Tourangelle

Unfortunately, you suppose mostly wrong.  You should calculate on the basis of two months rent as a deposit, in addition to one months rent without charges as the agency fee.  Lyon is really expensive. Under no circumstances should you pay to see a list of flats, this sort of practice is rife, and it gives you no guarantee of actually finding anything.  For a room in a shared house, you need to come here and look for yourself, ads are posted on boards in the various universities.  Which are you going to? University accomodation via the Crous, which organises all the official stuff is extremly tight.  Every year there are reports about students living in peculiar conditions, (rooms with old people and so on) because there is a real lack.  Certainly you should phone rather than email, and they will require a caution solidaire, basically that somebody will sign to say they will pay your rent if you can't, and this person has to have a good income.  Lyon is an expensive city, 400 euros will get you very little, a tiny studio on your own, unless you are ok with living in one of the less salubrious areas, such as the Etats unis, or going out into the suburbs, like Villeurbanne.  Villeurbanne would be a good choice, actually, it is cheaper that Lyon, but has fantastic transport links, you just need to stay within the ring road and it is fine.  I recommend l'escale lyonnaise; (google it)  if they will have you, they rent out rooms for periods of a week or a month, and do food.  They are really aimed at young people who arrive to work but they might take you.  To be honest, I don't fancy your chances of finding anything without coming first.  We recommend them to language assistants (I'm a teacher in Lyon).

I use vachement all the time, (NOT in front of my pupils, I hasten to add!) it is familiar and not brilliant French, but it is not particularly teenage, (I'm 30).  Je cause la France, quoi.

[quote user="Tourangelle"]It's an exercise on using the future, isn't it, written by somebody who doesn't know how to use an apostrophe.  Weedon's automatic translator isn't up to much, but it is more than the OP deserved if he is in fact getting us to do his homework. [/quote] No offence Weedon! I'm sure it's really useful. 

Not much help, because I know it is not used everywhere, but my pupils all say things are cher bien rather than très bien.  Really irritating.  They also say quoi, all the time, especially when they are not asking a question, just as punctuation, like innit. 

It's an exercise on using the future, isn't it, written by somebody who doesn't know how to use an apostrophe.  Weedon's automatic translator isn't up to much, but it is more than the OP deserved if he is in fact getting us to do his homework.

We just changed are marriage regime today, to the communauté universelle, having previously been considered to be married under the regular French contract, as although we got married in England we have always lived in France since our wedding. I thought people might be interested to know that it cost 800 euros and that as of the beginning of the year, you no longer need a lawyer to validate it.  We had a very effecient seeming notaire, recommended by the consulate.

thanks very much, very useful.

I've never managed to find Brazil nuts here, does anybody have any idea where I might look?  Tried several supermarkets and markets.

Have a look at FAQ on inheritance laws, in this section of the forum. You can't write a will like the one you have described in the UK, and you will probably need to see a notaire if you are not happy with what happens automatically.  But don't worry, they have set rates, it shouldn't cost too much.

Hi Julia I work in a school where we have a class that welcomes primo arrivants, and I have also had contact with the CASNAV.  This system is not specific to a particular area, but obviously the structures are to be found in more urban areas where there are large immigrant populations.  You are obliged to send your child to school up to the age of 16 and as a consequence, they are obliged to take them. Don't believe any rubbish about them not taking them.  They don't after 16, as they wouldn't in the UK, but your two will get into the system in time. In areas that have a specific structure for primo arrivants, there are two possibilities, either they go a couple of days a week to a specific school to have French lessons and then go to the local school the rest of the time, or they go to a school and have the extra lessons and then sit in on classes there.  When their French is good they can then go more locally.  Initially I thought that they stayed in the original school for all their lessons but I have recently been assured by a French teacher that it depends on the school.  There are also very intensive structures where they do six months of very intensive French, these are organised by the casnav, but I don't know much about these. Can they force you to send your child to a school other than the local one if there is a place, I'm not sure?  Certainly they will tell you, rightly, that there will be no specific help available in the school if you don't go for the one with the primo arrivant structure.  Personally, I don't think you should worry two much about reputation, it's a funny thing, but as there are no real league tables, it can be based on very little.  Go and meet with the teachers if you can, schools which have a "bad" reputation can be very dynamic and have lots going for them, rather than the "better" ones where the teachers are comfortably ensconced waiting for retirement.  If I were in your shoes, knowing what I know about primo arrivant structures, I would give it a go and send them there.  They'll get intensive study with a qualified teacher, in small groups.  As for the other nationalities, it'll depend on the area, in my school, they are from north Africa, ex Yugoslavia and Albania, but I remember reading a surprising statistic somewhere in France, one year, the majority were British!

I work in a collège and we are definitely not having Monday off, if we were, we would have to replace it at another time.  You should certainly telephone la vie scolaire if you are in any doubt, unlike for a strike, they will have no trouble telling you what is going on.  Have you checked your son's carnet de correspondance?  He should have a note written in or stuck in, although sometimes they don't stick the notes in, in my school we stand over them with glue, but I think we have particularly unreliable kids!  I'd be extremly surprised if they weren't working on the Monday, because it is the same thing next week, and it would be really difficult to replace all the hours.  Are you sure your son is not getting mixed up, perhaps some of his school friends parents are taking his friends away for the weekend?  I know I'll be down a few pupils on Monday.  Incidentally, I am not in the Aude, but in Lyon, what seems to be happening in a number of schools is that people are doing l'ascension, so we have worked a Wednesday afternoon and are working this Saturday morning to replace the Friday.  This is the case for a couple of friends who work in collèges and also for my husband's lycée.

