This is part of a series of articles on real families who are embracing and incorporating cultures and languages into their lives. If you you would like to be featured, send us a note. Today’s guest post is written by Gabrielle Blair (US), a designer and mom of 6 adorable kids whose family is currently living in the French countryside. Gabrielle originally wrote this post on schools in France for her site “Design Mom,” and has graciously given us permission to repost it here.
Our school year is winding down here in France, so I thought it would be fun to write up another little update on our kids’ experience in the local schools in France. I hope you enjoy it!
The first thing I wanted to mention was handwriting. I snapped the photo of the chart below in the 6-year-old’s classroom at my kids’ school. Having good handwriting is a big deal in schools in France! And seems to be a universal skill. Even at the village market, all the signs for fruit and veggies are hand written in beautiful script.
Ralph says when he first arrived, his math teacher picked up one of his worksheets and publicly started scolding him. (This is awful! I can’t read it at all!!) Ralph was so embarrassed! He has since started working hard on his penmanship, and has vastly improved.
Script is the main form they learn to write in — even the littlest kids. I don’t think I’ve ever seen kids use basic print on their school work or even notes to friends.
Along with good handwriting, instead of mostly using pencils in school, they write with pens only. In fact, all of my kids agree that in schools in France, pencils are exclusively for art and geometry. No exceptions!
From the moment they start learning to write the alphabet, at around age 5, they use refillable ink fountain pens. But. They also have pen erasers — a separate tool from the pen itself.
This post may contain affiliate links. Thank you for your support!
Something else that seems so different is athletics. Sports seem to play a less influential role overall in the schools here, compared to our experience in New York and Colorado. Maude says there are still jocks — they’re the kids that are good at soccer. But that being good at sports isn’t really what makes you popular, and that even the athletes feel like school work is the most important.
Sport shorts are short! For both girls and boys. And no one would ever wear athletic clothes or sport shots as school clothes. Athletic clothes are reserved for gym only. The same holds true for adults — I have never seen an adult running errands in workout clothes or yoga pants. Never even once!
Here are the sports that have been covered in my kids’ gym classes: Badminton (this is big here!), handball, inline-skating, swimming, ping pong, kayaking, rugby, cricket and soccer (which, of course, is called football here). They’ve also had a section on baseball, but Olive says it’s not quite the same — for example, they hold the bat with one hand!
Lastly, one thing my kids have noticed that’s really different from American schools, is the public criticism. Similar to the story of Ralph’s handwriting above, the teachers announce each student’s grade on every test and assignment publicly. And they’ll scold (sometimes even mock?) students who didn’t score well — right in front of the rest of the classmates. My kids report that the French kids don’t seem to notice, it’s just the way it’s always been. But you can bet my kids are always relieved when they get a good score!
I’d love to hear what you think! Would your kids thrive in a French school? Do you have an opinion on good penmanship?
P.S. — You can find earlier reports about school and my kids learning French here, here, and here. The very first report is here.
Thank you so much Gabrielle!
I went to school in Poland, and it was very similar to a French school: public scolding , script writing, lot of memorization without much explanation. I felt awful, I hated school! The more freedom I had with my learning methods, the more I thrived. I don’t see how this would have benefited me…but maybe there are children who actually prefer to learn this way because maybe they feel it makes them stronger? I don’t know. This is not for me, and I hope my children won’t have to deal with a school like that.
This must be the standard school experience across Europe. We live in Italy and my 3yo will start Italian schools in 1-2 years. I have heard similar reports as the one described in this post. Another difference is discipline. In Italy it seems kids are left to solve their differences on their own. Squabbles and fights are not necessarily broken up immediately and offenders are not punished. Kids learn to fend for themselves. Good or bad?
Very interesting! It seems that maybe a value is placed on independence? I think it’s great that kids learn to fend for themselves to a point- yet I wonder if they have any problems with bullying (like we do in the US).
Bonjour,
J’avoue que ce que vous décrivez fait très “vieille France”. J’enseigne depuis 8 ans et j’ai une classe de CP (6-7 ans). L’écriture n’est aussi importante aujourd’hui (pour les jeunes enseignants en tout cas), on apprend à écrire pendant de longues heures c’est vrai, mais au crayon à papier ou sur des ardoises. Nos classes sont beaucoup moins jolies et moins colorées que les vôtres, c’est plus le contenu qui importe. On est aussi en train de revoir le système de notation et de valorisation et je pense que les petits français passent de bons moments dans nos classes….
My husband (French) tells me that if you didn’t do your homework or scored low on something, you had to wear donkey ears all day and deliver messages, etc. to the other classrooms. I taught English in France for three years. The children were so conditioned and well behaved. It was strange though. They would ask nervously, “Do we write the questions in red? Are the statements in blue ink?” They were so scared to do anything in my class without the strict rules they were used to. They thought they had died and went to heaven with me. I was all about having fun!