Mistral
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Posts posted by Mistral
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The main reason for the week A and B thing is that the fixed hours for some subjects include half hours. I'd better explain from the beginning; excuses if you already knew it all.
Every subject in secondary school has a set minimum amount of learning hours. This varies depending on the class. So a first language 6eme class should have at least 3.5 hours and a 5eme should have 3 and so on... Each school has a spare amount of hours that it can decide to give to whichever subject it wants. Rectorats are getting less and less generous with these (and making us use them on fun things like IDD, ATP and PPRE) so most schools can only allow the minimum (called heure plancher)
As lot of subjects have a half hour in their heure plancher, pupils will have that hour one week and not the next, making it a half hour over a two week period. It usually alternates with another subject that needs a half hour.
The other reason for A's and B's is when you have half classes. Group 1 week A and group 2 week B. This isn't too complicated as long as the groups are the same for every subject.
Since my son started both german and English in 6eme(and our latin teacher insists on 3 hours in 5eme) I didn't really want him to do latin as well this year, but he decided to do it himself. Now he's complaining about having to go to school at 8 when his friends start at 9 and having more books than them. Just wait until they add the three missing hours of English, he'll only have one free hour a week.
For the school bus, I can be smug. The card costs 10E for the year. I can't remember what the cantine costs, I won't pay it until the end of the term.
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[quote user="SaligoBay"]
Teachers in France are not serene! They yell and rip pages out of cahiers and generally terrify (or bore) their charges into submission[/quote]
I don't do much ripping and yelling but I'm certainly not serene at the moment. My rentrée was Friday and on the first day we worked out that the joint efforts of our head and deputy have managed to "forget" three hours of english for two different classes and put latin at the same time as second language in one other class. Monday we found out that they gave the wrong equipment list to the 6emes who have the wrong english workbook and today we found that one class of 4eme has no latin lessons on their timetables, three 5eme pupils aren't on the latin lists and one of them was in a class that didn't teach latin anyway.
As far as the kids are concerned the rentrée has been a big success. Child one is in 5eme with his best friend (he doesn't realise that he is missing three hours of English and has been forgotten from latin yet) He came home complaining he had loads of homework, but what it turned out to be, was loads of stuff for us to sign and fill in (if i have to find our insurance number one more time I'll scream) He's spent a happy evening coering books (loads of new ones in 5eme this year) Child two is in CM1 and has a male teacher for the first time that she has already set out to charm. Child three is a bit miffed that her best friend has left the school but she's rather pleased that the grand section go in through the primary door which makes her feel like a biggy.
I've got to go and do the "fournitures" shop tomorrow for child 2. Luckily, child 1's school gives out the list (with mistakes but never mind) in June. I even put it on the school website.
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My two eldest read in both languages. I was planning on "teaching" them to read in English once they had learnt in french, but as things turned out, they didn't need any help from me. They learnt to read in french in CP and then both of them just transfered these skills to English without any problems. I thought they would have problems with words which aren't written as they are pronounced but they even coped with words like "laughing" without me saying anything. It was as if their brains were telling them that the word "lawgging" (the way my pupils try to pronounce it) didn't exist in english.
I didn't want to confuse things by teaching them English at the same time they learnt French because the two languages have two different pronunciation systems. But things didn't turn out as I had planned. With my son I had planned on waiting until he had been reading well in French for a couple of years. But one day, he just picked up an English book and started reading it out loud. With my daughter I had planned at least to wait until she had the basics in french but by christmas she was having trouble with the whole word system used in her CP class and the teacher was suggesting an orthophonist, so I started her on letterland which sorted the problem but also meant she was working both languages at the same time. It didn't seem to be a problem.
This is just my experience. My kids are bilingual from birth, although more comfortable with French. I have never felt the same need as some posters here to keep up their English education since returning to the UK isn't an option for our family. Anything they do in english is just a plus. You'll need to go with how you and your daughter feel comfortable.
You may find this website interesting for word/letter sound work (it's American so the voices obviously have American accents) http://www.starfall.com/
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Wen, don't worry. French kids are taught about the Vichy gov while they are learning about the second world war. (which means in 3eme in collège) It's difficult for the kids to come to terms with the idea that real life french people could act like this (as opposed to naughty n-a-z-i-s who were foreign and who don't seem quite real) and it's only the more recent generation of French history teachers who feels comfortable teaching it.
