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French Education
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 04/09/2008, 13:03
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Shelly
Joined on 25/01/2006
Lot (46)
Posts 30
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Hi,
We moved here 15 months ago with our daughter who's now 12. She started in college in 6ieme. She did have about 6 months of french lessons from a private tutor before we came. That helped if only with the vocabulary and making friends. She has lot's of french friends and is now speaking french very well. The course work however in certain subjects History, French and Technology for instance is hard for her to understand. She is now re-doubling 6ieme. They feel it will give her a better chance in the long run. Hopefully now she won't have to re-do 4ieme which is known as a tough year. It would have been better if we'd have moved when she was 10 as she would have done a year at primary. Good Luck.
Shelly
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04/09/2008, 13:33
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Cathy
 
Joined on 07/03/2006
Mostly near Bordeaux; Sometimes near Bristol
Posts 2,066
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Angus and Barbara
I moved here when some of my 4 children were teenagers and they have done well. However, they had been on 6-month exchanges to France beforehand and so had an excellent grounding in the language.
Take a look at this website: www.enfamille.com
This organisation are very experienced at arranging exchanges and are always looking for English families. My children were 10 years' old when they did their exchanges and now say (aged 17 and 15) that it was the best thing that happened to them.
Cathy
-----
Your children won't remember you ironing their pyjamas but they will remember you reading them a bedside story.
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19/09/2008, 14:46
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Speedy
Joined on 18/09/2008
Posts 41
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Just a comment about village schools - beware!
This obviously doesn't apply everywhere, but........
My duaghter used to go to CP1(I think it was from memory) , she was verbally abused by an assistant/temporary teacher, witnessed by the normal teacher and the rest of the school.
We complained to the person responsible for the areas several schools. She agreed there was a problem -case shut. We did not accept this and took it to the schools inspectors, who again agreed on investigation that the situation was unacceptable but were NOT prepared to take any actions!
Probably an isolated case, but I just get the feeling it would not have happened in a larger school.
I now live in one of the best education areas of France, but I read more and more about the problems of the 'narrow mindedness' of the French education system not being adapted to todays world.
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19/09/2008, 16:32
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Val_2
Joined on 23/08/2004
Posts 3,192
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A lot of problems occur when the school has foreign non-french speaking children thrust upon them and they are at a loss of how to treat them and communicate. Not ALL schools are like this, certainly mine nearly14 years ago now were not subjected to any bad treatment or abuse, the opposite infact as they became the local celebrities for a while, but in areas where there is a high concentration of british settlers it does happen as the teachers are not used to spending time away from the main class to help those who cannot understand and lag behind. French teachers are fonctionnaires that basically work their hours for their pay, nothing more and certainly no after hours special treatment which comes from an outside source anyway upon demand. I know of two english children in a nearby village who have been expelled from all the local schools now because they have behavioural problems and no one knows or has the experience to deal with them so they have been left to muddle on themselves in a collège in town for the slightly backward children. At the end of the day your local primaire is a good place to start and if you have problems then you leave and find another school.
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19/09/2008, 16:41
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JSA Aude
Joined on 30/06/2005
Posts 235
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I certainly could not have faulted our village primaire 6 years ago. Granted our son was the only 'foreigner' but the headmaster/his teacher went out of his way to help him in all aspects. Neither of the two class teachers had any english language but with lots of hand signals etc plus some help from us and a neighbour we muddled through. He is now 15, first year of a well thought of lycee and yes, we are proud parents!! Likewise, I think he was a bit of a novelty/celebrity factor with the other children until they realised they get up to the same things (think mischief!) all over the world!
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22/09/2008, 7:37
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Speedy
Joined on 18/09/2008
Posts 41
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Its a shame you make assumptions : my daughter was fluent in French ( and English) and had a higher educatuional capability than the 'locals'
The point is beware!
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22/09/2008, 15:10
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Val_2
Joined on 23/08/2004
Posts 3,192
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Yes assumptions made on what you posted. You did NOT give any info about her being brighter thanthe rest of the class and this info would have made a difference to both mine and the other reply.
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22/09/2008, 15:14
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Speedy
Joined on 18/09/2008
Posts 41
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Ahh, and I also never said the teacher was an Indian, taken on to teach English!!
Not being racist, but we even had 'villagers' knocking on our door asking us to explain what the teacher had done in class.
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22/09/2008, 15:29
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Speedy
Joined on 18/09/2008
Posts 41
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I may as well tell you this was the 'worst' situation, but....living in a small village 'can' have problmes....
Another example of small village schools/community : a local who had 'difficulties' threatened the teacher, hit the teacher, and because people in the area were frightened of the family no actions were taken.
All I am saying is that in small rural communities there can be more problems.
Having experienced them, personally I would not contemplate a village school.
You also need to clarify what is a village school. By that what I mean is : are all the different years in 1 class with 1 teacher = is a real village school , which was our situation!
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France Forum » Living » French Educatio... » Re: french schools
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