Lycée Français de Sofia

Lycée Français de Sofia Alphonse de Lamartine (LFAL, in Bulgarian: 9-та френска езикова гимназия „Алфонс дьо Ламартин", ФЕГ) is a French language school in Sofia, established in 1961 under the name of 9th French Language School Georgi Kirkov. Since the early 1990s it has been named after the French nobleman, poet, diplomat and politician Alphonse de Lamartine (1790–1869) who visited the Bulgarian lands in 1832.

Lycée Français Alphonse de Lamartine
Street view of the school
Location
Patriarch Evtimiy Boulevard 35

Sofia

Bulgaria
Coordinates
Information
TypePublic
Established1961
PrincipalEmilia Bogdanova
Grades8–12
GenderCoeducational
Enrollment980 students
Average class size28 students
LanguageFrench and Bulgarian
AccreditationAEFE
NewspaperAmi
Websitefeg.bg

History

Early years

In 1881 missionaries founded an American girls' school in Lovech, which gained popularity and prestige in the coming decades. In 1927, it became an American College and began to issue high school diplomas. The college was forcibly closed in 1948 as a conductor of "capitalist ideology" but in 1950 a secondary language school – the first "new" language school in Bulgaria, known for the story of the movie Vchera, was created in its place. Four classes studied French, one studied English and one studied German. In 1956, the English class moved to Sofia and started the First English Language School. In 1958, the French Department moved to Varna and founded the Lycée Joliot-Curie in Varna. In 1960, the German High School in Sofia emerged from the German department, and in the following year the French High School was separated from it.

One of the first preparatory classes of the school in 1961

Establishment

When it was founded in 1961, the French High School, along with the German High School, was housed in the Nadezhda district.[1] For the school year of 1963, it was moved to its present building on Patriarch Evtimiy Boulevard in the downtown of Sofia, in the building of the 9th ordinary high school. The last grade of the ordinary high school graduated in 1965 and the high school became purely linguistic. Classes with Spanish language were also opened in 1977, but in 1991 they were exported to the newly established 164 Spanish Language School "Miguel de Cervantes".

François Mitterrand walking around the school during his visit to Bulgaria in 1989

In 1976, the French High School was awarded the Cyril and Methodius degree and in 1977 it was accepted as an associate school to UNESCO. During his historic visit to Bulgaria in 1989, French President François Mitterrand visited the French High School,[2] where he stayed longer than planned, violating the protocol.

Education

The French High School has established traditions and high authority in French language training. Intensive language learning is done on a program that includes 20 hours of French weekly in preparatory and 8th grade and from 6 to 8 hours in classes after 8th.[3] The subjects of history, geography, biology, physics, chemistry, and philosophy are taught in French. The school's graduates can enroll in a French university without a language exam. In 2015, the lycée was awarded the LabelFrancÉducation, a seal of quality for bilingual education in French and another language.

During the five years of study, French literature and culture are extensively and chronologically studied in all their genres. Eleventh and twelfth grade students have the opportunity to submit and defend a dossier in a subject of their choice, for which they can receive a bilingual education diploma, known as Attestation bilingue.

Language certificates

The school is the largest DELF examination center in Bulgaria, given the large number of students and candidates. The certification was introduced in 2007 by a Convention signed between the Bulgarian Ministry of Education and Science and the French Institute of Sofia and is renewed every three years.

All high school teachers are CIEP accredited examiners, which is a guarantee for the high level of teaching of the language.

The total number of students enrolled in the DELF A2, B1 and B2 examinations at the Lamartine High School Examination Center from 2007 to 2017 is almost 4800 candidates.

Traditions

The motto of the school is "Ça ira puisque nous sommes ensemble!" (French: "it'll be fine because we’re together"). Continuity is very important – more than half of the high school teachers are former graduates. In the years after the founding of the high school, French language becomes less popular than other Western languages – its strong period is the beginning of the twentieth century. However, getting accepted into the school remains difficult. The incentive to apply is largely due to the school’s high prestige and traditions.

Art

The French High School has established traditions in theater.[4] Each year it produces and exports a theatrical play on different pieces by classical French authors.[5] The school has a choir[6]

Photography lessons have recently been practiced, there are plenty of exhibitions on the walls of the school's halls.

