Our Academic Approach
Fostering Intellectual Curiosity
The American Section seeks to instill in students a love of learning, intellectual curiosity, and the ability to engage confidently in self-directed study. We create a learning environment built on positive reinforcement and support, with opportunities for inquiry-based learning. Our faculty encourages and supports individual initiatives.
Certified American teachers, who bring their American teacher training and cultural experience to the classroom, teach all American Section classes. The American Section accounts for some 20% of a child's class time. In the remaining 80%, students are taught by French teachers, according to the program directed by the French Ministry of Education. The result is a unique bilingual and bicultural education, combining the best of the two systems.
Classroom Enrichment
Learning is not limited to what is taught within the four walls of the classroom.
American Section students frequently explore the concepts and ideas they have been taught through experiential learning.
For example seventh graders (Cinquièmes) spend three days in Amsterdam exploring the themes of tolerance, diversity, and sustainability, and eleventh graders (Premières) travel to Caen and the D-Day beaches as part of their study of World War II.
Specialists are also brought in to the classroom to enrich the learning experience. Our Writer-in-Residence program has brought well-known authors such as Laura Numeroff, Neil Schusterman, Matt Holm, Rosemary Wells, and Kwame Alexander, as well as slam poet Taylor Mali, to our classrooms for interactive learning.