By Lyonel Doherty

French immersion student Ethan Pearle harvests a cluster of grapes at Le Vieux Pin winery. (Photo by Lyonel Doherty)

A new partnership between Tuc-el-Nuit Elementary School and Le Vieux Pin winery is off to a great start.

On Wednesday, students in Deirdre Simpson’s Grade 6-7 French immersion class picked several bins of grapes and began the process of making wine, while learning more French along the way.

“It is an excellent opportunity for the French immersion students to experience French language and culture through real-world experiences,” Simpson said.

And who better to provide that experience than Le Vieux Pin managing partner and winemaker Severine Pinte from France.

Pinte said she always had this dream to teach school children about the wine business.

“The wine industry is so permanent in the valley that I thought if we could link a bit of teaching and a little bit of fun.”

Pinte believes that teamwork and respecting each other are important qualities for students to learn.

“I’m trying to touch base with every aspect of the curriculum in French and English.”

She noted the ultimate goal of the two-year project is to have the students create a label and apply it to the bottles of wine made from the grapes they picked.

Simpson said the project will touch on career education, math, science, social studies and art. She noted the wine label will be created by the students through an art contest.

Student Kyra Linders said it was fun picking the grapes and watching them go through a long tube during processing.

“We even got to try some grape juice,” she said, adding she is looking forward to watching the entire process of how the wine is made.

It’s also cool to learn a second language, Linders pointed out.

Fellow student Rocky Toon (Grade 6) said he enjoyed cutting the grapes from the vines and seeing how they are processed in the machines.

When asked if he would like picking grapes on a full-time basis, Toon said he wouldn’t.

But like Linders, he likes the fact he’s learning another language.

“French is the other (official) language in Canada, and I really like speaking it.”

Winemaker Severine Pinte answers a question during a school tour of Le Vieux Pin. (Photo by Lyonel Doherty)

 

 

 

 

 

 

French immersion students from Tuc-el-Nuit Elementary are fascinated with a hose filled with grapes at Le Vieux Pin winery. (Photo by Lyonel Doherty)