French Immersion, ya or nay? | GTAMotorcycle.com

French Immersion, ya or nay?

Norcorider

Norcorider

Well-known member
Is it still relevant? After living over a decade in Canada and Ontario, I have never felt a need to speak French and never had a problem finding a job in my field (IT) due to lack of this skill.
However, I am a believer of one being able to speak more than one language especially global languages like Spanish and French. I know intermediate level of Spanish and it took me to Latin countries on job (best days of my professional career).
Time has come to decide whether to enroll kiddo to French Immersion or not. I am getting mixed messages both online and talking to various people. I figured why not get another round of opinions on this forum and decide.

So what has your and/or your kids' experience been? Would you recommend it?
 
In peel french emersion school won't allow admission unless one of the parents speaks french . My daughter was gifted so they accepted her in to the school . Many people want their kids in the program . Many drop out and go to a regular school after one year . It's hard to learn a language when you only speak it at school for half a day . Your need to reinforce the language at home for it to take .
 
French immersion from 8am-4pm...outside of that it’s back to English.

have never met anyone that had their kids in that program more than a year. Personally I regret dropping French in high school. Would be good to have.
 
Oui.

I think it makes your brain work in different (good) ways. My wife started out studying languages and has been a senior software developer for years now. The skills are transferable.

Being fluent in French was what made my CV stand out from others when I applied for jobs 20+ years ago. I got my first position in Canada as they wanted an Anglo that could understand what the higher ups were talking about in our Quebec based spin-off company.

Plus...you’re more likely to be open to other cultures too I think.
 
My son is in french school in jk currently he is having no problems with the language at all keeps him from being bored. He could already read and write english before he started. Wife also keeps him home on Tuesday and Thursday to do math. I can't speak a word of french, wife has basic skills. We will see as he gets older he did have to pass a test to get into the school which he passed with no issues.

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Norcorider said:
Is it still relevant? After living over a decade in Canada and Ontario, I have never felt a need to speak French and never had a problem finding a job in my field (IT) due to lack of this skill.
However, I am a believer of one being able to speak more than one language especially global languages like Spanish and French. I know intermediate level of Spanish and it took me to Latin countries on job (best days of my professional career).
Time has come to decide whether to enroll kiddo to French Immersion or not. I am getting mixed messages both online and talking to various people. I figured why not get another round of opinions on this forum and decide.

So what has your and/or your kids' experience been? Would you recommend it?
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I think learning a second language early is a huge benefit. I don't care whether it is french. Just a second one. It is then a lot easier to learn a third later on. Friends have bilingual kids (english/german) and are in the same position and I recommended that they avoid french immersion. It seems to attract weird helicopter parents. They can teach their kid sufficient french at home as they are tri-lingual.

We decided not to do immersion as it would require a lottery and transfer to a different (and currently less good) school. It is really nice to go to school with your friends in the neighbourhood.

I am trying to convince my wife to work hard on french with the kids (she lived in QC for six years) but she doesn't feel her french is up to snuff. That annoys me as a) I don't expect perfection, rough french is better than no french and b) she is awesome, just not perfect and it is mainly a confidence problem not a technical one. I wake the kids up with french and they get in trouble in french but my french is barely passable so I can't keep it up throughout the day. I went to an amazing school as a kid (Pre-K to Grade 3) that put learning first. It went bankrupt as their push for inclusivity and keeping tuition low made them economically non-viable. When I went to crap school, I was not in french immersion. A french hours card follows you and I looked at in in high school and I had the same french hours as an immersion kid that dropped out in Grade 10. The overwhelming majority of those hours were before Grade 3 with Madame Pascoe. She worked hard on vocabulary and conversational french instead of the crap public curriculum which focuses on conjugation and other things that are completely useless if you don't have sufficient material to put them in.

As for one parent being fluent in french, I have never heard of that requirement for french immersion. If you want proper french school (aka part of a french school board), at least one of the parents has to pass an interview en francais to prove proficiency.
 
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From my experience in the corporate world many years ago, bilingual staff were paid more for similar non-bilingual positions.

As a teacher, I was hired even before graduation because I spoke French and Italian.

No idea what grade your kid is in, but in our board, we have two French streams...early French immersion which starts in grade 1 and extended French immersion which starts in grade 5..both programs have language, math and religion (I work for a Catholic board) in English and the other subjects in French...half day with one teacher then the other half with another teacher...no need for parents to be able to understand or speak it at home as a requirement, however that definitely helps...our board goes on a lottery system...every board is different.

Personally, I believe having the ability to speak multiple languages is an asset, regardless of whether your kid will use it in their career or not.

I also believe the child should be fairly independent, organized and responsible...it's a tough program to be in if they can't manage well in class...especially true if parents don't understand the language and can't offer help at home.
 
pfbmgd said:
In peel french emersion school won't allow admission unless one of the parents speaks french . My daughter was gifted so they accepted her in to the school . Many people want their kids in the program . Many drop out and go to a regular school after one year . It's hard to learn a language when you only speak it at school for half a day . Your need to reinforce the language at home for it to take .
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Exactly, that's why I am learning French myself. It will take me time but I think I will get there and it will give home encouragement that he is not alone in this journey.
 
ifiddles said:
From my experience in the corporate world many years ago, bilingual staff were paid more for similar non-bilingual positions.

