La Rentrée – pt. 2 Posted by Bridgette on Sep 11, 2020 in Culture, Language
Coucou mes amis! Hi friends!
La rentrée is upon us and the weather is quickly turning to automne. Il y a deux semaines (two weeks ago), I talked about the differences between le système scolaire français and le système scolaire américain. Vous pouvez le lire ici. (You can read it here.)
Aujourd’hui, je voudrais continuer la conversation (today I would like to continue the conversation), and I want to look at a typical emploi du temps for a lycéen français.
In this emploi du temps we see classes lundi – vendredi from 8hoo to 18hoo (8 am to 6 pm). Wednesdays are a half day and the afternoon could be used for sports or other extra-curricular activities outside of school. You can see that generally the schedule of a French student is quite demanding, and you won’t see any ‘study halls’ like in a typical American high school schedule.
Also, note the schedule includes Latin, English, Spanish, and French. It is quite common for French students to study multiple foreign languages. Usually, English is begun at the elementary school level (l’école élémentaire), and then a second foreign language is introduced at the middle school level (le collège). Students have the option to study even more foreign languages in high school (le lycée).
Voici un peu de vocabulaire:
un emploi du temps – a schedule
un cours – a class
une matière – a subject
réussir à un examen – to pass an exam
râter un examen – to fail an exam
la classe de français – French class*
l’anglais – English*
l’espagnol – Spanish*
l’allemand – German*
les sciences – science
les sciences économique et social – economic and social science
les sciences vie et terre – earth science
l’histoire – history
l’histoire-géo – geography
la physique-chimie – chemistry
l’informatique – computer science
les mathématiques (maths) – math
l’éducation musicale – music class
l’éducation physique – physical education
les arts plastiques – art class
la cantine – the cafeteria
faire l’école buissonnière – to play hooky (older expression, like ‘hooky’ is in English)
sécher les cours – to skip class
*In English, the names of languages are capitalized. In French, they are not. These words are only capitalized when referring to the people of that country. For example: le français (French language) vs le Français (the French [people]).
Qu’est-ce que vous pensez du emploi du temps français? What do you think of the French schedule? Avez-vous jamais étudié en France? Have you ever studied in France? Leave some of your thoughts below!
A la prochaine!
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About the Author: Bridgette
Just your average Irish-American Italo-Francophone. Client Engagement for Transparent Language.
Comments:
Bonita Christianson:
Merci pour le vrai emploi du temps d’une lycéenne !
Margaret Ann Waddicor:
When I was in Bordeax 6 months, I helped school children with English. I was astonished that they had on the curriculum philosophy! I don’t see any here, and the arts are very important and not very prevalent here ! I hope they have nature abd study the environment and its impact on human beings. Although for me the most important is to learn of our fellow pupils, empathy. This world needs that before doing anything in life.
Sandrine:
Oui, j’ai fait tout ma scolarisation dans le système français. De voir cet emploi du temps me rappelle les journées bien remplies au collège et au lycée: des leçons doubles, beaucoup de variétés de matières à étudier et puis le Bac, ah, les années du Bac!! On n’avait pas trop le temps de s’amuser: la pression des parents, des profs et de la société était très présente, tous les jours. Je vis depuis plus de 30 ans en Australie et les journées scolaires ici sont très courtes. Les jeunes vivent plus leur jeunesse mais sont-ils vraiment prêts a la competition? Locale, oui; mondiale: seulement la creme de la creme est prête avec quelqu’uns survivants la pression. Alors, quelle éducation est la meilleure?