The article explores the role of the "Syndicat du matériel et mobilier scolaire de l'enseignement" in supplying French school materials to several countries, including Mexico, Canada, and Brazil, in order to demonstrate the profitability of a new industry, the school industry, and of a new type of trade, the transnational trade in school…

This paper discusses the relevance of using physical situations to introduce the concept of angles at elementary school. We compare the effectiveness of two geometry teaching sequences. In the first one (physical sequence), the pupils learned the angle concept by experimenting on the playground (i.e. mesospace) and then modelling the situation. In…

Age-classes are a salient feature of modern schooling. Yet how did age-grouping come to prevail in entire school systems? And how was this form of grouping related to educational and pedagogic discussions at the time of its emergence? The article addresses these issues by looking at the historical context within which age classes came to a…

Purpose: In France at the high school the subject matter "Sciences Économiques et Sociales" (economic and social sciences) deals with the present economic crisis. We study the ways it is taught about: words, and explanatory patterns. Design/methodology/approach: We use a specific approach, that we call "semantic holism",…

The "Guide Michelin de France" is proposed as an authentic document for studying France and its language, increasing student motivation, and fostering an appreciation of the link between language and culture. Three ways (grammatical, communicative, and cultural) of exploiting the guide's semiotics are demonstrated. (MSE)

This paper outlines some theoretical categories (i.e. the "meso-", "topo-", "chrono-geneses," the "milieu," the didactical contract and the learning games), providing a "model" to study mathematics teacher's action. In order to show what this model brings to the didactical analysis, we present the…

The relationship between television and education in France is discussed, with reference to the arguments of several detractors and a recent report suggesting that there may be a number of ways in which the two "largest institutions in France" can benefit from each other. (MSE)

A number of French second-language teaching techniques and activities based on the program "Olympus," televised by satellite, are outlined. The program brings together extracts of items from other channels according to themes (e.g., pollution, transportation) that can be exploited in the language classroom to develop receptive and…

Techniques for using France's Minitel, a general information network accessible by computer from the United States, for business French courses are outlined. The Minitel system is first described and hardware and software needs for accessing its services are noted. A variety of options for presenting Minitel material to students is presented,…

It is argued that a traditional, historically-oriented course in 17th- and 18th-century French civilization continues to be an appropriate and effective approach for undergraduate French study, in preparation for later, more sophisticated cultural analysis. Four course components are discussed: class lectures; literary text selection; textbook…