Parles-vouz Francais?

I first nurtured the idea of learning French in my 3^rd year in the Higher Institution. I found a French book at home and dived in. Like a dehydrated person in the desert, I started drinking this fresh water of a new language, alas, that didn’t end so well, because I learnt nothing really, I could write down the words, but I didn’t know how to pronounce them. 

Fast forward to 2005, my younger sister and hubby’s younger brother had just completed their degrees and were waiting for their mandatory National service. They both came up with the idea to learn French. They enrolled at the foremost French learning centre in Port Harcourt (not mentioning their name - no free ad 😊). I’m sure they could manage a few common sentences in French by the end of their classes after paying a huge sum of money. (I hope they don’t read this post 😊.)

In 2015, I learnt of the French immersion program in Canada for elementary and high schools, where teachers teach the students only in French, except when teaching English language. As native English speakers, hubby and I decided to test the kids because English and French are the official languages in Canada.

The French immersion program is in 2 stages – early and late immersion programs. For the early immersion, you can get in at only kindergarten or Grade 1, after that, the only option available is the late immersion in Grade 7. Older son was in grade 4 at the time, so he couldn’t get into the programme. So, we enrolled our younger son who was in Grade 1.

It was tough for him in the first few months, he will come back from school and say “I wish I was still in my old school”. We encouraged him and he kept at it. He is currently in Grade 3 and doing really well. Older son entered Grade 7 this year and he entered the late immersion program.

I am really glad to say I have two French speakers in my house. They speak French to each other all the time now and argue about French words and sentences. The one thing I find annoying is when they are up to some mischief and they don’t want me to know ☹.

There are a few Spanish, German and Chinese immersion programs as well. It is a good thing because these schools are public schools, so you don’t have to sell a leg and an arm to pay for learning a second language. This is one of the numerous benefits of living in Canada.

Parles-vouz Francais? Non.