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Mistral

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Posts posted by Mistral

  1. I can confidently state that it has no super-special properties. It's pleasant enough. It's rice.
    _____
    No special properties!!! Of course it does, it's French. (or more importantly, not American )

    As for savon de Marseille, we're always told it's purer, made with olive oil etc (no idea if it's true) It's suggested for washing baby clothes.
    I was also told that a piece of SdM in the bed would prevent pregnancy cramp. (I went for the glass of milk before bedtime instead)
  2. I don't have children at uni yet but most of my friends and family have been through the French system. From what they have told me, it does seem that what you're saying is true. Students are not so much expected to think for themselves but repeat back what they have been taught. Even friends doing Phd's told me this. I don't know about the handwriting or not thing, but I'll ask around. other things that surprised me were that essay forms are very rigid. (intro-thse-antithse-fin) Depending on what uni your daughter is in in the UK, she may be surprised by the size of the French univerisies. I went to a UK uni with 2,500 students all subjects included. My husband had 3,000 first year students just doing law. Tutor systems etc are rare too (probably because of the number of students)
    It seems that there are lectures which are done by the uni staff but the other classes are quite often run by older students. It also seems expected to do 'other' subects i.e you are studying law but you have to do an hour of maths and of English a week as well. This will depend on whether yor daughter is in a DEUG or license class.
    I spent a semester in a German university as part of my course (thank you, Erasmus) and I was never very sure what was expected of me. So I just did things as I would have done back home. I got through it. The grades counted towards my degree, but they had less weighting.
  3. As part of a new law, the government is suggesting that each French person has a "medecin referant" that they have to go and see and who refers them to a specialist. It's not a very popular idea and I'd be very surprised if this went through.

    At the moment you can go and see up to 5 doctors in a day and still be reimbursed. Because of this, docors don't seem to keep the same notes about you as in the UK. Any blood tests or X-rays you do, you keep the results yourself and cart them to each doctor.

    My mother in law had a bad back in Novemebr, she called out SOS medecin on the Sunday who gave her a prescription, the next day she saw her rhumatologist who gave her another prescription, two days later she saw her GP for a cold and he gave her yet another prescription, for her cold and for her back. Each time my father in law insists on taking all the prescriptions with them, but the doctors don't seem interested in looking at them.

    We live in a medium sized town, the first doctor we saw only had appointments on Friday afternoons and you had to book at least a month in advance. We now see a doctor who has appointments in the morning and 'free sugery' in the afternoon. You can usually get an appoitment for the next day and he sees you on time and spends at least 15 minutes with you. But if you go in the afternoon, you can wait up to 3 hours.
    He is also very computer literate so he has all our details on his computer and can tell when we last visited and why. We tend to ask his advice before seeing a specialist but the only follow up he gets is what we tell him.
  4. I once shared a flat with a Cloclo fan. Let's just say it was an interesting experience. When she told me how he died, I thought she was making it up.

    Of course, he died a rich man (if you write the original version of 'my way' that could happen)

    Looking at the weather we've got at the moment, I think bopping along to Alexandrie-Alexandra could at least keep you warm. As long as you don't dress like a Clodette....

    Now you'll have to go and see Podium.

  5. SB, you have my sympathies. Child number 1 always ate everything put in front of him. If he played around, I just had to say, ok meal finished, get down. And that was enough threat.

    I thought I had it cracked and felt very smug looking at my sister whose second child was a very fussy eater.

    Shock with the arrival of my number 2. She has a very small appetite and a wide range of things she doesn't like. I tried the "it's that or nothing" technique (we don't allow snacks so that wasn't a problem) But since she's not interested in eating, it didn't bother her at all.

    She's better if you let her have small meals little and often because she fills up quickly. She prefers food served with a sauce and she enjoys helping me cook. All this helps her be a bit more interested in her meals. But it's just not a priority for her.

