Achievement & Equality Team
Information on France and the French language
Against us tyranny’s blood
Bloody standard is raised
Listen to the sound in the fields
The howling of those fearsome soldiers
They are coming into our midst
To cut the throats of your sons and consorts
National Anthem of France
FRANCE AT A GLANCE
Location – West Europe
Neighbours – Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Andorra, Spain
Size – 210,026 square miles
Population- 61, 875, 822 (21st)
Life Expectancy – Male / Female 77/84
Capital city – Paris
Potted History
France emerged from the hundred years war only for bloody conflict to explode between its Catholics and Protestants. The 1789 revolution brought down the monarchy, but failed to bring peace and prosperity: the Terror ensued and Napoleon was brought to power. Occupation and Nazi collaboration by some in the second world war prompted a rethink, ushering in decolonisation, European integration and a 30-year economic boom.
Political pressure points
The current president (2010) Nicolas Sarkosy is a right wing leader whose reformist agenda has divided opinion.
Population mix
94.9% French; Portuguese, Moroccan, Algerian 5%.
Religious makeup
Catholic 85%, Muslim 5%, Protestant 2%, Jewish 1%, Buddhist 1%.
Main languages
French, Provencal, Breton, Alsatian, Corsican, Catalan, Basque, Flemish.
Living national icons
Luc Besson (Director), Audrey Tautou (Actor), Gerard Depardieu (Actor) Zinedine Zedane (Retired Footballer), Thierry Henry (Footballer)
Website
The Nottinghamshire Context
Nottinghamshire does not have an established French community. However, there have been a few Frenchchildren enrolling in County schools. There are long established economic links between France and the UK, and as they are both within the EU the main reason for families arriving are for business reasons.
Education in France
The French educational system is highly centralised, organised, and complex.
- From the ages of 3 to 6 children may attend the optional infants school, "école maternelle" in the district where they live.
- Compulsory schooling begins at the age of 6 and continues until the age of 16.
- From 6 to 11, they receive compulsory, non-fee-paying elementary education in the primary school closest to their home.
- The first period of secondary education, from 11 – 16 years of age is compulsory and given at "collèges d’enseignement général" or "collèges d’enseignement technique" (general and technical secondary schools)
- The second, non-compulsory period of education takes place in the "lycées" (high schools) and leads to the "Baccalauréat", the passport to universities in France and Switzerland (under certain conditions).
PRIMARY EDUCATION / SECONDARY EDUCATION
ECOLE MATERNELLE / ECOLE PRIMAIRE / COLLEGE ENSEIGNEMENT SECONDAIRE / LYCEE
Petite section / Moyenne section / Grande section / CP / CE1 / CE2 / CM1 / CM2 / 6ème / 5ème / 4ème / 3ème / 2nde / 1ère / Terminale
2-3
years / 3-5
years / 5-6
years / 6-7
years / 7-8
years / 8-9
years / 9-10
years / 10-11
years / 11-12
years / 12-13
years / 13-14
years / 14-15
years / 15-16
years / 16-17
years / 17-18
years
Information about the French Language
French is a Romance language spoken by about 265 million people in France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Canada, Switzerland, Italy, the USA, Lebanon, French Guiana, north, west and central Africa, Madagascar, a number of islands in the Indian Ocean, Haiti and other Caribbean islands, South East China, New Caledonia, the New Hebrides, the French Pacific Territories, Togo, Vanuatu, and Vietnam. There are about 129,000,000 French speakers in the world. The French language is related to Latin and first appeared in writing in 842 AD when it was used in the Strasbourg Oaths. Before then Latin was the language used for literature throughout Europe. During the 10th and 11th centuries, French appeared in a number of documents and religious writings, but French literature did not start to take off until the late 12th / early 13th century.
