Both our daughters would be considered bi-lingual and chatter away or read and write in either French or English with no difficulty – preferring French with each other and English with us old folks who struggle to keep up with their teenage blabberings in French.
Eldest daughter is even doing a literary BAC, which involves reading [...]

The rentrée – return to school after the holidays – takes on a significance in France that it doesn’t have in the UK, or perhaps elsewhere, so I thought I’d give a quick run-down of what it’s all about.
It’s always a stressful time when the summer holidays come to an end – not for me of [...]

This week Mrs B is away stamping her carbon footprint on the gardens of Normandy so I have the sheer joy of a week at home alone with the girls (aged 15 and 13). The end of the school year is always a busy time, with numerous exhibitions, spectacles and events to, errr, enjoy, and [...]

The second, and I’m sure much anticipated, tale from lycee. …either my daughter has mastered the art of subtle overstatement that I aim for, or things are rather worrying. It appears that the ‘we all work very hard at school’ post will have to wait until next week.
The ‘blocus’ referred to is a blockade – [...]

Well I suppose I brought it on myself…I have been hassling older daughter to write about the lycée experience, as an aid and guide for other expats about to start. I set no ground rules, but expected stories about hard work and too much homework.
I now have the first episode ready for your, ermmm, ”enjoyment’ [...]

I’ve written about our experiences with schools in France several times – and can repeat that our experiences are mostly favourable. It is sometimes suggested that personal development is stifled in French schools, and the teaching is too rigid and old-fashioned, but this hasn’t been our personal experience.
Expat children will often have different school experiences [...]

During the summer holidays the girls have done, let’s say, not very much exercise. Their claims that walking around the shops or dancing at parties count as exercise are not very convincing.
So after a couple of glases of wine I had a bright idea. OK I said, I’ll see how quickly I can cycle one [...]

Much as in other countries, the choice of schools in France occupies a great deal of time and effort. It is currently occupying our household although I think we are over the worst of it now!
Broadly speaking, primary school (ages 4 – 11) and college (11 – 14 years old) are not a big issue, [...]

In France the first important school exam is the brevet, which takes place at the end of years in college – that is, when children are about 14 years old.
As part of the run-up to the actual exam, which is in June, two ‘brevet blancs’ are held – essentially practice runs at the exam. Our [...]

Our older daughter is getting excited because it will soon be time for her to take a school trip to Bordeaux, and compared with our local towns Bordeaux is a pretty big and exciting place. Unfortunately it is a geography ‘field trip’ rather than a holiday, so they have to do some boring school stuff [...]

When I took older daughter to school last week the circus was on the move, and we had to sit at a road junction while all the lorries passed.
The first lorry was very large, and marked ’serpents and reptiles’. The second was slightly smaller and apparently contained monkeys. Next was slightly smaller again, and claimed [...]

Chez nous we are just recovering from an excess of children – younger daughter had a sleepover party on sunday night and older daughter on monday night. so we’ve had a house full of young girls for almost 48 hours non stop.
It was strange to see the difference between the two groups. The ‘ten year [...]

Well, oldest daughter has just completed her first ‘work experience’ week. She didn’t seem too horrified by the big wide world, and reckoned it beat school hands-down.
She worked in a creche (nursery) with children of pre-school age, which she has always had an affinity with, and it seemed to go OK. One of the children [...]

OK, the last couple of entries have been a bit serious so I’ll share a couple of more light-hearted anecdotes today. Curiously I heard a couple of amusing stories related to education yesterday so I’ll start with them (and probably finish as well, because I’m supposed to be mowing the grass).
We have a friend with [...]

Mrs B has received an offer from a local French teacher-friend, suggesting they help each other improve their language skills. Sounds good and sensible, except…the friend already talks very good English and has emphasised that the finer points of grammar are to be the area of focus.
Now Mrs B, like me (myself?) can speak and [...]