Poisson d’Avril
In France, the jokes you play on each other on April 1, are called poissons d’avril (fish of April). Modern jokes are more elaborate like the ones you’re probably used to for April Fool’s Day, but in schools all over France, children tape fish to each other’s unsuspecting backs.
You know how it is when you try to track down the origins of these kinds of things—there’s never only one story, just like Easter isn’t only about Jesus OR a decorative egg-laying rabbit/fertility goddess. This site (IN FRENCH) gives several of the explanations but this fantastic article with links (IN ENGLISH) refutes that one with even more complete information. Basically, some say it had to do with Charles IX declaring (with the Édit de Roussillion) that the calendar year would start on January 1. Others say it was a Carême or Carnavale thing (Catholic Easter stuff). But the English site says that it may stem from the fact that it was illegal to fish in April because it was a time of letting the fish grow big enough to eat.
Lockdown is no poisson d’avril
You may have heard that the covid numbers have soared, (up by 43% in the past week for us), France is back on lockdown. It started Saturday (but will start in earnest tomorrow because they KNEW people would meet with their families for Easter, illegal or not). So, this week school will be remote lessons. Then, for the following two weeks, ALL OF FRANCE will be on school vacation (Spring Break) at the same time (see just ask joj below to see why this is exceptional). At the end of the break, primary school children will return to class but middle and high schoolers (and university students) will do another week of remote learning. All employees who can will go to 100% remote working. Grocery stores will be open but all non-essential stores will close. This will be a total of four weeks of lockdown. The hope is that we will be able to knock covid in the gut, get a bunch of people vaccinated (we’re supposed to get a delivery of J & J vaccine in mid-April) and get the restaurants and bars back open for summer tourism (so many other countries are doing so well on vaccinating, France can’t ignore that it needs to get on the ball and open for business).
Les Courses
I have always loved mayonnaise (and loathed Miracle Whip and similar “salad dressings”). It’s cheap and versatile so there is a lot of nostalgia associated with it for me—potato salad, tuna salad, coleslaw, ranch dressing, etc. The simple tomato-mayo-salt-pepper sandwich is still comfort food for me when I want to taste “home.” So, imagine my surprise and chagrin when I got here in the late 90s and discovered that French mayo is gross. Okay, it’s not GROSS. When my father in law makes it from scratch, it’s kind of delicious. But, 99% of French mayonnaise doesn’t taste right to me because they insist on putting Dijon mustard in it. I lived with it for almost twenty years, finding the odd jar of Duke’s (I KNOW, RIGHT?!) or overpriced Hellman’s (YUM!) in the foreign food section but mostly eating sandwiches using what is essentially dijonnaise, giving up on ever having a sandwich here that tastes like home. It was just another part of my changing identity. When we moved back here in 2012, I discovered a mayonnaise (ironically made by one of the major mustard-making companies, Amora) that not only did not have Dijon mustard in it, it’s made with eggs lain by free-range chickens. It’s called “Recette Fouettée” (“whipped recipe”) and I can’t believe I’m going to say this but… It tastes better than any American mayonnaise I’ve ever tasted (we have recently found Heinz and Hellman’s so I’ve done a recent comparison). The only thing is, there is only ONE supermarket in all of our region that sells it. Once a month or so, we pop into this other supermarket and buy ALL of their Amora Recette Fouettée (6-8 jars). They’re roughly the equivalent of two cups of mayo (so you need a whole jar to make potato salad for a family our size).
Stay tuned for next week’s segment ABOUT CHEEEEEESE!
Parlez-vous?
En avril ne te découvre pas d’un fil. En mai, fais ce qu’il te plait.
This page (IN ENGLISH) has an EXCELLENT explanation and continuation of the poem.
