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Interesting arcticle, any thoughts?  
 
 
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/the-follies-of-french-immersion/article30259804/

I put my daughter in French Immersion because she was already reading English prior to starting Kindergarten and she needed the challenge of a second language to avoid being bored.  
 
But I did not limit the French to just the classroom. At home, although neither parent could speak French, television was limited to one hour of English and then unlimited French shows. Three hours of Saturday morning cartoons will improve the student's comprehension and love of the language. I would gladly do the dishes after supper if she was watching a French show. It was my attitude about French that contributed to her understanding of its importance, maybe not in the early years, but later, she was glad that I had "made her watch so much television."  
 
Even when out of my house, she continued to look for opportunities to use her French. At an Air Cadet camp in Alberta, one of the workers was from Quebec so they had wonderful conversations. While at a weekend of competition, she was assigned the "Mixed Manitoba Team" of the extras from many squadrons including the French one from St. B in Winnipeg. Because of her confidence in French, she was able to welcome them to Shilo properly. A group of teens in civilian clothes were gathering at the armoury and an officer approached. She recognized him as the father of a classmate so stepped forward and explained why they were there. She returned to the group and continued the conversation with them when they asked what she had said to the officer. Only at that point did she realize that she had slipped into French for the officer and back to English with her friends. The Air Cadets encouraged her to speak French as often as appropriate, even getting a French judge for the Public Speaking competition because her speech was in French.  
 
Like Music, French should not be seen as the way to make all of the students become fluent or professional. It is an opportunity to develop part of the brain that is usually left alone. How many Band and Choir students are professional musicians after high school? Why should we expect all students that take French to become professional level speakers of French? How many jocks become professional players, yet school teams get extra funding for sports equipment.  
 
It is learning for the sake of learning, to develop the student in as many ways as they can without pressuring them to become a professional in that field.  
 
P.S. My daughter just graduated from the University of Manitoba with a major in History and a minor in French. About the same number of students that have become professional musicians or signed onto a professional team.

i would agree with the article

Kattwalk,how many special needs children were in your daughters class??? This article is so true,most won't admit it but that is why so many people want French Immersion.

There are many truths in the article. I went through French Immersion from K to 12, and then I also did several years of university at Collège universitaire de Saint-Boniface (now Université de Saint-Boniface). I also spent time in the Faculty of Education at CUSB. I eventually worked for the Federal Government for 10 years, often in French dealing with people from across Canada and immigrants, especially from Africa.  
 
At a colloque (symposium maybe in English?) in the late 90's when I was in the BEd program, it was discussed then the trouble the French Immersion system was having supporting higher-needs students. The system up to the point had essentially weeded out "undesirable" students (i.e. struggling students) as parents would simply transfer the student out. My parents did that for my brothers when one brother was struggling with reading.  
 
But increasingly parents were demanding access to equal resources that they would obtain in English-track schools, and neither the infrastructure framework nor the staff existed in the French Immersion system. It was then that it occurred to me that my high school had been very, very white, and I only knew of one person with disabilities (they had physical disabilities, not cognitive).  
 
Also because of demand, the quality of French spoken by teachers is actually quite low. I didn't notice it until the colleque and I was surrounded by working teachers. I had spent the past year or two with primarily Francophone students and instructors at the Collège. But a large of number of current immersion teachers came through immersion themselves and speak French as a second language. It shows. I worked very, very hard to lose my Anglophone accent in university.  
 
It does absolutely create a two-tier system, although that is a side-effect and not an end-goal. Is that a bad thing? Not necessarily. Some kids do need to be challenged more, and French Immersion certainly does that.  
 
I don't recall "memorizing rote lists" as the author puts it - I remember a vibrancy of a living language and culture that I didn't have access to at home. I especially value it now because like many Métis our culture was lost at home. Virtually all of my exposure as a child was through school (I grew up in Winnipeg). I struggle now as an adult about how much to "reclaim" for myself and my children, but that's another thread.