Over the years I have had some interesting discussions with people about our French program. When the school was founded, a number of our parents pushed to have French offered as a regular part of the program. These same parents even contributed extra money to help pay for a part time teacher to teach French. (Incidentally, that first teacher was Mrs. Holmes. When the Holmes’ left to go on the mission field, Mrs. Ricks took over this role.) While most people support learning a second language, some do not, especially if that language is French. Usually, this is due to the latest antics emerging from the political scene in Quebec or Ottawa!

While many people feel that the value in learning French has to do with getting a government job, I feel that there are much more important reasons. The most important reason for learning a second language is to prepare for opportunities on the mission field, and the two most useful languages for missions are probably French and Spanish. Since French is Canada’s second language and is more immediately useful in the work world, we offer French from grades four to ten. Because of the quality of our program, students who complete French in grade 10 actually get credit for grade twelve French.

One might argue, that they don’t expect their children to become missionaries and therefore don’t feel that their children will need French. However, we do not know what God’s plan is for ourselves much less our children. It is true that we don’t know if they will ever use French in a formal way, but most people don’t use math or science beyond a grade eight level either. (And lots of kids would be glad to drop either of those subjects too if they could!) We teach what we do because we hope to provide a broad, general education which will leave as many doors open for our children as possible.

I am one who had four years of high school French (two while living in the French speaking part of Switzerland) and have never had occasion to use it outside of school. However, it has proven useful in some of my reading, and in understanding grammar, and in understanding some of the difficulties involved with Bible translation. We do not expect our program to develop fluency, but it will provide a basic background should a student either take a job which might require it, or should they be called to a French speaking part of the world. God willing, we will eventually add Spanish to our foreign language program so that students who participate in our Mexico mission will be better prepared. In the meantime, if your children take French, encourage them in it. We do not consider it an option. It is a core part of our program. Generally, only students who are behind in other courses, or who come to us in junior high without any background in French are exempted.

Brian Hazeltine, B.Ed., M.A.
Principal, Airdrie Koinonia Christian School

Copyright © 1998/99 Airdrie Koinonia Christian School      Last modified: January 19, 1999