    My mum says I had to be dragged to the table screaming "not another meal" (she once tried starving me until I ate whatever it was I should, but she gave up after 48 hours.) I'm still alive.

    Oh and number 3? She'd eat the plate too if she could. (with both hands )
  6. This is just my personal opinion, but I think it would probably be best to start with her in CM2. That way she will have sorted out the changing countries and school systems part before she has to deal with the transition to collge.

    Primary schools tend to be smaller structures so she will be more 'protected' if she is CM2 and she will be faced with just the one teacher. In 6eme she will have up to 9 different teachers and some collges have 1,000 pupils. On the other hand there are less FLE (francais langue etrangere) teachers in primary schools (not that there are many in secondaries. That will depend a lot on where you live)although if she speaks good French already, she won't need one.

    I haven't personally experienced this situation because my kids have always been in the French system (the eldest is 9 too) But I'm a collge teacher so I've seen how children adapt to 6eme. It varies a lot depending on the child, but it's best to be careful.

    HTH
  7. It's Eid (usually written 'l'ad' in French) it commemorates Abraham being ready to sacrifice his son Isaac to god and being saved from killing him at the last minute. God then gave him an unblemished lamb to sacrifice instead. Traditionally, the head of the family slits a sheep's throat as part of the celebrations and then it is cooked and shared.
  8. What class in she in? Some bilans are more detailed than others. But I don't think they are too embarrassing (they don't seem to upset any of my pupils) They want the carnet de sant mainly to check that her jabs are up to date particularly the BCG and the BCG test.

    Parents don't usually attend after the 6yr old check. Your situation is a bit different and you could always ask to be there though I'm not sure they'll say yes. The only problems could be that even if they have appointments they always run late and she might be more embarrassed by being the only one with mummy there.
  9. Sandra, I am very surprised. Even in collge they do hardly any dissection. OK, whatever is done is done by the teacher while the kids watch but there's not much all the same. My pupils (11-16yrs) looked disgusted when I tell them about dissections I did at school (A level biology) so it doesn't seem very normal.
    My son is 9 and in CM1 and his science lessons are all photocopies etc. I think that the teacher could have warned you in advance at least.

    It would be interesting to ask what the other parents think.
    I'll ask my biology teacher friend tomorrow to see what she would expect to have been done in primary school.
  10. Self raising flour is "farine gteaux" plain flour is just ordinary "farine de bl"
    I don't know how many times I have expalined to my husband that it has to be "A GATEAUX" and not just "good for cakes" etc. he keeps coming back with the plain stuff.

    As for whipping and double cream I tend to use creme semi-epaisse for both or marscapone for doule cream in sweet dishes and creme fraiche in savouries.

    I think there was a thread a while back about double cream.
  11. I have friends who have studied for the French teaching exams through the CNED and I know of people who have used it for their children to keep up with the French curriculum while living abroad.

    Every year we get ads for it in the staff room because it offers summer remedial studies for pupils. But I don't know of any who have taken it up.

    Sorry not to be more helpful.
  12. But how Ferry can say that for muslims a beard is an unacceptable religious symbol but that sikhs can wear caps to cover their (uncut because of their religion) hair is totally beyond me. And does this mean Sikhs don't have to shave? Then the MP who says that pupils are young boys and don't have beards has obviously never set foot in a lyce (or even less a LEP)

    This is going to be fun to implement. This pupil has a beard/ bandana because he/she wants to so I let them, but this other pupil has one because of their religion so I ban it.

    I thought the basic idea was that we shouldn't be able to tell a pupil's religion by looking at them (that was OK by me) but now it's got to the point that we have to go out of our way to find out their religion before deciding what they can or can't wear.
  13. I started his first novel "fvrier" in French and I haven't yet got beyond the first two pages becasue I found the style very flat. From what I've read, it's the least successful of his books. But I wanted to read them in order. Maybe it will improve with a bit of effort, I'll dig it out and have another go.
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