chicfille

TU - sorry if I'm being really dense, but what is a 205?!

Whether you like him or not, Jamie is a guy who uses his celebrity to do some good, not just to make pots of cash. It's just a shame it takes a famous face to rant in public to get something changed for the better. Also a shame that the reactionary politicians have hijacked the issue for a few votes. And no I don't believe they were going to do anything about it before Jamie's programme. There is endless evidence to show that kids concentrate better at school and are calmer when they are fed properly. "You are what you eat" - it's not rubbish.  These kids may not be ill or "dropping like flies" yet, but they are storing up trouble for later in life. 

School meals here are very good generally, they usually have starter - main - cheese and/or fruit and/or dessert.  The key point is that the children get no choice and they are encouraged to try everything (though not forced). Incidentally, 37p isn't what the parents pay in the UK, it's the part paid for by the state. The parental contribution is something like £1.50. However, my children's UK primary had no kitchens at all, not even facilities for heating up food cooked elsewhere, so the children all brought packed lunches. I wonder how the government's extra cash will benefit children at schools in this situation?

My ma-in-law takes 2 hours off work every lunchtime to shop, cook, eat (starter-main-cheese-fruit/yoghurt/dessert) and then clean the kitchen completely, sweep the floor etc. Then she does it all again in the evening, even when it's just her and him. Consequently I fly into a panic when they come to us for a meal because my approach is rather less rigid. So I have to make superhuman (for me) efforts to produce a 4-course banquet. But it has to be good, because I feel like I'd be letting Britain down if I don't put on a good show!

[quote]pièces rapportées, how polite . My have I heard some embittered daughter in laws recently. They have been treat like les enmerdeuses since they married many years ago. And now are...[/quote] Not my phrase, incidentally, I heard it from an embittered daughter-in-law! A recent conversation with some of our French friends revealed some really insulting treatment from the boys' mothers to their daughters-in-law (son-in-law don't suffer the same fate, interestingly). Mothers really don't like to give away their precious sons, it seems!

Hi Tourangelle, My children are too young to have noticed, but exactly the same thing happens in the generation above: my husband and all his cousins tutoie their grand-mère (my MIL's mother), but the grand-mère's children-in-law all say "vous" to her. Grand-mère tutoies everyone, including the children-in-law. This really used to bother me because it seemed so divisive - separating the flesh-and-blood from the "pièces rapportées"! But it seems not to bother any of the daughters- & sons-in-law, and family protocol seems to be very strict on this so I've just had to get used to it. Doesn't do much for the "not losing a son but gaining a daughter" school of parenting though, in my opinion.

My MIL is also very traditional. She has always said "tu" to me, but I would never dare reciprocate. She very grandly announced shortly after our wedding that I may now call her by her first name (previously it had been "Madame.."), but no question of "tu". Of course our children tutoie her, which makes me feel even more like the outsider I am! I do have friends who tutoie their inlaws and in my opinion it makes for a much more equitable relationship, but who am I to go against French tradition?!

"It seems that most christening presents are non-religious." This reminds me of an incident not at a christening but a first communion service we attended years ago. The church was packed with parents standing in the aisles filming their child's big moment, and the priest made everyone sit down and proceeded to give a long sermon about the evils of materialism and meaning of the service, that it wasn't an occasion worthy of a new bike or a games console, but about a religious commitment, so an appropriate gift would be a bible or prayer book, nothing more. I could see all the parents squirming with embarrassment in their seats, thinking of the gleaming mountain bike sitting in the garage !

[quote]While I agree that the French are obsessed with health (mention even a slight ailment here, and you'll get a list of specialists as long as your arm), I find it hard to believe some people can even co...[/quote] I personally have had some incredibly bad (bordering on the negligent) and some very good care in France, the former when pregnant, the latter after the birth. Saying one system is far superior to the other is way too simplistic, partly because as Val says, there are big differences in their approach to certain aspects of healthcare. The French system is going to fall apart sometime soon if they don't do something radical about the funding. The major difference as I see it is that the French spend and waste money, then worry about the massive debt it has built up, whereas the UK system is given finite (albeit inadequate) resources with which it has to be very careful.  

