Life in a Finnish lukio and in a French lycée

This is a  page where students are asked to write about life and work in their schools. 
Write about the schoolday, what happens during it, and how long is it? Lesson duration, breaks, facilities (computer lab e.g.)  etc.
Write on school subjects, which compulsory, which optional?

The French students will write in dark purple.
The French students involved in the project are in the sixth form - in the Lower Sixth, to be more precise - and they specialize in literary studies. For example, they have three times as many English lessons as the other students in the same school. They will try to explain what their different English courses consist in.

The Finnish students will write in dark green.



1. Your class or your group.

In our class, we are 32 students, and in our special English group, we are just 20. There is a fairly great atmosphere in our class, and everyone does their best to get good grades although we can’t unfortunately just erase the differences between students. I mean, like in every class, some students will be more efficient in English classes ; others will like History class best.

As we are a literary class, our main activity is theatre. We enjoy going together to the Theatre in Luxembourg to watch magnificent plays ; but sometimes we just go to the few theatres in our town. We also like gathering in order to talk about arts in general and books more precisely ; then we exchange the books we have read, so everyone can read what they like.

Our English group is smaller, therefore we can talk and interact with each other more easily, our grades are all the more high, and as a result our work is very efficient. FROM MATHILDE and SARAH

2. School subjects - Lesson duration - How often a week ? / Timetables...

We have eight subjects overall :

• English : Well, that’s English. We mainly learn grammar and vocabulary – the basics. 3 hours a week

• « Improved » English : That’s English too, but I’ll explain that later. 3 hours a week

• German : It’s a regular German lesson. There’s not much to say about it. 2 hours a week

• Literature : In our previous classes, this subject was called « French ». It’s the same thing but with a different name. 7 hours a week

• Foreign literature : It’s called “foreign” but it’s in English. It’s pretty much the same as Literature, in another language. In other words, we mainly read and study British or American books. 2 hours a week

• History/Geography : In France, History and Geography are taught by the same teacher (separately, though). I’m not sure if it’s different in the other countries. Anyway, that’s how it is. 4 hours a week

• Biology : We learn stuff related to animals and trees and nature and human things (you don’t say). 2 hours a week (alternating with Physics)

• Physics : Generally, this subject is linked to Biology. It’s scientific stuff. Scary. 2 hours a week (alternating with Biology)

• Physical Education : This is sport. Wall-climbing, handball, volleyball, gym, etc. 2 hours a week

As you can see, we have a lot of subjects related to languages, and fewer which are linked to science. That’s because we are in a “Première Littéraire”, which in turn means we chose to study those literary subjects instead of scientific ones, for our career. All of our lessons have a duration of exactly one hour, although we sometimes have two hours of the same subject (especially in Literature and History/Geography, and in Physical Ed, for sure).

We don’t have Mathematics because it’s an option we can choose (not) to have.

You may have also noticed that we have an “improved” English lesson, This is not supposed to mean the language is better than it already is, nor that the teacher is a superhero – well, maybe she is, but hush. In “regular” English, we learn the basics of the language, the very pillars of knowledge which allow us to a deeper understanding and thus lead to…I don’t know anymore. Whatever ! However, improved English is no meant to teach us those basics. We are more focused on the society and media-related subjects than on grammar.   FROM MAILYS

3. Tests and final exams
We regularly (nearly every week) have tests : tests on our lessons, essays, written comprehension, oral comprehension and oral presentations.
Let's speak about the French A-level in literature. We will have the first exams at the end of this school year, in June and July. In fact, we will have exams in French literature and science. Next year, we will take exams in : philosophy, English, German, Spanish or politics, history and geography.

4. Facilities

In our school, we are in the playground when we don't study. In order to smoke , some students go out of our school, Hélène Boucher high school. The self is not organised , it's very hard to go to the self and it's not as tasty as our mother's food.

In the "CDI", which is a library inside the school, there is a place where you can study or find documents on the Internet or books. So, students learn or read.You also can go to the "E lorraine" room, which is a place where find information for your studies or you can go on the Internet. The exam room is where you take your exams.The teachers' room is where teachers meet each other when they have a break.We have a room with a babyfoot and students can socialize.There is a little room where they can work in silence and another one where they can speak "normally" and listen to music or watch TV.
FROM ZAK, DALIA AND JULIE !

5. Breaks and free time between classes

We spent our free time between lessons mostly hanging out with friends and in our "restroom" when it rains or when we have to work. This place is a very large room composed of four parts each of them dedicated to a different kind of activities. There is the place where we work, the entry to chat and discuss the various school new information, the baby-foot room and finally the central room in which we can watch TV or listen to music altogether. But this is only available for the oldest teenagers like us ! (The youngest ones have to go to another room where they are supposed to work while waiting for their next class. They are monitored by a prefect.) If we don't like to be surrounded by a lot of people, we can go to our two librabries or we can work on computers.

Finally, when the weather is really fine and it is sunny and warm, we don't hesitate one second : we can stay in our yard decorated with false grass and different kind of benches and big stools.

And sometimes we enjoy going window-shopping !

FROM MATHILDE AND SARAH !