Mac High parents upset French immersion class was actually taught in English

Parents of a Macdonald High School student are upset with how their son has been taught French.

Carmen Fabio and Martin Roloff sent their son to a French Immersion school with the expectation that he would get a solid grounding in both official languages.

They began to have doubts when they learned a class that they thought would be taught in French was actually taught in English.

"When our middle son told us in August of 2014 that the entire Ethics and Religious Culture course had been taught in English I was flabbergasted," said Fabio.

At the time the school's administration acknowledged the switch, and said it would not happen again.

A commissioner's report "promised that future teacher assignments would insure the appropriate level of French instruction in immersion classes."

However two years later it has happened again with their son, now in grade 11, saying his ECR class was taught in English.

"My assumption is if something is presented with a French title, I think it's going to be taught in French," said Fabio.

The school is standing by what has happened, saying that the ECR course is taught in French with the occasional guest speaker in English.

Fabio and Roloff say that is unacceptable.

"We're scrambling for every little bit of French we can get," said Roloff.

"To come and say our guest speaker for ethics is going to be an English person when it says ECR on the enrolment form, I don't understand that."

Steve Balleine, the Assistant General Manager of the Lester B. Pearson school board, said Macdonald High is meeting the requirements for French Immersion, 2.5 hours of class per week, even with the occassional guest speaker.

But Fabio said the school has missed an opportunity to truly immerse students in the French language.

"We learn French not by conjugating verbs, but by having conversations, joking around, using slang, making jokes," she said.

The boy's parents said the school should change -- otherwise other children will end up being put in French schools.

"I do want to support the English school system, but I also don't want to leave Quebec," said Fabio.

Another anglophone school board, the EMSB, estimates 14,000 students who are eligible for an English education go to French schools instead.

"I'm hoping future parents will say look, this is what I want, this is what I need, you have to guarantee this is what you're going to give me," said Roloff.