ESL Blogs

In France, the schooling is established in this way:

First, we have “kindergarten school” (Ecole Maternelle in French). For children aged between 3 and 5. There are three levels.

Small section, middle section and high section.

Then we have Elementary school, for children aged between 6 and 10. There are 5 levels.

• CP (Cours préparatoire, in French): First Grade. When CP is achieved, children should be able to read and write.
• CE1 (Cours élementaire 1) : Elementary Grade #1
• CE2 (Cours élementaire 2) : Elementary Grade #2
• CM1 (Cours Moyen 1) : Middle Grade #1
• CM2 (Cours Moyen 2) : Middle Grade #2

When Elementary school is achieved, children should be able to read, write and count wihtout difficulties. They should be fluent. They may have started to learn English. Unfortunately, this learning is not enough efficient.

After Elementary school, comes time of Secondary School. For children aged between 12 and 15. There are 5 levels.

Elementary school is divided in two sublevels:

1. ( Collège in French) : Lower Secondary school

• 6^th
• 5^th : Start learning of one second foreign language
• 4^th
• 3^th : Brevet national tests at end of year

1. (Lycée in French) : Upper Secondary School

• 2^nd: May start learning of one third foreign language
• 1^st : national test at end of year ( French subject)
• Terminal: National tests at end of year (Every other subjects). This national test is called “Baccalauréat”. It’s the first degree which account for a professional life.

Could you tell us about schooling in your countries ?

(please, feel free to tell me if you've seen any mistake in my post. The best way to learn ...)