I agree with your comments on the two world wars. You sometimes get the feeling that the french did everything and the rest were there to help out a bit. But when I think back to how it was taught when I was at school in the UK, the teachers obviously put the accent on what happened to and for the British. It's just something that makes it seem more real. I remember my sister (in O level history) learning all about life in the blitz. I wouln't expect french kids to study that. On the other hand they do more about life during the occupation.
Back to the original question. I have never really thought about teaching British history to my kids. I just drop in comments as and when I feel the need. They learn French history at school and when they come home and talk about Alesia (I'm another person who can't pronounce- or here, spell- the name of the French leader) I tell them about Boudicca. This year, the eldest (6eme) has been doing ancient civilisations, so there hasn't been much for me to do apart from mentioning the fact that the Romans got as far as Britian. (which he knows from asterix anyway) A lot of what is taught in French history lessons is obviously french orientated, but there's also quite a lot which is pretty universal. Next year, he'll be doing the moyen age so he'll be doing things like the invention of printing and the influence of the church. They are neither french not British.
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Sounds horrifying. I can (sort of) understand the logic behind it all. These pupils probably no longer wanted /needed to be in collège and would welcome the possibility to go on to something a bit different. But sticking them all together in one class probably isn't going to help the situation much. It does sound very "classe poubelle" to me. And this adds the problem of what to do with other pupils who don't have this sort of problem and who really want to go to DP6. As a PP I would have enormous difficulty advising them to go somewhere like that. But we have a possibility of three DP6's and two 3eme I's in our immediate area so I have more scope.
What you describe doesn't really fulfil the criteria of a DP6, there are supposed to be lettres de motivation, commissions etc. It's supposed to be based on the kids wanting to go and not the teachers wanting them to leave. I know there are schools that do this. We deliberately didn't suggest DP6 or 3I to certain kids as we know they could wreck a class and would find it easier with a class of already fragile children. We kept them in 3eme G (with an adapted timetable for certain, meaning they have a lot of stages or they have 2 half days a week at the centre social to work on their projet professionnel). I appreciate this having worked in schools who did the opposite.
It's always the same frustration. As you say, it's trying something new because nothing else has worked yet. But at the same time I'm always frustrated by the lack of help for these kids. You end up with one assistant social 2 days a week when you would need full time people. I won't go on to my feelings about the conseilleurs d'oreintation -psychologues. I want to remain polite [:)]
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Very few GP's actually do the test. Mine writes me a prescription and I go to the local labo where one of the people there does it. They happen to all be women. Most french women would never go to a GP (regardless of whether it was a woman) for anything gynecological including a prescription for the pill. Their automatic reaction is to go to a gynecologue.
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[quote user="Cathy"]How long do you have to live in France before you know where everything is and the numbers of the departments?[/quote]
Forever?
The amount of times we're in the car and we're overtaken by a 12 (or whatever) and then the discussion starts.... "OK Aude is 11 and Bouches du rhone is 13 so it comes between "Au" and Bo" " and so it goes on until we finally dig out the map of france and check (although this is cheating.)
My husband is a French Geography teacher [:$]
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I booked a few weeks ago with a CB through the website and had no problems, the only thing was working out whether it was considered as a credit or a debit card. I can't remember which I put first, but it was the other one. But I definately put in that it was a Visa, that's what's written on the card and that's what I put every time I use it on-line
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When you say pasta flour, is that drum flour? Any idea where you can get it in France or can I replace it with normal flour?
can you freeze home made fresh pasta?
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[quote user="HLG"]Some pupils can start a "Professional discovery" Troisieme or even Quatrieme but, to be brutally honest, kids sent to these classes tend to be the ones teachers can't handle and are "desperate cases". I hope I won't shock parents out there by saying this. :-[/quote]
No, I'm not shocked as a parent, but as a teacher. DP3 and DP6 have only existed for a couple of years. The DP3 option is for kids who stay in the same 3eme classes, in the same collèges with the same curriciculum and the same same teachers as a standard 3eme option. So it certainly wouldn't be a way of getting rid of a pupil we couldn't handle. Maybe you were only talking about DP6, which are in LEP's. If I think back to the pupils we suggested for DP6 this year, I see a group of kids who want to get into the "voie professionel" fast and who want to have the DP6 bonus for BEP next year and leave the over-structured (their opinion) collège system. We didn't even bother suggesting it for the "desperate cases" as (1) they would never have had a sufficient dossier and (2) if their dossier had been OK, they would have taken the place of a pupil who really wanted to go there. Anyway, if the pupil or the parents don't want to go to these classes there is nothing we can do or say. After all that there is a commission which looks at motviation (and not just the pupil's) and who decides who can or can't go. I have a pupil in tears at the moment because her candidature has been refused. She's a charming child and a pleasure to have in class and I have no problems with the idea of having her for another year, it just seems a pity, she can't do what she wants.
