Media Press Releases 26th Annual Finals of Public Speaking Competition Brings Hundreds of BC Children Together
| 26th Annual Finals of Public Speaking Competition Brings Hundreds of BC Children Together |
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Released: April 28, 2009 Vancouver – Over 240 students from across BC will take part in the British Columbia finals of the national public speaking contest, Concours, on Saturday May 2nd at Simon Fraser University Surrey. Organized by the BC & Yukon Branch of Canadian Parents for French, Concours offers university entrance scholarships, books, medals an a host of other awards, with Grade 12 winners going on to Ottawa to compete in the National finals for a $20,000 scholarship to the University of Ottawa. This public speaking competition is open to youth from grades six through 12 who are studying French in the French Immersion, Core French, Intensive French or Francophone programs, and who have won their school district finals. Over 10,000 children take part in Concours in our province, and hundreds of thousands across Canada, making Concours one of the largest public-speaking events of its type in the country. In the first year of Concours, there were 500 students in French Immersion in BC. Now, 26 years later, there are 42,500 and the program has just posted an eleventh consecutive of growth. Meanwhile, the Yukon has seen an explosion in French Immersion enrolment at the elementary level. Other French language programs are expanding, notably the Francophone program with 4,200 children in 40 schools across the province. In step with Concours, the BC & Yukon Branch of Canadian Parents for French has also grown exponentially. In 2002, it had 5,000 members. Seven years later, it is very near to having doubled that number, with 1,600 new members in 2008 alone. BC & Yukon now accounts for well over a third of the national CPF membership, establishing the BC & Yukon grassroots as the most dynamic in the country. Canadian Parents for French-BC & Yukon is a non-governmental, parent-led organization promoting French-second-language educational and cultural learning opportunities for youth. Source: Robert Rothon, Executive Director ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) Toll free: 1-866-257-7970 BC & Yukon
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