French immersion programs - recommendations, experiences, tips?

[Zeke]

Hello folks!

I recently found out about a program where I live in Canada called the Explore program, which provides a bursary for Canadian students (you have to have been a full time student for at least one term of the previous year before applying) to attend an immersion program at a Canadian university. It sounds really awesome and I'd only have to pay for travel to get wherever the university is and an application fee. The person who told me about it said that she did it before and it was a really great experience, although she said she wished she had gone to a school in a town with less english speaking people, because the place she did it in she found she ended up still speaking english a lot (especially with other people in the program).

This is my last year of my Master's program so I'm really excited about the possibility of ending it off with an experience like this! There are even subsidiary programs in some areas that let you apply for a job in the same area to continue your immersion after the program ends.

Do you know of programs like this where you are that help people to afford immersion programs in French? Or, if you've done something like this yourself, do you have any advice or experiences you want to share?

My main worry is that my French won't be good enough by the time I go and I'll stumble around for most of the time I'm there. I did some French during high school and my first couple years of university, but it's been a few years so I have forgotten a lot of it and only recently started to pick it up again on my own. I'm sure I'll be super anxious when the time comes around. But, on the plus side, I have enough time to prepare that I'll be able to get some practice in on my own and work on improving my vocabulary before I go. I'm thinking of applying mainly to schools in Quebec so I guess I'll also have to look up and learn some of the differences involved in Quebecois french.

[lushlala]

Wow, this sounds like a very exciting time for you! I'm sure your anxiety is down to your eagerness to succeed, which I think is a positive thing. However, I think you'll do just fine. Once you get there, although you are a little rusty, I bet it won't take you very long to pick up French in no time as you already have the foundation laid down.

I don't know of any immersion programmes, as I never had to search for them. I was very fortunate because when I went on mine, it was arranged between my university and the French government. It was a fantastic one too, because everything from flights to food and board was paid for by the French government. Plus I was placed with a French family who spoke not a single word of English, forcing me to communicate in my broken French LOL

I wish you all the best and hope you get out of it what you seek