Study Skills Guide
This guide is intended to help 6ème students and their parents with the transition from primary school to middle school (collège). It was originally written by S. Burchill and C.-A. Fauré. I have modified it slightly for this web version.
Contents of this Guide:
- Introduction (Essential Information for Parents)
- Planning Your Homework Timetable
- Personal Work Procedure List
- How to Keep a Cahier de Textes
- Presentation of your Work
- Examination Revision
- Using a dictionary, textbook and encyclopedia
- Final note to parents
ICT
Certificate 1 Test
Click here for the 2006
Version
(A) Introduction
This information is intended for both students and parents. It is essentially a guide to good organization and work habits. It should be useful to parents who need advice on how to help their children to work at home.
The transition from 7ème to 6ème can be difficult at first; students
move from a relatively "homely" environment, in which they spend
the majority of their day with one teacher, into the less closeted world
of the sixième. Here they can find themselves changing both teacher and
room every hour or so. Each student has to learn how to maintain his or
her Cahier de Textes and Carnet de Correspondence, as well as organize
homework assignments.
It is a mistake for parents to believe that their child can cope with
this organization on his or her own.
Parents should make time to check what their child has to do for homework, whether the work has been completed and if the school bag has all that is necessary for the next day.
Parents can follow their child's progress through the Carnet de Correspondence. This is a daily two-way communication document between the school and the home. It should be in your child's possession at all times, with the exception of a few days at the end of each marking period. The Carnet de Correspondence should contain the grades obtained by the student in all subjects and any comments written by the teachers. At the end of each marking period, the Carnet is signed by all of the student's teachers, the principal teacher and the person responsible for the year group. Parents are asked to sign the Carnet at this time, but only after it has been signed by the people mentioned above.
The Carnet can be used to contact an individual teacher to request a meeting. This is best achieved, however, by writing a note to the teacher and posting it directly to the school. The note should include a telephone number with the request that the teacher telephones the parent to make an appointment. This is usually a faster method of communication than messages being sent back and forth in the Carnet.
Note to parents
If you wish to contact the school, please do not hesitate to telephone. If the person you wish to speak to is not available, please leave your telephone number with the receptionist and the person in question will get back to you as soon as possible. If you wish, you can telephone to make an appointment to see the headmistress and/or the person responsible for the year. Also, some teachers have e-mail addresses which they give to students. Ask your child if any of his or her teachers have done so. Otherwise, any e-mail sent to the school's reception desk can be rerouted to the teacher concerned.
© A.W. Damon 2011
Last modification: 2011-03-01