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Relearning French: Immersion Redux
As someone who went through the Ontarian public school system, I was exposed to extensive French-language education. Unless I'm mistaken, I think we started to learn the language as soon as grade one, and we continued up to high school, where you needed one or two French credits for a diploma. In grades 7 and 8, I was a part of a French immersion program, where every subject was taught in the language, with the exception of English, of course.
I think due to my natural ability for language, I tended to enjoy French despite being a slacker, generally. In high school, although I could have stopped studying French in grade 10, I took it up until "grade 13" (aka, the Ontario Academic Credit). I technically failed the OAC (as I was at the height of my slackdom at the time) and that was the end of my French studies.
Recently, I have been thinking of dusting off my French. I'm doing this for two reasons: 1) For the love of the language (I want to read French classics in the original, etc.) and 2) To expand my earning/career potential (It's quite wonderful to be bilingual in Canada in terms of job availability/work, especially in Toronto/Ontario).
Last year, I bought an excellent "advanced" French book/CD resource that will do well for me technically, but what I'm lacking is an "immersion" component, which I think is very important. I want your ideas, recommendations, and advice in this respect.
Please, feed me your ideas for listening, reading, watching French in action. I have the film Amelie on DVD, so that's start. So what else would you recommend? I could put French dub on many DVDs available in Canada, but original French works would be better in my view. So...what books, radio stations/shows, newspapers/sites, plays, films, etc. would you recommend I partake in to reach my goal of awakening the French that lies dormant in my noggin? What other recommendations do you have to immerse myself?
Just bear in mind that I'm going to be quite rusty, so more basic French is ideal at this point. Also bear in mind the differences between Quebecois and Parisian French. The former would be more valuable to me than the latter in terms of functional uses (and given that that's what I learned throughout school), but I am open to anything in terms of enjoying the classic side of the language.
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Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön
Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot
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