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thepenofmyaunt

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Everything posted by thepenofmyaunt

  1. This one is in a similar vein http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/21/france-paris-festival-of-errors      
  2. I too am no fan of the French education system which I find far too narrow and prescribed for the modern world and we decided to return to the UK to complete their secondary education. We had many experiences similar to Panda, with our children suffering racist abuse from staff and even some teachers. Our son, who had been at school in France since the age of 7 never quite mastered a French accent and it made him very self-conscious and unwilling to talk in front of the class but in the end it came down to the standard and level of teaching. In the UK we live in a small market town with a good comprehensive school. Our children turned out to be very behind their peers in the UK in many subjects but have caught up well. The standard of work in the UK is far higher than in France, which is dependent in secondary school on worksheets and rote learning.  I've found many of the pre-conceived ideas about the Uk education sytem to be simply not true. Both children are very happy here and, strangely enough, are living life with the sort of freedom that we thought they'd get in France. They walk everywhere, do lots of sport, hardly touch the computer and have a great social life, none of which, ultimately, they had in the very rural area we lived in France.  They are happier and healthier for the move to the UK. In the end though, you must do what is best for your children, not what other people think you should do. It's that old thing about 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it'. I follow the blog of a lady who used to post here before she too moved back to the UK, in part because of the education system. She has just written a comparison of how she has found the two systems. It makes interesting reading. Again it is only a personal view. If anyone is interested, and if she is agreable, I'll post the links here or pass them on to individuals. One other comment to Millie, you mentioned about your son doing the International bac in the future. Just to clarify, France doesn't recognise the International Baccalaureate and it is not taught in any public schools.  La Baule, if I remember rightly, teaches the French Bac with the Option Internationale, not sure if its the Option Anglais or Americain. The French Bac does not have any of the 'cachet' of the International Bac and is not worth any more points for university entry in the UK. I can't speak for Canada. Good luck with whatever you decide to do.
  3. Which is exactly what my children's school in the UK does. From year 9, those more suited to practical subjects do the core subjects of maths and english, then do day-release at the local college in anything from hairdressing to bricklaying to motor mechanics. The school even has it's own fully functioning hair and beauty salon.  The school long ago recognised that trying to keep children in the classroom learning academic subjects when they didn't want or need to be there was counter-productive on many levels from learning to behaviour.  I doubt it's the only school in the UK like it.
  4. I think the number of NEETs in France is over 3 times as high as the UK.
  5. Thanks Parsnips.  I thought the regime reel was for rents over 15,000 euros pa though, not under
  6. I'm always amazed at how people just accept this sort of behaviour in France. If someone has posted saying that the UK had banned all non-British children from participating in a sport at an amateur level until they had been in the UK for 5 years, there would be uproar. From what I've read it's a FIFA ruling aimed at professional players so it affects all countries yet only France is using it in this way to penalise foreign children. As for the comments of the Head teacher, it obviously made you feel uncomfortable therefore it is unacceptable.  I'd be interested to know what other 'jokes' he made about your nationality.      
  7. Our house in France is let out on a 3 year contract. We want to use the regime reel as the property doesn't make a profit so we want to be able to offset our expenses - mortgage,etc. I can't find anywhere on the forms we have received where we need to note the rental figure and expenses so I'm wondering if it's on a different form.  Any advice gratefully received as I want to get it in before the 31st May deadline. Thanks  
  8. NormanH, I lived in France for the past 5 years before returning to the UK. I was educated mainly in France and at University in Paris, so yes, I've been in France for longer than most.
  9. Celine, I think you are quite right about the marking. Having just read a Year 9 coursework essay my son did on theism and the telelogical arguments of William Paley on the existence of God there is absolutely no way that the education system here is dumbed down and I've no doubt his peers in France would have been completely unable to handle an essay like this (taking into account, of course, that religion isn't taught in France). I think I'd have struggled with it myself!  Incidentally, both my children were in 30+ classes in France but are in slightly smaller ones here.
  10. To me they are outlined in a legally enforcable document which states clearly who is responsible for what. I don't see that there is anything open to interpretation myself but hey ho!
