Parents – Yes, you can help!

What have graduates said about French immersion?

Immersion graduates have long been enthusiastic about the program.1 A 1992 study in the Ottawa area reported that most were highly satisfied with their immersion experience and cited better job opportunities and functional French skills as their reasons. Many also noted a greater openness to other cultures.2

A similar study conducted in Saskatchewan in 1990 found that 86% of graduates were glad to have studied in French immersion and would do it again. As for deciding to place their own children in the program, 81% would “definitely” and 18% would “possibly”.3

And when Duncan Nickerson, an immersion graduate from Calgary, informally surveyed his high school friends in 1992, they all agreed that they would do it all over again and would have felt deprived had they not been given the opportunity.4 

About bilingualism

  • Giving your child the opportunity to enjoy the fullness of being Canadian, being able to understand the world in a bigger way, is a great gift. I am so glad my parents gave me this chance. It has made all the difference. – Lisa Marie Perkins, Red Deer AB5 
  • [A message to current immersion students:] Bravo! The doors of opportunity will soon swing wide open for you. Work. Volunteer. Travel. No matter what you decide to do next, you will have the confidence to communicate in two universal languages. Don’t underestimate that advantage. Bonne chance! – Graeme Burns, Beaumont AB6
  • I can think in French. I don’t translate. I believe this would have been much more difficult, if not impossible, without my early immersion experience. The confidence and skills I have in a French environment have generated innumerable professional and personal opportunities. I have been exposed to, and appreciate, cultures that would have otherwise been inaccessible to me. – Michelle Jones, Stony Plain AB7 
  • I spent the past year, my first following graduation from the University of Victoria, playing professional basketball in both France and England, followed by two months of travel throughout Europe…. I cannot count the times in the past year that I have consciously thanked my parents for their foresight, let alone the subconscious satisfaction I have experienced at being able to truly converse with people in their native language or, surprisingly frequently in parts of Europe, bridge the gap of communication with people whose repertoire of languages included French but not English.
    – Sandy Bisaro, Vancouver BC8

About its benefits

  • I obtained a French Certificate from the University of Calgary. Then I was hired to work at Shell as a customer service representative, taking calls from customers across the country. I was interviewed in French and got the job because I spoke French. – Nichola Sollid, Calgary AB10 
  • I am addressing the House [of Commons] in French today, and my sister is a teacher of French, because both of us participated in a French immersion program…. I thank Canadian Parents for French and all the parents who make such an investment in their children’s education. I urge all parents to consider the benefits of learning a second language at school. – James Moore, MP, Port Moody-Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam BC11 
  • Currently, I’m a medical student at the University of Western Ontario…. Over the holidays I worked in the emergency room in a small hospital in northern Ontario and I was able to communicate perfectly with all the patients, something that not all the physicians could do. It was a pretty amazing experience! I look forward to French always being a part of my life and to eventually have a practice that can accommodate patients in both languages. French has really opened up a lot of doors for me—and I’m excited to one day raise my kids proud of their two languages as well! – Julie Johnstone, Ontario12 
  • I have had the opportunity to meet so many unique people from all over the world. I have been able to converse with people from Quebec, France, Switzerland and French-speaking African countries. It is amazing where you will run into French-speaking people! – Jarod Letendre, St. Albert AB13
  1. see, for example: 
    • “Follow-up Study of French Immersion Graduates: Provincial Results (1987-88 and 1988-89 graduates).” Manitoba Education and Training, 1991. (88% would recommend the program to others – p. 22).
    • McGillivray, W. Russ. “Senior Students and French – How Do They Rate Themselves?” More French, s’il vous plaît! Canadian Parents for French, 1985. (80% recommended early immersion, 23% late immersion, and only 2% core French – p. 89). 
    • “FSL: Learning French Matters in Toronto Schools.” Toronto Board of Education and Canadian Parents for French – Toronto Chapter, 1993. (88% of the immersion students would make the same decision to enter the program again – p. 22).
  2. MacFarlane, Alina and Marjorie Bingham Wesche. “Immersion Outcomes: Beyond Language Proficiency.” Canadian Modern Language Review 5, 2, January 1995, p. 269.
  3. Husum, R. and R. Bryce. “Saskatchewan French Immersion: Can we expect a second generation?” Contact 10, 1, February 1991, p. 9.
  4. “They’d do it again!” CPF Alberta Newsletter 35, summer 1992, p. 1.
  5. CPF Alberta News 95, Fall 2008, p. 6.
  6. CPF Alberta News 103, Fall 2010, p. 6.
  7. CPF Alberta News 95, Fall 2008, p. 6.
  8. “Basketball and French are a Fit,” CPF National News 93, Fall 2003, p. 1.
  9. CPF Alberta News 95, Fall 2008, p. 4.
  10. CPF Alberta News 101, Spring 2010, pp. 4–5
  11. In the House of Commons on May 31, 2001
  12. Success Stories, Canadian Parents for French, retrieved 13 March, 2011.
  13. CPF Alberta News 101, Spring 2010, p. 5.