A local parent and long-time volunteer with the Canadian Parents for French recently was honoured for her years of hard work by receiving the Mlacak Award.
Jean Hebert received the award at the CPF Ontario annual conference in Toronto in late October.
“I accepted on behalf of Fort Frances,” she said. “Everybody knows to have a successful chapter it takes partnerships and teamwork.”
The award is intended to recognize the contribution of a volunteer who has been a member of CPF Ontario for a minimum of five-consecutive years, and who has made a substantial contribution at the chapter or provincial level.
“Jean has been an enthusiastic member of the local CPF for almost 12 years,” noted local chapter president Marie Brady, adding Hebert’s “zeal, dedication, hard work, and enthusiasm for FSL [French as a Second Language]” were justly rewarded.
A mother of four, Hebert and other parents re-established the local chapter of CPF in 1993 after the previous chapter has disbanded. She served as president for nine years and also sat on the provincial board.
Hebert credited the success of local French programs to the many partners involved in making them work.
“We have partnerships with school boards and school councils that support our programs,” she noted. “They’ve been very supportive.”
The Northwest Catholic District School Board, for instance, runs a French Immersion program from senior kindergarten to Grade 8. It also offers core French in Grades 1-8 even though the Ministry of Education only requires boards to offer a daily period of French from Grades 4-8.
The Rainy River District School Board offers core French classes from Grade 4-12 as well as offers French Immersion at the high school level.
“Our [school] boards support French Immersion and they make literacy a priority,” Hebert said.
Hebert’s own children all have gone through French Immersion. “I think learning a language is a vital part of education because it is literacy,” she stressed.
“When you learn another language, you also learn about another person’s culture,” she added. “You begin to understand people and it builds tolerance. That’s really important.
“I think we live in a global village.”
The local CPF sponsors many events to help youngsters hear and make use of French.
In partnership with the NCDSB, it organizes a “Concours oratoire” (a French public-speaking contest). The chapter also books French entertainers and guest speakers, and organizes activities in French.
“One year we went bowling in French and everyone had to come dressed as voyageurs,” Hebert laughed.
Grade 8 students in French Immersion have gone to Voyageurs Days in Winnipeg, and the CPF helped sponsor Fort High students who travelled to France during the March Break last year.
“We’re about giving our kids opportunities to practice their French,” Hebert said of the CPF.
It also acts as a support group for parents whose children are in French Immersion.
Hebert, a kindergarten teacher at Huffman School here, said the CPF hopes to continue to grow and expand.
“A lot of people are taking on executive positions and are willing to take leadership roles,” she said of the membership. “That’s when you know the chapter’s successful.”
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
