Dorothy

I graduated high school in Ontario and don't have French. Of my 9 siblings only one has French as a second language and that's because she was married to a guy from Quebec so she learned from him.

WaitingforToronto

scilly

You had to have French, Latin or German (or any combination of the 3) when I got my GCEs way back when. That was the requirement for Northern Universities Board.

One foreign language at GCE level was necessary for admission to university, back then.

I know Welsh was added to the list as a foreign language

Is it no longer necessary to need a foreign language for GCSEs or for admission to university.


Whatever ...... I passed French and German, and can say Hello, Goodbye and other courtesy words in both.

I can read the back of the cornflakes package.

I can just about order a meal in French in Quebec City


Which is what I think is the level that most Canadians are at.


But as an immigrant from the UK 50 years ago, with that amount of limited French, and a daughter who has been through the Canadian education system from kindergarten to university ............ I would have been lacking in forethought if I had ensured that she had all options open for her future in living in a bilingual country, including learning french, and an option to take 1 year of Mandarin!

ScotinCanada

My kids are younger than yours (5 and 8) and we're going over next week to look at houses and schools so I'll be looking at primary schools. We're looking at French immersion but I can't get my head around it just yet!

Let me know if you want me to find out anything from the schools while I'm there (Mississauga, Ontario) and I'll gladly see if I can find out!

Sheedy

Hi ScotinCanada,

I would be very keen to know how you get on with this. I do not really have any specific questions as such. Just keen to learn how the house hunt/school search goes. We are looking at GTA also
TIA

ScotinCanada

Ok will let you know how it goes!

Sheedy

Great thanks and good luck... Very jealous... Miss Toronto/GTA :-(

ScotinCanada

Hi Sheedy - update on how we're getting on.

We're currently looking for rental and schools in Mississauga, just outside Toronto. We've had fun but it's been slightly disappointing so far...

Houses.
We have set a monthly budget of $2,500 and were hoping to get a 4 bed semi. We had 7 appointments set up with our Realtor yesterday but 4 of them had gone before we could view them. The ones we did see were disappointing for what we're paying. The only one that was decent had pretty much no garden and someone else living in the basement, but was a nice layout and size with 4 bedrooms. We're looking into who is in the basement and what their conditions are but may try to go for it. I really don't like the idea of a stranger in the basement but it seems to be really common here.

The Realtor is setting up more for us tomorrow but we're having to look at 3 bed terraced houses as that is all that's on the market in our budget.

We knew housing was an issue in Mississauga and had been monitoring realtor.ca but it's even harder to find a rental than we thought! We're having to lower our expectations a bit.

Schools
Now that term has started, I called round some schools this morning - ones close to the potential rentals we'll look at tomorrow.

It was a flat no to visiting the schools. They said that they're too busy just now at the start of term (fair enough, bad timing for us) and since you have no choice what school you get unless you go private, there's no point anyway.

When you arrive, you have to get an appointment at a We Welcome the World Center where they assess the kids English and Maths and secure you a school place. We're in the Peel School Board area so may not relevant for you, depending on where you're looking at, but here's the link for our area. My cousin moved over here from the UK a few years ago and has warned us to make an appointment as soon as we have an address and moving date as she didn't contact them until she was here and had to wait several weeks for an appointment. The kids cannot start school until they have been through this process. They decide what school you go to - you have no choice.

So a bit disappointing, I was hoping to introduce the kids to life at school here a bit to prepare them but looks like we'll have to rely on finding some videos on school websites etc.

Fingers crossed we find a decent place to live!

Sheedy

Hi ScotinCanada,

That is great, thanks for info. Well not so great regarding house. It is really hard to find somewhere decent in my experience. A tenant in the basement is definitely the norm for a lot of properties (Really I pity the basement tenant when we move, as we will have 3 kids running around) but it would be great to have full property.

What kind of price range are the 3 bedroom houses you are seeing? When are you hoping to make the move?

Hope you are enjoying the sunshine, I seen some lovely sunny pictures of Toronto from some friends yesterday.

Thanks

ScotinCanada

Hi Sheedy - we're still looking at $2,500 for that! It's crazy expensive here.

Husband's job starts 1 November so we should be coming here mid October but our visas haven't come through yet, shouldn't be long now though.
The weather is amazing but it's too hot! We didn't leave our apartment yesterday afternoon as it was nearly 40C outside - too much!

Sheedy

Yes $2500 is pretty crazy for a 3 bedroom house. That's why we are looking at a bit further from GTA... So hopefully we can get a little more bang for our buck!

You will definitely need AC for the summer.. We spent one summer without it and my wife was pregnant!! I miss that heat though.

Thanks

Siouxie

That's Mississauga prices for you.
Have you considered moving slightly further afield - to Burlington or Hamilton areas?
You'll find housing cheaper - and there are direct trains / coaches to Toronto..
Just for example - though there are better sites for looking..
https://www.kijiji.ca/b-house-rental...om/k0c43l80014

Sheedy

Hi Siouxie,

What sites would be better to use? I have been looking at Realtor.ca and Kijiji and trying to make contact with a Realtor to give some insight!!

Thanks

HGerchikov

You will find that further out from Mississauga that sharing the house with a tenant in the basement is less common too.
Oakville and Milton are also worth looking at depending on where the job is. The rental market in the GTA is very active at the moment with many properties attracting multiple offers. You have to be quick.

scilly

Good luck with that!

Most parts of Canada, if not all, ban videoing and photographing in schools and at school events ........ even if it is a parent wanting to record what their own child is doing.

Privacy laws and protection of children take priority.