# Entire 4 day OFII Civics Class experience (LONG)



## sushixmii (2 mo ago)

As of writing this, yesteday (12/7) was my first day of L'OFII Cours D'Civics in Albi. Here is my experience.

My location was at a hotel in albi, and while the entire class was on time, but our instructors and translators were 10-15 minutes late. When they did arrive, they guided us to the room that wasn't set up, so it was another 10 minute wait outside of the room. No big deal, honestly. There was an english translator and a spanish translator.

One everyone was sat, the first 45 minutes was explaining their expectations of us and what we can expect from them. Basic things like "respect the guests of the hotel" "do not eat inside, no photos, be respectful and quiet. Stay off your phone." Something I found funny was that our instructor told us that if we were too tired and kept yawning, to get up and excuse yourself from the class for a moment until you've become more awake. I thought she was kidding, but she wasn't as she called somebody out for continually yawning. Something else I appreciated is the instructor continually repeating if you feel sick at all, do not come to class. Even if you're a bit coughy and stuffy, stay home and reschedule, if you're recovering from something, stay home and reschedule. The room has little ventilation and everybody is quite close to one another, if you have fragile health, wear a mask to be safe.

During the beginning introduction, we went over how long the day would be. We begin between 9-9:30am, first break from 10:50-11AM, second break 11:50-1pm for lunch, 3rd break 2:50-3, and finish by 4pm. I was out at 3:50.

The things we went over on day one were the following:
Insurance Maladie and the medical system of france. What is and isnt an emergency.
Les Symbols Francais
The rights parents have over their children
Converting your liscence to a french liscence
A handful of misc. knowledge and good information to know.

Each section came with a group "quiz" where you get 1 tablet per 3-4 people and complete this "quiz" as a group of 3/4. Its not graded, it doesn't matter, it doesn't even tell you if you passed or failed. It's just a consensus for OFII to see. If you get an answer wrong you just tap the other options until its right. The hardest part of the "quizzes" were the final question, where you had to write 1 thing you learned from the section, in french. This also isn't graded or reviewed.


I was expecting the day to be a lot slower than what it was, but honestly time passed by quite quickly. The intructor asked a lot of questions and kept it very engaging, there were a lot of times where (at least at my table) we were all laughing and having a nice time working together. The only time it felt slow was the very end where the class was almost over and you knew you'd be leaving soon. I did learn a few things that I didn't know about that will be useful in the future. (Transferring my ongoing american degree to France)

What to bring:
required: Your passport and your summoning letter. You are required to present both of these at the start of every class. You won't be able to enter without either of those.
Optional, but suggested: Snacks, and a drink with a cap. They did have water in the room, but it is nice to have a snack on your break as you will be there from 8:30-4 (possibly 5).
Heavily suggested: A notebook and a BLACK pen. You have to take attendance twice and you must use a black pen, which my class didn't provide and only one person happened to bring a black pen. The notebook is useful because you will most likely learn something you could use in the future and want to remember it, they offer a lot of links and phone numbers of people and places to contact.
Optional: bring something to do for the breaks, you have a 70 minute lunch break, bring a book or download some apps on your phone.



12 / 12 / 22
Today was Journee deux cours d'civics par L'OFII

Today began quite similarly to the first day, we all shuffled into our seats and identified ourselves. This time it was with a different group and instructor, there also wasn't an english translator (I don't absolutely require it, so that's okay.) but there was a spanish and portuguise translator, one of them also kindly offered to translate for me too if needed.

It was another 5 sections of learning. We went over basic french history, childcare, housing, healthcare and employment. All of these sections take anywhere between 45-100 minutes. They are very information packed, and the instructor was very much trying to get engagement from the class by asking questions as we went and encouraging us to speak up, even if we were wrong or didn't know the answer or how to say the answer. Same as the first day, we had one break in the morning(10:50), one lunch break,(12:10-13:10) and due to early release that was all. This instructor also let us eat our snacks in the room, which I appreciated as it helps keep you awake during the long session.

