Alberta school language question

[snoop101]

Good morning all

I have a question about language in the school system now a days. When I was younger we had to learn French from elementary school up to grade 8. Is that still the same rule or are you able to put your child through a different language?

[Feruk]

I think it's K-6, then optional.

[snoop101]

Is French mandatory here in Alberta or can my child learn a different language?

[Wakalimasu]

there are spanish and mandarin immersion schools

[killramos]

Originally posted by snoop101
Is French mandatory here in Alberta or can my child learn a different language?

in a normal public school its just french. I don't think there are language options until high school ( imersion / special programs aside).

I think they made changes requiring french up to grade 9 in the last 5 years or so. I didn't have to do it but my friends sister who just graduated high had to in grade 9 i think?

Once you are in high school they don't make you take french though.

Personally I managed to get through 12 years without taking any of it here. I don't speak a word of french.

edit: I think this is the intiative. Its not about your kid learning a language. Its about promote french and ensuring Albertans are moderately bilingual.

http://www.education.alberta.ca/francais/teachers/progres/compl/fsl.aspx

[lasimmon]

My coworkers kids go to a Spanish immersion school for what its worth.

[snoop101]

I live in Cochrane so might be a bit harder, but going to take a look at Spanish immersion.

Thank you all

[gwill]

My son's in grade 6 and only done French for the last couple years but hes not in a public school. I don't understand why French should be mandatory in the early years if it's not later on. The majority of kids skip French the first chance they get. If French was important as a parent you should put them in a French immersion school. I have 5 or 6 nieces and nephews who do just this in a small town but their parents goal is for them to be bi lingual for different jobs and schools for when they are older. They have a long term goal as opposed to just taking a class you'll soon forget.

Without a goal like that learning French is useless. Once you stop using it you'll forget it all. Personally I wish my son could learn Spanish in schools so he could translate on all of our vacations.

[snoop101]

Originally posted by gwill
My son's in grade 6 and only done French for the last couple years but hes not in a public school. I don't understand why French should be mandatory in the early years if it's not later on. The majority of kids skip French the first chance they get. If French was important as a parent you should put them in a French immersion school. I have 5 or 6 nieces and nephews who do just this in a small town but their parents goal is for them to be bi lingual for different jobs and schools for when they are older. They have a long term goal as opposed to just taking a class you'll soon forget.

Without a goal like that learning French is useless. Once you stop using it you'll forget it all. Personally I wish my son could learn Spanish in schools so he could translate on all of our vacations.

I think that is our goal is that we would like our daughter to learn another language (granted I wish programming was considered another language), but would rather her learn something she will use and enjoy.

[speedog]

In the CBE system, the only immersion schools are French. Spanish, German and Mandarin are all bilingual schools meaning the child is taught some courses in English - French immersion is all taught in French.

[n1zm0]

Originally posted by speedog
French immersion is all taught in French.

Is that how it is now? I took French immersion K-12 and only about 3/4s of our classes were taught in French.

[lil*tymer]

Why would't you want your child to learn French. It's the most useful second language in Canada and you seem a little ignorant when people find out you can't speak your official second language.

I do wish my schools offered other Languages in Junior high though.

[HiTempguy1]

Originally posted by lil*tymer
Why would't you want your child to learn French. It's the most useful second language in Canada and you seem a little ignorant when people find out you can't speak your official second language.

I do wish my schools offered other Languages in Junior high though.

I know exactly one person who is fluent in French. Most places in Quebec you can get away with only speaking English, in fact, the hardest place to get service in English in Canada seems to be northern f*&king New Brunswick. :banghead:

[n1zm0]

Originally posted by lil*tymer
Why would't you want your child to learn French. It's the most useful second language in Canada and you seem a little ignorant when people find out you can't speak your official second language.

Honestly the first time I used French since HS (almost 15 years ago) was this summer in France and Belgium :rofl: It sure as hell helped (even though almost over half the people I met or spoke to there knew English as well, especially in Belgium), but other than those 2 countries, Quebec + pockets of Maritime provinces and half of the African continent are the only other places in the world it's used, places that aren't really high on the 'want to visit' list for me at at least.

edit: On a side note knowing more languages than just English is always a plus, you never know when you might need it. Also in terms of French, a lot of the Romantic languages (French, Italian, Spanish, Romanian etc) have very similar spelling overall, helps if you want to additionally learn one of those too thereafter.

[Inzane]

Originally posted by lil*tymer
Why would't you want your child to learn French. It's the most useful second language in Canada

And the most useLESS 2nd language outside of Canada.

In my limited travel experience, knowing Spanish as a 2nd language would be much, much more useful overall.


And as for within Canada, obviously it depends where you are. Vancouver? Better to know some Cantonese.

[NoPulp]

I thought it depends on the school district?
I was only required to take it in grade 5 when I moved into the city. Maybe things have changed recently?

I couldn't do french to save my life.... Spanish is way easier to learn and IMO way more useful.

[gwill]

Originally posted by lil*tymer
Why would't you want your child to learn French. It's the most useful second language in Canada and you seem a little ignorant when people find out you can't speak your official second language.

