Bilingual Classes : 2008-2009 School Year

The purpose of bilingual classes is to make students who have done their primary schooling in this section, (if they join this section early enough), equally proficient in French and English in terms of the capacity to express themselves in both the languages and of learning. 

In The French school of Pondicherry, the bilingual method is applied  in two classes at  the primary level: one class of CM1=4th standard and one class of CM2= 5th standard.

In this section French and English are used in equal measure:

• 13 hours of teaching in French
• 13 hours of teaching in English
• +  2 hours of  language classes 

• Two teachers: one for the subjects in French and one for the subjects in English. They follow the language schedule of half day of teaching in English and the other half in French as closely as possible.
• The syllabus followed is established by the French Ministry of National Education and is the same in French schools all over the world.
• A student who has difficulties in the bilingual system can switch over to the monolingual system.
• The teaching materials used by the teacher (books, documents, posters etc.) correspond to the language in which the subjects are taught.

The parameters of Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment (CEFR) are applied to carry out language level determination tests.

• For all the other subjects which do not fall in the language category, students can choose to be tested in the language they feel most comfortable in . The school report is made accordingly.
• Students coming from other schools have to do a language test.
• Bilingual education helps develop:

- an ear which captures different language sound frequencies more easily,
- a lexicon which is doubly rich since it draws on the wealth of two languages,
- the acquisition of  language learning strategies which helps to differentiate and assimilate separate language codes,
- higher memorising capacity,
- a finer perception of the relativity of customs ,
- another way of communicating,
- a better understanding of the world around us leading to a greater degree of adaptation.