This little poem nugget is a reminder that literally means, “In April, don’t uncover yourself even one thread. In May, do what pleases you.” I liken to the lesson we learned a few weeks back about putting your tomatoes out too early. Just because the sun is shining, and the air is warm today does NOT mean it won’t snow and freeze and murder your tomato plants. So, IN APRIL, even if it’s nice enough to unveil and prep your pool, a breeze will inevitably pick up and freeze your ass. Don’t wear shorts just because it’s pretty out. If you are tempted to wear a tank top, take a damn sweater because as soon as a passing cloud covers the sun, you’ll become a shivering, goosefleshed mess at that Easter picnic. IN MAY, you should be in the clear (but a good Frenchy always takes a pull/pullover or a gilet/sweater or jacket and at least a light scarf).
Echarpe v. Foulard
Speaking of scarves… You may have noticed that French people like to wear fabric around their necks. Even in the height of summer, as soon as the sun is covered or about to go down, you’ll see the good Frenchy tie something around their neck. This is because French people IN GENERAL still believe that breezes make you sick. (See Rouspéter) In English, we call this a scarf, but in French, there are three names for it depending on the material and purpose. This page (IN FRENCH) explains the difference between une écharpe, un foulard and une étole but I’m going to give you the quickie here: Une écharpe is the heavy knit or crocheted piece you wear in the winter. Un foulard is the thin, light woven or knit piece of material you wear the rest of the year—it’s primary purpose is to be decorative and it can dangle open from your neck until the sun goes down at which time you tie it however thickly you need depending on the chill. Une étole is French for a stole. HERE (IN FRENCH) and HERE (IN ENGLISH) are videos on some different ways to tie scarves.
just ask joj
Penny from Virginia asks,
“What does the school system look like?”
A lot of people have asked about the different facets of the French school system. I want to preface this section by admitting that I don’t know much about the American public school system. I only went to public school to the middle of the fourth grade before moving to an accelerated religious curriculum (first in a brick and mortar—well, wood and nails—church school and later in a homeschooling context). My kids have had brief stints in American public school—and I was PTA president of one of their elementary schools for just over a year—but other than that intimate peek at elementary school, I have no real American point of reference (you’ll learn more about my experiences with this in my various memoirs (warning: shameless memoir title plug imminent), HOW I LEARNED FRENCH, and LOAD UP and LIKE SHELLIN’ PEAS). I also don’t have much of a French point of reference. I was involved more when they were younger and we lived in the city. Since the middle of elementary, we have lived in the country, further away from school, so I rarely interact with other parents or the school itself.
I also need to preface that the school my children currently attend is an anomaly, but I’ll get to that in a sec.
You can get more thorough information about the French school system from websites like Fulbright France and Expatica and French Today but I’ll give you the “quick” rundown here…
There are essentially TWO PHASES of school—primaire (primary) and sécondaire (secondary).
Primaire
Maternelle
Primary school includes three years of what they call maternelle. Maternelle is broken down into three grades: petite section, moyenne section and grande section. Petite section starts at age three. Some might say it is glorified daycare, but that has not been my experience. For one, not everyone can afford daycare or have a spot in a creche (and not all parents want to part with their littles before age three and why would you if you had amazing maternity/paternity leave, right?). For another, for children who haven’t had crêche (daycare) experience, petite section is where they learn the structural components of formalized education—how to sit in a chair, stand in line, take turns playing-talking-eating-etc., conflict resolution, sharing, following instructions, holding a writing utensil, etc. Most French schools I’ve seen also start English instruction (some schools even begin experimentation with foreign language play—Lily and her petite section class did a whole spectacle or theatrical/dance program using Portuguese, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese and Arabic among other languages). In our experience of petite section, students may go only half a day (morning or afternoon) or all day depending on the availability of the maternelle in one’s geographic location.
Moyenne section is a continuation of petite section (or a debut if you’ve decided to start your child in school at age 4).
Grande section is like American Kindergarten with regard to rhythm and age. However, since most French children have gone to either petite section or moyenne section or both, they are more prepared than the average American kindergartener (unless they have gone to some form of group daycare) in terms of interpersonal relations and classroom protocol. Kids in grande section mostly color in the lines, at least KNOW (even if their use is selective) politeness expectations and are able to follow basic directions, etc. Most kids in grande section know how to write individual letters and small words IN CURSIVE. They do not learn to print until sometime in middle school (not sure on that one). Children’s books directed for this age are often WRITTEN IN CURSIVE.
