My children went to French language schools (in Toronto) and, as a result, are bilingual. This has been a huge advantage to them, they had a broader choice of universities, a wider choice of places to live and, in the case of the one who stayed in Canada, an important advantage at university (she was on two debating teams, one in each language) and in the workplace (she had the option of working for the Feds, something her fellow students did not).

I can't see why you wouldn't try FI, as jericho says, you always have the option to stop it but only one chance to start.

A good point. Thanks for your comments.

We would have never thought of French Immersion except that our catchment school was a French Immersion school. To do English, they would have had to go an extra mile down the road. So with the though dbd33 had about you have one change to start but always the option to stop, we went for it (there is late French Immersion here starting at grade 7 but it takes a couple of years to catch up to those who started in Kindergarten).

It has been a good experience. Most people over here (me included) know 1 language. Which is kind of embarrassing really. I figure even if they never use French in a day to day setting, it really can't hurt. I believe education is good even if its just for the sake of education so every little bit adds up to what you become. of course it also makes sense if your smart about your education so you can find a job one day. Again, knowing another language can only be a benefit.

It hasn't appeared to be any more or less academic than just doing it in English. In elementary school, all classes are in French except English language arts of course. In Jr. high, some classes are in English, some in French (I don't remember which but it probably depends on the school board or province). And in Highschool, more classes are in English than in French.

And in Canada, if you are going to pick up a second language, French makes sense.

Interessant. Didn't know that there were two entry points.

I think this is an important point, one of my daughters went on to learn Spanish, another now uses Italian every day. They both say that knowing two languages from the beginning was an asset in learning a third. I suppose this is only true if the third language is a European one but, still, it's not like putting French in your head causes something else to be knocked out; you don't learn French and stop being able to bake. For a child, all learning is good learning.

I agree completely about the advantages of having a second language, but from personal experience, having a second one, acquired in adulthood, does block out the acquisition of a third.

You spend a lot of time learning to be able to think in the second one, and then, IME, a longer time trying to stop.

You've no idea how silly it can be to try to speak French using German sentence structures.

Hi Maplease

We moved to NL when my son was 7 and had just completed Year 2 in the UK -- we had to chose whether he would start school here in Grade 3 (where he was academically) or Grade 2 (where he would be the same age as his peers who started school age 5, not 4).

We chose to have him start in Grade 2 and it worked very well for him, it took a few weeks to get settled but he did great. With regards to French Immersion, we were told almost exactly what Lychee noted so we enrolled him in English with a view to starting Late Immersion at Junior High.

Fast forward 5 years (that flew by!) and son is now in Grade 7, he entered LI in Sept and is doing really well. I was amazed when his first few test papers started coming home and I saw what he had completed in Science and Social Studies etc all written in French. He loves the program and it seems to suit him, and as an added bonus, I can't help with homework

TG




Note that children who begin French Immersion at a young age will absorb the language by osmosis as they do with anything they're given at that age. Children who begin French Immersion in Grade 6 learn it by rigorous grammar lessons - they learn the grammatical structure behind the language, etc. They've also had 6 years of practicing English - spelling, grammar, writing, etc.

When the late French Immersion students and the early French Immersion students meet up in grade 8 to start secondary school, often the early French Immersion students have the better French speaking skills, but they're behind the late French Immersion students in writing/grammar and spelling in both English and French. However, by the end of grade 12, both late and early French Immersion graduate the same level.[/quote]

Thanks for all your advice

My elder daughter is currently in FI and its been very positive for her. Based on her experience it seems a lot easier to start it in JK or G1 and gradually become immersed than it is to be dropped in the deep end at G4 or 5. She started in JK but we later switched boards to one thats started in G4. As a consequence of the switch her younger sister did a year of FI (JK), but is now back in an english stream (bored) until G4 comes around, at which point we worry how easily she will take to french without the slowly slowly introduction that her sister benefited from.

It is very gratifying though to have a 10 year old who can effortlessly and confidently switch between English and French and who is happy and challenged at school. She says mostly she thinks in English, but is now finding that she slips into thinking in french more often as the work becomes more challenging. As a parent though FI is not without its challenges when neither parent is good at French (although I did just scrape a pass in my French O level back in the 80s)

+ 1

In our situation both children (now 16 and 12) have been in french immersion since SK (age 5). They are both bi-lingual AFAIK, and will continue in FI until the end of high school. We have been in france and quebec and they can understand all of the conversations and signage. The 16 year old has had tutoring and baby sitting jobs due to her french language skills.

Keep in mind that most FI programmes in Canada teach french from France rather than from Quebec.

I would certainly hope so.

the only issues I have heard of are:

-kids that struggle academically can feel like failures when switched to english from french and that the FI stream is not good for kids with learning issues

-one of my friends is tutoring an ex-FI student, now adult, whose english-essay writing skills are not up to scratch

-I just wonder about science/maths careers. It would be interesting to know what the effect of FI is in terms of career choice etc. I met an ex-FI student (now adult) who felt FI screwed this (science) up as terms were learnt in french rather than english which is, after all, the language most research is written in.

Can't really see an advantage in BC - I know quite a few ex-FI students who never use their french.

My daughter in Canada is in Vancouver. Advantages of being bilngual to her in BC that I know of include:

- academic advancement, UBC participates in competitions with other universities in English and in French, as a bilingual student she was able to participate in two sets of teams. All exposure to competition on behalf of your school raises your profile within the school and possibly beyond the school.

- ease of finding part time work, she turned up at the French Canadian cultural centre, opened her gob and was employed as the receptionist. This, it seems, is an ideal job for a student with a heavy course load as there is little or no French Canadian culture in BC.

- ease of finding permanent work, she's employed by the local equivalent of the Department of Public Prosecutions. It's a Federal agency and so acts affirmitively to advantage francophones.

In short, French has been an advantage in Vancouver in a way it would not be in Montreal where bilingual Canadians are a sou a dozen or some such chose.

On a purely practical note, which ever way around you pick up a cereal box you're always going to be able to read the ingredients. That right there is literally going to save you minuets over the course of a lifetime.

I would recommend Mandarin or Spanish the way the world is going.