I'm not saying that no collège uses the "early pro" possibilities as a way of getting rid of certain pupils. (I'm not that naive) I've taught in both 4eme techno and 3eme insertion (in collèges) Usually, when the class opens, all the teachers (those who won't be having it the following year) try to use it as a "dumping ground" but by the second year, they realise that it makes the class unmanageable and take more care.
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[quote user="wen"]Oh dear Mistral, Ive just bought the Evian one and havent had the chance to try it yet. Are we talking a pretty shade of nicotine here? I saw a lady yesterday a similar shade and I dont think it was down to hepatitis!.[/quote]
Nicotine is a very good description. Luclily since it's a gradual build-up it wasn't very strong and didn't take to fade. It may work well on you. I have very pale skin so I bought the fair skin version but I think maybe a dark skin version would be browner.
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[quote user="Val_2"]Don't know if you can use this sort of thing but there have been lots of ads on UK television lately for a skin moisturiser that gently tans the skin the more you use it. I think it was Johnsons and I believe Garnier are doing one as well. If I see it again,I'll make notes but I would think the french have a similar lotion for sale.[/quote]
They seem to have arrved in a big way in french hypermarkets this year. Femina magazine had an article about them this weekend. You can get them from Evian, dove, l'oreal and garnier at least. The thing to look out for is something with "summer skin" (yes, in English ) or peau d'été. The magazine's favourite was the garnier "bodysummer" which seems to have slightly more self-tan than the others. but you may not want to try that after a bad experience with garnier. I tried the Evian one but I wasn't impressed, I did get a bit of coulour after a couple of days as promised, but I'm not usually that shade of yellow
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It's called an "exeat" it's proof that the child is 'unregistererd' from one school and in france it is technically necessary to register at the next school. You are more likely to be asked when you change schools mid-cycle and for secondary schools. My school asks for it from pupils coming from other collèges but not from pupils coming into 6eme from the primary sector (unless it was in the file sent directly from the primaire and I didn't see it.) So saying, I have loads of pupils who have just appeared without that sort of paperwork and the school has never refused them (if they are between 6 and 16 and live in the sector, it can't)
You could either go SB's way and just say it doesn't exist in the UK, or get your children's schools to wite out a letter with names, date of birth and saying that they have been removed from the lists and don't owe any money to the school (another use of the exeat- it's about the only way to get some parents to pay the cantine)
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[quote user="Miki"] I have listened endlessly to people telling me just how brilliant their area is and how much they don't like another region/dept and when further questioned, I have bitten my lip when they have said, "well alright, we only passed through but it looked horrible" And so, one soon gets to realise that one sometimes just wants to believe, that they truly live in the best area but the truth can often be, that they may possibly only really know much about the area they live in, or want to believe it to justify why they are still living there. [/quote]
Like all the provencaux who spend their time telling you how terrible "The North" is when the furthest north they have ever been is Avignon.
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Dire Straits, making movies. I've been planning some work on Romeo & Juliet with my troisièmes and I haven't been able to get the song out of my head.
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[quote user="beryl"]Salad spinners are widely available - slow cookers aren't or Yorkshire pudding tIns or deep tins for roasting meat.[/quote]
I've found most cake making equipment is difficult to find in France, so don't get rid of any baking tins (especially sandwich tins) cooling racks, scone cutters....
Hold on to measuring jugs, scales and things like that, unless you are quite happy that you are never going to need imperial measurements.
Most French cookers seem to only have one rack inside, which is a pain. I kept the racks from my old cooker in the hope they fitted (they did)
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I lived in Aude, Territoire de Belfort, Eure and Bouches du Rhone and I spend a chunk of every summer holiday in the Cotes d'Amor. Each of them has its good points (the scenary in 13) and its bad (the people and the weather)
Best and worst dept depends so much on personal taste. Personally, I would prefer to live north of the loire.
