I took French Immersion all the way through elementary and high school, and because of that, I couldn't take any first year French courses at university. So second year I jumped in. And it was awful. Only 2 other students had been Immersion students, leaving the rest Core French kids.
Now, I mean no disrespect whatsoever to Core French, but you just are not at the same level. Immersion has you speaking in French all day from SK - Grade 5 (except for English class obviously), and then a little bit less each year. High school, you need about 10 French Immersion credits to graduate with FI. For example, I took Grade 9 and 10 Science in French, as well as History and Geography and a few others. Plus you take a FI language course each year. Compared to Core French, where you take 1 - 3, 45 minute classes a week in elementary school, and up to 4 CF language courses in high school. I'm sorry, but there is just no comparison. No matter how smart you are, you just aren't submerged in the language as much in Core, and obviously have less of a chance to practice. FI, we were constantly speaking and writing in French. We didn't get away with using English words, ever.
Anyway, so my second year French class with mostly Core students. I would say THE largest difference between Core and Immersion is that Core students can not speak the language. They may be able to read and write well, but they just don't practice much speaking. So much of our class was littered with English. And lots of questions that I covered back in elementary school. Again, I don't say this to be rude, my point is that there was two very different levels of proficiency in this class, and we definitely went down to the lower level.
On top of the lacking expectations of French conversation, the professor was not a good one. She wasn't thrilled with questions, and I'm not even sure she spoke English that well, so she didn't like the infinite questions she got that weren't in French. The book we read was basically masochistic porn. We learned verb tenses that are very rarely used in conversation. She was very dry and very boring. The entire experience turned me off in a big way. I looked forward to finishing the course and getting a new professor for the next year.
Only it turns out that French wasn't a big department at my school, and she was pretty much the only professor, no matter what class you took, and there weren't many options. It was then that I stopped studying French entirely.
As a teacher in an over saturated job market, having French qualifications would no doubt help me get a job. Do I really want to teach French? No. Not even remotely. Even now, I could probably study a bit, pass a proficiency test and get the required qualifications. But I don't want to, because I have no desire to teach one of the most hated subjects in school. (Yet I teach math...). But it is nice to have it in my back pocket, a foreign language, especially Canada's other official language.
However, I don't get much chance to use it, and of course, use it or lose it. I was disappointed when Nick and I went out East and I struggled a bit in Quebec. We managed just fine of course, but I was frustrated with myself.
Bottom line, I thought reading a book would help revive the language, if only a little bit, so I don't lose it too much. It's a tough order because the library doesn't exactly have a large selection of French novels, and I had to find one that I found interesting enough and yet not too complicated.
I managed alright in the end. I certainly didn't understand every single word, but I understood the story (as strange as it was) and was glad I was able to still comprehend the language.
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