Brookswood congratulated its very first French Immersion grad class way back in 1986. Our program is stronger than ever today, with approximately 250 students enrolled each year.
French Immersion students do a portion of their high school courses entirely in French. They sit a provincial exam at the end of their grade 12 year and also write the DELF exam which gives them a prestigious, internationally recognized certificate attesting to their proficiency in French.
Since its inception, Brookswood’s Immersion program has offered a dynamic curriculum designed to make students functionally bilingual so that they may travel, live, or work with ease in francophone regions in Canada and around the world.
Our program also offers students a myriad of authentic experiential learning opportunities outside the classroom. For example, students learn the Olympic French sport of Fencing. They sample typical French dishes at a restaurant or order Breton-style crepes from a French food truck. They participate in French language tours to historic Fort Langley to learn about our Canadian and Native heritage. They practise the art of French improv at workshops with professional francophone actors. They watch live theatre in French. They participate in the annual Concours (French Public Speaking Competition) and have been champions at both district and provincial levels. They are recognized and rewarded scholarships for their submissions to video clip and essay contests. They have served as BC Ambassadors for SFU’s organization French for the Future. They have become Parliamentary Pages at the House of Commons in Ottawa.
Many of our students elect to further their studies at post-secondary institutions, some in francophone regions. From there, they have gone on to use their French as they serve in the military or the RCMP, work in international relations and diplomacy, or as French teachers, au pairs, travel specialists, actors and film producers, wine and food experts, doctors without borders, a French perfume creator, and even a Minister in Canada’s federal government!
Brookswood Secondary’s Immersion program has had the honour of being named one of only 19 in BC (out of 200) to earn an “A” category from the Office of Francophone Affairs at Simon Fraser University. This rating is based on what an individual school does to promote bilingualism.
We celebrate the endeavours of all our Immersion students, past and present, and remain committed to our goal of increasing the number of bilingual Canadians.