Parents who moved their kids from English to French school — how did it go?
Hi everyone! We’re a family currently living in Manitoba and planning to move to Quebec next year. We have three kids who will be around 8, 9, and 12 when we relocate.
One of the things we’re thinking about a lot is how our kids will adjust to going to school in French.
We’re an allophone family and don’t have a French background. English isn’t our first language either, but our kids have been attending English-speaking schools, so English is currently the language they’re most comfortable using academically.
We really want to learn French as a family. We’re currently on a waiting list for French classes here in Manitoba, and once we move to Quebec, we’re planning to look into the Francisation program for ourselves.
I’d really appreciate hearing from parents who have gone through something similar, especially families who moved to Quebec with children around the same ages and enrolled them in French school.
How was the experience for your kids?
- How difficult were the first few months or the first year?
- How long did it take before they could understand their teachers and participate comfortably in class?
- Did they struggle with subjects like math, science, reading, or writing because everything was suddenly in French?
- Did the school provide extra French-language support or an accueil/integration class?
- How did teachers communicate with you if your French was still limited?
- Were parent-teacher meetings difficult?
- Did the school provide any support for parents who were also learning French?
- If you had children of different ages, did the younger ones adapt more easily than the older ones?
- How was the social side of the transition? Did they have difficulty making friends at first?
- Did you continue speaking English at home? How did you maintain their English reading and writing?
- Looking back, would you make the same decision again?
We’re especially interested in hearing from immigrant or allophone families who did not already speak French when they moved to Quebec.
We know every child is different, but we’re honestly a little nervous about the transition, especially for our oldest. At the same time, we really want our kids to grow up bilingual and feel comfortable in both French- and English-speaking environments.
We’d really appreciate hearing about your actual experiences, including the difficult parts. If your kids struggled at first but eventually adjusted, we’d love to hear about that too.
Thanks everyone!