Chinese international section in Paris: three ways to study Chinese at a French lycée

At collège level (ages 11 to 15), the Chinese question comes up mainly in sixième, when families choose a second language or a section; I covered it in Chinese in middle school in Paris. At lycée level (ages 15 to 18), the question changes. The student has three or four years of Chinese behind them, or grew up with the language, and the task is to find the lycée that will build on it: an international section, an oriental section, or ordinary language classes. The three have different students, different procedures and different calendars, and the calendar is where families most often go wrong.

The international section: maths in Chinese

Three Paris state lycées have a Chinese international section: Jacques-Decour, Claude-Monet and Janson-de-Sailly. In every other language, the subject taught in the section language is history and geography. In the Chinese sections it is mathematics. Claude-Monet, for instance, lists two hours a week of maths in Chinese in seconde, première and terminale (Years 11 to 13, or 10th to 12th grade), three hours of Chinese literature, and three hours of language and "knowledge of the world" focused on contemporary China. In the last two years the section leads to the Baccalauréat Français International (BFI), the bilingual version of the French baccalaureate; within the BFI, the subject taught in Chinese becomes general science, for an hour and a half a week, according to the ministry's FAQ.

The school is frank about it: the section is for students with a good command of Chinese and solid grades, and good French is essential. It is not a place to learn the language. Most students come from Chinese-speaking families, or have lived in mainland China, Taiwan or Singapore.

Admission follows the procedure shared by all international sections in Paris: an online file on the education authority's platform between mid-January and early March, a written test in late March, an oral in spring for shortlisted candidates, results at the end of June. The file is assessed by the lycée ranked first, which runs the oral and ranks the candidates, so the order of choices matters a great deal. I go through that process, which is the same for every language, in international sections in Paris.

Outside Paris, the Lycée International in Saint-Germain-en-Laye has its own Chinese section, with a slightly different timetable: a paper file sent by post, a letter in Chinese written by the student, and written and oral tests in mid-March. The official BFI lists also include Lycée Lucie-Aubrac in Courbevoie and the Lycée International de l'Est Parisien in Noisy-le-Grand.

Oriental sections: two different calendars

The oriental language section is the route for a student who chose Chinese at collège, as a first or second foreign language, and wants to carry it through to the baccalaureate. Part of another subject is taught in Chinese, and the words "section de langue orientale" followed by the language can appear on the diploma. The education authority counts thirteen oriental sections across its state lycées, all languages included.

For Chinese there are four lycées, and two ways in.

At Janson-de-Sailly and Jean-de-La-Fontaine, applications go through the same platform as the international sections, on the same dates. On top of the usual documents, the file includes a motivation letter, a language-background form and a reference from the Chinese teacher. Families who know Jean-de-La-Fontaine describe its Chinese and Japanese oriental sections as close-knit and hard-working.

At Louis-le-Grand and Gabriel-Fauré, the education authority says applications are made directly when enrolling at the school. Gabriel-Fauré opens its section to any lycée student taking Chinese as a first or second language, with no specific selection. Louis-le-Grand, on the other hand, selects on file and oral, on a summer timetable. Its section dates from 2007, has around thirty students per year group, and adds one hour a week of maths in Chinese on top of regular maths classes. The school's form asks for reports from the last two years of collège, a reference letter from the student's Chinese teacher and a handwritten motivation letter written by the student in Chinese. Shortlisted candidates sit a thirty-minute oral.

That late timetable can mislead. Since the application is made on enrolment, I read it as open only to students already allocated a place at the lycée: the oriental section would not be a way into Louis-le-Grand, which recruits through its own procedure in spring. The form itself targets students who have studied Chinese as a first or second language since collège. If you were counting on this route, ask the school before spring.

Chinese as an ordinary language subject

For everyone else, Chinese is taken like any other language: as a second language, continuing from collège, or as an optional third language. The Paris education authority publishes no list of lycées that teach it, any more than it does for collèges. Each lycée's page on the Onisep website (the official careers and schools guide) lists the languages offered, but the only reliable check is to ask the school itself, before the lycée allocation choices are made.

In the private sector, the École Jeannine Manuel teaches Mandarin to all its pupils from CE2 (Year 4, 3rd grade), and the École Alsacienne offers Chinese as a second language and an oriental section at lycée level. For students who started Chinese in those schools, continuity is not an issue.

I have a reservation about the third language. Started in seconde, it comes on top of the specialist subjects, and it is often the first thing dropped when the final year gets heavy. Two years of Chinese, abandoned before the baccalaureate, carry little weight in an application; I explain why in why have your child learn Chinese.

Where does the HSK fit in?

None of the education authority's procedures mentions the HSK, the official Chinese proficiency test. The written criteria are school reports, the section's own tests and motivation. I have found no official mapping between an HSK level and what a section expects, and I distrust the tables that offer one.

The HSK is still useful in two cases. For a student arriving from a school abroad, with no Chinese grades a French lycée can read, it is the only outside measure they can add to the file. And later, for university applications in France or abroad, it places the student on a recognised scale, independent of classroom marks. The test has six levels in its most widely sat version; a new nine-level scale, published by the Chinese authorities in 2021, is being phased in, so ask the test centre which version it runs before buying a textbook.

If your child is not a native speaker

This is the question I am asked most. Can a child from a family that does not speak Chinese aim for the international section? It depends on the student, but be clear-eyed about the gap. The section mainly recruits children who speak Chinese at home, and the tests are designed for them. On expat forums in China, parents who don't speak the language say it plainly: a few hours of Chinese a week will not bring a child up to the level of one who lives in the language.

For that student, the oriental section is the right goal, and it is prepared at collège: Chinese as a second language, kept up without a break, good reports, and a teacher who can write a reference. Daily practice does the rest. If school is not enough, or if the child is starting before secondary school, our Xiaomo app, free in our resources, offers one short session a day.

Choosing between an international section, an oriental section and ordinary language classes means choosing a lycée, and often a calendar. At Carmine, we help families make that choice, build the file and prepare the written test and the oral, including the letter in Chinese; the school entry page describes how.