French lessons de rigueur in Auckland school

By REBECCA WALSH

It's lunchtime and in classrooms around Richmond Rd School children are devouring their sandwiches so they can escape into the playground.

But some aren't in such a hurry.

In the school's two French bilingual classes the students take their time - it's something principal Shirley Hardcastle attributes to the French way of doing things.

"French people would rather see their children spend as long as they want eating ... For a lot of Kiwi kids, 10 minutes is too long. They want to be up and away."

The school is believed to be the only one in the country to offer the bilingual French option.

The classes, which attract children from around Auckland, were set up after a group of French parents, keen to ensure their language survived and prospered, approached the school.

The 33 children, all with French backgrounds, spend three days a week learning the New Zealand school curriculum in a French-speaking environment and the other two in English.

Gabrielle Cassin, aged 9, travels from St Heliers to the school. Her father is French and her mother a Kiwi, so like many of the children she speaks a mix of languages at home and in the playground.

"I like French because it's a nice language. It sounds a bit grown-up."

But Mrs Hardcastle believes New Zealanders are, in general, insular in their thinking about other languages.

"Some people see learning bilingually as subtractive, that your English can't be as good. In fact, it's the opposite. Learning a second language enhances both."

Twenty-two children at the school are also enrolled in an introductory "survival level" French class.

But French isn't the only language option at Richmond Rd School. The welcome sign at the front entrance greets visitors with kia ora, kia orana and talofa lava as well as bonjour.

More than half the school's 240 children learn in a bilingual situation, be it French, Maori or Samoan. The Cook Islands class has been temporarily suspended because of declining numbers.

"When parents come into the school I describe it as having five little country classes, all on one site," Mrs Hardcastle says.

Nationally, the bulk of bilingual classes are taught in Maori and English.

Beau Reweti, Ministry of Education chief adviser (Maori), estimates 20,000 children are learning Maori in a bilingual or immersion situation.

He says research indicates learning a second language makes other languages easier to learn.

"[Maori] is something that would be useful for children to learn. They are never going to be able to avoid using Maori language, whether it's simple words or not."

Last year, 1227 students in 16 schools completed a percentage of the curriculum in a Pacific language.