French vocabulary for schools and education

Schools and education

French	English
L'école (f) L'écolier, l'écolière La salle de classe L'élève(e) L'étudiant(e) L'étudiante L'école maternelle Le collège Le lycée Le baccalauréat Le bac Le brevet Le cours Le leçon Le devoir de maison	The school The Schoolboy, the schoolgirl The classroom The pupil The student The student The nursery school The secondary school (age 11 to 15) The high school (age 15 to 18) Equivalent to a university entrance (A-level) short for baccalauréat O-level diploma (age 14) Course Lesson Homework

Class room subjects

French	English
Anglais (m) Allemand (m) Chimie (f) Biologie (f) Français (m) Géographie (f) Histoire (f) Instruction civique Mathématiques (m) Physique (f)	English German Biology Chemistry French Geography History Civil education Mathematics Physics

(f) = feminine noun, (m) =masculine noun

School years and ages

• L'école maternelle
  • Cours Préparatoire (CP) = 6 years old
  • Cours Elémentaire (CE1) = 7 years old
  • Cours Elémentaire (CE1) = 8 years old
  • Cours Moyen (CM1) = 9 years old
  • Cours Moyen (CM2) = 10 years old
• Le collège
  • Sixième = 11 years old
  • Cinquième = 12 years old
  • Quatrième = 13 years old
  • Troisième = 14 years old
• Le lycée
  • Deuxième = 15 years old
  • Première = 16 years old
  • Terminale = 17 years old
• Université = 18 years old

Comments

School lessons generally begin at 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. with a two hour lunch break. Most schools start on Monday until Friday, on the Wednesday there are lessons only in the morning (Saturday morning has recently been stopped).

The baccalauréat is the most important and sort after diploma, normally taken at the age of 18, it will give university entrance. There are various forms of the baccalauréat with specialisations in science, french and even a "professional" version.

When people expresse their level of university education, one would say for example: Bac +3, for 3 years of university studies, Bac +5, for 5 years of university studies.

Most French schools are not equipped with sports grounds or complexes such as in the UK and there is very little interschool sport competitions. However there are physical education lessons to keep the kids active. School children will practice their sports such as football, judo etc out of school hours and quite often on the Wednesday afternoons.

Useful French Phrase

 

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