Élementaire
CP
After grande section, French 6-year-olds start CP which stands for Cours Préparatoire. It is the temporal equivalent of First Grade in the States. It is the first year school is MANDATORY. It’s when school gets REAL. No more Mr Nice Guy teacher calling you sweetie and asking you to do things nicely like your mom does. Most French kids will tell you the change is abrupt. You go from playing and coloring and learning your letters and circle time and centers to sitting in a big kid desk, facing forward. Your teacher might be nice (but it’s not guaranteed) but they will be serious and severe and expect the same from you. CP is where you learn to write for real. Where your handwriting is GRADED. You have homework (and I’m not talking about cutting and pasting, although there is still some of that). You learn to read. You are expected to learn to READ AND RECITE poetry, standing up in front of the class. You begin being graded on dicté—like dictation, a sort of spelling test which has words, but also paragraphs of text—as to your spelling and handwriting.
Math involves pictures and objects, writing numerals, measuring/comparison, grouping (to prep for multiplication) in arrays, completing tables, writing numbers in text (3 = trois, 73 = soixant-treize), shapes (and basic geometry), multi-numeral addition (20 + 13), introduction to telling time, sequences, experimenting with codes (not like tech but like, “spy” codes), graphing, even and odd numbers/sequences, halfs and doubles, greater/less than and an introduction to currency.
CE1 and CE2
Cours Élémentaire 1ère année (and 2ème année) is where French kids 7-9 get a deeper knowledge of the uses of reading. It’s not only about words and sentences and sounds anymore but about the elements of reading a texts: characters, place, time, understanding the sections (beginning, middle, ending), inciting incidents, protagonist/antagonist, dialogue, writing a story about an image, informative and explanatory texts, reading and writing poetry. Verbs and tenses start to get complicated in terms of conjugation and irregular verbs. Parts of speech and subject-verb agreement are discussed more deeply.
Math is a continuation of things introduced before, but multiplication is more about numbers (and less about pictures of groups of objects) and multi-numeral. Division is introduced and deepened. Use of calculator. Deeper math concepts like understanding a problem, solving, and manipulating/graphing data. Deeper understanding of geometry and measuring. Telling time and reading calendars. Currency.
History and Geography become key concepts and move along a linear timeline. Civic and moral instruction become serious, concepts like “living together,” “personal health/hygiene” and “symbols of the République” are discussed more explicitly. Art history is introduced.
English is continued but with deeper understanding. Anglophone cultures introduced.
In CE2, science concepts are compass reading, nutrition, water cycle, space stuff/solar system, physics (like principles of pullies, levers, gears and scales), animal reproduction, vegetable reproduction, human musculatory/bone/joints systems, food chain.
CM1/CM2
Cours Moyen 1ère année (and 2ème année) is when French 9 and 10-year-olds do the equivalents of 4th and 5th American public school grades. Instead of focusing only on text, a deeper look is taken at elements of language—pronouns, types of phrases, word order, subjects and complements. The more obscure verb tenses like passé simple and the subjontif mode are introduced (1st year) and deepened (2nd year). Textual considerations covered are cause and effect and critical analysis. Spelling is honed and homophones are discussed in depth. Language REGISTER becomes super important. Literal v. figurative language. Etymology. Prefixes/suffixes. Writing is about strong beginnings, description, summarizing, debating, recognizing literary genres, coherence/cohesion and revision. Poetry is no longer just about recitation but explication and appreciation.
Math is fractions, large numbers, decimals, continuation and elongation of multiplication/division, mental calculation, proportions, percentages, speeds and scale (not weight but like maps), graphs, angles, quadrilaterals, polygons, solids, symmetry, duration, measures of area and perimeter, mass and volume.