As a teacher, I was hired even before graduation because I spoke French and Italian.

No idea what grade your kid is in, but in our board, we have two French streams...early French immersion which starts in grade 1 and extended French immersion which starts in grade 5..both programs have language, math and religion (I work for a Catholic board) in English and the other subjects in French...half day with one teacher then the other half with another teacher...no need for parents to be able to understand or speak it at home as a requirement, however that definitely helps...our board goes on a lottery system...every board is different.

Personally, I believe having the ability to speak multiple languages is an asset, regardless of whether your kid will use it in their career or not.

I also believe the child should be fairly independent, organized and responsible...it's a tough program to be in if they can't manage well in class...especially true if parents don't understand the language and can't offer help at home.
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Very well said and excellent points made. We are in Halton board , French immersion starts from grade 2. I intend to learn French myself, one part of it is my son generally takes more interests in things I do, example I had to learn ice skating myself first for him to start showing any interests and be confident. Same goes for music and now French. Being multilingual is definitely an asset in corporate life and life in general.
 
jc100 said:
Oui.

I think it makes your brain work in different (good) ways. My wife started out studying languages and has been a senior software developer for years now. The skills are transferable.

Being fluent in French was what made my CV stand out from others when I applied for jobs 20+ years ago. I got my first position in Canada as they wanted an Anglo that could understand what the higher ups were talking about in our Quebec based spin-off company.

Plus...you’re more likely to be open to other cultures too I think.
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So true... learning a language opens a door to other cultures and enables the learner to view things from different perspectives.

English is my second language. I studied other languages including French and German. But I am slowly losing them as I rarely use them. That is the challenge, don't use it then you lose it. I still hope to pick them up again one day and be fluent .... my bucket list is too long lol ....

I am facing the similar question now with my second kid on whether enroll her to French Immersion or not at this point.... My older kid didn't go but she loves French so far.... French Immersion program is not offered in my kids' school so still need to consider the pickup and drop-off from another school.
 
SoulfulStrut said:
So true... learning a language opens a door to other cultures and enables the learner to view things from different perspectives.

English is my second language. I studied other languages including French and German. But I am slowly losing them as I rarely use them. That is the challenge, don't use it then you lose it. I still hope to pick them up again one day and be fluent .... my bucket list is too long lol ....

I am facing the similar question now with my second kid on whether enroll her to French Immersion or not at this point.... My older kid didn't go but she loves French so far.... French Immersion program is not offered in my kids' school so still need to consider the pickup and drop-off from another school.
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Our school board gives you a bus to the FI school. Normal school bus stop is ~300' from house, FI stop is ~600' away.
 
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Native French speaker here. My 7yo has been in French immersion since JK. I don't think that's enough to get actual working knowledge of the language - you need to supplement by talking and/or consuming French content at home.

Watching French or dubbed movies/TV is effective before your kid can read at a more advanced level.

Constant exposure is key.

If you stick to FI/FSL programs so that your kid can check the French box on a job application later on, they likely won't be able to sustain a conversation with a native speaker. YMMV and all that.
 
No.

I remember asking my grade 4 teacher "why do I need to learn French when I know Mandarin and there are more Mandarin people than French people?" She couldn't answer.

It would have been far more practical to teach everyone Mandarin; you'd learn to read 50% of Japanese, and can communicate with Cantonese speakers via writing then.

I was pity passed in grade 9 with a 50%; I told every teacher I'm not taking French seriously and it's a waste of time. Most understood why.
 
Trials said:
Multi-lingual or to know how to sign, a huge benefit imho
wish I had the ability.
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It’s never too late. It just takes longer when you’re older.

I used to have a small crowd of locals around me when I started speaking Spanish as they wondered how someone so obviously stupid that spoke without using verbs was able to care for themselves on a daily basis and travel to far away places. Along the lines of “hey, come and listen to this gringo mangle our language”. It’s a lot better now.
 
jc100 said:
I used to have a small crowd of locals around me when I started speaking Spanish as they wondered how someone so obviously stupid that spoke without using verbs was able to care for themselves on a daily basis and travel to far away places. Along the lines of “hey, come and listen to this gringo mangle our language”. It’s a lot better now.
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I know the feeling. When I went back to Taiwan a decade ago, every store was trying to rip me off. My cousin told me to stfu and he'll talk because my accent made it obvious I wasn't native lol
 
油井緋色 said:
No.

I was pity passed in grade 9 with a 50%; I told every teacher I'm not taking French seriously and it's a waste of time. Most understood why.
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You must've had the nicer Asian parents lol.
If I dared to mention something like that, I'd have gotten my ass whooped both at school and at home.
I had to learn ~5 other languages growing up but I only remember English, lmao.
 
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