I went back to elementary school immediately following my college graduation.

No, it wasn’t remedial coursework! Instead, I am putting my English major and French minor to work in Angers, France, as the primary English language teacher in two French preschools and elementary schools between January and July.

Beyond the culture shock of moving from the Southern U.S. to Europe, several quirks at my new school in France have taken me by surprise. A few sound like an American parent’s dream; others would likely make American parents raise their eyebrows. Here is a sampling:

School … outside?

Every two weeks, each class from first grade to fifth grade enjoys one morning of “outdoor school.” It’s exactly as it sounds – the students take a 20-minute walk, rain or shine, to a nearby park, where they spend the morning seated on the grass, hot chocolate in hand, while their teacher presents a lesson on science or history.

The students do activities or games related to what they’ve learned – usually including some physical activity so they can enjoy the outdoors – and then have the remaining time to play as they wish.

Teachers aren’t worried about the students getting cold or dirty. On the morning I observed “outdoor school,” multiple kids fell in the mud without the teachers batting an eye. Despite the dampness and cold temperature, every student seemed to have a great time thanks to the change of scenery and bracing weather.

As I write this, the students are heading inside from their morning recess. It’s 45 degrees and raining, but that doesn’t stop the teachers from requiring time outdoors. Even when the weather is downright icy, the kids are shuffled outside to run and play.

First-name basis

The students call their teachers, male and female, by their first names: Pauline, Camille, Sébastien. While this would be regarded as peak disrespect at a typical American school, I haven’t seen any evidence indicating that such familiarity causes the students to respect their teachers less. In fact, respect abounds, as I saw through the example of one teacher who requires his students to address him with “vous” rather than “tu,” an old-fashioned address used when speaking to a superior to indicate deference.

As one of the teachers explained to me, the first-name basis helps young students, especially preschoolers, to feel more at home in school. Once French children head to middle school, being on a first-name basis with their teachers is no longer the norm.

The eight-hour school day

The typical French school day lasts longer than its American counterpart, usually eight or nine hours rather than the seven in American schools. Even the three-year-olds are away from their parents from about 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., a stretch that seems shockingly long to many Americans.

However, in addition to morning and afternoon recess, French schools typically give between 90 minutes and two hours of lunch and recess time, allowing students more time away from their desks to engage in unstructured play, participate in clubs and extracurricular activities, and release their energy.

This longer school day is more conducive to working parents’ schedules, since it revolves around the typical 9-5 workday. Since their children are in school until the end of the day, French working parents are less likely to need to pay for daycare, babysitting, or after-school activities.

The 10-month school year

The French school year is also much longer than the American school year, beginning in early September and culminating in early July. French students get about six weeks of summer vacation, while American students enjoy 10-12.

However, the French school year operates on the same principle as the French school day: longer hours, more breaks. French schools have a two-week break roughly every six weeks, in October, December, February, and April. Come spring, they also enjoy multiple long weekends for Easter, Ascension, and Pentecost thanks to France’s ancient Catholic heritage.

School alcohol

In the teacher’s lounge, a half-empty bottle of cognac sits in the unlocked cupboard. There’s also wine in the fridge and a stack of glasses in the sink. Why? Because every Friday, once the school day has ended, the teachers enjoy a “petit verre” together to celebrate making it through the week.

More lax than American schools in some ways, but stricter in others, this French elementary school has surprised me with the amount of independence that they entrust to their students. Would American children do better in school if they enjoyed the same amount of free play, outdoor time, and familiarity with their teachers that French children do?

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