Your thoughts on French Immersion?

[Admiral Beez]

The kids are now in their Extended French program and seem to be thriving. They already know more French than I can recall from my summer in Chicoutimi in 1994. I like the combo of French and English vs. full immersion programs.

Best of all is the quality of the students and parents. It's a dirty secret that parents seek our specialized programs for their kids in order to avoid mixing with the rabble, troublemakers and disruptive "special" kids.

 

[nfitz]

It's a dirty secret that parents seek our specialized programs for their kids in order to avoid mixing with the rabble, troublemakers and disruptive "special" kids.

You seemed surprised when I implied that back on Page 2 of this thread back in 2008!

 

[James]

Nice to hear the update, Admiral Beez. My son is still years away from starting school but we're already debating the F.I. program versus English. Technically I speak French, albeit no longer fluently, but I rarely have an opportunity to speak it. I did notice that most of the better public schools are English only, which is why we're still undecided. Good to hear that it's going well for you so far.

 

[jn_12]

Best of all is the quality of the students and parents. It's a dirty secret that parents seek our specialized programs for their kids in order to avoid mixing with the rabble, troublemakers and disruptive "special" kids.

Where I did my FI program, it was basically the de facto gifted program. My elementary school became known as the "ringer" school, because we'd end up stealing the brightest and most well-rounded students from the other schools in the city. Within my class there were a few people who went on to do PHD's and many have Masters degrees. My friend's sister's FI class ended up producing 8 doctors. So I definitely think there is some truth to that idea.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Just to clarify folks, my kids are in Extended French, not true French Immersion. In Extended French half the day is in French, half in English.

BTW, what the TDSB calls Extended French is exactly what Peel Region calls FI. When Peel Region FI kids transfer to the TDSB they're not permitted to enter the FI stream due to lack of hours of French instruction.

 

[jn_12]

Just to clarify folks, my kids are in Extended French, not true French Immersion. In Extended French half the day is in French, half in English.

BTW, what the TDSB calls Extended French is exactly what Peel Region calls FI. When Peel Region FI kids transfer to the TDSB they're not permitted to enter the FI stream due to lack of hours of French instruction.

I was in Extended French (in Niagara). As far as I was aware the terms EF and FI were interchangeable, and we often used them that way. Looking back, we probably had at least a half-day's worth of french classes (French, Math, Science, Social Sciences, Geography...) while English, Phys Ed and Art/Drama classes (and probably some others that have escaped my mind) were all in English. Not sure how many hours that would equal, but I was never aware of the difference. Once in high school the percentage of french classes we had to take in EF was 50% for grade 9 and 10 and 25% for grade 11 and 12.

The funny thing is, I left the program for a year in grade 9, and re-entered in grade 10, which technically wasn't allowed. They said I could only re-enter if I was okay with not getting my bilingual certificate at the end of it because of the year I missed (which i was fine with). When it came time to graduate, that fact slipped through the cracks and I was given my bilingual certificate anyways.

 

[Tewder]

French? You may as well enroll them in all day latin... do yourselves a favour and teach your kids Mandarin!

 

[Admiral Beez]

French? You may as well enroll them in all day latin... do yourselves a favour and teach your kids Mandarin!

I wish they could take Latin as well as French. One of my best friends is a doctor in Germany, and he's fluent in English, German, Latin and Greek, all of which he learned in his regular schooling, not university. The last two you may consider useless, but in his mind Latin especially is crucial for understanding the scientific and natural world.

As for Mandarin, there's only two countries that speaks that language, and anyone who trades with the west can speak English. I've been doing business with China since 1997, and have travelled there three times, and never had language issues. It's the same as doing business in India, do you think you need to speak Hindi or another of their languages to succeed in business?

That's not to say I would mind a Mandarin course. What I am doing is seizing the opportunities that are available for higher learning in the TDSB. If there was Latin, they'd likely be signed up for that too. They don't even teach English grammar or proper sentence structure any more, so there's little hope for Mandarin.

 

[PinkLucy]

French? You may as well enroll them in all day latin... do yourselves a favour and teach your kids Mandarin!

Both my kids are now young adults (mid 20s) and both grew up bilingual English/French. They've both founds jobs where being bilingual helped them get hired. Bilingualism wasn't even listed as a job requirement/qualification, but it was cited as a reason each of them got hired because of business relationships in Quebec.

 

[lavender2012]

marqué

 

[C-Kay]

Reviving this thread as I will soon have to decide which school to send my son to.
I was wondering if you or anyone you know of has been to a French elementary school followed by French immersion while at an English high School, how bilingual are you? Did you find it difficult to adjust?

I would like my son to be bilingual like my husband and myself. We both did French Immersion and French is our main language. We speak French at home, watch TV and listen to radio in both French and English. My son watches his cartoons only in French with minimal English. He goes to an English daycare and we noticed that he speaks more English now, although he understands when we speak French to him. Because he speaks more English, we are thinking about sending him to a French Catholic Elementary School and have him do outside school activities in English.

The English Catholic High School in our neighbourhood is much better compared to the French High school and because we would like subjects like Maths and Science to be taught in English (so we can help because we did these subjects in English), we're thinking English High School with French Immersion is the way to go.
He will still exposure to French at school and at home, but will also be able to improve his English and learn Maths and Science in English.

Your thoughts?

 

[PinkLucy]

My kids attended elementary school in French. My son attended high school and one year of university in French. My daughter switched to the English high school in Grade 10. She found it an adjustment for the first few months.

 

[Admiral Beez]

It is neat to see how much French my kids have picked up since starting Extended French in Sept. Little sponges. I definitely think I made the right decision for my kids, as their proficiency in English is very good due to their exclusively English-based schooling from JK to Grade 3, and now their French is taking off due to their 50/50 French/English schooling in Grade 4.

Just IMO, but I think all of English-Canada could benefit from Extended French education. You build a strong foundation in English, and then from the age of nine onwards spend 50% of your day in French, while not neglecting continued advancement in English. Core French OTOH is near useless, in my experience.

 

[UserNameToronto]

Where is Extended French available? Sprucecourt is full-English, and Winchester (to my knowledge) is French Immersion, where instruction is 100% in French.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Where is Extended French available? Sprucecourt is full-English, and Winchester (to my knowledge) is French Immersion, where instruction is 100% in French.

There are 28 elementary schools in the TDSB that offer junior (grade 4 entry) Extended French. The TDSB offers busing for Grade 4 and 5, and then provides TTC tickets for Grade 6-8.

Go to http://www.tdsb.on.ca/programs/french/default.asp?cat=2 and click on Junior Extended French for the locations.

After elementary school, there are 13 secondary schools that offer Extended French so that your kid(s) can continue the program right through Grade 4 to 12.

I recommend staying away from Winchester PS. I know tons of families who have abandoned the place for Rosedale PS, Lady Lourdes and a very few to Spruce Court. I suppose if you want FI then you need to accept whatever FI school is in your area, but I'd look elsewhere. One thing I've heard is that it takes 4 SK FI kids to make 1 Grade 8 FI graduate, as 3/4 drop out before end of Grade 8. Thus when they tell you that the Anglophone-only kids do okay in the program, it's true, but this is somewhat dishonest because 75% of the initial SK kids have been culled. However, remember that this is just one person's (mine) opinion, so make sure to attend the parent nights at Winchester, talk to other FI parents, teachers and the principal - I imagine there are tons of parents very pleased with FI at Winchester PS.

One of my friends teaches at Spruce Court and the new principal is one of the very best I've encountered, so for English only Spruce is good, and it's changed to JK to 8 now so you'd be in the one place for schooling up to end of Gr 8.