Reviving a Culture: Kindergarten and French Immersion.

An experimental bilingual bicultural French language program for kindergarten students in a former French-speaking area of Western Newfoundland was initiated in an integrated primary school in September 1975. The experimental class of thirty students was taught entirely in French while the control group received twenty minutes of French per day during the year. Research controls and continuous evaluation were provided by a joint school district and university team. Intra-school district class comparisons of achievement indicated minor lags in cognitive skills for the experimental group. Evaluation results were positive and the program will be continued and expanded next year. (Author)