French School Vocabulary (List Of 100+ Classroom Terms)

French school vocabulary includes: une école (school), un collège (middle school), un lycée (high school), un étudiant (student) and un professeur (teaher). This page offers a complete vocab list with words broken down by the following categories: Classroom words, teachers and students and verbs.

French classroom vocabulary

The is a complete list of classroom terms and school supplies. In France, kids carry a pencil case which is referred to as “une trousse”. Kids also carry school or book bags called “un cartable”. In the olden days all kids wrote with a fountain pen, which is called “un stylo plume”.

l’aquarelle watercolors
l’encre (f) ink
le baccalauréat, le bac high school diploma (in France)
la carte du monde world map
la colle glue
la craie chalk
le drapeau flag
le papier paper
les ciseaux scissors
les devoirs homework
tableau blanc whiteboard
taille-crayon pencil sharpener
un atlas atlas
un bureau teacher’s desk
un cahier notebook
un carnet assignment book
un classeur binder
un compas compass
un cours lesson
un crayon pencil
un dictionnaire dictionary
un examen exam, examination
un globe (terrestre) globe
un livre book
un livre de classe/cours, un manuel scolaire textbook
un ordinateur computer
un ordinateur portable laptop
un pupitre desk
un rapporteur protractor
un règle ruler
un rétroprojecteur overhead projector
un sac d’écolier, un cartable school bag
un stylo pen
un stylo à bille ballpoint pen
un stylo-plume fountain pen
un surligneur, un stabilo highlighter
un tableau interactif smart board
un trombone paperclip
un vidéoprojecteur projector
une agrafeuse stapler
une calculatrice calculator
une carte map
une étagère bookcase
une expérience experiment
une gamelle lunchbox
une gomme à effacer eraser
une interrogation, interro test, quiz
une note grade (A through F, etc.)
une perforatrice, perforeuse hole-puncher
une punaise thumbtack
une trousse pencil case

Teachers and students

French has a variety of terms for teachers and this can cause some confusion. At the elementary school (école primaire) level the following terms are used: maître/maîtresse and instituteur/institutrice. At the middle school and high school (collège and lycée) level, the following term are used: enseignant, enseignante. At the high school level the term professeur is used.

un(e) assistant(e) assistant
une classe d’étudants class of students
un entraîneur coach
un maître, une maîtresse elementary school teacher
un(e) étudiant(e) d’échange exchange student
un écolier/une écolière grade school student
un onseiller d’orientation, une conseillère d’orientation guidance counselor
un lycéen/une lycéenne high school student
un professeur high school teacher
un gardien, un(e) agent(e) d’entretien janitor
un(e) bibliothécaire librarian
un(e) enseignant(e) middle school teacher
le directeur, la directrice principal
un(e) élève pupil
un(e) camarade d’école/de classe schoolmate, classmate
un(e) secrétaire secretary
une étudiant(e) student
un(e) prof (slang) teacher

Verbs for school

In French, the term used for passing an exam is “réussir à un examen”. Interestingly, the term used for taking an exam is “passer un examen”. There are two verbs used for flunking an exam: “louper un examen” and “rater un examen” and “échouer à un examen”.

aller/assister à l’école to go to school
apprendre to learn
avoir une leçon to have a class, lesson
comprendre to undersatnd
échouer à un examen to fail an exam
écrire to write
enseigner to teach
être absent(e) to be absent
être present(e) to be present
étudier to study
faire l’appel to take attendance
faire l’ecole buissonnière to play hooky
faire les devoirs to do homework
lire to read
passer un examen to take an exam
poser une question to ask a question
prendre des notes to take notes
recevoir une education, une formation to get an education
répéter to repeat
résoudre un problème to solve a problem
réussir à un examen to pass an exam
réviser to review
sécher un cours to skip class
suivre un cours to take a course, class, subject
tricher to cheat

Related lessons:

More resources:

French classroom vocabulary (quizlet)
Classroom word list (podcastfrancaisfacile.com)

Suggested audio French courses from Frenchtoday.com

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David Issokson

David Issokson is a lifelong language enthusiast. His head is swimming with words and sounds as he speaks over six languages. Of all the languages he speaks, he's the most passionate about French! David has helped hundreds of students to improve their French in his private online lessons. When procrastinating working on his site, FrenchLearner.com, David enjoys his time skiing and hiking in Teton Valley, Idaho.

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