Introduction:

La Bressola was founded in 1976 in Perpinyà and created the first Catalan school in the modern times in Northern Catalonia (French State).

It is important to remind that, when Louis the XIV annexed this part of Catalonia, he declared that " The use of Catalan is repugnant and is contrary to the honor of the french nation. "

This declaration has inspired the french policy towards our language up until today, that is to say for more than three centuries, also with the diverse monarchies and republics.

The linguistical repression was long, patient, systematic and uninterrupted.

At school, the pupils who spoke catalan were almost always punished.

Why La Bressola:

Teaching catalan or even in catalan can have a limited meaning if it is considered as a foreign language.

Catalan is not one of the large international languages and if the pupils have to learn a language for professional or economical purposes it could be more interesting to learn English, Spanish or Russian.

The profound justification of teaching in Catalan is that even though it is not used very much it is the language of our identity in Northern Catalonia.

It is the language of symbols and although it is not official language it is felt as legitimate one.

We can consider it as a progress that Catalan is being taught more, or that there are now bilingual classes (half in French half in Catalan) in some French schools, but we have to analyse this progression in its perspective, as our ultimate goal is that Catalan will be spoken freely in daily use.

This objective, even in Southern Catalonia, where the language is spoken more and receives help from the Catalan Government (Generalitat), seems difficult to reach.

In effect social dynamics of Spanish and French, with their officiality and the systematical immigration of French or Spanish speaking people can lead these languages to a hegemony we can already find in Perpinyà.

Regarding these considerations we had to find a system of linguistical immersion which could permit not only to applicate our right of having Catalan schools but also that Catalan could be again a normally spoken language between the pupils.

On the other hand we had to avoid two traps:

-Repression like the " Soyez propres, parlez français! "(be clean speak french) or " habla en cristiano (speak Christian!) ".

-Abandon our objectives.

So we had to find a pedagogic and socio-linguistical answer to that problem.

We had to combine learning, use and multiplicating effect.

a) Learning and use

We find the following situation: almost none of the children knew Catalan when entering the school. From the very beginning we have to keep in mind our goals which, again, are to make Catalan be used. We have to remember also that social habits are normally assimilated in prime infancy that means for us in nursery schools.

First measure: When you create a school, you start it from the beginning with children from two to four years old.

Children have to be able to learn and use the language at the same time.

Actually, when we consider it, you can easily learn a language when you really have to speak it and when it is necessary to be understood.

To obtain the simultaneity of learning and using you have to limit the number of children at least when the school is created:

Second measure: The nursery school will begin with a maximum of ten children.

But that is not enough. You have to apply the official programs and maintain a motivation for using the language.

Fortunately the objectives of nursery programs can be easily adapted to our linguistic goal. Theatre, songs, tales, art and motricity (if they are always verbalised and if you always think of giving the children the vocabulary they need without the mediation of French or Spanish).

In fact, the directed activity is not the most difficult. The majority of teachers obtain a good linguistical immersion in the classrooms in Southern Catalonia.

The real challenge is playtime.

Third measure: play with children.

That means that we will play with them in the sandpit, with the toys, and we will repeat every now and then the name of each one of them.

It means also that we will ask the child who knows Catalan to teach the one who does not.

We will also anticipate the children's needs helping them to find the word or the sentence before they have to use it. eg: We will say:  " Has fet un castell " (you made a castle) so that, when they want to express themselves they can find immediately the word " castell " or any other one they need at the moment.

This way, we will teach them the catalan word, not as a duty but as a mean to give a value to what they have done.

Conflicts between pupils and the necessary acquisition of tolerance are a good means to get to the expression in catalan. We ask children to remind other children the rules, so they will say for example: " No tustem " (do not hit!), " no agafem els joguets dels companys " (do not take somebody else's toy!) and so on.

If we repeat all that all the time, children will use those sentences NOT because they have to speak catalan, but because they do not want to be hit by a schoolfellow or they do not want him to simply. throw sand at them.

These are only little examples which have to be extended to the whole school life.

Of course, the teacher has to be present all the time, at least at the beginning. Afterwards, according to the progression of the use of the taught language, his intervention will be less necessary.

Anyway, we have to remember that their surroundings are often French or Spanish and that we will have to remotivate pupils very often.

On the other hand, the teacher cannot cover all the playground so he will have to give responsabilities to the pupils who can play a teaching role.

