No, it is not. In French language instruction (also called French “homogenous” instruction) all subjects and school activities are carried out in French (expect for any course necessary for the instruction of other languages – and then it is a mix of French and that other language). Immersion programs, on the other hand, teach part of the curriculum in one language, and part in the other: the percentage can vary widely from grade to grade and from school to school. The programs also serve very different purposes. “Immersion” is about educating a child in a second language that is not his or her mother tongue. “Minority language education” is about educating the child in the mother tongue he or she inherits from the parent, or in the language in which his or her parents or siblings were educated. Immersion programs encourage bilingualism, and they are often very successful at doing so. But the social environment of the school is one in which the majority language is spoken and used. The minority language may therefore not be fully mastered, and most students will become assimilated to the majority language. Education in French, on the other hand provides an important way to preserve and promote the minority group’s language, culture and community. It is meant to reinforce the minority language as the child’s default language and to provide a resource and focal point for the minority language community to which these children belong. It is designed to protect the minority from assimilation, to give recognition and encouragement to local minority language communities, and to allow for the survival, growth and vitality of the French language minority communities. Last Reviewed: May 2011