That's right: yesterday we found out that Sylvie made it into Holliston's award-winning French Immersion program! (It wasn't an application or anything like that, but there were more applicants than slots, so there was a lottery). Read more about it by clicking here.
What does this mean? Well, in a nutshell, it means from day one of kindergarten next year, Sylvie's classes - every single subject - will be taught entirely in French, a language she doesn't know. At all. Sound nuts? To me too! But it works. These kids learn the language at an incredible pace. More importantly, the focus that is required has a real impact on how they learn. Sylvie's Aunt Willow was in the program years ago. I have never talked to a French Immersion parent who wasn't thrilled with what it did for their kid. So I'm just going to have to get over whatever misgivings I have about my little one running around the house, yammering in French for the rest of her childhood.
For her part, Sylvie is unimpressed for now. When we told her the good news last night she looked at us like we'd lost our minds and said, "I don't WANT to learn French. I'm going to live here when I grow up."
I think when she gets going, though, she'll really embrace it...
2 comments:
Seems pretty exciting! (And the banner picture is great!)
Since I mostly see college-aged kids I can only speak from that perspective, but I have to say that those who learned foreign languages in high school or earlier have HUGE advantages coming into the university setting. Obviously, they learn other new languages more easily, but their English writing and speaking skills are also very polished. As a person who uses French everyday, I'm totally jealous, Sylvie!
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