Hi Caroline, As Mistral hasn't answered yet, I thought I'd give it a go.  You need to find out about a classe d'accueil, and not all schools have these.  Your son may well have to travel to to get to them.  Once there, he will be put in a class with others who have arrived, and do a certain number of hours of intensive French, 21 sounds like a maximum to me, my pupils have about 16.  The rest of the time he will probably follow normal classes.  There are also structures where they do months intensive French, nothing but French, but obviously there is a lot of demand for this. I can't remember what they are called. Unsurprisingly, these classes are organised in larger cities and towns, as it means there is a specialist teacher on the staff.  Therefore, you won't find them in the countryside, it is simple economics.  I am surprised that the head did not know about these structures, but if you are in a rural area, then it is probably not readily available.  The French system does not allow for extra classes for just one child, so that is why you have had no help.  Neither does the British one for that matter!  hope this helps and you manage to sort out your son's difficulties, it is a difficult age to arrive in France.

They have great school bags with wheels, these days.

[quote user="Just Katie "][quote user="Tourangelle"] Sorry to everybody else who wont have understood this. [/quote] Wont have understood?  Hope you don't teach English[:D] [/quote] Anything to rake up those posts, eh? Teamed up, the thing is, I am "titulaire", but of a zone rather than a post.  And you're absolutely right, Annemasse would be pretty bad, as would Fernay Voltaire, Bellegarde...  stuff of my nightmares.  [:'(]

Mistral, it is not just the mention complémentaire, it will probably never concern you as you are in a poste fixe, but for a TZR like me it means that if they can't find me enough hours in English, then they can either suggest I do something else, or they can send me out of my zone.  I'd get to chose, lucky me.  So no, they couldn't make me teach something I don't know how to teach, but they could send me practically to Switzerland for a couple of hours.  I don't know which would be worse.  And you don't get paid more or anything. Sorry to everybody else who wont have understood this.

[quote user="RumziGal"]- If schools are secular, how come they get taught the Nicene Creed? - Why do sports teachers still teach them to do sit-ups with their legs out straight? - What have they got against computers?  In 4ème (age 13-14) they do a bit of "computing" in Techno, i.e. how to open, edit, and save a Microsoft Word file. [blink] Yes, really, that is ALL!  Otherwise they're a complete no-no. - Why do the government keep cutting educational posts? - Why do the teaching staff not really care?   The yearly strikes are just part of everyone's expectations now, and make no difference to anything, especially considering how few teachers actually strike. [/quote] 1 They have lessons about world religion in 6eme, they study the major world religions and their history.  It's part of the history syllabus, and nothing like encouraging them to pray in assemblies, or sing in carol services.  It's is part of teaching them about the world around them, not about indoctrinating them. 2  no idea. 3 Depends on the individual schools, how much the teachers wish to use computers, what is available etc.  Lots of opportunities to use computers are out there for French teachers, not all are interested.  I'm not myself, I have much more exciting things to do with them than stick them in front of a screen.  It is what most of them do at home. 4  Demographics?  Actually, this year, they haven't cut the posts in terms of recruitement. 5  Bit of a sweeping statement.  Sorry you seem to be having a bad experience with French teachers, it's certainly not the case every where To the people asking about replacements.  If the teacher is away for less than two weeks then they do not have to be replaced by the rectorat.  The head teacher is supposed to find somebody in the schools.  But sometimes they can't because nobody is prepared to do the job.  I'm not prepared to do it myself, I already teach 20 hours of very difficult classes.  Strikes?  Well there have been three this year.  We're coming up to an election, so hopefully they will do some good.  As they are trying to make teachers teach other subject for which they are not qualified, without giving them any extra training, I suppose the parents will be the first to complain when the child doesn't get the required marks but meanwhile, of course, the teachers shouldn't go on strike.  Can't please everybody, don't want to! As for working together, it is true that there isn't the structure here with heads of departments and so on, but it doesn't mean people don't work together.  Again, it is more a question of personalities, people work together if they get on. Let me dispel a myth.  So French people are civil servants and don't get individually recruited by the school. It is time and again suggested that people therefore are sent where they don't want to go, and do a minimum working week in consequence.  It's simply not true.  A small number of people, who are not married or otherwise attached end up in the Paris suburbs for a couple of years.  Most teachers are pretty happy where they are, and motivated.  Personally, I love my job, even if my school isn't perfect and the pupils have some major personal problems which can lead to major behavioural problems.  I don't have any regrets, for instance, about working a 60+ hour week last week to put in place the final preparations for the trip to England tomorrow, five days, none of which will be paid overtime, of course, for the four teachers involved and for which we have been raising funds and  sorting out since the beginning of the year.  They are worth it.

glad you're overwhelmed.

I can't help, then, sorry.

It's not clear from your post, but are you asking about international schools?

I am very surprised to hear about lockers not being widely available.  I have taught in four collèges, all of which had lockers for the children who did not go home at lunch.  I wish to correct the misapprehension about homework in primary school, it is written homework they are not allowed to have, not no homework at all.

Do you mean primary schools, collèges, or lycées?  There aren't league tables here as there are in the UK.  If it is lycées you are after the weekly magazine le Nouvel Observateur has just published their own very comprehensive league tables for lycées, have a look on their website.  Generally, the schools with the best reputation are those found in large cities, Henri IV in Paris for example, and not in the Limosin.

After living here for six years, but having done a degree in French I would say my French was  fluent.  Getting through my civil service exams was a big thing for me, and now, eight years after I got here I correct my French school children's French!  There are so many words I know that they don't, this afternoon the 6eme asked me what légitime meant!  For me, being fluent in French means not making mistakes with gender, and being able to write it like I can English.

As a general thing, you don't need a proper address, I have a homeless child in my school as well as travellers.

give it them in centimetres, it's the only thing that works.

It's just a legal thing, so that if anything happens to her while she is supposed to be in school, but isn't, you can't claim that you thought she was in school!