The French alphabet is the same as that of English, though the letter w appears only in foreign words. Grave (é), acute (é), and circumflex (ô) accents are used (eg père – father, été – summer, éléve – pupil, âme – soul; and the cidilla (ç) appears under the letter c when preciding a, o,or u to indicate an s sound rather than k (leçon – lesson).French spelling generally reflects the language as it was spoken four or five centuries ago and is therefore a poor guide to modern pronunciation. Silent letters abound, especially at the ends of words (hommes is pronounced um; aiment pronounced em) but a normally silent final consonant is often sounded when it is followed by a word that begins with a vowel. In this process, known as liaison, the consonant becomes part of the first syllable of the following word, so that sentence il est assis (he is seated) is pronounced ë-lê-tâ-së. Alhtough French pronunciation is governed by fairly consistent rules, the actual sounds of the language are quite difficult for the English speaker, and a good “French accent” is something not easily acquired.
As the two major languages of the Western world, English and French naturally have contributed many words to each other. The enormous impact of Norman French on the English language has already been discussed. More recent French contributions to English – with the French pronunciation retained as closly as possible – inlcude such words and expressions as hors d’oeuvre, à la carte, table d’hôte, en route, en masse, rendez-vous, carte blanche, savoir-faire, faux pas, fait accompli, par excellence, bon vivant, joie de vivre, raison d’être and R. S. V.P.
Words and Phrases
English / French / PronunciationYes/No / Oui/Non / wee/nong
Yes, please/No, thank you / Oui, s' il vous plaît/Non, merci / wee, seel voo play/nong, mair-see
Please / S' il vous plaît / seel voo play
Thank you / Merci (madame/monsieur) / mair-see
(mah-dahm/mer-syer)
You're welcome / Il n' y a pas de quoi / eel nyah pah der kwah
Here is/are / Voici... / vwah-see
Hello/Good morning/afternoon / Bonjour, (madame/monsieur) / bong-zhoor,
(mah-dahm/mer-syer)
Hello/Good evening / Bonsoir (madame/monsieur) / bong-swahr,
(mah-dahm/mer-syer)
Goodbye / Au revoir / oh rer-vwahr
Good night / Bonne nuit / bonn nwee
How are you? / Comment allez-vous? / kommahng tahlay voo
Very well, thanks / Très bien, merci / tray byang mair-see
Excuse me / Excusez-moi / ex-kewzay mwah
Do you speak English? / Est-ce que vous parlez anglais? / essker voo pahrlay ahng-glay
Can you help me? / Est-ce que vous pouvez m'aider? / essker voo poovay may-day
Do you understand / Tu comprends / Tu konpran
I don’t understand. / en e comprends pas. / Zher ner kong-prahng pah
I don’t know. / en e sais pas. / Zher ner say pah
How old are you? / Quel âge as-tu? / Kel aaje ha tu
I am … years old / J’ai…ans / Jai …ahn
Teacher / Enseignant / ansaygnahn
Class / classe / klas
Student / étudiant / Hetudi-ahn
Lunch time / déjeûner / dejeenhe
read / lire / leer
write / écrire / hekrir
Listen / écouter / hekuthe
books / livres / leevr
Could you please write it down / Est-ce que vous pouvez l'écrire? / essker voo poovay lay-kreer
Sorry / Désolé(e) / day-zo-lay
Leave me alone! / Laissez-moi tranquille. / lay-say mwah trahng-keel
Where? / Où? / who
When? / Quand? / kahng
How? / Comment? / kommahng
Why? / Pourquoi? / poor-kwah
Who? / Qui? / kee
Which? / Lequel?/Laquelle? / le-kell/lah-kell
Where is...? / Où est...? / oo ay
How many? / Combien? / kong-byang
What's that? / Qu'est-ce que c'est? / kessker say
I would like... / Je voudrais... / zhe voodray
I want... / Je veux... / zhe ver
I like it. / Ça me plaît. / sahm play
I don't like it. / Ça ne me plaît pas. / sah ner mer play pah
OK/Agreed. / Ça va/d'accord. / sah vah/dah-korr
That's fine. / C'est bien. / say byan
zero / zéro / zay-roh
one / un / ahn
two / deux / duh
three / trois / twah
four / quatre / cat
five / cinq / sank
six / six / seese
seven / sept / set
eight / huit / wheat
nine / neuf / nuhf
ten / dix / deese
Monday / lundi / lendi
Tuesday / mardi / marhdi
Wednesday / mercredi / mairkrudi
Thursday / jeudi / judi
Friday / vendredi / vandrudi
Saturday / samedi / samudi
Sunday / dimanche / deemanche
Useful guidance is available from:
New Arrivals Excellence Programme Guidance
(2007) Ref 00650 – 2007BKT- EN
This resource is for primary and secondary schools and contains guidance on admission and developing classroom practice.
