Mistral
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Posts posted by Mistral
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I can't remember to well, I think there was something about "the 20E reduction is only valid....." and then you ticked do you agree? It wasn't asking you if you wanted to set up the monthly payments, just telling you about it. We didn't have to prove we did it or anything. I assumed the tax office would deal with the reduction because they know full well we pay that way
We've been on the monthly system for years now and it just continues, you don't have to ask every year. I don't think you need to do anything. Was last year your first year doing it? What happens is that you pay for 8 (9?) months based on the previous year and then in August/sept you get an avis d'impot telling you how much more (or less) you owe and how that will be spread over the remaining months of the year along with a monthly breakdown for the following year
As for the calculations, just before, you click on the send button, there was a "estimate" button on the right hand side, I clicked on that and got the calculations. On that it showed that we had the 20E reduction. If you want to check what you will be paying, you can still check by going back to the home page and clicking on "estimation" or something like that. I always do this (used to be on minitel) I calculate it out myself and then use the inernet/minitel to check my calculations, that way we don't get too many nasty surprises in September.
I'm sorry if I was unclear and made you panic.
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This thread makes me think, does anybody use moneo? I get the impression it hasn't caught on
I've got a friend wh's been using it since it began, but it seems a lot of hassle to me and i have a feeling you have to pay for the priviledge.
Don't worry, SB, the stolen cheques signs are all over the place here too. I think the first time I saw them en masse was about 5 years ago in Lyon.
I hardly ever use cheques, just for bills. I've never been comfortable that you are hardly ever asked to prove your identity, so I'd rather not take my cheque book out of the house. It would have been useful yesterday at leclerc, the internet (or whatever) link wasn't working properly so none of the machines would take cards. You had to pay with either cheques or cash. There was no warning until all your shopping had been zapped and they waited for 10 minutes just in case it was working again (not)
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We've recently had blue lines put all over our town centre. As Battypus says, it means parking is limited to 2 hours during the day (although around here 12-14 isn't included) We got a nice disk from the mairie which has things organised so that you get "arrived 9.00-9.30; time limit 10.30" We're not sure who did the mayor's maths, probably the same people who paid a dustbin bill that is going to take 30 years to pay off.
I have been told that you don't actually need a disk, if you write the time you arrived on a piece of paper and put that in the window, then it has to be accepted. But I haven't had the courage to try that yet.
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We did ours yesterday. Since we've paid monthly for the last god knows how long, we just ticked the box for "modern method of paying" or whatever and it was automatically calculated.
This is the second year we've done it by internet. It's certainly less hassle than filling in the form and remembering to send it of and everything. You get a receipt straight away, so there's no doubt. Of course, we have about the simplest form to fill in; my wages, his wages, childcare for #3 and sign.
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Mine doesn't have as much pink on it as that either. Maybe they have different ones for EU and non EU? (or it could be an age thing, mine's from 1997)
Anything is better than the orange cardboard things they used to use.
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We played the "whose eyebrows don't go up and down?" game while watching the cesars. It was quite revealing. There quite a few actresses (mainly) who were "un certain age" and who looked it but who still seemed to be strangely lacking in facial expressions.
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I agree about the memorising thing. I think the poems are there to train their memories, not to give them an appreciation of poetry nor to inspire them to try to do the same. So much depends on the teacher's choice. One year we only got maurice carême and Jacques prevert. The next year it was wierd unrhythmic verse (there was one about a rider that had impossible vocabulary, I mean "toque" for a 7 year old?!)
I'm not necessarily against something (anything) that trains their memories. But I'd be happier with work on long-term memory.
This year's CE1 books are quite fun but they do seem to read them forever. And I find it strange that they just seem to read them without taking things further. For example we had one recently about a princess who contacted a fairy godmother by e-mail and while waiting for the reply to download went red with anger, green with something else etc. It was a fun idea but there was no "inventive writing/ self expression" using that as a starting point.
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I wish my 7 year old got more reading to do. Every couple of weeks she has about 15 pages of her bok to read at home. I would much rather she read a page or so a day.
Other than that, she usually has a "sound sheet" to read and maybe a couple of sums to do. We don't get too many poems this year, maybe two a term. They're OK this year. Last year they were a bit wierd (strong lack of rhyming)
I'm more worried about her brother. He is in a mixed CM1/CM2 class and most nights all he has is "read the history lesson" It's done in 5 minutes. He is going to get such a shock next year in collège. I've actually started him on those holiday books, so that he has something to do. (and that he hasn't finished working too long before his sister)
As Val says, once they're in collège, it really piles on.
