Pupils react to French phone ban

Level 2 l Upper intermediate

1 Warmer
• What do you mostly use your phone for?
• What do you think 11–16-year-olds mostly use their phones for?

2 Key words
Match the key words with the definitions. Then, find them in the article to read them in context. The
paragraph numbers are given to help you.

overturned credit evolution detox freaked out empathy

extension bother lack reflex disconnect society

1. reduce the time that you use or do something that is addictive _______________________ (para 2)
2. angry, surprised, excited or frightened _______________________ (para 3)
3. make you feel annoyed, worried or upset _______________________ (para 3)
4. a movement that your body makes without you thinking about it _______________________ (para 5)
5. the way in which something gradually changes and develops _______________________ (para 10)
6. people in general _______________________ (para 10)
7. said officially that something such as a decision or law is wrong and changed it _______________________
(para 11)
8. stop using technology _______________________ (para 12)
9. a situation in which you do not have any, or enough, of something that you need _______________________
(para 14)
10. the ability to understand how someone feels because you can imagine what it is like to be them
_______________________ (para 15)
11. an extra part added to something _______________________ (para 17)
12. recognition for something you have done or achieved _______________________ (para 19)
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NEWS LESSONS / Pupils react to French phone ban / Upper intermediate

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Pupils react to French phone ban
Level 2 l Upper intermediate
‘It’s pretty easy to talk instead’: pupils 10 He wanted it to be clear, however, that the ban is
react to French phone ban not anti-technology. “We can’t go against digital;
that would be like trying to keep schools back
Angelique Chrisafis
from the evolution of society. It’s about education
7 September, 2018 around tech use.”
1 At the end of lessons at Claude Debussy middle 11 Macron made banning phones in schools part
school in Paris, teenagers poured out of the of his election promise not long after the New
gates. Several 13-year-olds quickly reached into York City mayor, Bill de Blasio, did the opposite.
their bags to check their mobile phones, which De Blasio overturned a ban on phones in state
had been turned off for eight hours. schools in 2015, saying parents wanted to keep
2 Children’s phones have been banned from all in touch with their children.
state middle schools in France under a new law 12 The French education minister has called the ban
that President Emmanuel Macron said would help
a detox law for the 21st century, saying teenagers
detox teenagers from their screens.
should have the right to disconnect. Children’s
3 “I thought I would be freaked out but it has phones were already banned in classrooms –
been fine,” said one 13-year-old girl, who got an except for teaching purposes – but under the new
iPhone when she was 11. “I left my phone in my law they are banned everywhere inside the gates,
bag all day and I was surprised to find it didn’t including playgrounds and canteens. The French
bother me. Normally, I’d be on Snapchat and senate expanded this to allow high schools to
Instagram. But my friends are here at school so ban phones if they choose but few, if any, are
it’s pretty easy to just talk instead.” expected to do so. Many suggest 18-year-old
4 She said she would probably use her phone more pupils with the right to vote can make their own
at home. “My parents don’t set rules on phone decision on phones.
use but I’ve made my own rule: I don’t check my 13 Frédérique Rolet, the secretary general of the
phone after 11.30pm on a school night.” SNES-FSU teaching union, said the first week of
5 Her friend, also 13, said she liked using her phone the ban had gone smoothly but the law wasn’t a
for watching shows on Netflix but the school huge change: 60% of state middle schools had
connection was not good enough for that so she already decided in recent years to ban phones
used to look at photos and listen to music at break from playgrounds.
time. “I haven’t found it hard to ignore my phone 14 “The education minister said he was aware of the
this week,” she said. “But there is still a physical problem of phone addiction,” she said. “But there
reflex sometimes to reach for it and get it out.” are other important problems, such as growing
6 The school in Paris’s 15th arrondissement – class sizes, job cuts and the lack of teaching
where 460 pupils aged 11 to 15 come from a mix staff, which also need to be talked about.”
of richer and poorer families – prepared for the 15 Schools that had previously banned phones said
law by introducing phone-free Mondays last term. they had noticed more social interaction and
7 Previously, staff had noticed that children at break empathy between children, and a readiness to
time would mostly be standing in the playground learn at the start of lessons.
looking at their phones. 16 Jean-Noël Taché, the headteacher of a middle
8 “About four or five weeks after the start of our school with 800 pupils in a small town in rural
phone-free Monday experiment, we saw children Aveyron, has just introduced the phone ban.
bringing packs of cards into school to play in “There had been so much media talk about it that
break time,” said the headteacher, Eric Lathière. pupils and families were well prepared,” he said.
“We hadn’t seen cards at school for years. “It’s as if children not using their phones at school
Children brought books in to read and pupils stood has simply become habit.”
around chatting far more than they had before.”
17 Previously, his pupils could use their phones
9 He said he liked the new law: “It’s about at break time. “But we’d noticed that little by
educating people on phone addiction – and not little, the phone use was moving from the
just children; adults, too.” playground into the hall, then into the corridors,
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NEWS LESSONS / Pupils react to French phone ban / Upper intermediate

