Re: French Immersion School vs. main stream schoo??
 

[QUOTE=Oink;11813121]Beware that people here use French immersion programs as a way of avoiding special needs, aboriginal or ESL children, thus spaces are competitive. If they were my children I’d try an enrichment program that focuses on computer science or at the very least one that uses a STEAM curriculum. IMO, modeling and programming literacies are going to be far more valuable than French.[/QUOTE

My Canadian neice was put in French immersion for this very reason. Frasier valley . She did very well academically. But always said when they went to Quebec and France it was of little use as their accent and pronunciation were just not right. Her sister who only did some years in it says the same.

Re: French Immersion School vs. main stream schoo??
 

Little use in both Quebec and France, that's going some. Was her teacher from Nova Scotia?

Re: French Immersion School vs. main stream schoo??
 

[QUOTE=jad n rich;11816459]Accents are different sure, but they're not unintelligible to each other by any means. If you live in France, or Quebec, I can imagine being able to speak French would ne a distinct advantage; especially in France. I think DBD may be onto something if the teacher was from Nova Scotia or similar (Chad or Mali perhaps - I think they speak French too).

Re: French Immersion School vs. main stream schoo??
 

Likely New Brunswick. But an accent issue isn't a big deal. I barely understand you in real life but more importantly I've embarrassingly discovered that after 40+ years of not living in Newcastle I hardly understand Geordies. (Many of whom are Chinese or Syrians these days).

Re: French Immersion School vs. main stream schoo??
 

I thought of NS because the poster who lived in Yarmouth and has since moved to Barrie reported not being able to understand the Acadians in NS at all despite being fluent in French. I suppose it might be the same in NB.

I don't fear not understanding Londoners, I fear them not understanding the Americanised accent I have now. I suppose the sino-Geordies think you foreign too, a mid-Atlantic speaker in the manner of Niles Crane.

Re: French Immersion School vs. main stream schoo??
 

I'd rather hoped for his brother, but yes, you're right. I'll have to get used to buying petrol at the garage and such all over again.

Re: French Immersion School vs. main stream schoo??
 

[apologies for long post. I missed the beginning of this thread or I'd have jumped in earlier!]

Some interesting points in this thread. I think it's worth pointing out, in case it's not obvious from previous posts, that "French Immersion" covers a wide variety of programs, with varying degrees of French-language instruction, often depending on which grade the immersion starts. I don't know the system for BC, but my local board here in southern Ontario has been having a lively debate about the future of FI programming, which has been moderately enlightening to somebody with three kids in the FI stream but no prior knowledge of the minutiae.

In Ontario at least, to count as an FI education, a certain number of hours of instruction must be given in French. For early (SK or Grade 1) immersion, continuing until at least Gr8, this equates to roughly half of tuition being given in French. Another option is for a Gr4 immersion, where in order to meet the instruction-hours requirement, something like 80% of instruction is given in French. Obviously this changes the subject matter mix that is taught in each language. For any entry point into immersion beyond Gr5, endeavouring to get a FI education would limit one's choice of high school program to one that includes FI instruction options. About half of high school curriculum in this area is available in French.

At my kids' school, much of the liberal arts and social sciences curriculum is given in French (plus of course "French Language Arts", with English tuition in maths, some science subjects, music, PE, and English. In most grades, each class has a home-room teacher in either the English or the French stream, and is paired with a "switch class" with a teacher in the other stream; the timetable works on a two-week rotation such that every other week the morning instruction is in English and the afternoon in French, and vice versa. In one year, my eldest had a bilingually-qualified teacher who took both streams, and we found that the ability to seamlessly cross over between the "morning" language and "afternoon" language was a major advantage in comprehension of both French vocabulary and the subject matter.

In previous threads on this subject, it's also been clear that the FI program is a much more politically pointed issue in BC than in Ontario. The use of FI programming to avoid immigrant, ESL, SEN and First Nations children seems to be a major bone of contention for funding and classroom provision in BC; the system in Ontario seems to be a little less unbalanced, although there are some school boards in regions with a high ESL population, for example, where the FI program sucks up a disproportionate proportion of funding considering the competing needs for ESL and other tuition demands. While it is, strictly speaking, not an academically selective program, it is plainly obvious from my children's school that there is a self-selecting cohort of engaged and educated parents who choose the FI path for their kids. While fluency in French in the home is not a requirement, there's no doubt at all that some ability in the language makes supervision of (and assistance with) homework very much easier. My French is a long way from fluent, but there are enough fluent Francophones (both Quebecoise and French) speakers in the extended family that it always made sense to us to submit our offspring to the FI program.

As to its usefulness: for sure, there are opportunities opened up in Federal employment, but that's a relatively small market. More important to me, at least, is the large body of research that points to the supplementary benefits of learning (and being educated in) a second language. I'm with SB and Novo that my O-level in Latin was probably more direct use in my career than those in either French or German. But all have certainly helped indirectly in tuning the brain to operate in a way that has more or less dictated my career path. And it's peripherally helpful, on being introduced to a colleague or customer from somewhere else in the world, to be able to exchange a few words of greeting in their own language.

Of course, the most important phrase to learn in any language is one taught to me by a friend's multilingual mother many years ago. "mon ami paiera," "mein Freund wird bezahlen," "il mi amico paghera," and so on. Especially if the poor unsuspecting friend doesn't speak the language ;).

Re: French Immersion School vs. main stream schoo??
 

Both of my kids (currently ages 9 and 12) are in the French Immersion prog. in Ontario.
They are of average/above average intellectual ability.

Certainly there is an element of social streaming that goes along with FI, like it or not it's true. The more engaged parents put their kids in FI. Only the more able kids stick with FI beyond grade 5. My kids end up working hard because they want to "keep up" with their smarter than them class mates.
What I have also found is that the FI program attracts kids from parents who have a more global view than your average Canadian. Maybe the parents have lived or worked abroad. At the very least, they're interested in the world beyond their immediate community.
IMO to focus on the "usefulness of french" only is missing the point somewhat.

Re: French Immersion School vs. main stream schoo??
 

:goodpost: You've made some very good points here.

Re: French Immersion School vs. main stream schoo??
 

But my point was that I didn't "learn" French or German in school (to any significant extent).

Depending on needs, there are other ways.