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My mother in law has been to Lourdes a couple of times with a group from her diocese. She felt she benefitted a lot from the feeling of community with other ill people, the daily religious services and discussion groups. She always comes back feeling strengthened. I don't think it would be my sort of thing, but it works for her.
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SB, don't forget to wave as you change motorways
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Battypus, tell us about the recipe book.... What sort of recipes were in it?
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Mrs O, I know what you mean, the school holidays are so long that kids have usually used up their quota of visiting friends, going to the swimming pool .... by the end of the first month and are often relieved to go back in September (more in primary than in secondary) Most teachers I know find the hoildays too long too. I mean in terms of learning, the pupils forget a lot and have to relearn their studying techniques.
The long summer hoildays in France are a throw back to the days when the kids would be helping out at harvest and the parents would keep them off school anyway. Nowadays, I think they are considered as sacred. It would be difficult to cut them down as people tend to take the whole of a month off, This is always the argument when a government proposes biting into a bit of July or August.
A few years ago, they decided that children's natural rhythms were 7 weeks of school and 2 weeks of holiday all year round. They didn't even try it for the summer holidays and after a year, the ski resorts and other tourist dependant industries had complained so much (all the zones had hoildays at the same time) that it was stopped.
I'm not too sure I understood what you were saying about the CE1 class, are there two differecnt teachers? Each teacher decides if he or she is going to strike. One of the PS classes in my daughter's school only has lessons this afternoon because the morning teacher is striking.
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Love the quote
Maybe I won't quote it at school today 
I've heard the same negative comments, but mostly from people who have attitudes closer to the first person you mentioned
The general feeling I've always had is that les restos don't bother asking people to prove that they are in need; if they are there and asking for help, they get it.
I remember back in the early eighties how everybody thought that it was a one off ( a bit like comic relief I suppose)
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Battypus, I quite agree. A lot of my pupils come by bus and some of them have to come in at nine for one single lesson at eleven and then wait for the 3.30 bus. It seems like a lot of hanging around. Add to that a cold lunch (not too frightening for Brits but horrifying to French people) and it all seems a bit pointless.
I hadn't thought about there being no buses. That should interesting. My pupils come from next to school, the other side of town (a good half an hour on foot) and a neighbouring village 10km away.
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Well, you're both better informed than pupils at my collège. They were told last week that the cantine would not be providing food but that they could bring in packed lunches (cries of outrage) but the only other information they have had is a notice in the window of the vie scolaire teling them to check with individual teachers. Of course, that's all the school can do. They are not allowed to tell people officially who will be on strike and teachers have no obligation to warn their pupils either (although we usually do, especialliy where there are buses)
As for "suitable excuse" that always makes me laugh. I've had pupils come in with "grève" on their carnet when all their teachers were there. (but of course, the parents might not be aware of that) But as long as it's signed by the parents we have to accept eny excuse. Our CPE decided a long time ago, that she wasn't going to bother putting strike absences in the computer or ringing parents. This means that non striking teachers mark the kids as absent and she puts the absence slips in a drawer. The pupils are told not to bother with a signed parental note. By the time they get to 4eme/3eme they've worked out that this gives them a whole free day with no-one bothering about where they are.
Both kids in primaire have class tomorrow but not today because the teachers are having a "réunion syndical". Littlest one in maternelle, has school today but both her teachers are on strike tomorrow.
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cjb, I wasn't in the same situation as you, I moved out to france straight from university. I started as a replacemant teacher (back in the days when they were MA) to decide if it was a job I wanted to do and then I took the CAPES.
Quite honestly I can't see the ed nat system recognising the UK teaching qualifications very soon because of the status problem. French teachers are civil servants, the exam is no way a proof of your teaching ability, it just measures your level in your subject. Not only does France refuse to accept teaching qualifications from other EU states, but French teachers with the CAPES/Agreg who leave the French system to work in another country have to retake when they come back.
As a teacher, the big difference I see between the two systems is that UK teachers are actually trained to teach whereas French teachers have to prove they have a certain level in the subject and then it is assumed they can teach it. This might explain why so many French teachers think that the best way to get the message across is to shout Even the year as a stagiaire at the IUFM after passing the CAPES thérorique, all the lessons were on university level English. Nothing on classroom techniques, structuring a lesson..... Most people I know just teach in the way they were taught.
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To replce double cream, I either use crème semi epaisse or marscapone, which I sometimes mix with single cream. There was a period when I could find UHT double cream at leclerc, but not any more.
I think some people here have found double cream in cremeries, but I expect that's more likely in places like Normandy and Brittany.
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Thanks for posting. This is such good news that you and Kurt feel comfortable with the French system. You say he is in a small class, is it a specific type of class (with a technical name) or just a small standard class? (this is out of professional interest)
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I'm not sure all the modalities have been worked out yet. But for example I can tell you what happens in the brevet which although it is a is a lot less important exam, has been using a continuous assessment system for years. In the brevet, you get the C/A grade by calculating the moyenne annuelle. That is you add the moyennes for each term and then divide the result by three. The term moyennes are calculated by each teacher using his or her own system and with the weighting he chooses (example: I use coéf 2 for writen work and coéf 1 for oral, some colleagues don't count oral work at all and some use equal weighting) So it's up to the teacher to decide what counts. We have no external marking. I think this is back to the equality thing. All teachers are supposed to be equally trained to the same level of competance so they will all obviously grade the same way.
As far as I know, the idea is to include C/A in the total grade, not replace the final exam, but this seems to be enough to get the lyéens out on the streets.
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Now, could you explain exactly what the loi Fillon is?
If only I knew I read the raport Thelot with interest, but it seemed that the actual projet de loi has a lot of wishful thinking and vagaries. I've downloaded it and I'll read it properly before Thursday.
As far as I have seen, the main sticking points seem to be the fact that pupils can choose which subjects they take in the continuous assessment in the brevet, continuous assessment for the bac and not just a single exam, allowing pupils in great difficulty to follow a modified programme. The one that the teachers won't officially strike about, but has caused a lot of noise in staff rooms is asking secondary teachers to replace missing colleagues when they are absent for short periods (at the moment, teachers are replaced for absences of more than 2 weeks, and by "official" replacements not other members of staff in the same school)
As far as I can understand, the lycéens have been complaining about having all their grades count for the bac and not just the exam. The argument is that too much depends on the system of grading in each school. And the threat that some sections are going to be grouped together, so that instead of having, say, 10 pupils doing an option in three lycées, just one lycée will have the class and they will all have to travel to it. This is already happening. Our local lycée no longer has a LV3 possibility which means that pupils have to try and get into the lycée in the neighbouring town on derogation. Unfortunately that lycée already has too many pupils so all of last year's derogations were refused. So I have pupils who want to study languages in SES at the moment
here's a link to the goverment's site on the projet de loi http://www.loi.ecole.gouv.fr/
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I expect this is an unecessary warning, but I'll post it all the same.
Next Thursday (10th march) there is a call to a general strike in France. Naturally the teachers are going to be involved. On the educational side, the protest is against the projet de loi fillon (again) and budjet cuts (again) for more info here's the link to the main secondary union http://www.snes.edu/snesactu/article.php3?id_article=1336
I'm assuming that this will only be the state sector as usual, but I feel it could well be very strongly followed. Already I know there will be no cantine staff at my school.
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BTW are your daffs out yet ?
What do you mean yet? Mine have been out for weeks
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I would say that the quality of the meat varies from school to school and from cook to cook. My collège has a full time cook who produces all the meals on the premesis. My husband's school, on the other side of town, has the meals delivered by a contractor and all they have to do is heat them. More and more schools are using this method because it is cheaper but from listening to comments from pupils in schools that do, it seems that the meals aren't as nice.
I can't see french schools going down the organic/bio meat route just yet.
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This thread is terrible, it's forced me to think back to today's classes to see if I can remember any bright (as in colour) pupils. Well, I was wearing bright red, does that count? Then I've got one who has a selection of shocking pink tops and another who has great glittery pink trainers, but I think it stops there.
I often feel that the french desperately want to avoid standing out, even more than the Brits. Being different isn't easy here.
A good memory of today's lessons was a 3ieme we haven't seen for a while bringing her month old baby in to show us. Now I think about it, she (the baby) was dressed in tasteful beige.
Parking your car and Blue Lines
in Driving in France
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