At the end of the day, we were given a piece of paper named "feuille de route" and the instructor told us that we had to complete 3 tasks of the following things: Administrative, social and cultural. We had to complete one task per subject. They give you a list while you're there, but ultimately you can choose what to do as long as it falls under that type of thing. I chose to come up with my plan of how to transfer my american psychology degree to france for administrative, open a library account for social, and visit a historic monument or museum for cultural. We have to bring back the filled out paper of our experiences and be prepared to discuss the things we did over the week. I've been in France for almost two years now, I will most likely just write and discuss my past experiences doing these things.

Just like day 1, we were supposed to be using tablets to take "quizzes" and work together in groups of 3-4, but today they were unavaliable for some reason. If this happens to you - consider yourself lucky. We finished our class almost an hour and half earlier without having to use them, the course was finished instructing at 2:40 and I was out the door by 3. Today felt much quicker than day 1 (..to be fair, it was.) but what I mean is that time passed much faster. I wasn't constantly looking at the time and only seeing a few minutes had passed when it felt like an hour. When class ended, it felt like I was only there for an hour or two.

Journée 3

I'm currently writing this on my lunch break of day 3. (Dec. 19)

Today was the same group as last time, but with the same instructor as the first day. I'm not sure if it's dependent on the day or if instructors do things differently, but on day two we all sat down and immediately began the class. Today the instructor told us to bring her our passports and a paper with some information (email, address, name, etc.) and it took over an hour for the class to finally start.

The first half was history of France. Prior kings, their impact on France, and where/how they became king. We were told we will have a knowledge test at the end of day, so it is very important to take notes and pay attention. I don't know if this will be a real test or if it's another group tablet activity where it's not actually graded and you're kind of just checking the boxes that OFII requires. That was it, just history. At the end of the first half, we were given a paper that allows us and one person of our choosing to get into a french monument, museum, almost anything cultural for free. I'm not entirely sure what all counts but there's a scanner code on the back with a list. Considering I'm about to be in Paris for the holidays, this is definitely going to give me something to do!

After lunch, we got right back into the swing of things, starting with general rights of people. We discussed the rights of consensual sex, the right to say no at any moment and the instructor continually made it very clear that it either party seems even the slightest bit uncomfortable, you stop immediately - regardless of what's happening, kissing, hugging, any physical touch. We discussed that women and teenagers have the right to take contraception without needing permission from husband or parent (if underage).

After that, it was more on the rights you have as a medical patient and then the rights as a parent (and child), the rights of employees and employers. During all of this, we used the tablets in groups once again. Easy questions and quick to do. It's just busy work.

Then came the test. We were once again put into our groups, and the way the test worked was that there was a question on the screen and all 4 people had to answer it on their own. It was multiple choice. It was kind of annoying and inconvenient because the question would appear, we'd read it, all agree on the answer and then would have to pass the tablet around to one another so we all pick the same answer to confirm. It was 5 sections, 5-10 questions per section, one typed response per section. It wasn't hard or graded, it was just time consuming and annoying to do. That was that, i was told that I'm free to go and now i am just waiting to be picked up.

Onto day 4!

Today (Jan. 5) was my fourth and final day of Cours d'Civic par OFII. Same group, same instructor as the last class. The first half was mainly just filler / killing time. We briefly recapped the culture of France, and then the instructor talked very briefly about the medical exam we will be eventually summoned for. We took our lunch break and all regrouped in the hotel lobby. For the afternoon, we ventured around the historic parts of Albi. We visited the cathedral, reviewed and discussed some historic buildings that held meaning or had interesting facts about them, and then walked around a few other sites in the town. We walked around for about 3 hours and even finished early. I really like the way our instructor handed out our contracts, she walked us up to a high viewing point of one of the viewing sights and we all gathered in a circle and she handed them out one by one as we were looking at the town. It probably wasn't a big deal to her or anyone else, but I thought it was sweet and definitely a moment I will remember. After that, she literally said "D'accord. Vous pouvez tous partir maintenant, c'est tout. Merci et au revoir!"" and then we all went our separate ways.I finished at 3pm. 

Overall, I am very relieved that these classes are over. They weren't terrible, but they also weren't something I really looked forward to, I also believe having to wake up 2 hours before the class and drive over an hour away is part of the reason for that. Considering I've lived in France for nearing 2 years now, I didn't really learn a lot. Most of the information given, I had learned on my own over time of just living here and talking to the locals, or just googling. I feel like 4 days is really stretching it out, and I wonder why they changed it from 2 days to 4 in 2020.


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