet the demand enrollment in French programs at the college level is dropping the US Modern Language Association says from 2013 to 2016 colleges across the country cut 651 foreign language programs French was the hardest hit losing 129 programs another reason foreign languages are losing prominence in schools is because of the push to teach to the test because of the demands on schools for English and math proficiency we've cut down on the teaching of French with less French being taught in schools one solution in a town like French Ville may be a reversion to the old ways learning at home as one young student does from his grandmother well she speaks French and and it's teaching me how to speak French the spokeswoman for the Department of Education says there's a demand statewide for foreign language teachers because of the shortage some foreign language teachers are serving part time at multiple schools

Channel: Hannah Dineen

Views: 113,877

Keywords: French, NEWS CENTER Maine, Hannah Dineen, Frenchville

Id: B55HYSu5x5g

Length: 2min 56sec (176 seconds)

Published: Sat May 04 2019