I've only been to one French christening (in Paris) and it was a bit of a joke. At least a dozen children of all ages were being christened "à la chaîne" in a vast church that was almost deserted. The ceremony was not part of a normal service as is often the case in the UK. The ceremony was an incidental part of the day - because it was the vast meal in the posh restaurant that everyone had come for. It went on all day and all evening, and the poor little boy in question (in ridiculous white outfit) was exhausted and screaming long before it ended.

Strictly speaking, the "prochaine" can go after "fois" as well as before, ie "la fois prochaine" is the same as "la prochaine fois", but tends to be less well used. Prochain(e) is one of those adjectives that can go before or after the noun.

"Personally if my neighbours wish to cut their grass on a Sunday I really don't mind but those who burn green rubbish for the sake of it when we all wish to have windows open or sit in the garden are just purely bl***y selfish and deserve to be reported,but who would do that,life is too short for any neighbour feuds which can escalate terribly." Quite. I find the hum of lawnmowers quite soothing, but it is forbidden here on a Sunday, as are bonfires I believe. However, my neighbour lit a fire on Friday and Saturday to burn some still wet greenery, engulfing my freshly-washed laundry in smoke and obliging us to keep all our windows closed on the loveliest weekend of the year. But as we haven't been here long I don't think storming round there to make a fuss would be the best course of action...

On my school run there's a double stop - one for vehicles to give way to oncoming bikes, and 2 metres further on a 2nd one for  oncoming vehicles. At both the view is completely clear at all times of year in both directions from at least 50m before the signs. So what is the point of coming to a complete halt, whistling for 5 seconds whilst doing damage to my neck looking needlessly up and down an empty road before finally pulling out? Why are there Stop signs here when all that is needed for such junctions to be perfectly safe is a Cedez le Passage? If safety is the issue (and not replenishing the coffers), why haven't they abolished the ridiculous Priorité à Droite system which is responsible for countless accidents?

You're right, the first stage of the Oxford Reading Tree has no words - it's intended to encourage them to tell the story using the pictures in their own words apparently, and introduce books and reading to children who have had little experience of them before starting school. However, all the other stages have words! Also useful was a set of Key Stage One important words fridge magnets, and they have been very useful (not to mention an endless source of amusement for grown ups).

That must be new then, because I got one for my Peugeot a few months ago and it cost me nothing. Maybe it's only Peugeot in France that charge, because I requested mine from their UK head office. Either that or they've slapped a charge on them because other manufacturers have.

I can thoroughly recommend the Oxford Reading Tree. My elder daughter used it in Reception and Yr 1, and I have been using it to teach younger daughter, aged 5 and in Grande Section, to read in English with enormous success. She now loves reading and has kept up with (maybe exceeded) Reception/Yr 1 standards. They both loved the stories, which gain in complexity (and interest) as you go through the series. It is organised in stages, each stage contains 6 core stories and you can buy supplementary stories for each stage. If you're interested, I have some sets to sell - Stage 1 to Stage 6. Feel free to send me a PM.  

[quote]Can only repeat what Battypuss says...just do it, If she doesn`t like our `smart` youngest didn`t one time, she may well get it to do/learn at lunchtime or be sent to another Class during the day as p...[/quote] The worst that seems to happen if homework is not done to expected standard is the humiliation that goes with being told off in front of the whole class - something that my daughter is so frightened of that she does always gets it done in the end. Just a shame the process has to involve so much nagging and sulking. This week's poem is the worst yet - completely wierd subject with no rhymes or even rhythm to improve it. Spellings are nearly always hard but since I complained about the sheer number (up to 40 some weeks) there have been fewer. The reading books are terrible! Really old fashioned, portraying dull sexist stereotypes and with no storyline, so my daughter isn't enjoying them either, though she loves reading in English. As a result it's really hard to drum up enthusiasm for schoolwork these days - makes me really sad too.

