My French school is called the Wi School. It is a bilingual school meaning half the day is in French and the other half is English. In French I have Français like Friends Seminary has English where we learn grammar, conjugate verbs and read stories. I also have ‘Maths’, Life Saving/P.E. and a French class where people who are not fluent go to learn more on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Simon and I take that class together. I have English, History Literature, and Science in English. Chris is my teacher for Literature, Science, and History, he is very nice and we do ‘Council’ with him (I will explain that later).
Mary teaches Français and I do special things with her during class. Math is taught by Johanna on Monday through Wednesday, I do what everybody else does in Math — even sometimes French word problems!!!
Life Saving and P.E. is taught by Matthias who sometimes takes us out to the park to play and do exercises but then again sometimes we stay inside and learn how to save people with burns, electricity, knife cuts, fires, suffocating, and choking.The Special French class is taught by Mr. Mark and we do lots of work all in French. English iswith Adrien, who is British, and she teaches basic grammar and English to everybody in the class (FULL STOP!).I forgot to tell you the grades are organized much differently in France. There is CP, CP1, CP2, CM1, CM2, Sixeme, et Cinqeme. CP is Kindergarten, CP1 is first grade, CP2 is third grade, CM1 is forth grade CM2 is fifth grade, Sixeme is sixth grade and Cinqeme is seventh grade.Because my school is a bit small CP, CP1 and CP2 are all in the same class room and learn the same things in some of the subjects. In other subjects like Math and English they learn harder and different things. CM1 is all alone in forth grade so they learn all of the same things at the same time. CM2, Sixeme, and Cinqeme are together in one big room and we mostly learn different things though sometimes we learn the same things, especially in English. I am in CM2 (fifth grade) with one other girl and the rest of the students are boys. In Sixeme there are five people — two are boys and three are girls. In Cinqeme there are only three people, all girls.
On Friday we do something called Council where we all get together to talk about the week. It reminds me a bit of meeting for worship. There are special categories called Info (Information), Je suis fierre de moi (I am proud of myself), Felicitations (congratulations to other people), Problémes et Solutions (Problems and Solutions), Propo (Propositions) and Questions (Questions). We all gather the chairs around in a circle so everybody is next to each other. The teacher picks a secretary and a president. The secretary writes the categories and writes peoples names down when they raise their hand. After he or she is done the president calls in order the names and then lets them talk. When they are done speaking the president moves on to the next person. For Example; if you had a problem you would tell the class and they would help you or the group find a solution.
Lunch is about 45 minutes because we have to do the clean up jobs after like sweeping. You have a choice to either bring your lunch or eat the school food which is called “canteen”. Simon and I both bring our lunches. After lunch we walk to one of two parks park which takes 15 minutes there and back so we get 30-45 minutes of recess. In French recess is “récreation” so when an English teacher takes us to the park they call it recreation in English.
In our classes we do a lot of “exposé” that is the French word for reports. We sometimes make posters, do projects, take photos or make animations like keynotes on the board. We talk about our subject for 12 to 15 minutes to explain what your subject is. You do it in all subjects, French and English. I even did one in French about my ski trip to the Alps. It was nerve wracking because it was my first exposé in the school, in French, and in front of my new French friends. My next exposé has to be in French and is going to be on pollution in France. There is a lot of pollution in Paris. In fact, last week the pollution was so bad that the metro was free because they told half the cars they could not drive.
School goes from 8:30 to 4:30 on Monday and Tuesday for both Simon and me. Wednesday is a half day and my mom picks us up and either go out to restaurant to eat just the three of us or meet my dad near his office for lunch. Sometimes we go to the playground too. Thursdays and Fridays I go to school until 5:30 but Simon still gets out at 4:30. By the way Simon is in the youngest grade and he is learning script!!! They are very strict about staying in the lines. He is doing excellent, it is so amazing.
In math we are doing geometry and for home-work we do word problems that are only in French!!! When I decode the problem I feel great. BUT then I remember that even if I know the answer to the problem in my head I still have to write the problem out in a different way then I learned at Friends to explain how I did it!!!! Some of the geometry I do is pretty easy but most of the geometry I did was really hard because the instructions are in French.
We have to replicate lots of geometric designs. Then we have to color it, check our measurements, use a ruler, compass, angle and protractor just in one problem!!! After you finish you have to go over to an older kid in cinqeme to check your work and they grade it by measurements, colorings, and how it looks.
When you raise your hand in France it’s not like we do it in America. You raise your hand with one finger up in the air.
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