History continues through the 19th century/Industrial Age, world wars, European Union. Civil instruction is about helping people, the law, representative democracy. Geography is about daily, local, European and world travel. World communication through the internet and inequality of access to the network. Cohabitating with others and nature. Recycling.
Science is classification. Biodiversity. Interacting between living beings. Human respiratory and circulatory systems as well as waste excretion. Physical science is about energy and movement. World science is about environment—pollution, recycling, water treatment—but also plate tectonics, volcanoes, human risk.
English deepens but is still superficial (being able to introduce oneself, get around, express basic opinions and views).
Secondaire
Collège
Sécondaire (secondary) consists of collège and lycée. Collège is like middle school in the States. It covers ages 11-16. Like in the States middle school, collège starts with sixième (6th grade) but the NEXT year instead of being 7th grade, it goes BACKWARDS and is called cinquième (5th) and so on through troixième, (3rd but the equivalent of the American 9th grade) like a countdown of sorts to completion.
In the interest of brevity (and also because I don’t really know without looking it up extensively) here (IN FRENCH) is a description of what collégiens study. This site calls collège the “backbone of the French school system”:
“[C]ollège is designed to provide all pupils with a fundamental secondary education, after which a certain degree of specialization will be introduced. In practice, pupils are frequently oriented during their collège years either towards general classes, from which they will be expected to continue their education in a traditional lycée, or towards more technical classes, after which they will be expected to take an exam called the “brevet,” and then either stop their secondary education (if they have reached school leaving age—16), or continue in a “lycée professional” or vocational high school. The programme in collège includes French, maths, history, geography, technical education, art/music, physical education, civic education, some science, and at least one foreign language.”
Lycée
Lycée is essentially high school but instead of lasting four years, it’s only three. It continues to count down. La seconde is 10th grade, la première is 11th grade and the French final grade is la terminale.
This is the one I know the least about, but this paragraph on About-France.com seems to wrap it up nicely:
“There are two main types of traditional lycée, the lycée général or lycée classique, and the lycée technique. In big towns and cities, there will be a mix of both types; in smaller towns, there may not be a lycée technique. The main function of the lycée is to prepare pupils to sit the baccalauréat (or bac) exam, the equivalent of British A levels. Classes in a traditional lycée cover the same range as in collège, with the addition of philosophy (for all) in the final year. … Pupils in a lycée technique may begin to specialize in a fairly narrow technical field, in addition to their general secondary studies. There are technical lycées specializing in fields such as microtechnologies or aeronautics. Technical lycées that provide training in very specialized fields are usually boarding schools, since they recruit pupils from a large catchment area, and even on occasions from all over France.”
(If you remember from last week, The Hairy One (THO) went to a specialized collège and lycée for nerdy nerds to prepare to study mechanical engineering.)
Wednesday
All primaire primary schoolers have Wednesday off. “Off” is a misnomer because most extracurriculars are exactly that. Though the schools offer basic music, art and sports (a little more about that later), if a French child wants more than introductory instruction in a certain activity, they do it outside school hours. So, Wednesdays.
French students in collège and lycée go to school half a day on Wednesdays, using the afternoon to either do homework or extracurricular activities (or lounge about on my couch eating all the snacks meant for aperitif and watching movies or playing games on their phone or both at the same time!!!).
MOST municipalities have some sort of day camp available (usually called a centre aéré) for students who don’t go to extracurricular activities. Sometimes, this is in its own structure or a part of a municipal building but often times it’s in the local elementary school (because there are no classes). Though Bubs goes to the same school as The Bigs (our teens) in a nearby town (all will be illuminated in a min), he goes to the elementary school in our village—he calls it The Orange School because of the paint—to play with local French (et al) friends. We pay 12 euros per Wednesday which includes his meal and an afternoon snack. They have structured games led by a (usually young) animateur but also have free time. Bubs likes to use that time for Pokémon, Bey Blades, Defi-Nature cards and reading Captain Underpants.
Restauration
(My young friend Sarah in Ellicott City, Maryland asked about this in particular.)
