1 here, I did the Explore program in eastern Quebec while I was in high school and learned a ton from the immersion (I didn't speak English at all for the whole time other than to get the French equivalent), but I guess it depends on how you learn and how much you already know -- I was a novice and by the end I could carry a conversation (roughly). Glad your friends had fun, though!
If OP can learn by immersion then a free 4-5 weeks in Quebec with room and board (+travel, bike rental and extracurriculars at your own expense) might be what they need :)
I also recommend Explore. I took French immersion, but my french was always one of the worst in the class. After Explore I was finally confident in my ability. Explore is an a great way to get the basics of french, but its up to you to continue with it.
I did Explore last summer in Rivière-du-Loup after having grown up in Ottawa and doing late french immersion and I learnt an incredible amount. The learning part wasn't even the best thing though-- it was that it upped both my comfort level and fluency in the language. I also learnt an incredible amount about Québecois culture, but a lot of that was just from night conversations with my "frère-du-loup".
Super great program, I 100% recommend it. Just make sure to actually do it in Québec or somewhere where there are next to no anglophones-- some of the locations are in weird places like Toronto and total immersion is 90% of the experience.
Otherwise, I know Cercle Français has a few meetings a semester to get together and speak french, and there's a group of francophone international students that meet every so often just to chat and hang out-- not sure where though.
Something I've found when looking for the same thing was this KW region french community website: http://afkw.org/ . They seem to offer some conversation practice at the Y and in a cafe: http://afkw.org/ressources/cours-en-francais . Hope this helps!
Look into the MyExplore program for next spring/summer.
ReplyDeleteA few of my friends have attended Explore and it's safe to say they learned nothing. However, they did have a good time.
Delete1 here, I did the Explore program in eastern Quebec while I was in high school and learned a ton from the immersion (I didn't speak English at all for the whole time other than to get the French equivalent), but I guess it depends on how you learn and how much you already know -- I was a novice and by the end I could carry a conversation (roughly). Glad your friends had fun, though!
DeleteIf OP can learn by immersion then a free 4-5 weeks in Quebec with room and board (+travel, bike rental and extracurriculars at your own expense) might be what they need :)
I also recommend Explore. I took French immersion, but my french was always one of the worst in the class. After Explore I was finally confident in my ability. Explore is an a great way to get the basics of french, but its up to you to continue with it.
DeleteI did Explore last summer in Rivière-du-Loup after having grown up in Ottawa and doing late french immersion and I learnt an incredible amount. The learning part wasn't even the best thing though-- it was that it upped both my comfort level and fluency in the language. I also learnt an incredible amount about Québecois culture, but a lot of that was just from night conversations with my "frère-du-loup".
ReplyDeleteSuper great program, I 100% recommend it. Just make sure to actually do it in Québec or somewhere where there are next to no anglophones-- some of the locations are in weird places like Toronto and total immersion is 90% of the experience.
Otherwise, I know Cercle Français has a few meetings a semester to get together and speak french, and there's a group of francophone international students that meet every so often just to chat and hang out-- not sure where though.
Something I've found when looking for the same thing was this KW region french community website: http://afkw.org/ . They seem to offer some conversation practice at the Y and in a cafe: http://afkw.org/ressources/cours-en-francais . Hope this helps!
Was gonna say go spend som time in Quebec but yah...what these mofos above me said...
ReplyDeletesome*
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