A p.s to my post (Homework - Cahia de Vie)

I came across an interesting website called http://www.frenchentree.com/
which has a section called Your Guide to the French Education System. Full of interesting facts.

Now for interesting true stories I suggest you check out this: http://boards.babycentre.co.uk.
It has a section called: Parents in France/French parents

Could hardly believe what I was reading concerning the maitresse in the maternelle section of this school:

There are also many things said about his teacher, not just from English people, one of which was that something was stolen from class (by 3 year old) and she sat them all down and told them she was going to the police and they were thieves, she had most of them in tears even when their parents came to collect them, and many didn't want to go back!

So far we have had a positive experience with our local Maternelle but I would really be interested to read yours. Please leave a comment and let me know.

maternelle

Homework night - Cahia de Vie

Sunday evening is homework night at our house - well not really homework as such but my son, who is 3 and a half, sits down with me and his cahia de vie.

Théo is in the petite section at Maternelle and each Sunday we sit down with his cahia de vie and review his weeks work, look at the announcements and then fill in a couple of pages of things he has been doing of interest over that weekend with family and/or friends. If you have anything especially exciting to report then you bring it to the teachers attention on the Monday morning and your child then talks about it to the class.

What a system - fantastic. It bridges the gap between his school life and home life in an interesting and simple fashion. Your child also gets an opportunity at public speaking at a very early age! Furthermore, as Théo speaks English at home and French at school it has also helped to bridge both the language and culture gap. When he started last September we were encouraged to put in photos of family and friends. We wrote underneath both the English and French names that Théo uses.

The photos also cleared up another mystery. The maîtresse was under the impression that Théo had a brother called Oliver and had been asking him what section of school he was in. Théo had been telling her that I would not let Oliver come into school even though he had BEGGED me. She could hardly believe her eyes when she finally saw a photo of this much talked about Oliver. Yes there was the photo - Oliver chasing a ball! He is of course our much loved, loopy weimaraner. But so much more than that in Théo's eyes.
(for pics of Oliver please look at blog entry Oliver the Weimaraner)

maternelle

Watch out Sangliers about

Comme d’habitude, I popped into our local Café for a cafe-crème with another Mum after the school drop-off. She was looking a little shaken and told me that her car was at the mechanics because of a run-in, literally, with a sanglier.

My friend had been on her way to Nimes at 6am, driving at 80km/h when a sanglier came into contact with the left, front side of her car. Will she be eating daube de sanglier tonight, (wild boar cooked in a thick red wine sauce)? Apparently not, after making contact and wrecking the side of the car, the sanglier carried on running aside of it for some distance. I said to my friend that he was probably making sure he could get a good look at her and memorise the number plate!

There is an on-line magazine called http://www.lost-in-france.com/ which reccounts this popular urban myth. One evening some men were out driving through the forest when they hit a large animal that ran out in front of their car. Getting out to investigate they found that they had hit a male boar/sanglier. The animal wasn't dead but had been knocked unconscious so they decided to lift it into the boot of the car. Some miles further on they heard loud noises coming from the boot and turned round to see that the boar has recovered consciousness and was now, very angrily, making it's way out of the boot. They were forced to abandon the car while the boar completed it's exit, pretty much writing off the car in the process.

For further information about the sanglier please visit this page hosted by wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanglier

sanglier

Oliver the Weimaraner

Have just been blog browsing and came across one by a guy in the South of France who posts a daily pic of his Weimaraner called Oliver. Well, well, well.

Here is a tribute to my gorgeous Oliver, who lives in the lap of luxury, in the Cevennes.

If you are interested in learning more about this noble breed, considering having one as a pet and are interested in rescuing or adopting a Weimaraner please visit:

http://www.oregonweimrescue.org/links.html

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weimaraner

Bonne Année 2008

Goodbye crappy Christmas of 2007 and a huge welcome to the New Year.

All my best laid Christmas plans got torpedoed by bugs of the gastro, flu and bronchiolite type. Hubby coming down with the "man flu" had me dreaming of serving him divorce papers 3 days into his life threatening illness!

When I staggered into the Pharmacy on the 27th December for yet more supplies, I thought they were having a belated Christmas Staff Party. It was heaving with people chatting happily, but all on a mission as it turned out for sick friends and relatives.

So with relief I listened to the church bells chiming in the New Year, and wished everyone everywhere a Bonne Année and Bonne Sante.

Welcome, welcome 2008