Canadian Parents for French PEI looks to promote French outside of school

A symposium is being held at UPEI Wednesday to look at ways to get people to live more fully in French.

Canadian Parents for French PEI is one of the groups organizing the event, called The Consultation on Culture and Language Learning 2015: Perspective for the Future.

Gail Lecky, the non-profit group's executive director, said one of the things they'll be looking at is ways of getting French immersion students to use the language outside of school hours.

Lecky said students should be practicing the language more, or they could lose it.

"When we have our French Immersion information sessions for example for parents and students, I always say you know I've never met anybody that wished they didn't speak two languages or more," she said.

"It's quite a gift and I think it's something that needs to be shared and needs to be used."

Lecky said there are plenty of job opportunities for people who are bilingual, and she points to a shortage of French teachers on P.E.I.

Sixty-five delegates from a number of organizations are taking part in the symposium.

Lecky said they plan to come up with an action plan, and have made a commitment to get together again in six months to check on progress