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Pupils react to French phone ban
Level 2 l Upper intermediate
the lunch queues, outside the classroom door. “There is this idea that our generation can’t
Pupils weren’t making calls; they were sending concentrate or has lost the ability to socialize.
messages, playing on or looking at their phone – That’s not true,” she said. “When I’m with
it had become an extension of their hand.” friends, showing them a picture on my phone
or looking something up just adds to our
18 In Paris, Michèle Bayard, a modern literature and
conversation. It’s a shame that I can’t do that
language teacher, said she hadn’t noticed pupils
inside school anymore.”
complaining about the ban. “This could bring a
focus on new activities and interaction.” © Guardian News and Media 2018

19 But at the school gate, a 14-year-old girl felt First published in The Guardian, 07/09/18
adults should give more credit to teenagers.

3 Comprehension check
Are these statements true (T) or false (F) according to the article? Correct any that are false.

1. Mobile phones have been banned in all schools in France.

2. The Claude Debussy middle school in Paris prepared pupils for the ban by introducing one phone-free day
each week in the term before the ban.
3. After a few weeks, teachers noticed that the pupils were playing card games and talking to each other more
than they did before.
4. Eric Lathière, of the Claude Debussy middle school in Paris, does not agree with the new law.
5. He said that the ban is anti-technology and has no place in today’s society.
6. Teachers say that they are able to start their lessons on time now that children don’t have to disconnect from
their phones at the start of lessons.
7. Children are not allowed to use their mobile phones at all in school now.
8. A teenager in the article admits that because of their phone use, her age group have lost the ability
to socialize.

4 Job titles
a. Find job titles in the article that describe these jobs.

1. the political leader of a country that does not have a king or queen
2. a teacher who is in charge of a school
3. the most important elected official in a town or city
4. an official in charge of a government department
5. an official in charge of a large organization such as a trade union

b. Who do these job titles specifically relate to in the article?

1. ____________________________________________________
2. ____________________________________________________
3. ____________________________________________________
4. ____________________________________________________
5. ____________________________________________________
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NEWS LESSONS / Pupils react to French phone ban / Upper intermediate

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 Pupils react to French phone ban
Level 2 l Upper intermediate
5 Vocabulary-building
a. Underline all the noun phrases relating to schools in the article. For example, pupils and state
middle schools.
a. Use the noun phrases to talk about when you were at school. For example, There were thirty-two
pupils in my class when I was sixteen years old.

6 Discussion
Discuss these questions, giving reasons for your answers.

• At what age do you think children should get their own smart phone?
• Why do you think parents buy phones for their children?
• Should phones be banned from schools?
• Should phones be banned from universities and colleges?
• Who do you think should decide when and where children use their phones?
• Where else would you like to see a restriction or ban on the use of phones?

7 Mobile phone rules

Write either a set rules governing the use of mobile phones or guidelines for mobile-phone etiquette for
your school.

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NEWS LESSONS / Pupils react to French phone ban / Upper intermediate

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