Lunch is an option in France. A lot of French kids who live close to school and who have one parent who doesn’t work (or who has a grandparent or other adult close by) go home for lunch instead of eating at school. That said, over half of French kids still eat at the cantine.
This (IN FRENCH) is the government site on school lunches. Here (IN ENGLISH) is a VERY NICE rundown of French lunches (including a menu) from a few years ago to give you an idea of what are in meals and why.
There is a campaign to have more vegetarian meals to accommodate students with food allergies and/or religious concerns. This is VERY controversial because of how the French government likes to insist that it is secular (see Rouspéter). Here (IN ENGLISH) is an interesting, and quick-read article on this topic.
Kids who stay at school for lunch are called pensionnaires eat at school. Demi-pensionnaires have the option to eat at school or leave school for lunch (and either go home or have a picnic or go to a restaurant, etc.).
Grading
Assignments, papers and tests in France are graded out of 20. HOWEVER, 10 is considered a passing grade and a 20 is almost unheard of for the average student (but THO, the huge freakin’ nerd, has had plenty of 20s and even above when teachers give extra points, insert eyeroll here).
10-12 is passing (so, a D). 12-14 is called mention assez bien (so, a C). 14-16 is mention bien (so, a B). And above 16 is mention trez bien (so, A-, A and A+)
If you have a D average in France at the end of the year, it’s passing.
Testing
While the final grades of most public school students in the US come from tests and homework throughout the year (called controls continues in French/France), French students have to pass and succeed at a final exam at the END of the respective phase of school. For example, as mentioned above, French students in collège (les collégiens) take a final exam called a brevet. You can read about it here (IN ENGLISH) and here (IN ENGLISH) and here (IN FRENCH). The brevet, while it is an official diploma (after which you can quit school and become an apprentice or go on to a vocational training) it it is not a gatekeeper for lycée. You do not have to have the brevet to go forward to lycée.
French students in lycée (les lycéens) also take a final exam called the baccalauréat which you can read about here (IN ENGLISH), here (IN ENGLISH), and here (IN FRENCH). There are some changes to the bac in 2021 (because of the coronavirus) which you can read about here (IN ENGLISH) here.
Repeating years
Because grading in France is very stringent and because French educators see no benefit in letting a child move on to the next grade if they haven’t acquired the necessary skills, there is a high percentage of French students who repeat years in which they weren’t successful. This is called redoubler (as a verb) and le redoublement (as a noun). There is a surprising lack of stigma when it comes to this (maybe because it’s so common).
Here (IN ENGLISH) is a pretty informative (and short) read about repeating a grade in France. This (IN ENGLISH) is a short blog post about it (with a resulting discussion) that says that “38% of students have to repeat a year at some time,” but they also suggest that this creates a society in which a lot of people think they’re stupid. I disagree with that. My knee-jerk opinion is that it creates is a society of students who are self-motivated and who have reasonable expectations, but I’ll chew on it some more and let you know if I change my mind. It takes the psycho-emotional pressure off of the student if they know that they won’t be ostracized if they have to repeat a year because a fat chunk of the information to which they were exposed didn’t get assimilated. Here, it’s not called “failing” or “flunking.” It’s just simple repeating. Culturally, it doesn’t seem to mean you’re stupider than your cohorts, just that you need to hear things a second time before moving on.
Here (IN FRENCH) is an article about whether or not le redoublement is a punishment or a second chance.
Garderie/Étude
Many (most?) French public elementary schools have a before/after school program called garderie (some schools like to call the AFTER school time étude because the idea is you go there to do your homework under the supervision of a tutor) usually run by municipal hires (so, not the school teachers necessarily but certified kid-minders employed by the town but using the school facilities). We pay 18 euros a month for this service (whether Bubs goes or not). It’s pretty convenient since our kids go to school in the next town and sometimes, The Bigs aren’t done before 6pm. Garderie is similar to the Wednesday centre aéré but a little less structured—there are activities available, but participation is optional. If you don’t like what’s happening on a certain day, you can go jump rope or play on the playground or ride carts, etc.