  11. Panda, I completely agree with what you say. Too many of the teachers in France seemed to be marking time until retirement and had little if any interest in their students.  In the UK they make learning so much more engaging - mine haven't done bouncy custard but my oldest was able to create an earthquake using a National Geographic computer programme, they do experiments in the sciences which they didn't do in France, it's so much more hands on. It's the way that subjects are looked at from so many different angles that mine particularly enjoy.  A friend from France was visiting yesterday and asked me to help her daughter with an controle that she had struggled with. My heart sank when I looked at how they are being taught. It's so dry and uninspiring, just rote learning with no attempt at making the student understand what they are doing.  The subject was racism and all she had to do was answer questions from a text in front of her whereas when my eldest covered the same subject he had to create a poster showing the effects of racism and write an essay, independently researched, on a historical figure who played a part in some aspect of the subject. He chose Malcolm X.   I remember a comment from a friend in France who's daughter  had been in school for 10 years and she'd suddenly come to the realisation that her daughter could parrot all manner of information but didn't actually understand what any of it meant. All an exam can do is provide a snapshot of a student on a particular day whereas in the UK they are taking into account coursework and assessing students throughout the year so really I think there is litle point in saying that the GCSE exam is dumbed down as it's only one part of the whole thing. The Grand Ecoles produce the leaders but the Education Nationale produces the workers who will do what the leader say without questioning.
  12. So what's the point of having a contract outlining Tenant and Landlord obligations then?
  13. Russethouse, both very similar in fact. Both schools are in small towns in rural areas, both have a wide catchment area, both serve a wide mixture of abilities and social backgrounds, both are considered good schools in their area. The difference in the standard of learning and teaching, behaviour of pupils and facilities, however, is enormous.  I think it's fair to say that the schooling in France was nothing like I'd been led to believe and the schooling in the UK, likewise, has been far from what the media portrays.  It's been interesting to be able to compare the same school year in France and the UK. The curriculums are pretty similar, it's the depth to which each subject is taught  and the higher expectations that the teachers have of the pupils that is the difference. Both children say that school in the UK is much harder than in France. I do rate primary school in France very highly though.
  14. No, I wasn't talking about major repairs however our French contract goes into great detail about who is responsible for what and it does require the tenants to be responsible for things like maintenance and repair of water pipes, maintenance and repair of the gas boiler, etc, maintenance and repair of pool equipment and it's these things that are causing the problem.  We understand that we are responsible for the fabric of the building and major repairs.
  15. Having  moved back to the UK last year with children in Year 7 and Year 9, who because of their birthdays were in the year above in France, we've been able to draw a direct comparison between the curriculum in the UK and France.  I believe that brevet is well below the standard of 5 GCSEs. Our children were very behind in Maths and Sciences compared to their UK counterparts and that was despite coming from the top school in the departement. They are also, obviously, very behind in RE and the school commented that both had a very 'limited' knowledge of Europe, which was surprising considering that they had lived in continental Europe for so many years. Overall, we've found the education and especially the teaching in the UK to be of a much higher standard and much more challenging than than in France. Also, you need to bear in mind that GCSEs do not depend solely on an exam paper where information is regurgitated parrot-fashion. It also involves some fairly indepth coursework which I think most French children would struggle to complete. I'm afraid I don't agree with NormanH that a French educated child could pass GCSEs in either History or Geography seeing as their curriculum is far less in-depth and as Science in France is taught as one subject up to Brevet I think they'd struggle with any of the single science GCSEs but might manage a combined one. My son says that the subjects studied are broadly similar but in the UK are studied to a greater depth and with greater use of technology. He says that he might have been able to manage a Foundation GCSE paper but certainly not a Higher one. Another thing to point out is that many children in the UK take at least some GCSEs a year early now in year 10 as opposed to Year 11. My son's school recently hosted a college from Bordeaux and the comments from the French students were that the work was much harder, the students were much more respectful and that discipline was stricter. Who'd have thought!
  16. We  have let our house long term on a French tenancy contract.  The contract outlines clearly what are our responsbilities and what are our tenants but it seems every time something goes wrong that should be their responsibility they tell us that 'we've only been in the house X months so it can't be our fault'. Up until now we've paid for everything but now that they are well into their first year, we feel that it is time for them to stop using this excuse. I know when you buy a house you are taking it 'as seen' as long as there are no vices cachees. Is it the same for rentals? I've looked on various websites (anil, vosdroits, etc) but can't see anything written.  They are lovely tenants and we don't want to upset them but we are worried that this is going to become an issue. Thanks in advance
  17. We have an underground water leak at our rented property. The contract says the tenant is responsible for maintaining the pipework and making necessary repairs but shouldn't this be the landlord?  Any clarification gratefully received.
  18. I'd agree with Sue. We'd never have taken a long term let over the summer when we can get for a week what a long term let achieves in a month.  I think that could be the problem. Despite what many say, the last two years were our busiest ever and we even increased our prices. The problem you may find going through an immobilier is that the standard French agreement is 3 years.  Try AngloInfo. They have plenty of available long term lets but I honestly think you'll find it difficult at this particular time of year.
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