School of opportunities
French immersion opens world to students
French immersion at Riverview opens a world of opportunities for students.
It helps students embrace their heritage and allows students who don’t necessarily speak French at home to explore the language through their school life.
Jessica MacDonald understands this all too well. “Part of my family is French, but I grew up only speaking English. The program shaped my life by teaching me more about my family and the language that some of them grew up speaking,” the Grade 12 student said.
Riverview’s French immersion program requires you to pick certain classes that you take entirely in French. You must take nine French courses to graduate with the certificate. Each French course is taught in French and students are expected to communicate with each other in French. Most students in the program don’t already speak French as their first language. MacDonald has nothing but good to say about the program.
“Completing the French immersion program opens up job opportunities that may require you to be bilingual,” MacDonald explained, “It also allows you to be able to communicate with many more people, especially in Canada where French is an official language.”
Abby Jackson is also a Grade 12 at Riverview who feels similarly about the opportunities that come with French immersion.
“The French program has opened so many doors for me, I was shocked to see how useful it is and how often it comes up in my life. Last summer I started working at the Fortress of Louisbourg which greatly improved my ability to speak French more fluently. When I travel to New Brunswick or Montreal I’m able to speak French to the people around me which I think is pretty impressive,” Jackson said.
The two students have different opinions on how to incorporate French immersion into their school schedules.
MacDonald is very pleased with the amount of options available within the program.
“I found it very easy to fit French immersion into my schedule. There are lots of options for classes that you can
take in French so you can pick whatever works best for you,” MacDonald said.
Jackson has a slightly different opinion on the simplicity of making her schedule work.
“It is difficult, but not impossible. It has limited me from taking other courses that I was interested in. I am not only pursuing the French immersion program but the advanced program at Riverview as well and getting all the required courses I need has been quite a task. I ended up having to drop band which was upsetting because I enjoyed it so much,” Jackson said.
The two girls both recommend the program and urge others not to be scared to take on French. They both agree that it’s worth the extra work.
“Someone might be deterred from the program because they think that learning a new language and communicating in it will be hard, but the program does a great job of easing students into the language and it is taught very well,” MacDonald said.
“I’ve watched so many kids pass up this opportunity simply because they’re not up for the extra work that goes along with it, even though it’s worth it,” Jackson added, “There are only a few schools in Cape Breton that offer the full immersion program, therefore, you may have to go to a school outside of your little community. I live 30 minutes away from Riverview but my bus ride is 55 minutes long.”
The French immersion program at Riverview gives opportunities to students that will follow them later and life and MacDonald and Jackson are two who plan to take advantage of this program.