At Gymnázium Matyáše Lercha in Brno I completed the six-year bilingual programme with a general curriculum with a science focus and intensive French-language instruction. The programme combines Czech grammar-school education with French teaching methods and teaches part of the academic curriculum directly in French.
French bilingual section
The school describes the six-year programme as having a general curriculum with a science focus. During the first two years students receive intensive French instruction — currently ten hours per week — so that from the third year selected academic subjects can be taught in French. These include mathematics, physics, chemistry, history and geography. English is taught as the second foreign language.
Science orientation
This was not simply a language programme. French was used as the working language for mathematics and science subjects, combining Czech and French educational approaches. The certificate available to graduates of the bilingual section explicitly describes the education as focused on mathematics and science subjects.
My final examinations
- French language and literature;
- mathematics in French;
- physics in French;
- geography in French;
- English;
- mathematics in the Czech examination system;
- Czech language and literature.
The subjects listed above are those I took in my school-leaving examinations in 2009. I obtained the Czech school-leaving qualification and a French examination certificate recognising equivalence to French secondary-school completion.
French-language level
Under the Czech-French education agreement, graduates of the bilingual section may receive a certificate stating that the qualification corresponds to the final year of an international section in the French system, has a mathematics and science focus and demonstrates French-language proficiency of at least CEFR C1.