Quebecois
Staying at the hotel we had some French Canadian figure skaters. When they were speaking to one another they were all speaking French and it was interesting listening in to see if I could comprehend anything. I haven't done any French in like 6 years since I was in high school and even then my French sucked but it was cool being able to understand a tiny bit of what they were saying.
Living a part of my childhood in Winnipeg, we were taught French starting in grade 2 as opposed to grade 4 or 5 for kamloops. When I moved, even thought I had a two year head start I was only about at the same level as my class mates who just started. I maintained an above avg grade in French until grade 11. I was even good enough to help other students with their French. My last two years of high school French became super difficult and I did anything just to get a passing grade. To my benefit I had a friend who started his schooling in French immersion so I would usually get him to translate what I wanted to say for homework assignments. ( Luckily he is also the one going to Europe with me, so at least I have a translator for Paris) It was a funny mix of high marks for assignments but shitty test scores. My final year was a mix of good and bad. I only stayed in it for grade 12 because I knew I needed it to get my bachelor Of arts degree. If I didn't I would have had to take French in college, which I really didn't want to do. In retrospect this may have been a better idea since all college courses seemed so much easier. In the good column I was only one of three guys in the class and the rest were all good looking women...hehe. My greatest accomplishment was getting a just barely pass with exactly 50% as my final grade. When asked if I can speak French I always find it funny to say that I studied it for 11 years but I can't speak it to save my life.
Personally I think it should be taught better in schools. I know that personally after every summer I would forget just about everything that I had learned but the teachers would expect us to retain it. There also should have been a much greater focus in speaking and comprehending others, because it seems like that's the only time I ever come across it today. One thing I remember from my psych classes is that infants and small child are better at picking up a second language if they are introduced to it from a very early age. Babies are not born with the ability to speak a certain language, they pick it up from hearing their parents. If I ever end up having children I would want to introduce them to both English and French early. Maybe that way they could have an easier time with French classes.
Staying at the hotel we had some French Canadian figure skaters. When they were speaking to one another they were all speaking French and it was interesting listening in to see if I could comprehend anything. I haven't done any French in like 6 years since I was in high school and even then my French sucked but it was cool being able to understand a tiny bit of what they were saying.
Living a part of my childhood in Winnipeg, we were taught French starting in grade 2 as opposed to grade 4 or 5 for kamloops. When I moved, even thought I had a two year head start I was only about at the same level as my class mates who just started. I maintained an above avg grade in French until grade 11. I was even good enough to help other students with their French. My last two years of high school French became super difficult and I did anything just to get a passing grade. To my benefit I had a friend who started his schooling in French immersion so I would usually get him to translate what I wanted to say for homework assignments. ( Luckily he is also the one going to Europe with me, so at least I have a translator for Paris) It was a funny mix of high marks for assignments but shitty test scores. My final year was a mix of good and bad. I only stayed in it for grade 12 because I knew I needed it to get my bachelor Of arts degree. If I didn't I would have had to take French in college, which I really didn't want to do. In retrospect this may have been a better idea since all college courses seemed so much easier. In the good column I was only one of three guys in the class and the rest were all good looking women...hehe. My greatest accomplishment was getting a just barely pass with exactly 50% as my final grade. When asked if I can speak French I always find it funny to say that I studied it for 11 years but I can't speak it to save my life.
Personally I think it should be taught better in schools. I know that personally after every summer I would forget just about everything that I had learned but the teachers would expect us to retain it. There also should have been a much greater focus in speaking and comprehending others, because it seems like that's the only time I ever come across it today. One thing I remember from my psych classes is that infants and small child are better at picking up a second language if they are introduced to it from a very early age. Babies are not born with the ability to speak a certain language, they pick it up from hearing their parents. If I ever end up having children I would want to introduce them to both English and French early. Maybe that way they could have an easier time with French classes.
posted by Garrett @ 5:55 PM
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