{"id":21598,"date":"2015-01-21T14:08:09","date_gmt":"2015-01-21T13:08:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/?p=21598"},"modified":"2017-10-23T13:45:17","modified_gmt":"2017-10-23T11:45:17","slug":"adventures-in-french-education-cm-and-td","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/adventures-in-french-education-cm-and-td\/","title":{"rendered":"Adventures in French Education: CM and TD"},"content":{"rendered":"

Before the shock of not being able to get un vingt <\/a>(a twenty), there was another big surprise that was waiting for me dans une universit\u00e9 fran\u00e7aise<\/strong> (in a French university). Most classes in France tend to be broken down into \u201cCM<\/strong>\u201ds and \u201cTD<\/strong>\u201ds. That is lecture classes and \u201csupervised\u201d classes.<\/p>\n

Now, the same idea does exist dans les universit\u00e9s am\u00e9ricaines<\/strong> (in American universities), namely in the sciences where there\u2019s the main class and a lab attached to it. In France the idea is applied much more generally and the style of teaching is completely different.<\/p>\n

CM stands for Cours Magistral<\/strong>, and is often explained as, \u201cc\u2019est comme un seminar chez vous\u00a0<\/em> (It\u2019s like your seminar classes) !\u201d<\/em> En g\u00e9n\u00e9ral<\/strong> (in general) think of it as a lecture class where le professeur<\/strong> (the professor) goes through une le\u00e7on<\/strong> (a lesson) while the students write down notes.<\/p>\n

However, there are some big differences. Sitting through my first CM<\/strong> barely able to follow what le professeur<\/strong> was saying, I was surprised to see nearly all of mes camarades de classe<\/strong> (my classmates) keeping impeccable notes, with outlines clearly built in, even including footnotes and colors. Shortly thereafter I was incredibly annoyed to notice that le professeur<\/strong> was just reading notes he had made, sometimes just reading from a book\u2026 and everyone continued to copy down what le professeur<\/strong> was saying.<\/p>\n

En France<\/strong>, most universit\u00e9s publiques<\/strong> (public universities) don\u2019t have required books to help keep costs down. That leads to the CM<\/strong> somewhat replacing the role a textbook would have dans une universit\u00e9 am\u00e9ricaine<\/strong>. At the time I couldn\u2019t help but think to myself, \u201cjust let me read the book, it\u2019d be so much easier!\u201d<\/p>\n

The other side of the education coin is the TD, or Travail Dirig\u00e9<\/strong>, the \u201csupervised\u201d class, a practical application of the lecture class, at least en th\u00e9orie <\/strong>(in theory). Pendant un TD<\/strong> (during a TD) le professeur<\/strong> goes through prepared exercises and en th\u00e9orie<\/strong> there\u2019s some level of interaction. It took me tr\u00e8s longtemps<\/strong> (a long time) to understand all that, but after asking questions pendant des CMs<\/strong> and getting strange looks from le professeur<\/strong> and mes camarades de classe<\/strong>, I was told, plus ou moins<\/strong> (more or less), \u201cOn pose pas des questions pendant un CM, il faut attendre le TD<\/em> (You don\u2019t ask questions during a lecture, you have to wait for the other class) !\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

All of this comes from the strong Cartesian influence in French education, and while it\u2019s easy to just think of it as annoying and trop diff\u00e9rent de comprendre<\/strong> (too different to understand), if you are planning on studying in France, it\u2019s a very important part of le syst\u00e8me d\u2019\u00e9ducation<\/strong> (the education system) that needs to be understood. Au moins<\/strong> (at least) if you want to \u00e9viter des casse-t\u00eate<\/strong> (avoid a few headaches)!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Before the shock of not being able to get un vingt (a twenty), there was another big surprise that was waiting for me dans une universit\u00e9 fran\u00e7aise (in a French university). Most classes in France tend to be broken down into \u201cCM\u201ds and \u201cTD\u201ds. That is lecture classes and \u201csupervised\u201d classes. Now, the same idea…<\/p>\n

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