First year lycée student is called what?

[Pamela Kingfisher]

éleve de seconde?

[Neil Coffey]

Yes -- as you probably know, for a general lycée the classes generally go "seconde", "première", "terminale".

To talk about the actual pupils, then yes, you can say les élèves de seconde etc. Informally, you can also just say les secondes.

[Frank]

Hi Pam,

Yes, it's called the seconde.

Babies can go to the "crèche". Years are called "petits bébés" (from 0 to 1), "moyens bébés" (1 to 2) and "grands bébés" (2).

Kids then go to the "école maternelle", and years are called "petite section" (Anaïs just entered it), then "moyenne section" and "grande section".

At the "école primaire", pupils go to the CP (where they learn how to read and write), then CE1, CE2, CM1 (Elise is in CM1 this year), then CM2.

Then, they enter the "collège", and years are called: 6e, 5e, 4e and 3e.

Then, if they enter the "lycée", they can go through the "seconde", "première" and "terminale". Then they can to to "universités" or to high schools. However, going through the 3e, 2nde, 1ère and terminale is not the only possible route. Depending on what you're planning to study, a lot of other other routes are possible.

[adel]

if i remember well, as soon as you start le lycee you become un lyceen/ une lyceenne. before lycee cp= cours preparatoire ce= cours elementaire cm= cours moyen in cm2 the final exam is 6em sisieme? once you pass you start le lycee and the first year as a lyceen/lyceenne is 6em. That if the system has not changed I am talking about 1968. If l'ecolier fails the 6em he my do it again but if he she fails again they go to cours fin d'etude and the exam is cep= certificat d 'etude primaire,with the cep you can't go to the lycee but to the college ie college d'enseignement technique college commercial.

[Pamela Kingfisher]

Thank you everyone! So what are college students called?

[Frank]

They are called "collègiens".

If you want to and if you give me some time to prepare it, I can try extensively describe how our educational system is working.

And it has changed quite a bit in the last years.

[Pamela Kingfisher]

Merci Frank! I'm at school now and the computer system won't let me chat here since Ning doesn't have a https whatchamacallit. POO!
Pam

[Frank]

[Neil Coffey]

As I recall there's also some stuff on English Wikipedia about the French educational system.

[Frank]

(HS: Neil, quand tu en auras le temps, pourras-tu jeter à un coup d'oeil à tes messages privés ?)

[adel]

hi Neil, thanks for mentioning English Wikipedia about the French educational system. It really boosted my confidence when I saw cp ce and cm for primary school. Not so with (sisieme) which is sixieme (my apologies to Pamela and all french forum).
Regards
Adel