Diverse Immersion Experiences Give Students an Edge
The Twin Cities boasts language immersion schools in Chinese, French, German, Korean, and Spanish. These schools allow children to immerse themselves in a different language and culture at a young age, exposing them to unique perspectives and alternative ways of thinking.
Here, four undergraduate students share the immersion experiences they had in French and how that background prepared them for continuing their French studies into adulthood.
With career interests ranging from engineering to music education to journalism, these students show how to conquer and overcome language challenges at a young age, including going between French and English in math class and keeping up with vocabulary in two languages. They reflect on how their immersion experience—some dating back to before kindergarten—aids them in their studies today as they work toward their future careers.
Weaving Music with French
Engineering with the Help of French
Majoring in mechanical engineering and minoring in French, Isaac Morales talks about ways he hopes to use his French skills when he begins his career. With appreciation for his French immersion experience at L'Etoile du Nord, Morales also talks about ways he keeps his French skills fresh and sharp by reading French news.
French Immersion Taught Me to be Mindful
Recent graduate Lily Mahan talks about starting French immersion preschool at the age of three, what it was like to transition out of a full immersion program at the end of elementary school, and how knowing French affects her worldview. “I am who I am today because of my immersion experience,” she says. Lastly, graduating with a French major, Mahan talks about her future and how she hopes to live and work in France one day.
Immersion through Learning Abroad
Bella Dally-Steele strives to learn as many languages as she can to fuel a career in international journalism. Her first immersion experience was as an exchange student in France as a high school student, which she has followed up by learning abroad in Seoul, South Korea and Fez, Morocco, in college. She is pursuing a bachelor of individualized studies in French, Spanish, and mass communication.
This story was written by an undergraduate student account executive in CLAgency. Meet the team.
