French Immersion in Nanaimo

[riverrat]

I get the impression that the machine doesn't fine-tune very well.
I had been dancing along in a happy field of dandelions before this thread, assuming school would be as magical for my son as it was for me.
Maybe it will be - dunno - but I will certainly try to be vigilant and pro-active.

[grommet]

Yay!!!

[sarah1234]

Riverrat, I am one teacher, and a lowly substitute at that. But on behalf of, well, myself, I'd like to say that I love teaching, I love the kids, and I like to think that I am pretty darn good at what I do. I have a feeling that there are more like me out there. I had the good fortune to teach kindergarten for the first two weeks of school, and I am pretty sure I made it a magical experience for those lil buddies for their first exposure to school. It's not all sunshine and rainbows, for sure, but there are definitely rainbows to be seen. Especially these days--there are so many teachers retiring and so many fresh, new teachers with big, bright ideas that are just so excited to get into a classroom (finally!) that I'd even be a little bit optimistic.

[fitz]

Especially these days--there are so many teachers retiring and so many fresh, new teachers with big, bright ideas that are just so excited to get into a classroom (finally!) that I'd even be a little bit optimistic.

This is why they really should offer killer early retirement plans for teachers! Fresh young blood is good for the system! I don't doubt experience counts for something, but I remember the older teachers being mostly-crusty cynics. There were exceptions of course, but imagine having children of your own that stay the same age forever (I imagine that's what it's like to be a teacher!) I'm pretty sure I'd crazy go nuts.

[tomcat123]

This did start out as a discussion on French Immersion...I am a bit behind, being new and all...my oldest just graduated from French Immersion. He started in the now closed Harewood school and went to Quarterway for a bit just before we moved away. My youngest would not have been able to manage a second language as he has speech delays.

[abhinav]

to know more languages of the world only makes us more flexible and helps increase brain power,all the best to the kids-may they not be pressurised though..but they would turn out to be wonderfull intellects..bless.

[RyanCoffey]

I grew up in French Immersion too.

It never occurred to me that it was different or unusual until one day near the end of Grade 1, while on my way to the washroom I passed a non immersion Grade 1 class that had the door open and the teacher was teaching them something that we were learning too. (Don't remember what it was, probably math or something.) I was shocked. It felt to me like they were cheating or something. Never having known anything else, I didn't realize that immersion was any more or less challenging than what most kids were doing. I suppose it must have been difficult, as probably only about a third of the kids who started in immersion were still in it when they finished grade 12.

I don't really have a lot of negative things to say about immersion. I'm planning on putting my kids through it when I have them. The only caveat I have for parents from what I can recall about my own experience is that you should be prepared to find a tutor to occasionally help guide them through their schoolwork, particularly if they're not so into studying. I think that since the parent can't (usually) assume this role as they typically would, this substitute will have to do. It helped me out when I was lagging behind on my French reading in my early elementary years.

Oh, one more thing about the French immersion method. My understanding of French is miles and miles ahead of my speaking. This is normal for people's second languages, but I also think that in my case the pattern is much more pronounced. I mean, I can listen to people speaking French and understand a out 97% of it (even though I haven't done it daily in quite a few years) but whwen I try to speak, I stumble to find the words quickly enough. I think that spending all those years mostly listening to the teacher and speaking comparatively less combine with not speaking it regularly since then have caused this. So I think it's good to speak as often as you can both while at school at after you finish. (Yes, that's right teachers, I'm suggesting that kids talk more in class! MUWAHAHAHAAAA!!!!)

Ryan

[Apathy]

It is definately an advantage for the kids to learn second languages while they can. My daughter is reads, writes and speaks english and french, I have learned more from her being in French Emmersion then I did in taking French in high school. If they know french too then spanish is alot easier to come by if they wanted to learn that language too.

The more a child learns in school to prep them for jobs is always an advantage.. imo

[yokoke]

I think it is great that second languages are even available, while it does seem overwhelming for the wee ones, the brain is like a sponge at this age and is quite capable of multiple languages. My middle one was learning French and Spanish at 8 years old. She changed schools and now neither is available.

What troubles me is when I see 1st graders being drilled to start cursive writing when physically the hand/brain connections aren't there. Have talked with many OT's and PT's who agree and see the same thing in schools who are pushing kids whose bodies are not ready to adapt yet...

Communication between parents and teachers are essential in the success of our children, I always sent in a separate tablet with maybe a quick note on something mine was going through or the teacher would write we had an 'issue' in the classroom, but not all teachers are equiped to handle this method as they too have guidelines and deadlines for teaching our children.

I have done both public schools and homeschooling with "unschooling" approach and found it to be quite successful although looked down upon by many educational professionals, but bottom line is finding something that works for our children's education.

[RyanCoffey]

Yokoke,

I totally agree with you on that one. I've posted on this topic before but I want to restate that having grown up in French Immersion myself, plus having spent four years teaching English overseas, that I strongly support these programs and it's not even a question for me whether my children will be doing the same.

I never felt overwhelmed by the language aspect of things as a child as I had never known any other way. In retrospect, I guess it was a challenge because as we got older they started introducing more topics in English. I remember that once I started doing certain subjects in English later on (particularly math and science) it seemed a lot easier. Almost as if I were cheating.

Most people dropped out of this program before the end of high school though. I believe that a significant number of them dropped out because of social problems with the other kids in the class (for us it was the same group from kindergarten to grade 12 and if you didn't fit in it was tough) and some others simply moved away. However, I think that most people who dropped out did so because they were having challenges in school, so I guess it's not so easy.

When I put my kids through it, I'll be able to do something that my parents couldn't, offer a helping hand with the homework. i'll also be able to check their progress like most parents can with their own kids. My parents simply couldn't do that and had to rely on what the teacher told them. What I would recommend to any parents with kids in this program is to find a tutor that you can have on call just to make sure your kid(s) stay on track. Nothing wrong with a little extra help. Those classes have a lot of kids and only one teacher who is supposed to somehow please everyone. Tough job.