This document provides information for French teaching assistants working in collèges and lycées. It outlines the French secondary education system, including the different levels (collège and lycée), ages, and exams. It provides guidance for assistants on their role as staff members, how they can share their culture, working with other teachers, types of activities they may lead (conversation groups, team teaching), and administrative requirements like record keeping.

1. Académie d’Aix-Marseille
Formation Assistants

2. French schools :Collège
• Four forms: 6ème , 5ème , 4ème , 3ème
• Age group: 11 to 14, 15
• Final exam: Brevet des Collèges –
English is included in the exam European
Framework A2

3. French schools : Lycée
• Three forms: 2nde, 1ère, Terminale
• Age group: 15 to 18
• Final exam: “Bac” –short for
“Baccalauréat”
• The exam is both oral and written
• Some Lycées have post-Bac studies :
BTS (= Brevet de Technicien Supérieur)
with specific exams after 2 years

4. In your school,
you are a member of the staff
• Be aware that you should present
yourself as such to the students.(Think of
the dress code!)
• Assert yourself
• Prepare your teaching sequences in
advance
• Choose your subjects in agreement with
the curriculum, especially in Cycle
Terminal.

5. In your school, you are an asset
• You bring genuine insight to your
country’s daily life and culture
• You can help the students to contact
companies in your area of origin with a
view to obtaining training periods or
internship possibilities
• You can get involved in partnerships for
the school or the Académie

6. With the teachers of English :
• First attend some of their classes
• Keep them informed of your work with
your groups
• Ask to borrow a copy of the textbooks
used in the school

7. You will be asked to
• Take small conversation groups (split classes)
Planning class or online activities, follow-up workshops, role-
plays, pair work and games to enable students to practise
their English and acquire conversational spontaneity and
fluency.
• Team teach with the class teacher with the whole class
present, you will be the main resource for native speaker
reading, pronunciation and speaking. You may help to
exploit texts for conversation classes.
• Provide coaching for students (solo teaching)
20 minutes mock oral exam, for example to help students to
develop their speaking skills.

8. You may be asked to
• Help students to develop written language skills
• Give remedial assistance to individual problems of
students
• Hold an English club
• Collaborate to a school exchange project
• Transcribe to tape materials aimed at enriching the audio
or video collections of the school library or the Foreign
Languages department

9. About your teaching :
• Use as often as you can genuine
documents, especially videos
• Keep in mind you are to talk and make
your student talk
• Choose your topics so as not to upset
your students about political or religious
issues (check with the teacher
beforehand)

10. About red tape :
• Keep a written trace of your work
• Make sure you are covered by an
insurance for all the school activities
(see with the head) as well as for
‘responsabilité civile ’ for your residence
• Those who do NOT have a European
passport and have a ‘carte de séjour’, in
case you leave French territory, make
sure to get a ‘visa de retour’

11. A few more things…
We expect you to bring us recordings on a
one-a-month basis.
They should be between 1’30 and 3’ long.
We’d also like you to share and exchange
your ideas and activities though the
websites and services we’ll provide to
that effect.

12. More information on the web
Le site académique d’anglais :
http://bit.ly/anglais-aixmrs