GTBY
moms.pop
Back to School – Oh no! So the glorious summer has gone and school has crept back up on us. Because my father is French my parents decided that they would rather live in a country where the sun shines over their heads, as opposed to rain. Sadly, due to their weather preferences I had to leave the charming English countryside, and start life in the sunny Languedoc, the location of my grandparents. Luckily, after arduous French lessons language was not a problem. But after being here for several years now, I must say at the end of the long holidays going back to school is not what I most look forward to in a year. Not that it’s bad, but it’s not necessarily that good either. At
least the school I’m at has quite a good reputation in our area, despite it always seeming so chaotic. For instance, I get the impression that some of my teachers, whilst being good at their subjects, are not always that good when it comes to communicating or controlling the class. This results in loads of children cursing them or simply not caring and it can be really hard to concentrate above all the talking in class. I very rarely meet people who take school seriously; most of the girls in my class last year skipped school whenever it suited them or slept during lessons. This turned out not to matter that much because we missed so many classes last year from teachers not turning up, especially our French teacher who was absent for what seemed like half of the year and we never had a substitute, so all we could do was to hang around waiting for the next class, sometimes up to two hours. We’re not allowed stay in the classroom if the teacher isn’t there and have to go into a separate room where a surveillant watches us; we’re not allowed to make a sound, so we have to sit there for ages, which is ok if you happen to have a good book with you. Some of my classes were quite challeng-
ing last term, usually the ones where the teacher was still enthusiastic about their subject (there are definitely some teachers who seem to have lost their mojos). The main thing I have noticed about education in France is that you definitely get the impression that hardly anyone, my friends or teachers, seem that happy about being there; maybe that’s why there are never any pictures or posters on the walls anywhere, and you certainly don’t see anyone’s work in the corridors, just scuffed paint. For me, I don’ like the fact that classes consist of taking notes which we copy (if you can read your teacher’s handwriting) off the board, we rarely discuss anything or have the chance to write our own thoughts down. I shall be going into 3ème this year, which is the last year of collège. This means I’ll be sitting the brevet at the end of May 2015. The brevet is a test taken at the end of collège based on all the lessons of the past 4 years; if you pass you can go on to Lycée for your last three years of education. I don’t know much more about it because I haven’t been told, I suppose that’s because it’s been the same system for so long that everyone just knows what to expect from their parents or family, but it’s still very daunting. Especially, considering we missed so many French, history and sport classes last year. All in all, although for the most part I don’t mind school. I do look forward to seeing my friends but cringe at the thought of having to go through all the chaos, very heavy school bags and hanging around all over again. Oh well, c’est la vie! By Hetty D.
The Herault & Aude Times
The HAT September 2014.indd 18
01/09/2014 04:24:30