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I arrived four years ago in Bordeaux. Before that, I used to live in Kyoto, the former capital of Japan, near the big Imperial Palace of kyoto. Around the Palace, there is a large expanse of pebbles with a lot of gardens and parks for kids and picnics, with beautiful cherry trees in spring and maple trees in autumn.In the middle, there is the Palace itself which was built during the Middle Ages of Japan.
I went to school named EFK ( école Française de Kyoto ). We were only 20 students for all the levels from CP to CM2 every year (!!)because there were not many French-speaking people in Kyoto. But, as it was located inside a former Japanese public school which was no more in use, it was a big school and we shared it with an American school ( Kyoto International School or KIS ). There was a big sand playground ( much bigger than Casignol's), with a gym and toys. In the class we were all friends. Even more, we were like brothers and sisters. In the classroom, there was a little place to read with cushions and bookcases. There were also a piano for the music lesons, some computers and two blackboards.
We had class every day from 9.00 am to 4.00 pm. When we finished lessons, we could go and play with interactive games on computers or read books. It was really cool as there was just one teacher, it was very different from now. Our teacher always gave us exercises to do and then went to see the other students. I remember that I was with two boys in CM1 but I always spoke with my sister and her friend. The teacher said nothing when we talked or when we stood up and walked in the classroom. On Mondays, Wednesdays ( we worked a full day on Wednesdays in Japan) and on Fridays, we had Japanese lessons because it's useful to speak Japanese when you are in Japan !!
For lunch, we ate in the classroom with our "bento" ( Japanese name for a box containing our packed lunch)...
So, it was very different from now. Changing from 20 to 800 students is a very big change, you know !