This means that, at my school, students can range from ages 10 through their early to mid-twenties, depending on whether or not they repeat years. Students take the Baccalaureate exam, usually shortened to “BAC” in everyday conversation, during première and terminale. If they do not pass, they must repeat the year. This means that some of my students are the same age as me, or even older.
Once a student is in 4ème, they can choose the path that they specialize in at school. Classes are divided according to student interest. I teach classes where students specialize in a language, like Spanish, German or Arabic. I have also seen classes where students specialize in literature, or classes where students specialize in science. To give some real examples, I teach première and terminale classes where students focus mainly on “sciences humaines,” the study of human societies, cultures and behavior. I also teach a 3ème class that specializes in Spanish. I also teach three different seconde classes, all specializing in the “série scientifique,” a science-based track where students study mathematics, physics, chemistry and earth sciences at a higher level.
Given these specializations, students stay in the same room with the same classmates all day, rather than moving to different rooms with different people depending on their classes. It’s similar to how things might work in middle school in the sense that you all share the same classmates, but you might switch classrooms for different subjects. In American high school, as many of you know, things work differently. Students each have their own personal schedules and change classrooms accordingly.
