ThereAreNoPlainsNamedAbraham
OnTheStreetsOfGastownVille
Don't often do this, but...
Below is an entire post from a little blog called 'Bring A Nickel' that went up sometime late last night:
'Twas a busy dizzy evening for me yesterday as the lazy hazy summer weather drove diners out in droves to the not-so-ancient cobbled streets of Gastown. A man and his grown son each gave me a loonie then stopped to listen to me play a few songs while their wives browsed in one of the nearby souvenir shops. After a few minutes the son came over to ask me if I was studying music at school, I told him no, I wasn't, I just play music for fun and I'm studying English literature. He then turned to his dad and translated my answer into Québecois. From there on out I continued the conversation in French, covering up my public school immersion accent with as much "ben," "ouais," and fast talking as I could muster. After we finished talking the son put a fiver in my case and his father was about to do the same but paused saying "elle parle Français, ça vaut bien plus que cinq dollars" and dropped me a twenty instead. Their wives came out of the souvenir store just as I was stammering out the last of a string of mercis and I played them Carla Bruni's "Quelqu'un m'a Dit" (the only French song I have memorized). When I was finished the son completed the exemplary tableau of our country's harmonious bilingualism by switching back to English to wish me the best of luck in my studies.
Imagine that!
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In case you missed it, the author of said blog post is our oldest kid, E.....Here's a bit of footage of her doing her thing from late last summer...(Need to get some footage this year too)
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Thursday, July 25, 2013
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7 comments:
I don't feel so bad now, knowing that I'm playing 2nd fiddle to BringANickel who has a LOT of talent.
My very greatest regret is not putting the Offspring in French Immersion. I took all the highschool french I could, but pretty much lost it and was counselled that it would be very stressful for Offspring if she wasn't getting decent support at home. By the time I figured out that we would have been just fine, it was too late to get her in.
E's story made me a little verklempt. Thank you.
N'es-tu pas un peu fier de ta descendance?
NVG--
Well, if you're #2, I'm probably coming in around #33.
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There can be no regrets about this stuff Karen. E. stopped after elementary school and she seems to have done fine - but she really seems to have a thing for languages...littler e., on the other hand is staying in it for highschool (at least so far)...We'll see how that goes - I worry a little about some of the less easy to translate subjects.
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danneau
Bien sur!
(don' know if the exclamation mark actually fits here - my situation is just like Karen's - have pretty much forgotten everything Mr. Huggett taught me in highschool - still remember him though - he was an excellent teacher)
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No early french immersion around here so junior was put in at grade 6 with many assurances from the teaching staff that our single year of french 8 from 35 years past would not be needed to assist him.
Two years on and he's loving it while we content ourselves with quiet smiles when he engages with random strangers in their mother tongue. The teachers were good to their word and other than making sure homework time was put in, we we were not required to help out.
We encourage anyone who asks about our experiences with french immersion to jump in - whether early or late - and not look back.
My children were in French Immersion until grade eight. One of my kids was so bored in English secondary school they failed grade eight French! and gave up on art. Sigh.
That year, this same kid decided they wanted to learn Spanish so they could become a cardiologist in Beverly Hills! My partner took z. to our local college where they took an evening class full of seniors who were heading to Mexico.
This child did not become a cardiologist, but went on to shine at university, despite the largely frustrating years at high school were they were labeled as learning challenged.
So Karen, perhaps your child might try Spanish, I find it easier than French, even though I had high school French.
My kids are grown and both have used French. One had a job translating for a time.
This is worth a read:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/education/why-french-immersion-should-be-in-all-schools-or-none-at-all/article12999772/
Sadly Hooked
Read the above G&M article by Andrew Campbell and it lacks logic...
He makes a great leap of wishy washy, but no sense.
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