So winter break is (almost) upon us, and that means that my very first semester of late French immersion (and junior high) is completed! Some of my friends have been asking how I find French immersion, and I thought I might share some things that I’ve noticed at my first few months at Branton bilingual school, and elaborate a little bit on French immersion and all it has to offer.
How did I get here? I took French lessons at my old school, starting in grade 4, but they were infrequent (two times a week for 45 mins), and as a result, it was hard to learn much. Also, the things we learned were kind of trivial, and I didn’t think they would help me if I ever were to visit France, or some of Canada’s French cities. I became slightly frustrated, because I wanted to learn French, but I didn’t feel like I needed to spend years of French lessons learning how to say “He wears a red shirt.” or “He fell out of the boat.” (although, admittedly, that was probably my fault for wanting to learn that)
I wanted to learn French because I was interested in law, and knew that if I were to work in the more eastern provinces, French would be a valuable asset. But I didn’t quite know how I would learn it.
When I was in grade 5, my friend suggested the idea of attending a French immersion school. In the following year, the assistant principal came to our school and talked about it. I attended a couple open houses, and come February, I had made my decision. Bonjour Branton!
But how exactly does French immersion work?
French immersion can be quite daunting, especially if you start late. Luckily, my school has both continuing and late French immersion, which kind of separates the kids who are just getting into French immersion, and those who have been learning for years. They have 4 classes for late immersion and 4 classes for continuing, until grade 9, until they’re all integrated into mixed classes.
The way French immersion works at my school, is to just constantly be surrounded and immersed in French. I have four of my core subjects in French (French Language Arts, Social, Math and Science) (English Language Arts being the other), and all late immersion students take French as a Second Language (FSL) for one of their first semester options. So out of 9 classes, 5 are in French, making at least two thirds of my time table French.
Teachers all have different ways of helping the students get settled in into this. I have a teacher who plays sort of a survivor type game, where if you speak English, you’re “dead” (eliminated from the game). There’s small rewards each week for the survivors. I personally really enjoy this method, because it’s a really great example of literal immersion.
In my first few months, I’ve noticed a few things that I’ve really liked about French immersion. Firstly, being in French immersion teaches you the essential phrases and sentence structures quickly and effectively. Some of the most important phrases, in my opinion, are “Est-ce que je peux aller a la toilette?” (May I go to the toilet?) “Comment dit-on…” (How to say …) , and “Je ne comprend pas” (I don’t understand). These phrases are so important for school, yet I had never learned them in three years of French classes at my previous school.
Also, French immersion has built this great habit of constantly trying to translate my sentences into French. This seems to happen more than I intend it to. At home, when I say something to my parents, I generally say it once again in French just to prove that I can. My parents find this quite annoying (they kind of despise French, despite my insistence that Français est la meilleure langue dans le monde). This tends to extend to my writing as well. If I’m not paying attention while writing up English assignments or even YAA articles, I start to slip into some French (which makes for some very strange editing experiences). But it’s so cool to think that I’ve been so brainwashed by Branton that sometimes translate into French without even thinking about it. In fact, one of our Aberhart debate helpers who did late immersion described a time when she was doing a mock UN address when she started talking in French without even thinking about it, and didn’t even realize until five minutes later!
French immersion also opens up some really cool opportunities. There’s an option of doing Quebec trips, 10 day Besancon exchanges, and you can even do three month exchanges! Also, more specific to Branton, we have excellent athletic programs, and I’ve heard from other schools that it’s because we talk about game plans in French, giving us an edge. And if you’re interested in the art of organized arguing (my favourite), French immersion gives you the opportunity to do bilingual debates. There’s a lot less competition with bilinguals, so it’s a lot easier to get into the debates, and also a lot easier to win. Branton had a bilingual tournament, and we won all of the debates, probably because out of twelve teams, ten teams were composed of Branton kids. Basically, French immersion kids are prepared for world domination, in English and French.
Source
It’s not always easy. Language acquisition can be quite difficult, and despite super great teachers and a really great program, it’s still a lot of work, especially in the first few months of late immersion. There’s a lot of catching up to do, and not a lot of time to do it. Getting through the day can be exhausting, just sitting and trying to comprehend all of this new language that is being thrown at you. In the first couple of weeks, I was told by other immersion students that “If you don’t feel like dying of exhaustion by lunchtime, then you’re not paying enough attention.” Of course, I, and all my classmates have survived so far, but it’s a process, and a difficult one at that. But if you really want to learn French, and you’re willing to put in the work, I think that it’s really worth it. I’ve made such great improvements in my French just within these past few months, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who wants to.
If you need more information, here are some links that I was provided with when making my decision:
CBE – Is Late French Immersion for me? PDF
CBE – Late French Immersion, info for students. Video
CBE – Late French Immersion, info for parents. Video
And if you do end up at Branton, make sure to tell your FSL teacher “Ronica dit que ‘vous est regarde tres jolie aujourd’hui’. ”
