1. Today, Peter the Puppy is going to visit his Uncle Paul. 2. Peter has never met his Uncle before because he lives all the way in France! France is all the way across the Atlantic ocean in Europe. 3. Bonjour mon petit chien! Comment t’appel tu? 4. I’m sorry, I don’t speak French just yet…

5. Oh, of course! That’s alright! Hello, what’s your name? 6. My name is Peter.7. Bonjour, Pierre! Peter translates to Pierre in French, so I’m going to call you just Pierre. My name is Paul. 8. No way! I have a French name? How cool!

9. Pierre is also the French word for stone. 10. Now let’s begin our day. Beienvenu! Today, we’re going to follow Jaques-Henri while he goes to high school in Paris! 11. We will learn all about his classes and what he does during the day while he is at school. Perhaps along the way you can spot differences between Jaques-Henri’s French school day and an American school day! 12. I think I can do that. My Emily at home goes to high school at home. I’m so excited!

13. Let’s go!14. Jaques-Henri usually goes to school at 8 o’ clock in the morning. 15. That makes sense. My Emily starts her school back home in America around that time too. 16. After Jaques-Henri gets to school, he typically has two or three classes before he goes to lunch. The number of classes he has will depend on when his lunch break starts.

17.. In French schools, classes usually last for an hour, 18. so if Jaques-Henri begins his first class around eighty-thirty, 19. he’ll have three classes before he goes to lunch. 20. He may have French, Reading and a project class called Travaux Practiques Encadres.

“ 21. I see! In America, My Emily’s classes are a lot shorter, so more of them happen during the day. 22. Each school does it differently, but I think her classes only last for forty minutes or so. 23. Oooh, oui. Classes in France are different than those in America. 24. Yeah, that’s true, but it’s really interesting! What’s next?

25. It’s time for lunch, now. Ready? 26. Yay! Let’s go! Hurry!! 27. Now now, there’s not need to rush. Here in France, our lunch break is quite long. 28. In some schools, it can last a whole two hours.

29. TWO HOURS?!30. Yes, two. Many of the students even return to their homes to eat with their families for lunch. 31. That’s so cool! In America, lunch periods are really short. I remember my Emily complaining about how she only had twenty minutes to eat her lunch! Paul – Oh! That’s not very much time at all. 32Pierre – No it’s not! Let’s eat! Paul – Bon appetite!

29. Pierre – So what happens after Jaques eats lunch? 30. He has more classes, of course! After lunch, Jaques- Henri will typically have three more Perhaps he would have two English classes and a philosophy class, each lasting an hour. 32. Now here in France, they take their studies very seriously. It is very important for Jaques to pay attention during his classes. I know some American’s can be very laid back about their education during high school which is different here in France.

33. I guess that’s sort of true. I know some teachers don’t exactly mind when students don’t pay attention during class. It seems like it’s a bit less formal and less serious in America. 34. Yes, perhaps. Anyway, back to Jaques-Henri. Once he is finished with his last class for the day, it is usually early evening at this point because the school day is so much longer here in France. 35. Really? What about clubs and sports? Don’t those have to happen after school? I know that’s when they happen in America. 36. Well, since the school day goes so late and studies are taken very seriously, it is difficult for sports and clubs to happen after school.

Generally if students play sports or are involved in clubs, it happens on their own time and they are not associated with the school. Pierre – Well that’s different. Paul – Indeed it is. There are many differences between French and American schools. Now let’s go. Jaques-Henri will not be very happy if we’re not there when he returns home! Thank you for teaching me so much today!

Paul – De rien, Pierre.The end. (: