Mistral
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Posts posted by Mistral
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If I had a child in France I would be looking at the sites SB mentions because reporting it to the school could be counterproductive
I'm so sad whan I read this. Not because it's wrong but because it is so often true. About 10 years ago, there was a big push to try to sort out the bullying problems there are in a lot of schools. Everybody said it was so important, every school put it in the projet d'etablissement. But somehow, you got the feeling that they were looking for the classic case of "big boy hits small boy and steals his dinner money" and everything that didn't enter into this wasn't seen a really bullying.
Some schools are great on this. I'm lucky that mine takes both parents and pupils seriously and deals with it very fast. We have special training for the pupil delegués as well. (this is mainly because until 5 years ago we had a terrible record- then we changed principals)
Our son was bullied in primary school, all we got was that he should stay away from the bully in question. We tried to get the school to sort it out with the parents but they just said that nothing worked with those parents, so there was no point. When he was kicked in the head by the bully, we got a medical report and forced the school to hold a meeting with the teacher, head and parents (they didn't come) he was never bullied again.
A friend's 4 year old daughter was bullied in maternelle (by a 5 year old who was threatening to stick pens in any avilable orifice) She got the same reply from the school as we had had; these parents don't listen to us, we'll keep your daughter away from X and inside at recré. She decided that wasn't enough, contacted the IA, the rectorat, the school doctor and the police. Now, they keep an eye on X and he has to stay inside at recré. (and the parents won't talk to her, but she's not too bothered about that)
Both these examples are people knowing how to work the system. I wouldn't have known where to start. That's why you need those addresses
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You can sometimes get it in 1kg containers. I think it's the Daddy brand (it's pink anyway)
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I don't like cabbage, so I cook myself potatoes and eat them with the sausages. A friend in Belfort has "choucroute nouvelle" Apparently it has seasons. It's greener and fresher at first and then it gets stronger and more cabbagy. So it all depends on when in the year you buy it. I think this is only something you find in the east of France. it's always the same here. The other thing that surprised me there is that you can buy it uncooked and then you prepare it yourself (most choucroute has been preprepared) In fact the way my friend cooked it actually made it edible. (even pleasant)
Maybe the popularity is linked to the fact that the French see it as a convivial dish. It's best cooked in big quantities and that way you can buy a big range of sausages.
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To do something à corps et âme is to give your all. You've also got les accords which is something musical but not scales (having a blank moment here) and of course cordes for violin strings. Clever.
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If I remember right, she doesn't have French speaking parents, nor did she grow up in France. She went to a French lycée in whatever town she comes from in America. Apparently she inststs on dubbing her English language films into French herself.
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Remembrance Day is just that - a day to remember the fallen of ALL countries in ALL wars.
Not in France. 11th november is the day you commemorate the end of the First world war and just that.
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dealer (that's a verb, btw, pronounce it like delay - "il dealait sous le pont de Boisseron", Peter mpprh will recognise this one).
I hope you meant that he will recognise the place, not the activity
While we're on drugs (I didn't mean it that way) you get the verb se shooter which you obviously do with le shit.
black is used to describe black people too c'est un black
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My kids were all born here, so French has never been a problem (their English is not so good).
They went to a maternelle next to a asylum seekers' centre so there are children from various countries, most speaking no French. There are no extra French lessons in the maternelle. The teachers tell me that if children start in September: by christmas, they are understanding; by Easter, they are communicating; by the summer, they can't be told apart from the French speakers. It's a wierd sight, 4 year olds translating to their parents for their teachers "dis à maman que....."
The children who start in the primary section of the same school(where there are extra French lessons) seem to take a little longer and the older they are, the more likely they are to keep their accent. At the moment, I've got 2 chechens in class who have only been here a year (11 year olds) they understand most spoken French, but have trouble with written, one is still hesitantwhen he has to speak French. There's also an Albanian, who has been here 4 years (also 11, but in another class) he speaks just as good French as the others in the class, but still has an accent.
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We went to the ceremony in a nearby village (tiny village, big war memorial) I asked my son (10) if he had done anything about it in school. He hadn't, wasn't it about the war? he asked. I explained that we remembered people who had died in all wars; "so we can avoid such a waste again" he said, without prompting. I realised I had given him the British point of view, not the French one which is much more based on the end of the first world war and on the French victory. (yes, I said "French" - the first time I went to a rememberance service in France, it started with the words "La france a gangné la guerre" - I was a bit surprised)
Out of interest, france info said that there are only 15 "poilus" left in France (le monde said 14 -they must have lost one) Does anybody know how many British soldiers from WW1 are still alive?
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What I think is obvious, is that French take their kids in to restos at a far earlier stage than the Brits
We took our kids to restaurants from birth (it's easy when they're babies- it gets harder later on) yes, we expect them to stay at table and "behave". But on the other hand, we are aware of their attention span and don't hang about waiting for them to get bored.
Everything depends so much on the child. Number one grabs a menu as we walk in and barely lifts his eyes from his plate except to ask for more, number two picks at her food, asks for ketchup with everything and then goes into a transe, number three rampages through the restaurant shouting, wants to eat whatever you are eating and bangs her cutlery on the table (we've been going less since she was born )
As for whether this is a French trait (thanks dad) or a British one (thanks mum) I have no idea.
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Just out of interest, can one get one get a glass of wine in French McDonalds?
No, but you can get beer. I've always found strange that macDo is supposed to be uniform and there are things you can't get in the UK or in germany or wherever. My sister tells me that the range of salads is much bigger here in france than in the UK. Maybe it's all those French women trying to diet while they take their kids to MD.
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Hi, if you marry a French citizen, you have the right to claim french nationality after a year's marriage (or straight away if you have children aknowlegded by both parents) the whole process takes about a year to sort through. So count at least 2 years from marriage (more like 3 to be on the safe side) You'll find more info here: http://www.justice.gouv.fr/publicat/gnationad.htm Your children will have the right to french nationality no matter where they are born if one of their parents is French.
The official wedding ceremony in the mairie really is very short. Sometimes the maire does a speech and couples who are not going on to the church after sometimes add readings and things which make it longer. But this depends on the mairie and the time of year (I went to a wedding in Aix en provence in summer and in was really like being on a conveyor belt - even with that they were running late) But the standard wedding is just the maire or ajoint reading the relative laws and then asking the couple if they accept them, then everybody signing.
As for being free, yes the actual process is; but there are a few official papers you need to produce that you might have to pay for. For example a birth certificate. For a French person, this is provided free by the place they were born, Brits have to pay for theirs and then it has to be translated by an official translator who has to be paid too.
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There are two level crossings in my town. Since it's on the main Avignon to marseilles line, they're in action quite a bit. I usually have to stop on my way to work.
What you can still find in france are level crossings without barriers, just the flashing lights. Most level crossing accidents in france are on this sort of crossing. There was a nasty one last year if I remember right.
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Thanks Miki, so it looks as though things haven't changed (well, there's a surprise
) I'm managing to keep up with the schooling so far and the language, but I don't understand a thing about his gameboy 
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Thanks Miki, so it looks as though things haven't changed (well, there's a surprise ) I'm managing to keep up with the schooling so far and the language, but I don't understand a thing about his gameboy
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Sorry, I forgot to end the story: Her daughter will be six this May
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I know they have that crap "apple pie" at school
Aah, Dave and Vanessa, Phil and Cathy (let's not forget Walter the token American
) Nostalgia, nostalgia. I'm dealing with boring English Live and boring Dennis and Julie and the gangsters. Believe me it used to be much worse (ticket to ride, imagine you're English...) At least Apple Pie encourages pupils to talk in English and gives them the tools to express themselves (as long as the teacher isn't frightened of letting them talk) but of course, it's not aimed at anglophones although they will probably be learning more English grammar in France than in the UK. -
teachers here are much more militant in that once 5pm arrives, they are off home
5pm!! No way. I'm off home at 4.30
I quite agree with what Val's says. I don't have 14 year olds (yet), but I work with them. The language and school style differences are enormous and from the beginning of 4eme, most collèges gear everything to taking the brevet and going on to lycée. Even schools with FLE (francais langue etrangere) hours, don't have enough. We were supposed to have 21hrs, got 11 and each child gets 3 (in small groups). Very few teachers would contemplate giving up spare time to help if they weren't paid for it. (I am going to throttle the French teacher who runs the theatre club soon -she does it out of choice, nobody asked her to, but she keeps going on and on about how she isn't paid, should be paid and will stop doing it if she isn't paid... -it's a lunchtime club for goodness sake )
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It's not the summer anymore. And it's a well known fact that you can't swim outside of the summer holidays
Friends started going on about "this is the last weekend I'll be able to swim....." right at the beginning of September. Even our local (covered) swimming pool empties once it's the rentrée.
If nothing has fallen off yet, I think it's probably OK to go back
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A French friend told me she was allowed five free IVF tries. From the way she said it, I got the feeling it was standard.
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catch the sublime PPDA reading the news each night...
Sorry, that is just one person I really can't stand watching. I've seen too many episodes of the guignols and every time I see him, I see the puppet, or even worse, I think of the Castro fiasco.
I've managed to avoid most of these programmes by putting my kids to bed before 8.30, but it's amazing how fast they become star ac' fans when we visit friends.
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Is that the thing on M6 where they poor guy has been set up into thinking he's doing a reality show along with a loads of fakes? (I don't get M6, but I do read telestar)
Looks pretty pathetic and cringe making to me
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she cannot believe some of the politics ( Im talking radical) in histoire-geo!!
Out of interest, how radial are you talking about? Teachers aren't supposed to preach their own politics (it's only been a few years since they were even allowed to mention them) But I know quite a few who see certain things as "received wisdom" and will teach them as obvious fact.
the fact that the teachers talk at you, and after all that they give you philosphy in the terminale to teach you free thinking
Not really, from what I've heard (and it's a bit out of date, Val, Miki... have things changed?) Philisophy is mostly learning what the "experts" have already written about various issues and then writing essays where you quote as many people as possible.
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It's an adaptation of La Comtesse de Cagliostro
I'm going to have to reread that one (last time was 15 years ago) as I don't remember all the things you mentioned.
BTW, think yourself lucky, we went to see gang de requins
French school, mixed experiences
in French Education
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It doesn't worry you that the children "would still rather be back in England"?
I moved out here as a fluent french speaking adult and after 6 month I, too would rather have been back in England. That's about when the honeymoon period starts wearing of an reality starts to make its presence felt. As Clare said, it's the moment when you are no longer the novelty and everybody starts expecting you to get on with it.
French teachers are not trained to deal with non-French speaking children. Schools are suppsed to provide FLE but if they do it means that something like art or English can't be taught.
It looks as if this school finally is doing its best now that the teachers have better understood the needs of the children.
Good luck to them