Pupils are glad to do that because they feel older and responsible.

Later on, we will see that this method is very important for the evolution of language at school.

We will not insist now on the manner of applying programs but we have to keep in mind that they have to be adapted to the immersion system.

It often occurs that the application of programs make us forget immersion. It is absolutely necessary to combine both: programs AND immersion.

At the Catalan School " LA BRESSOLA " in Prada, this method was applied with the following results:

When the school was founded in September 1989, none of the 9 children (from two to four years old) could speak Catalan.

In February 1990 we could hear the children playing in the playground IN Catalan without thinking of it. In five months they learnt Catalan and got the habit of speaking it at the same time.

b) Multiplication

During the first period we obtained learning and using but the following challenge consisted in beginning a new school year with new pupils.

The first difficulty was that during the summer holidays the elder children had hardly spoken Catalan. At that age you can learn a language very easily but you can forget it easily too.

First measure: Start the new school year in two stages.

The pupils who were at school last year will start by themselves for the first two days so they can find the level they had got in Catalan. On the other hand we will give them a double responsability:

-To receive kindly the new children.

-To teach them Catalan as the teacher did with them before

Second measure: The new pupils will be younger than the first ones.

In order to make the task easier, it is important that the non Catalan speaking children should be younger than the catalan speaking ones so these will get the benefit of their age. The smaller ones will have a tendency to imitate the bigger ones and so try to speak the language as soon as possible.

The new children will be fewer than first ones so the responsility we give the elder ones will not be so difficult.

The teacher's task is a bit different from what it was a year ago: Now his task is above all to remind the " older pupils' " responsability.

We noticed that they were glad to do that, above all the girls.

We noticed also that, although it was still difficult, the task was easier than the first year, thanks to the linguistical basis we disposed of.

c) Growing up

From a school year to another we will adapt our way of organizing the school according to each new situation in regard of the number and age of the pupils.

In case of a normal evolution we should have a first primary level after the second year. We will remember that we always have to adapt programmes to the immersion necessities.

We will also take care of the children's different interests according to their age. The responsability system has to be adapted to the changing reality and to the " leaders' " personality.

We cannot say that there is a permanent formula. The situation is always changing, every year of course, but also in case of a new inscription.

The teacher, or the teaching team, has to be able to adapt to each new situation and create new dynamics.

d) New teachers

Such a linguistical task would be impossible without a motivated and coherent team who share the same objectives.

It is obvious that a less motivated person who would only teach in Catalan in the classroom could hardly be integrated in the project.

Employing a new teacher is a very important affair.

The Institution needs obviously the juridical means of having a good employment policy.

Thanks to the changes we made at LA BRESSOLA in 1992, our institution has now got these means.

Teachers do not come to LA BRESSOLA sent by an anonymous administration. They are chosen by the Administration Council after the Director's proposal.

If he has done his job correctly, he will have interviewed many candidats.

Normally teachers who want to work at LA BRESSOLA have to practice first in one of the schools in order to verify that the qualities showed in the curriculum are real in daily life.

The whole team has to give a substancial value to the use of the language. Without that, this value could not be really transmitted to the children.

e) Formation

One of the other big challenges is the formation of teachers who have to be prepared for such a linguistical project.

La Bressola is too small to take care of that by itself , so there is a collaboration with the other minority school Institutions: Basc Ikastolak, Calandreta (Occitan schools) and Diwan (Breton schools).

Together, we created a Teachers Formation Centre in Besièrs (Occitània).

There is a common part of formation based on official programmes and then a special formation in each language and in the linguistical system. There is also a psycholinguistical preparation thanks to Professor Jean PETIT, from the universities of REIMS (France) and CONSTANCE (Germany).

Pr PETIT studied linguistical experiences in Canada and in other parts of the world. He studied too our experience in Prada.

Thanks to the agreement that we signed in 1995 about our schools and this formation the centre is now payed by the French Government.

Conclusion

Catalan is in a dramatical situation in Northern Catalonia, its situation in Southern Catalonia is obviously much better, but the discussions in the Catalan Parliament about the new linguistical law show that this question will be hardly solved through a new legal system.

La Bressola wanted to show that it was possible to create schools in which the conditions of a natural use of the language could be generated.

It would not make sense if this experience was limited in our schools. That is why La Bressola tries to exchange experiences with south Catalan schools and also with other European minority languages.