When I was a kid, there were no French Immersion Schools in our English Canadian education system like there are now. No, we learned French the old-fashioned way in scheduled classes, which were taught in English like our other courses. Not the most ideal way to learn a second language! When I graduated high school in 1975, I could read and write passable French, but I could not easily speak it at all. I had to stop and think too much about how to say things, which makes fluency impossible.
But a mere two months later, I was fluent in spoken French and able to take university courses that Fall (and subsequently) which were designed for Francophone students. How was that possible? I received a student bursary from the federal government to take a 6-week French Immersion Program that summer at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg. We immersion students lived together in residence on campus and, in our own little educational world, spoke nothing but French 24/7. That's how you get past the mental blockage of overthinking and start to speak fluently from "muscle memory," as it were. In my opinion, there is no substitute for the power of immersion.
Anyway, fast-forward 51 years to this summer. I figured a dose of immersion would fast-track my return to fluency. So I signed up for a one-week "Adult French Immersion Camp" at Alliance Française in Edmonton. It wasn't a residential program, obviously, but it was Monday to Friday, 9:00 to 5:00, a full 40 hours of being in a completely French environment.
As the title to this post suggests, things did NOT go well. The problem was not linguistic, actually. The problem was that I'm pushing 70 and have been retired for nearly 10 years. I simply no longer have the mental or physical energy or stamina to function in a full-time, rigorous working environment. Plus I can't easily read printed materials now (even after cataracts removal), and there were xeroxed handouts we needed to read. Also, my agèd ears couldn't hear half of what was said most of the time.
So, long story short, I didn't even make it through the first day! I went home and didn't go back.
Of course, I moped around for a day or so following this unexpected blow to my self-esteem and self-image. But what the hell, I bounced back pretty quickly and figured out that I will just need to get to my goal in a less intensive, more laid-back kind of way. I began to make new plans . . . .
Stay tuned!