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[quote user="missyesbut"]
If there is one day that should have been worked, towards this 'solidarité vieillesse' effort, it is Jeudi de l'Ascension. If there was not a more useless date in the calendar. [/quote]
No, I think 15 august is even more pointless.
The whole idea is that people work one more day. they don't give their wages to the old or anything like that. Just that all the charges patronals or whatever go to the state who then can give old people more money (or that's the theory) So all it is is one less day off work in the year. It doesn't have to be whitmonday. Last year, the government decided that for all fonctionnaires it was going to be whitmonday, which meant that most other employers followed suite.
This year it's more confusing. In my town, the mayor has given the day to council employees. A cousin who works in a fonction publique in nantes has to work an extra 20 minutes a day until she had made up the time, but has the day off, parent assoctations complained that pupils are not employees so they should be made to go to school which meant that the ed nat has decided that pupils have the day of but not teachers (most schools have moved the worked day to the 5th july, first day of the summer holidays) Since pupils have the day off, their parents won't be able to go to work anyway even if their company was staying open.....
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I ususally put a few practise exercises/games on the school website for my pupils and one day the 4emes came in complaining that they hadn't been able to access a particular exercise because it had been blocked for "inappropriate content". It turned out that the title was upsetting the filters. It was called "exercising is hard work".
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[quote user="Romy"]so, does this mean if he is born in June 1997 then he will start secondary school in three years time ie once he has turned 12? [/quote]
My daughter was born in April 1997. She is in CE2 at the moment, will go into CM1 in september, CM2 in september 2007 and collège in september 2008 aged 11 and 4 months.
Redoublement is getting less common in France (particularly in primaire) but there are still quite a few kids who do it. There is still a bit stigma attached to it and families are generally quite negative when it is proposed by the conseil. But it is quickly forgotten and by the end of collège you end up with classes of such varied ages that no-one notices (I have one class of 3eme where the ages go from 11 to 16)
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Wen, I'm afraid your doctor is wrong. A lot of doctors in France believe that the BCG is no longer sufficiently effective (and they could well be right) So several people here have been told by their doctors that there's no need to do it. For the last 5 years or so, there has a been a movement to make it non obligatory and rumours that soon (always "soon", but it's been "soon" for years) children won't need it. But there is a difference between a medical need and a "legal" need. For the moment, the education ministry still says it is obligatory to register at a school. Here's the link: http://www.education.gouv.fr/prat/inscripmat.htm Even if one directeur/principal accepts children without the BCG, if they leave and replaced by another, there is no guarentee the new one will accept (and even less likely the school doctor will)
The oler the child, the less likely the school is to check, they assume it will already have been done. My collège only asked to see the carnet de santé for inscriptions once when the principal was having a zealous moment.
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Oh no, not the 28th. I had convinced myself it was the next weekend (4th june?) and I've accepted an invite to a birthday party for the whole family, but Mother in law is bound to be upset if l'enfant miracle isn't there. [:@]
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I didn't vow to obey and the vicar didn't ask me if I wanted to (perhaps because she was a woman) Anyway, it was an Anglican ceremony after a french civil marriage. As Will, says, the code civil is all about respective rights and obligations without mentioning which "epoux". All you do is listen to someone rattling off all the laws at top speed and say "oui" when they pause for breath.
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There are people here who know a lot more than I do and who helped me when I asked the same sort of questions about a year ago. They will be able to give you the advice you need.
The thing I can help on is the south of france question. I live near salon de provence and I can pick up BBC 1,2,3,4, CBBC, CBeebies, ITV 1,2,3,4 and CITV along as other channels selling me salvation and jewellry. My husband dealt with the satellite so we ended up with a dish that is probably too small (65cm) as we lose reception when it rains. Since it's only aimed at astra, we only get UK channels not Swedish or french (we get French through the standard arial)
16 year old education options
in French Education
Posted
I may have misunderstood your message, but is your daughter still in the private school? Have you thought of taking her out and putting her in the local collège? Reputations are strange things, they're usually several years out of date. I'm assuming she's in 3eme, in that case the local collège should have to accept her.
I don't know much about on-line courses but it's perfectly possible to prepare the brevet through the CNED (centre national d'enseignement à distance) but she would have to take the brevet general which is written exams in all subjects instead of controle continu and three written exams.