French school opens in canton

If the people you see on the streets of Zug are not speaking Swiss German, the chances are that they are speaking English, bearing in mind the number of expats from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and South Africa there are here. For those parents seeking English-language instruction for their children at school, there are plenty of opportunities. However, for French-speaking parents who would like their children to receive instruction in French, there has been little on offer.

Now, however, these needs can be met following the setting-up of the Ecole Française Zoug (EFZ), a branch of the Ecole Française Lucerne, which was set up in 2008.

As the headmistress, Laura Chmelevsky, explained, children with one parent who spoke a foreign language often had a poor command of it, or refused to speak it at all. Now the opportunity arises for such children to deepen their knowledge of spoken and written French by attending classes at the (EFZ).

Chmelevsky, who originally comes from Alsace, mentioned how the school in Lucerne had been running successfully for ten years now and interest in the school had been expressed by parents from Zug, too, some taking their children to Lucerne for this purpose each week. “When we decided to open a branch in Zug, were overrun with parents applying for places for their children, especially as there was no alternative on offer,” she said.

“For the English-speaking community, there are not only schools, but English-speaking playgroups and courses held in “Indigenous Language and Culture” (HSK) for pupils of primary school age, with languages from Finnish to Portuguese on offer, but nothing similar in French,” she added. Now the EFZ is filling this gap, the school’s own HSK courses also recognised by the canton.

At present, the school’s structure is such that it is divided into two parts, a play group and a primary group, the targeted age range being from 18 months to six years, with three teachers involved so far, two French- speaking women from Zug (the photograph shows Ismérie Glandy and her pupils) and a student from the Zug Teacher Training College with a very good knowledge of the language. The primary group is planned to cater for children from the first to the sixth classes, enabling them to improve their speaking and writing skills, as mentioned, though they also attend their usual Swiss primary school.

So far there are 18 children of pre-school age and 15 primary school-age children attending, with plans to expand should demand be there. A new class for pre-school age children is already due to open in January of next year. One additional feature for children of primary-school age is a Wednesday afternoon “Club Théâtre”, where they can learn more about French culture.

Vous trouverez plus d’informations sur www.ecole-francaise.ch.