Drivers with UK licences no longer have to swap it for a French one when they move to France to live. The law changed sometime in the late 1990s, and exchange is now voluntary, unless you commit an offence: L'échange contre un permis français devient également obligatoire dans le cas d'un infraction commise sur le territoire français pouvant entraîner une mesure:  de suspension, restriction, annulation du permis,  de perte de points (from www.service-public.fr - click on Transports, Permis de Conduire, then the bit about EU licences) So you'll be having fun at the Préfecture then! Note that the French points system the opposite of the UK system in that you start with a full set of 12 points (I think it's 12) and they some off if you commit an offence. Zero points = a ban.

Yet another week of stroppy arguments leaving daughter sulking and me steaming! The reason... homework. She probably gets as much as any other 7-year-old in France - weekly spellings and a poem to rote-learn, plus reading - and it's a constant struggle to get it done. In Year 1 last year in the UK she had a small amount of homework each weekend, which got done with only a minimum of fuss. I can't help thinking that she's too young to have the amount of homework she gets here, alongside such long and intensive days at school. It's demanding stuff too - some quite abstract poems, and some tough spellings. The upshot is that she's liking school less and less. She's got lots of friends, is bright, a fast learner and doing well at school here but she is more stressed now than she ever was in the UK (as am I!) and I'm worried about the long-term effects of all this homework on her attitude to school and learning. Any wisdom, anyone?

[quote]Many thanks, Mistral. Initially I wanted to teach in the French system, despite my inlaws (french) telling me that it would be a far better career move to teach in an International School. The rectora...[/quote] Cjb, can you tell me in what capacity you teach, if you don't mind me asking? I ask because I am considering changing career to become a teacher, but I don't know how to go about it. I have a degree in French and a PG Dip in translation, but no teaching qualification and no teaching experience! Maybe I'd be better of waiting until (if!) we go back to the UK and train there as I have no desire to take the CAPES!

Just recently, several French friends and acquaitances have mentioned some radio/tv programme that informed listeners that when you buy a house in the UK you only own it for a certain number of years, then the governement turns up to take it off you! Which is why so many Brits are buying homes in France.... Obviously a spectacular misunderstanding of the leasehold system, but has anyone else come across this myth? Anyone know where it came from?

You can either buy UHT crème liquide or, if you can find it, chilled crème fraîche fluide. The latter is much better - not UHT and contains no additives that you will find in UHT cream - but it can be harder to find (at least where I live). I buy it in 50cl bottles.

Re men, my MIL recently told FIL that he was getting fat, which I found pretty funny as he's the trimmest, fittest 55 yr old I've ever known. Poor bloke, she gave him some real grief, though he was entirely unbothered. They are very judgmental about excess weight. That said, given the amount of cheese, charcuterie and meat fried in butter that is put on the table the whole family should be enormous. As I said, it's all in the quantity. And the fact that they don't snack at all, ever. Not as much as a cup of tea when it's not mealtime.

My children's school has its own cook who buys the meat from local farms, some of it organic. We are all for this of course, but it is not the norm - meals for state primaries in the city are nearly all prepared in huge municipal kitchens for reheating as Mistral says, which is why I wondered about the quality of ingredients. As a student here years ago I had some very dubious meat at the Restaurants Universitaires: spongy watery chicken, shoe leather steak etc.

Lots of schools in the UK offer a choice of junk, if they do hot lunches at all, but just recently there's been a backlash and some pioneering dinner ladies have started using fresh, high quality local produce and cooking proper meals with it for a cost only a bit higher than the pap they were dishing up before. I just wish more schools would get the message. School meals are generally far better in France but I do wonder about the quality of the ingredients, especially the meat.