Your thoughts on French Immersion?

[Admiral Beez]

Cari, I'll send you a PM.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Looks like another neighbourhood is losing its school to the FI wave.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...ng-english-studentselsewhere/article33544187/

This is exactly what happened to the English-stream kids at Winchester PS.

 

[Kyle Williams]

I myself went to a Primary and Secondary education in French and learned English as a second language and there are a few things I would like to add! Our Core English class is similar to the first language English in exception that for example, the English we were taught in grade 12 for example argue it is somewhat the same level as grade 11 first language English and somewhat the same as first language English 12 as well! In other words, were at a similar level than first language English and what is funny is that I was only taught English as of grade 5 and up under the old system but lucky for me, already knew English pretty well as a kid and to add things even more, when they changed the start of teaching English from 5 to grade 3 to begin English second language, there was reports we would of been behind since in grade 7 and 8 and higher changed the level to harder and was meant for grade 3 to 12 and not 5-12, however, we did it like a boss and did as well as if we started in grade 3 and some reports even shows we did better than the ones who start in grade 3! I forgot to add that we also have 2 different English levels and the easier one is meant towards the ones in the old 5-12 grade system and or the people who are weak in English similar to core French but the harder Level is meant for people who are intermediate plus, advanced and superior! I myself was advanced at the time in grade 10 when I was scored but would now be considered Superior if retested since at the time, i had a much thicker accent and can now pass as either french or English as long as if i spoke English, I would change my accent a bit and losing the thick accent in English which I was able to do thanks to college! The harder English was meant to be at similar levels than first language English which it was since we were taught shakespear, some pre university level projects in grade 12 and of course practice our English!

Now as for french, i heard core french is not even close to our french while french immersion is similar or if you were a 80s-90s kid actually harder than first language french! My french was hard since it was a first language but it was a very good advantage for me to learn it and I was born as a French and English Mother tongue since i was taught both at a similar age, however, i may have a slightly bigger back ground in french but i am slightly stronger in English which is weird! The only thing I wish was that in grade 9, I could of went to an English High School to improve my English and could of helped me for Math and Science since I did struggle in French from grade 8 and later on as far as for some wording since during around those times, our french was becoming like the France/Quebec level and we were used to the new brunswick french and most were ok in my class but I did struggle since I was more new brunswick/acadien French since my family was Chiac which was a mixed of English and french and or french and or english! I happen to be more chiac, acadien French and English around 8th grade!

I myself believe that we should have a system where french and english should actually be taught both as mother tongues or that if we keep both languages as separate schools we should have a 30-70, 40-60 , 50/50 system and that both english and french are taught!

For example, in french schools, have math as (optional english or french), science, history and french as the french courses, english, physical ed, music, art( as optional french or english), should be english!

In the english system, English, History and Science as english, Math optional English or French, Physical Ed, Music, French for French and Art as an optional English or french course!

If we did the first 2 language mother tongue system, it would be a 50/50 system, however, it would begin with 1-2 english, 3-4 for french, 5-8 50/50 system in exception with Math and Science being offered in english or french, 9-12 an optional english only or french only stream or remain in 50/50 system as same options for math and science for english or french! Just my opinion but i believe the two options would be better than french immersion or french and english core!

 

[Hugh Jass]

I'm from Quebec. I speak French and have rarely had to use it in the 17 years I have been here. I wouldn't put my kids in FI, I see no point in doing so unless we lived in Quebec or we were moving to France.

 

[narduch]

I'm from Quebec. I speak French and have rarely had to use it in the 17 years I have been here. I wouldn't put my kids in FI, I see no point in doing so unless we lived in Quebec or we were moving to France.

A lot of people here use it as a way to send their kids to private school, without paying for private school.

 

[PinkLucy]

My husband is French, my kids went to French school (not immersion). They all use it at work on a regular basis dealing with customers/clients. My son got his job because he's bilingual. He recently got a promotion because he's bilingual. The ability to speak two languages is a good thing just in terms of how your brain works. I know someone who sends their child to a Mandarin day care so she can learn a second language.

 

[Admiral Beez]

My husband is French, my kids went to French school (not immersion). They all use it at work on a regular basis dealing with customers/clients. My son got his job because he's bilingual. He recently got a promotion because he's bilingual. The ability to speak two languages is a good thing just in terms of how your brain works. I know someone who sends their child to a Mandarin day care so she can learn a second language.

I wish I spoke other languages. I direct international sales for a multimillion $ food company, a role which takes me to many countries, and I often need a translator. Interestingly, never in China, where every business contact spoke English, but in Korea and Taiwan I was lost without Google Translate on the fly and a human interpreter for the meetings.

I took Spanish in ConEd when I started this career in the 1990s, but it never stuck. My hope with my kids in extended French is that they'll carry French on into adulthood, but both have told me they can't wait to be shod of French, so I'm not holding hope there.