Étude is for the older elementary school kids who need to finish homework. When they’re done (or if they don’t have any), they can play board/card games or hang out outside during warm weather.
Permanance (aka perm) is a place you can go between classes. You can either stay in the perm room where you can quietly play board games or you can go to the BCDI (Bibliothèque et Centre de Documentation et d’Information aka the library) where you can do homework on computers and/or read. There’s also an outdoor space for some of these times after lunch but they’re supervised. Or you can choose the art option and go to the art room and do homework or art.
Starting in collège, students’ parents decide if their child is going to be demi-pensionnaire or pensionnaire, which means whether or not they’ll stay at school for lunch or times in between classes. Before lycée, the school needs to know where you are at all times so even if you parent designates you as demi-pensionnaire, you have to have a note from them if you want to leave the school in between class periods. In lycée, you can go wherever you want.
Bussing
In the city and in towns, most kids walk to school either with a parent or by themselves. When we lived in Lyon, our kids walked to school from as young as 7 years old. But out in the country, when parents can’t drop their kids off, there are busses. In general, and it really does depend on the area, school bussing exists for primary school students and middle schoolers up to age 15. High schoolers usually take public transit (but can also take the same buses as the middle schoolers). School buses look just like tour buses. Some have a school bus sign on them but they are not a particular color. French people are charmed by the yellow/orange American school bus.
Breaks (and Zones) in France
This site and this one (BOTH IN ENGLISH) are great, concise introductions into how French school students handle holidays. You’ll notice that they go to school for about six weeks before having a two-week vacation. This site (IN FRENCH) says “around 30% of the annual income from tourism in France is brought in by the ski resorts.” In order to keep the slopes (and highways) from being overcrowded, France is divided into four zones (HERE is a map) so that the winter and spring school breaks can be staggered.
There are three breaks which are NOT STAGGERED: a fall break that lasts 10 days and includes All Saints’ Day (Toussaint, the day after Halloween), a winter holiday break that includes Christmas and New Year, and an eight-week summer vacation. (Stay tuned for a future discussion of what a clusterf*ck traffic is during this break.)
Sports/extracurriculars
French schools teach some awesome sports. Over the years, my kids have taken fencing, rock climbing, roller blading, horseback riding, sailing, dance, rowing, to name a few. However, these are only introductions to these sports and last only six weeks.
(All French children take swimming lessons through their school. It starts around the age of 4 and goes through mid-way through elementary school (depending on the access to a city pool). This is to lower the occurrence of child drownings.)
Most sports and activities are done through clubs and associations outside of school and paid for by parents. There are no school football teams or cheerleaders or band or any profit-making types of things like that.
Cahiers de Vacances
During break times, especially summer, parents are encouraged to purchase workbooks called cahiers de vacances to keep lessons fresh in their children’s minds.
EIPACA
The school my children currently attend is École International Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur.
EIPACA is both a public school and an international school. It has mostly ITER (where THO works) students in it but there is a percentage of local French kids that go there (if there are spots left after ITER students, local French kids can apply but they have to follow classes in English.
It’s the same as most other schools in France in that maternelle and primaire students go to school all days but Wednesday (the collège and lycée students do half a day). HOWEVER, maternelle and primaire students go to school 50% in French and 50% their home language (ALL SUBJECTS). So, for Aurélien, Monday and Thursday are classes in French and Tuesday and Friday are in English (because that’s his home language).
In college students have to decide whether or not they will follow an international tract or a European tract.
In the International tract, there are six bilingual sections—German/French and Spanish/French, British/French, Chinese/French, Italian/French and Japanese/French in which students follow classes in which the majority language is French. The home language classes teach home culture as well. These sections follow the French curricular program and their goal is to have the French bac (or German and Spanish bac) so that if they move back to their country, they are not “lost.” The grades/levels have the same name as in a typical French public school, the grading system is the same (out of 20) and they take the French bac like all other French students at the end of June.
