By the end of this lesson you'll understand how French schooling is organized, you'll be able to follow a conversation about school, and you won't be caught out by the way classes are named.
The stages
French children go through a series of stages. Exact ages vary a little, so treat these as a guide.
| French | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| l'école maternelle | lay-kohl mah-tehr-NEL | nursery school |
| l'école élémentaire | lay-kohl ay-lay-mahn-TEHR | primary school |
| le collège | luh koh-LEZH | middle school |
| le lycée | luh lee-SAY | secondary school, sixth form |
| le bac | luh BAHK | the school-leaving examShort for le baccalauréat. |
- L'école maternelle is for the youngest children.
- L'école élémentaire is primary school, and it's where pupils learn to read and write.
- Le collège takes children from about eleven to fifteen.
- Le lycée takes teenagers from about fifteen to about eighteen.
- Le bac comes at the end of le lycée. It's the exam that opens the way to higher education, and it's a big moment in French family life.
Classes that count down
The class names use ordinals, from the lesson on numbers over 100, ordinals and years, but in a surprising direction. They go down, not up.
| French | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| la sixième | lah see-ZYEM | first year of collège |
| la cinquième | lah san-KYEM | second year of collège |
| la quatrième | lah kah-tree-EM | third year of collège |
| la troisième | lah trwah-ZYEM | last year of collège |
| la seconde | lah suh-GOHND | first year of lycée |
| la première | lah pruh-MYEHR | second year of lycée |
| la terminale | lah tehr-mee-NAHL | last year of lycée |
So a child starts le collège in sixième, then goes on to cinquième, quatrième and troisième. Le lycée continues with seconde, première and terminale. It's the opposite of the way most English-speaking countries count, where the number rises each year.
Ma fille est en cinquième.
My daughter is in the second year of middle school.
Tu es en quelle classe ? — En seconde.
What year are you in? — The first year of lycée.
Notice that French says en with no article.
The school week and marks
The school week isn't the same everywhere: it varies by town and by school. In many places, younger children have no lessons on Wednesdays, or only part of the day, but that isn't fixed. Lunch is an important break, and many pupils eat at la cantine.
Marks are usually given out of 20, so a mark of 10 is around the halfway point. A very high mark is rare, and it means a great deal.
| French | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| un cours | uhn KOOR | a lesson, a class |
| un prof / une prof | uhn PROF / ewn PROF | a teacher (informal) |
| les devoirs | lay duh-VWAHR | homework |
| la cantine | lah kahn-TEEN | the school canteen |
| redoubler | ruh-doo-BLAY | to repeat a year |
| une note | ewn NOTT | a mark, a grade |
| un examen | uh-neg-zah-MAN | an exam |
J'ai une note de quinze sur vingt.
I have a mark of fifteen out of twenty.
Mon frère a redoublé sa seconde.
My brother repeated the first year of lycée.
Il y a un cours de maths à dix heures.
There's a maths lesson at ten o'clock.
Memories of school
You can use what you learned in the lesson on childhood memories to talk about your own school days.
- Quand j'étais au lycée, j'avais des devoirs tous les soirs. (When I was at secondary school, I had homework every evening.)
- À l'école, je mangeais à la cantine. (At school, I ate in the canteen.)
- Ma prof de français était très gentille. (My French teacher was very kind.)
En français
- Tu es en quelle classe ? (What year are you in?)
- En troisième. Et toi ? (In the last year of collège. And you?)
- En terminale. Je passe le bac cette année ! (In the final year. I'm taking the bac this year!)
- Tu as des devoirs ? (Do you have homework?)
- Oui, tous les soirs. (Yes, every evening.)
Passer un examen means to take an exam, not to pass it. To say you passed, use réussir, from the lesson on -ir and -re verbs: J'ai réussi le bac (I passed the bac).
What's next
Next, the review of this unit brings together the imparfait, the passé composé and your storytelling skills.