Sports achievements

The school's volleyball and basketball teams participate in the prestigious Claris Cup, in which compete the elite high schools of Sofia, and the football team is a participant in the Bulgarian School Football League. The school also offers sporting activities such as skiing, tennis, swimming, table tennis, chess.

International relations

The French High School performs educational and cultural exchanges with French-language schools from Europe, including Lycée Jacques Decour and Lycée Gerson in Paris, Collège Claparède in Geneva, Lycée Jean Pierre Vernant in Sèvres and more. The school's projects are supported by the French Institute of Sofia.

Teachers

The French High School employs experienced and highly qualified teachers. Its team consists of more than 70 teachers in total.[7] Many of them are authors of text- and handbooks, lecture on various subjects, and teach at Sofia University, New Bulgarian University and other universities. Part of the school's French language teachers are French.

Curriculum
List of classes and their respective facilitating subjects.
Class Foreign languages Facilitating subjects Instruction term Ref.
А French and English Bulgarian language and History 5 years [8]
Б Maths and IT [9]
В Chemistry and Biology [10]
Г French and Spanish Bulgarian language and History [11]
Д Maths and IT [12]
Е Maths and Geography [13]
Ж French and German Bulgarian language and History [14]

It infrastructure

The school faces the challenge of combining traditional with new – experimenting, being innovative and responding to the needs of the new generation of students. The several-year efforts of the high school's team in this direction have helped build an internal IT infrastructure, with the introduction of new generations of computer systems and tablets being just a part of it. Modernization of the internet network, centralized data webpages, e-learning, application of multimedia tools serving study rooms are also included.

The lycée's students have the opportunity to study through Microsoft’s MCP Program for which they receive a certificate which validates their technical expertise.

Notable former pupils
  • Dimiter Tzantchev – Bulgarian diplomat, Ambassador, Permanent representative of the Republic of Bulgaria to the European Union, Permanent Representative at the UN in Geneva, former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs
  • Ivailo Kalfin – Former MEP, former Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs (2005–2009), Minister of Labor and Social Policy (2014–2016)
  • Iliana Iotova – Former MEP, Vice-President of Bulgaria (2017–)
  • Carla Rahal – actress
  • Marin Raykov – diplomat, Ambassador in Paris and Rome, Office of the Prime Minister (2013), Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs
  • Nadezhda Neynsky – Minister for Foreign Affairs (1997–2001), MEP (2009–2014), Ambassador in Turkey
  • Radan Kanev – politician, chairman of DSB
  • Ruzha Lazarova – writer
  • Silvia Lulcheva – actress
  • Slavcho Binev – politician, MP in the XLIII National Assembly, former MEP (2007–2014), athlete and businessman
  • Stefan Tafrov – Diplomat, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador in Italy, Great Britain and France, Permanent Representative of Bulgaria to the UN, Cavalier of the Order of the Legion of Honor

References
  1. "Sofia's French school set to have a new school corpus and sports hall". Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  2. "François Mitterrand's visit to Sofia's French school". Retrieved 26 June 2009.
  3. "Curriculum of classes with English profile" (PDF). Retrieved 1 February 2016.
  4. "The French school's Spanish troupe received a well-deserved recognition". Retrieved 23 March 2018.
  5. "The French school's troupe conquered the Golden Mask in Stara Zagora". Retrieved 29 April 2018.
  6. "The French school's choir and its stars".
  7. "School team". Retrieved 1 January 2015.
  8. "Curriculum of 8а class" (PDF). Retrieved 1 February 2016.
  9. "Curriculum of 8б class" (PDF). Retrieved 1 February 2016.
  10. "Curriculum of 8в class" (PDF). Retrieved 1 February 2016.
  11. "Curriculum of 8г class" (PDF). Retrieved 1 February 2016.
  12. "Curriculum of 8д class" (PDF). Retrieved 1 February 2016.
  13. "Curriculum of 8е class" (PDF). Retrieved 1 February 2016.
  14. "Curriculum of 8ж class" (PDF). Retrieved 1 February 2016.
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