The Portage la Prairie School Board heard from the Division's French Mentor Lindsae Goertzen last night, and she's all for having French as a mandatory subject through high school.

She expressed her thoughts on French being an optional course through High School. She says one of the biggest things is getting away from the old English-School-French a lot of people grew up with in the past.

"English-French should not be picking words out anymore," argues Goertzen. "It should be that you're coming out of French with, maybe not the same amount as from a French immersion school, but definitely comparable. If you were in a good quality French classroom (in an English school) you should be able to come out and be able to fluently speak French."

She adds it's a competitive world and anything students can do to give themselves a step up is what they need to do, and learning a second language is a great step.

Goertzen also spoke about the process of applying for the French Revitalization Grant. "We've got it for a few years now and we've just applied for next year's recently," says Goertzen. "It lets us purchase things we wouldn't necessarily have the money to purchase if we didn't get it. We buy resources, or create learning opportunities for teachers and other things like that."