European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 14, 1980, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 8 the stars and stripes saturday june 14, 1980 Canadian kids Given bilingual school program b   Shaft Krilor Lahr Germany is americans in Europe often complain about language barriers but fur Many Canadian troops and their families stationed Here it s Noth ing new they face it at Home. More than two thirds of Canada s population Speaks English though both French and English Are official languages. Most of Canada used English As a working language until 1969, when Federal Laws were passed required All Canadian produced goods be lab cd in both languages and that Federal workers be bilingual. The struggle to recognize French As an equal language in Canada is one of the major issues behind the movement to secede the French speaking province of que Bec from the rest of Canada. Spreading bilingualism into Canadian schools has been a problem according to Roger Lalonde coordinator for the Bilin Gual program in the Canadian schools in Europe. English is mandatory for students in Quebec but students attending schools in the other nine English speaking prov inces learn Little or no French he said. Lalonde said the federally supervised school system in Europe has come up with a solution to the problem by forming what he Calls one of the most aggressive Canad an second language programs available to Day. Kids attending Canadian schools at Roger Lalonde Lahr and Baden Soellinger begin learning a second language in kindergarten and continue until they reach eighth Grade. Lalonde said the children get 30 minutes a Day of spoken French for the first four years of school then 40 minutes a Day of Oral and written French another four years. To graduate from the school students arc expected to have completed about 500 hours of French Over an eight year period. Because bilingualism is important to Many of the parents stationed in Germany the school started a French immersion program in 1971. In the program English speaking children Are placed in classes where Only French is spoken. The program is optional and available from kindergarten to the last year of High school. There Are 257 children enrolled in the program Lalonde said. An average child can go into that  Gram and succeed on an average level,1 he said. It gives results you can t normally achieve through a regular language  Gram. You not Only learn French As a Lan Guage you learn to work with it to live with it. One of the major problems with running a bilingual school system is offering an equal education to each language group he said. Of the 2,500 students at Lahr 400 Are French Canadian enough students to re quire a separate French language school at the Lahr school Complex. Lalonde said the teaching is the same As that received by English speaking children. However there were problems setting up the school. French teaching material is hard to come by Lalonde said. There in t the variety of material available in English where we can tap in on the whole Ameri can scene a math Book is a math Book and is by Leo halt Jime fits our needs with very Little  Lalonde said the Supply of French teaching material is limited because most publishing firms Are reluctant to print French language texts. There is a very limited Market for them Lalonde said so the ones we do get arc generally More expensive than the English  recruiting teachers has been another problem. He said most school boards want French Canadian in chars because of their command of the French language. The result has been a shortage of French Canadian teachers. Specialists Cost Money Lalonde said. Enough so that some school boards would rather do without a French  the Price of specialists has t affected the Lahr system where 80 of the 280 teachers Are either teaching French to English canadians or teaching other classes to the French canadians. Bilingual Petty officer thrives on paper work vow is Mec Zevac has savvy and a lot of patients Lucy Thomas carries on her Man duties from Roll Cubb holc.  by Mike. Spear staff writer Rota Spain is you would have to go a Long Way before finding any one More expert than Lucy Thoma s at handling medical evacuation patients. The intricate medical and transportation paper work is probably enough to keep a team of people Busy but Thomas a Petty officer second class from Brooklyn docs it All. From her cubbyhole of an office in the Hospital Here she sees to it that the sick and injured get to the proper military Doc tors and hospitals either in Germany or in the states. She docs everything from receiving the Mcd vac requests from the doctors to setting up appointments with the doctors in Germany said it. Comdr. James me Carty patient affairs officer of the Navy Hospital Here. She schedules the patients appoint ments counsels them on the medevac sys tem and what to  and when the Mcd vac plane arrives from Rhein main a Germany on tues Days and fridays she s there to put them aboard or Lake them off and she s ready for whatever the situation requires. If we have an emergency such As pre mature labor within 35 weeks of gestation we Don t have the facilities to handle that Here. So we Call in a plane from Ger Many Thomas says. They la Send a plane Down with a nurse aboard in about six  Thomas has been training . 2 Kathy Bice to do the work so there will be some one to alternate on the Job with her. Two persistent problems arc phones and records. I spend a lot of hint running in a rep res und or " no a to if a. So a to Germany. And phone Calls Are usually the worst thing. It s difficult to get through and then you get Cut  Thomas who Speaks Spanish has made herself available during off hours to Han dle a variety of emergencies. Recently a Serviceman was injured and taken to a Granada Hospital. Thomas and a doctor drove 12 hours to Granada to find out if he Man could be transferred and if a Mcd vac plane could land there. That s typical of the her willingness to help out said Mccarty. I Bonn May imprison dope pushers for life i Bonn a big Lime narcotics Deal i. Ers would face life imprisonment while and diets would receive therapy instead of Pun Ishmonl under a Bill approved by he judiciary committee of the West German parliament. Under the proposal drug offenders would be divided by Law into three categories addicts Small dealers who May also be addicts and big Lime operators. Committee members said they believed simple addicts should be treated in state hospitals rather than face confinement imprisons. Under the proposal judges would be urged to impose limited prison terms on Small dealers while Large scale narcotics offenders should feel the full Force of the Law committee member Audi so Houfberg or said. Turkish strike ends Ankara Turkey a about 7.500 municipal employees returned to their jobs 1 Turk Ash cup i i. Ending an 11-Dayi. Rick that left heaps of garbage on City