 

[Hugh Jass]

I guess to some degree I have been able to land jobs because I could speak it, but, I wouldn't say it gave me a major edge. I had no idea FI could be used as an alternative to private school? How does that work? I'm not really familiar with the educational system here on Ontario. I still can't get my head around why public school is called public school but Catholic Schools aren't? In Quebec it's between French and English. They have protestant school or Catholic.

 

[Admiral Beez]

I had no idea FI could be used as an alternative to private school? How does that work?

I think this refers to streaming your kids away from the mouth poor, delayed or otherwise disruptive students. It was certainly a top motivation of ours for sending our kids to EF.

 

[SunriseChampion]

I was born here but English wasn't my first language. I also started "middle" FI in Gr 5 and then did extended French in secondary (as well as Italian) and studied French and German at university.
I know I had an advantage by first learning a third language, but studying French that early in life also helped make studying Italian and German easier later on. I did a lot better than my peers in my Italian and German classes because I had a background learning languages at an earlier age whilst the vast majority of them were studying said languages as a second, or maybe third.
That, and French is a beautiful language so I'm glad my parents put me in it when they did. I am forever grateful.
I don't speak French much (very rarely with a couple of friends, but I don't see them very often), but I still read and listen to French on radio on TV. Then again, I speak Italian and German even less.
The saddest thing is learning a language and then slowly losing ability to use it. Ah well, I still find I pick up languages a bit easier.
I started teaching myself how to read the Cyrillic alphabet and started trying to read Russian a couple of years ago. Helps that my mother tongue is a Western Slavic one.
I want to do Mohawk next.....and maybe Arabic, but I'm still dealing with Cyrillic so that can wait.

I should also add that my mother tongue is Czech which means I am also rather fluent in Slovakian and can deal with Polish pretty well.

The younger you learn multiple languages, the better you become at retaining that knowledge as well as being able to add to it in future.

 

[SunriseChampion]

I think this refers to streaming your kids away from the mouth poor, delayed or otherwise disruptive students. It was certainly a top motivation of ours for sending our kids to EF.

There were plenty of those in my primary school Middle FI classes. I even got sent to a school in wealthy neighbourhood. I may or may not have been one of the disruptive ones.
I'm not sure it acts too well as a pseudo-private school.

 

[SunriseChampion]

My husband is French, my kids went to French school (not immersion). They all use it at work on a regular basis dealing with customers/clients. My son got his job because he's bilingual. He recently got a promotion because he's bilingual. The ability to speak two languages is a good thing just in terms of how your brain works. I know someone who sends their child to a Mandarin day care so she can learn a second language.

Best believe that if I ever have kids (highly doubtful at the rate I'm going, alas) that they're studying intensive French, learning my mother tongue, and a fourth somewhere in there as well. The more the better, the younger the better so they retain the most.

 

[SunriseChampion]

My hope with my kids in extended French is that they'll carry French on into adulthood, but both have told me they can't wait to be shod of French, so I'm not holding hope there.

That's unfortunate. Shitty teachers, perhaps?

Unlike the piano lessons that were foisted on me at a younger age, I don't remember having a problem suddenly having to start at another school after Gr 4 just to do French at a higher level. (That and gifted, which I promptly got kicked out of for refusing to do a certain end of year project...the rebel inside me started young).

 

[Filip]

I was born here but English wasn't my first language. I also started "middle" FI in Gr 5 and then did extended French in secondary (as well as Italian) and studied French and German at university.
I know I had an advantage by first learning a third language, but studying French that early in life also helped make studying Italian and German easier later on. I did a lot better than my peers in my Italian and German classes because I had a background learning languages at an earlier age whilst the vast majority of them were studying said languages as a second, or maybe third.
That, and French is a beautiful language so I'm glad my parents put me in it when they did. I am forever grateful.
I don't speak French much (very rarely with a couple of friends, but I don't see them very often), but I still read and listen to French on radio on TV. Then again, I speak Italian and German even less.
The saddest thing is learning a language and then slowly losing ability to use it. Ah well, I still find I pick up languages a bit easier.
I started teaching myself how to read the Cyrillic alphabet and started trying to read Russian a couple of years ago. Helps that my mother tongue is a Western Slavic one.
I want to do Mohawk next.....and maybe Arabic, but I'm still dealing with Cyrillic so that can wait.

I should also add that my mother tongue is Czech which means I am also rather fluent in Slovakian and can deal with Polish pretty well.

The younger you learn multiple languages, the better you become at retaining that knowledge as well as being able to add to it in future.

Interesting... You and I have a very similar set of languages and background. (Not to mention you're two blocks away from me).

 

[SunriseChampion]

Interesting... You and I have a very similar set of languages and background. (Not to mention you're two blocks away from me).

....and I reckon we're roughly the same age (early to mid 30s).

That is interesting indeed.