 Hello. Welcome to the Handbook for Administrators of French Immersion Program series. My name is Fred Kreiner. Let's get started with topic 2, Logistics of French Immersion. In this session, we'll be looking at time allocations, instructional hours, and funding of the French Immersion Program. You can refer to your Handbook for French Immersion Administrators 2010 at any time to get specific details or go beyond what is presented in this presentation. First thing is time allocations. They are quite specific in order to ensure full funding for the program, but more importantly to allow the students the opportunity to fully achieve the program goals. There is a huge difference between a 50% program and an 80% program and that range is what is required from grades 7 to 9. The closer you come to the higher end of the scale, the better chances that your students will graduate from high school with a full and complete functional fluency that is expected in the program. At the bottom end of the scale it is very likely the students would have significant linguistic shortcomings from the program goals. Time allocations are laid out in the Guide to Education. What's shown here is that English and French language arts are often combined as there is a lot of carryover from one language to another. When a student learns to write a paragraph, writing in English or French is secondary to knowing the structure of a topic, sentence, etc. So that percentage is usually combined. In Chapter 3, Section C you will see the recommended percentages and time allocations for other grade levels. The Fundament Manual for School Authorities is a very important document that you should be aware of. Section 4.2 deals specifically with things regarding minority language education and second language instruction. That's the section that we'll give a quick review to right now. The Funding Manual has very specific targets to receive full-time funding. That is 712 hours at the elementary level, 570 hours at the junior high level, and 600 hours at the high school level. Some funding for instructional and extended French program would be provided if you reach the minimum targets, but again the maximum targets will provide you with the greatest amount of funding. French Immersion students receive the same basic educational grant as other students do. However, there is also some other programs that they can access. There is an Urban Transportation Funding Module. Should students be required to be transported from one area of an urban municipality to another, there are other things as well for students. For high school students, there is a language learning program called G'Explore, which allows students to learn over the summertime for five weeks in an area where French is the language that is most frequently used not only in the school but in the entire area. These are held in Quebec, New Brunswick, and St-Pierre de Miquelon. Administrators are encouraged to share that information with their secondary students when it's distributed to the schools, typically in February or March. It can do a lot to enhance a student's motivation to continue in the French Immersion Program. There is also a Language Development Exchange program for grade 11 students. This is typically a three month exchange program where the student will live in Quebec or a Francophone area of the country for three months and then host their partner back in Alberta three months later in the school year. There is funding available for teachers as well. On the Alberta Education website, teachers can access the Bursary Program. This is funded through the Canadian Heritage and it's administered by Alberta Education. Information with regards to this Bursary Program is sent to all schools offering a French Immersion Program and principals are encouraged to share this information with their staff so that they know that they can use those funds to develop their own French language skills or their French Immersion Pedagogy. Language assistance can also be made available to schools. A language assistant at no cost could be provided through the Odyssey Program. The Odyssey Program is administered by the Council of Ministers of Education of Canada and it provides support in French language culture etc. for students who are in a French Immersion Program. There's also specific support and development funds that school jurisdictions can access. Check with your secretary-treasurer to learn a little bit more about those programs. This is the end of topic two, Logistics of French Immersion. This series is brought to you by the Alberta Regional Consortium, the Alberta Teachers Association in Laconsse, Francais and it's made possible with French grants from Alberta Education.