Tell me about French Immersion

[dianna11]

Many people in our neighborhood send their kids to sk-gr 6 French Immersion. It's a good program, the kids love it, and apparently, they don't water down the curriculum to accommodate the language.

I am curious though, how well being in French Immersion translates to a regular high school. I have some friends who graduated high school with their bilingual diploma, but none went to post secondary - so I'm not sure how people who have started out in one system integrate into another later on.

ANy thoughts?

[CarrieMF]

My knowledge of FI is limited based on talking to people whose kids go to it here.

They are behind in basic english skills until late elementary & then they catch up.

If the school only goes to Grade 6 find out what happens for French in Grades 7-9 as their skills would be higher than what is taught in Core French in those grades. French in 10-12 is optional here.

As for going of to college &/or work years unless you live in certain areas of Canada(Ontario & Quebec mostly) or you work for the gov't, or are planning on teaching French, as a language French isn't necessary

Here the FI schools are run by the public Catholic school division which has mandatory religion classes, mass & really strict dress codes so my kids go to regular public.

[kathymuggle]

Find out whether the school has single track or dual track.

Single track - only a French immersion school. This means if your child does not do well in immersion, you rchild will have to go to a new school. This is particularly probelmatic if you have multiple kids - the odds of one not working out in Fr. immersion are high - and then you would have kids at 2 different schools.

Dual track. French immersion and core exist in the same school.

As per whether french immersion is a good idea - it depends on your DC. It is easier on children who are not perfectionistic - (a certain flexibility and risk taking is essential to learning a language). It also helps if your DC is a little bright (not necessarily gifted). TBH - academically strong children often take Fr. immersion while less academically strong kids do not. It can lead to problems in classrooms of segregation and stigma. Administrators deny this and strive hard to fight against this, but I think some of it is inevitable.

My own opinion (which is not shared by many) is that french immersion does not work. I say this as someone who speaks french, and has met adults that went through french immersion. Long story short - French is one of those things where you "use it or lose it". Unless they have and maintain other French outlets into their adult lives - they will forget much of what they learn.

It may help form synapses in the brain - perhaps they will relearn it easier later.

Despite the above ramblings, I would like to re-iterate the single/dual tracking is big. Ask the school what it is and if they have any plans to change it in the future (for example - there are 2 schools in this area that are currently dual track, but are slated to become single track in 1 year)

Good luck!

kathy

[the_lissa]

A lot of my friends from high school went to a french immersion program in elem. school. Some of course went to a french immersion high school. They all went on to university. I'm not sure what you're asking?

[sweetsadie77]

I went to french immersion through grade eight. I don't think my english language suffered, learning a second language helps in primary language skills as well. I also feel that is made learning a third language, spanish, way easier as I had a good grounding in grammar and they're similiar language.

I'm glad I was sent to french immersion at four, I don't even remember french as being something I had to learn it just happenede through being immersed.

That being said eighteen years years later I am not comfortable with speaking french in public, but I can still understand it pretty well.

Good luck in your decision.

[Blu Razzberri]

I'm also unsure of what you're asking. I'll reply as best as I can. I'm not subscribing to this thread, so feel free to PM me if you have any questions for me.

I went to french school from kindergarten to grade 8; then I went to a french high school. My four siblings did the same. We learned everything the kids in english schools learned, but we learned it in french. So basically, the math teacher (for example) taught us the same math at the same level as our english school friends; but his lessons were taught in french and our text books were written in french.

Many of my elementary school classmates went on to english high schools. The transition wasn't difficult in any way, because grade 8 grads of both french and english elementary schools are at the same level academically.

My son is about to start his second year (Kindergarten) in a french school. It was strange for him at first, but as his first year progressed, he got much better at understanding and communicating in french, despite not having any previous interaction in french. I still laugh when my grandmother tries to tell me things in french to "hide" it from DS; because he can understand her and she doesn't seem to get that yet.

[Keeping up]

I have a lot of questions about french immersion as well - I got some answers from parents but mainly went on gut instinct and sent my children to the local public english school.

My thoughts are likely uninformed and perhaps tremendously biased as I went to FRENCH school (and not french immersion - all french, no english at all until grade5 when I went) from Grade 3 until Grade 10. I am anglophone and had never spoken a word of french prior to the all french school. I was sent to the school (public catholic french) because it was skip a grade or go to french - I was too 'young' & immature as a November baby to skip according to my parents (and I completely agree now - I would do the same.)

I don't see how a kiddo will do well in an pseudo-french program, principally taught by english speaking (first language) teachers as is common in Toronto. I think the best approach would be to send the child to an all french school (which in Ontario if one parent isn't french speaking - you can't get into). If they are sufficiently bright at a very young age, they will absorb the 100% challenge of french without an issue (akin to the Toronto French school model). If not, then they should stick to a one language school. (perhaps a bit harsh)

I have heard that the kiddos aren't involved in EQAO testing(standardized testing) in grade 3 or grade 6 because they are neither sufficiently competent in english or french to write the english or french test. I can't say I like standardized testing - but it would concern me that these children aren't able to do the test because they lack the skills.

I thought about sending my children to the local french school (not immersion) as with a bit of practice, I could qualify as bilingual again. I chose against it mainly because of the strength of the local public english school and my husband's preference not to put them in a franco-program. I hope I don't regret it.

Originally Posted by Blu Razzberri

Many of my elementary school classmates went on to english high schools. The transition wasn't difficult in any way, because grade 8 grads of both french and english elementary schools are at the same level academically.

However - I completely agree with the above - easy transition. I switched from an all french highschool (only english was taught in english, obviously) in Grade 10 to an an all english school. I never missed a beat. My written english was very weak - but I was more of a math/science girl so can't entirely blame my weak written skills on french school. It took me a few terms of english courses to get my english grades into the 80s - but I did it with a bit of exposure.

[tuffykenwell]

We are in Sudbury which has a very large french population (about 30% of the population is french speaking) so my perspective might be a bit different. My son started French Immersion last year. He started in a JK class because the SK classroom was full and he transitioned to SK in March. He has done amazing. He can already read at about a 3rd grade level in English so I am not really worried about that but he is also a beginning reader in French and his understanding of French is very impressive and he is very willing to practice his French skills (he speaks a lot of Fr-english at home...using the french words that he knows and filling in the gaps with english). DH and I encourage him with this and even though our french skills aren't that strong we still read stories in French and offer support in any ways that we can.

The kids in our board do participate in EQAO in grades 3 and 6 though I think assessing them in grade 3 is less than useful because they don't start English language instruction until grade 3 (ie reading in English...they do have an english component before then but they don't teach reading until grade 3). They do the EQAO testing of the kids in English which I think puts them at a disadvantage in grade 3 (though based on the testing by grade 6 it appears they have all "caught up" in English).

In our board they start Science in English in grade 3 and Math in English in grade 5. That satisfies me because by the time my French skills are exhausted in Math it will be in English so helping won't be a problem LOL.

Most of our teachers are native French speakers so we don't have the issues that happen in some boards in Southern Ontario where French teachers are more of a rarity.

Steph

[sanguine_speed]

My grade 2 student has been in french immersion for 2 years, and this will be her third. Her English is as good as anyone's. She reads chapter books in English and French. We live in a community where bilingualism is a huge advantage career-wise, and knowing what we do about how much more easily children can learn a second language versus adults, it was a no-brainer for us.