School and learning An der Schoul
Talk about school and studying: the school year, subjects, the timetable and exams, and how languages come into it.
By the end of this lesson you can
- Name school subjects and talk about the school year and the timetable.
- Talk about exams: take them, prepare for them and pass them.
- Say where you are: at school, at the lycée, at university.
- Read simple statements about languages at school.
29 words and phrases
- de Schoulsystem
- the school system
- d'Schouljoer
- the school year; the year at school Neuter.
- de Schoulufank
- the start of the school year
- d'Schoulvakanz
- the school holidays Plural: d'Schoulvakanzen.
- d'Schoulfach
- the school subject Neuter.
- d'Mathematik
- mathematics
- d'Friemsprooch
- the foreign language
- de Stonneplang
- the timetable Plural: d'Stonnepläng.
- d'Lektioun
- the lesson Plural: d'Lektioune.
- d'Léierbuch
- the coursebook Neuter.
- d'Wierderbuch
- the dictionary Neuter.
- de Klassekomerod
- the classmate Female: d'Klassekomerodin.
- de Schouldirekter
- the headmaster
- d'Referat
- the presentation, talk Neuter.
- d'Prüfung
- the test, exam Plural: d'Prüfungen.
- den Examen
- the exam Plural: d'Exame.
- d'Mentioun
- the distinction (top grade)
- bestoen
- to pass (an exam)
- auswenneg
- by heart
- schwänzen
- to skip (a lesson), to play truant
- de Sproochenunterrecht
- language teaching
- abannen
- to include
- glécklech
- happy
- packen
- to pass, to manage
- d'Schoul
- school
- d'Flütt
- flute
- d'Parallelklass
- parallel class
- studéieren
- to study
- d'Uni
- university
Grammar
Compound nouns: the last part decides the gender
Luxembourgish builds long nouns from short ones: Schoul (school) plus system, fach, joer, ufank, vakanz. The gender comes from the last part, not from Schoul: de Schoulsystem and de Schoulufank (masculine), d'Schoulfach and d'Schouljoer (neuter), d'Schoulvakanz (feminine). The same goes for d'Léierbuch and d'Wierderbuch, which are neuter like Buch.
- Eise Schoulsystem leet vill Gewiicht op de Sproochenunterrecht. — Our school system puts a lot of weight on language teaching.
- Fir de Schoulufank musse mer deng Bicher nach abannen. — Before the start of the school year we still have to cover your books.
Exams: preparing and passing
Exame packen and Exame bestoen both mean to pass an exam. You prepare with sech virbereeden op (to prepare for): the exam comes after op.
Mat Mentioun means with distinction, the top grade.
- De Student war glécklech, wéi e säin Exame gepackt hat. — The student was happy when he had passed his exam.
- D'Studenten hunn d'Examen all bestanen. — The students all passed the exams.
- D'Schüler hu sech op de leschte Stëppel op hir Prüfung virbereet. — The pupils prepared for their test at the very last minute.
- Hatt huet den Exame mat Mentioun gepackt. — She passed the exam with distinction.
Where are you? an der Schoul, am Lycée, op der Uni
School and the lycée take an (in): an der Schoul, am Lycée. University takes op (at): op der Uni.
- Meng Kanner hunn an der Schoul geléiert Flütt spillen. — My children learnt to play the flute at school.
- Mäi beschte Frënd war am Lycée an enger Parallelklass. — My best friend was in a parallel class at the lycée.
- Hie studéiert Mathematik op der Uni. — He studies mathematics at university.
Practice
14 exercises: multiple choice, typing, matching pairs and word order.