I do wish my schools offered other Languages in Junior high though.

Some of my family lived in a French town all their life. They fluently spoke French most of their child hood and early years as an adult. Once they stopped using it they forgot everything. Unless you plan to live in Quebec or get a job that requires French there is little to no reason to learn it. There's next to no incentive for our kids to use it once they are no longer required to learn it in school.

I would be curious to see the number of kids who continue with French once it's not required. I bet the number is ridiculously low. It's a waste of resources when this is considered.

[revelations]

Originally posted by HiTempguy1
Most METROPOLITAN places in Quebec you can get away with only speaking English

Fixed

I spent 2 weeks in Quebec once. Loved it but you wont get anything done in English once you leave the cities.

Montreal - yes
QC - usually
Laval - 50/50

Outside the St. Lawrence region - no

[snoop101]

Out of curiosity does anyone know if it's mandatory for kids in California and other southern US states to learn Spanish or is it optional?

I know there is far more Spanish speaking population in the US then French speaking in Canada.

As for my daughter learning French I think it's just a big waste of time and resources as others have said. People that push their kids into French now at a young age are just gambling that French will be an official secondary language in Canada when they grow up. The small % of careers that must have french is so slim that it makes no sense. I would rather my kid learn a language that she will use in the future that may not even matter if her career is affected by it.

[tirebob]

I speak French and use it far more often than one would imagine. Also, learning French does make it easier when trying to understand Spanish and other Latin based languages as they share many aspects. When I go to Mexico etc it amazes me how quickly I pick up conversation and I can attribute that to having learned French...

[killramos]

The only reason i could possibly suggest learning french is a long term career in government, federal politics, or the military ( officer).

For anything else its kindof a :dunno:

I have not once in my life found my inability to speak french a hindrance. Speaking Spanish on the other hand, i use all the time.

[Robin Goodfellow]

http://www.puresteel-shop.com/bilder/produkte/gross/8412.png

[Toma]

Yeah, its kind of amazing. I did the french crap to grad 10. and hated it. my much younger brother did frnech imersion, and bloody actually learned the language, so is now tri lingual.

Who remembers Malin Palin? lol. Is that what is was?

[Toma]

Huh! It was probably Alin Malin....

[Inzane]

Originally posted by snoop101
Out of curiosity does anyone know if it's mandatory for kids in California and other southern US states to learn Spanish or is it optional?

I know there is far more Spanish speaking population in the US then French speaking in Canada.

All I know is I can remember watching two versions of Sesume Street when I was a kid, the CDN feed (English w/ some French) and the US feed (English w/ some Spanish).

[mazdavirgin]

I am constantly amazed at how many people went through immersion programs(K-12) and yet they are still functionally illiterate in the language they studied. Second language education in our province is a joke doesn't matter the language selected if you want your kids to learn to read/write/speak properly they need to go to a purely one language stream school. There is too much English influence and the caliber of the people teaching the language at immersions schools is laughable. Most parents don't have a clue either since they can't speak whatever language their child is supposed to be learning so they don't really understand if the program is good or bad in the first place. You really should look up what's required on the part of the teachers to teach at these immersion schools. Most of them are products of the same immersion program and they would be hard pressed to talk themselves out of a paper bag with their language skills. That's the kind of people who will be teaching your kids.

[codetrap]

.

[Robin Goodfellow]

Originally posted by mazdavirgin
I am constantly amazed at how many people went through immersion programs(K-12) and yet they are still functionally illiterate in the language they studied.

Why would this amaze you?

A person can learn more of a second language on a month-long vacation than they can in two semesters of classroom.

Better chance of getting one's dick sucked as well.

Just sayin.

[mazdavirgin]

Originally posted by codetrap
That's interesting.. all of my daughters teachers in the Spanish immersion school are all native Spanish speakers. English is their second language.

Again unless you speak natively it's incredibly hard to gauge if the teacher is fluent enough to be teaching or if they are actually native speakers. The only requirement for posted jobs is "bilingual" competency which is what you get once you graduate high school from an immersion school if you are Canadian. That's all that is required. Gets even looser as a definition when the principles are not native speakers and can't assess claimed competency of their staff.

I mean really if you think about things logically here for a second. How many immersions schools do we have in the city? How many people do you think are fluent Spanish speakers in Calgary(The Latin Canadian population comprises 1.2% of the population as of 2011. Not all of them will be spanish speakers either...). Now how many also happen to have a bachelors in education from a recognized university? There's a huge supply and demand issue when it comes to these immersion schools where there simply are not enough qualified teachers so you get whatever is close enough.

Don't get me wrong I don't blame the parents but immersion schools are not anywhere near as strong as people are lead to believe and it's rare from my experience to meet someone who went through the immersion stream that I could consider competent in their language of study.

[Robin Goodfellow]

Originally posted by mazdavirgin
it's rare from my experience to meet someone who went through the immersion stream that I could consider competent in their language of study.

The problem is not with classroom-based immersion, but with unrealistic expectations.

You can't learn a language well in a classroom (Or from tapes, or computers for that matter), but what it can do is position you to take advantage of immersion IRL.