Two roles for one language
In Luxembourg, French is both a school subject and, increasingly, the language your child learns everything else in. Maths is taught in French from the first year of secondary school; the 7C-FR and 7G-FR classes teach every subject in French except German; and from 4C, the classical track teaches every subject in French except German and English.
French as the language of instruction
Your child speaks Luxembourgish, German, English or Portuguese at home and is now taught maths — and later most subjects — in French. The method may be understood; the instructions, the textbook and the written answers are where marks are lost.
French as a subject
Your child speaks French fluently but struggles with the subject itself: text analysis, argued writing, grammar. In the classical track, entry to section A (modern languages) requires an average of at least 38 out of 60 in languages in 4C. Fluency is not the issue; method is.
If you have just arrived in Luxembourg
Schools run reception and integration classes for newly arrived pupils, with intensive French or German depending on the class. When a child is placed in a classroom whose language they do not yet master, the instinct is to book tutoring in the subject where marks are worst — often maths. That is usually the wrong first move: if the child cannot follow the instructions, the maths tutoring is treating a symptom.
We would normally suggest starting with French for comprehension: the classroom language, the vocabulary of instructions and tests, and enough grammar to make written work possible. Subject tutoring follows once the language is no longer the bottleneck. This sequencing matters more than the number of hours booked.
French at school: the skills that carry marks
- Reading closely. Noticing what a text does, not only what it says: the effect of a tense, a repetition, a shift in register.
- Structuring an answer. An argued answer has an expected architecture — a clear idea, organised arguments, precise quotations — and it can be taught explicitly.
- Writing accurately. Agreement, tenses and punctuation, corrected on the student’s own work rather than through decontextualised exercises.
- The French of other subjects. Reading a maths problem, a history instruction or a science question in French, and answering in complete sentences.
A note on the language of the lesson
Lessons are conducted in French. For a complete beginner who needs instructions explained in English at the very start, tell us in the first conversation and we will confirm what is possible with the tutor available.
