|
||||||||||||||||
 |
top
      |
 |
BILINGUAL EDUCATION IN FRANCE
Examples of Bilingual Education
Bilingual classes
- first set up in the 1970’s
- additional classes in the collèges (secondary schools from the age of 11 to 14/15)
- 5 or 6 classes per week in the foreign language instead of the usual 3 or 4
- teaching of Physical Education and Art partly or wholly in the foreign language
International streams
- they must include at least 25% foreign or dual-national pupils
- they differ from the mainstream French schools in the disciplines of foreign languages and the Humanities (History and Geography)
- their teachers are trained in the country of the target language
- they provide 6 hours per week in the foreign language, 2 or 3 in History and Geography through the medium of the foreign language
Joint certification
- Franco-German joint certification programme
- currently a network of 7 French institutions (upper secondary schools)
- students are either French or dual nationals (French-German)
- additional classes in German
- 6 hours per week of German language and literature
- 3 hours per week of History and Geography
- either German or bilingual teachers with appropriate qualifications
- on passing the oral and written examination, students are awarded a double diploma (French Baccalauréat and the German Abitur)
Case Study: The European Sections Model
General outline
- created in 1992
- during the first two years of secondary education, two additional hours of language teaching are provided
- from the third year onwards, a non-language subject is taught in whole or in part in the target language
- in general, the language of the European Sections is a European language
- if there is demand, other languages are possible, e.g. Arabic, Chinese, Japanese (Eastern Language Sections)
- no extra funding, financing is part of the regular overall budget of the school
- all types of secondary schools (general, technical. vocational) may open a European Section
- in practice, only a small number of technical and vocational schools have opened a European Section
- continuity for the pupils not provided
- 1992: 105 European Sections
- 1996: 769 European Sections (617 =lower secondary, 152=upper)
- to take part in a European Section, pupils have to prove a certain linguistic competence, some schools have entry requirements
Non-language subject
- mostly the combined subject of History and Geography
- to a lesser degree Biology, Physical Education and Sport, Physics and Chemistry, Mathematics
- in general 1 or 2 additional hours per week
Teachers
- teachers in France generally do not have dual qualification
- normally non-language subject teachers with sufficient knowledge of the target language
- in-service training beginning to take place
- teacher training department at Strasbourg University offers a 20-day course in German for students in their second year, focusing on the education system in Germany, curriculum and teaching methods in the subject