The European tract is a program supported by the affiliation of European Schools, where students go to class 80% in English and 20% in French. The curriculum prepares the students for the European bac—a bac recognized throughout all of Europe (including France). The goal is to have one diploma that is recognized throughout Europe, meaning you can go to any university in Europe (if you have citizenship). The grade/levels have different names (6th grade is no longer called sixième but instead S1 (which stands for Secondary 1) through S7)
The main difference between these two tracts is one’s level of English: The European tract requires a near-bilingual proficiency.
When students start collège, whether they decide on International or European, they are required to take a third and foreign language, and have the option to take a fourth (foreign) language when they are in lycée.
Shannen from the Houston, TX area asks (more about the consideration of status):
“Like here, if your kids don’t go to a private school you’re looked down on, or less than the parents who can afford private school.”
About-France.com says this:
“It is commonly believed, outside France, that virtually all schools in France are state schools, i.e. in the public sector. This is a misconception. Over 80% of school pupils are in state schools, but this leaves a substantial (and growing) minority of almost 20% who attend private schools - far more, for instance, than in the United Kingdom or the USA. However the private/public divide is not as clear as it is in other countries. Private schools in France are essentially (about 90%) catholic schools, in which there is religious instruction in the curriculum; they select their own teachers, but must follow the same curriculum as state schools if they wish to remain under contract (écoles sous contrat) to the state education system. This is a very important point for almost all private schools, as it means that the state pays the teachers. Consequently, private schools in France only charge symbolic or low fees, and are accessible to pupils from all sectors of society, not just to those whose parents are well-off. There are only a handful of fee-paying boarding schools in France, similar to English "public schools".
The state education system attaches great importance to the principle of secularism (la laïcité), and there is no formal teaching of religion in state schools in France. In theory, religion has no place in state schools in France. However, recent events in France have led to a growing demand for schools to teach religious awareness, this being seen by some as necessary for the development of greater understanding between people of different religions, notably with regard to France's Islamic minority. Religious instruction is not banned from state schools in France; it can take place after hours, for pupils who wish - or at least, that is the legal position. School chaplains (aumoniers) are officially appointed by the "recteur" (Chairperson) of the "académie" (Local Education Authority).”
TERMINOLOGY
If you’re interested in vocabulary and terminology, the list marked “# 12” on the French Today page is excellent.
the jojdom
Rouspéter
Lundi de pâques
France is very strict about what it calls la laïcité (secularism) , to the point that religious symbols are banned in school (including both crucifixes and the hijab), that said, the French bank/school holiday calendar do NOT reflect this. One example of this is Lundi de Pâques (Easter Monday) this site explains that there used to be an entire week off after Easter Sunday (called the Octave de Pâques) but in 1801 Napoleon Bonaparte and the Pope signed an agreement to do away with all but one day of it. There is no other reason to have this day off. Other obviously religious holidays in France (besides Christmas) are All-Saints’ Day (November 1), Ascension Day (Jeudi de l’Asencion—the day Jesus went to Heaven), Whit/Pentecost Monday (Lundi de Pentecôte—when the Holy Spirit came down and met Jesus and his gang), and l’Assomption (the day the Virgin Mary got pregnant with the baby Jesus—August 15). This really gets my goat. I won’t go into a long religious discussion (full disclosure, I’m Unitarian Universalist ) but I get bitchy about France saying the government, its structures and services are non-clerical and in the same breath having BANK HOLIDAYS that are religious in nature. You should be imagining me with crossed arms, furrowed brow and pursed lips, tapping my big toe. Je ne suis PAS d’accord!
courant d’air
Even though there are articles like this and this (BOTH IN FRENCH) French people still believe that moving air makes you sick. Not all moving air, of course, otherwise why would the convertible car be so lovely and popular in the summer? But if you’re in a room and a breeze enters or crosses and tickles the little hairs on your neck, you’re probably slated for imminent death. They call this breeze or cross-breeze un courant d’air. (Literally an air current.)
wow!