A language in common: assessing English as an additional language
QCA (2000) (QCA/00/584).
This document sets out steps used in assessment of EAL, linked to English National Curriculum levels. It provides guidance and exemplifications.
Aiming High: guidance on supporting the education of asylum seeking and refugee children (DfES 0287 – 2004)
This guidance helps explain the value of an inclusive ethos and curriculum to all pupils.
Aiming High: meeting the needs of newly arrived learners of EAL
(DfES 1381 -2005)
Information on working with newly arrived isolated EAL pupils in settings that have little or no access to EAL support.
Excellence and enjoyment: learning and teaching for bilingual children in the primary years (DfES 0013 – 2006PCK- EN)
Key Stage 3 National Strategy: Access and engagement in English:teaching pupils for whom English is an additional language (DfES 0609 – 2002)
Publications/Catalogues are available from:
MUNDI Tel: 0115 8546418
Mundi
Global Education Centre
Foxhall Lodge
Foxhall Road
Nottingham
NG7 6LH
(under construction/Aug 2010)
Mundi loan resources to schools in Nottinghamshire free for up to half a term
e-mail:
GRANT AND CUTLERTel: 0207734 2012
55-57 Great Marlborough Street,
London'
England
W1F 7AY
Web:
A one-stop shop for foreign language resources including language-learning material, reference books, technical dictionaries, literature, history, politics etc.
MILET PUBLISHING Tel: 0207603 5477
6 North End Parade
London W14 0SJ
England
Web:
Milet publishers a wide range of bilingual picture dictionaries, including board books for use in early years settings.
TRENTHAM BOOKS LTD Tel: 01782 745567
Westview House,734 London Road,
Stoke on Trent,
UKST4 5NP Web:
Trentham publishes 'a wide range of titles plus seven professional journals, mainly in the field of education and social policy.
MANTRA LINGUA Tel: 0208 44 55 123
Global House
303 Ballards Lane
London
N12 8NP
UK
Web:
Mantra Lingua creative learning resources Audio CDs, Big Books, e-books, fun tales, folk tales, friezes, games, language learning, packs posters, story props, toys videos and so on.
Classroom Resources are available from:
Interactive video clips showing children teaching their home languages.
The following website translates words, phrases and short paragraphs from English to French available at;
The Dingle Granby Toxteth Education Action Zone website; Useful letters for parents translated into French available at:
DLTK's Crafts for Kids features a variety images that can be used for creating pupils own subject-specific dictionaries.
Activities for ESL Students can be adapted for EAL pupils in primary and secondary schools. Has bilingual quizzes in large number of languages, available at
Omniglot writing systems and languages of the world at
EMA Online resource base for teachers has been developed by Birmingham, Leeds and Manchester LAs with funding from the DfES, available at;
Racist bullying. Advice designed for schools to dip in and out as appropriate for them and offers discussion topics and activities to stimulate debate and spark activity involving everyone in the school community, available at;
Teachernet states that a successful home–school relationship can be a key element in making a school stronger and more effective. In particular, it can make a real difference to groups of underachieving pupils and their families, available at;
Nottinghamshire Achievement & Equality Team