It’s School Snapshot time again!
The School Snapshot Project highlights schools around the world. Interested in sharing your school?
In today’s School Snapshot, Elena Andrei talks about her Romanian high school in Bucharest.
photo by schoolofeverything
I am Elena Andrei and I am from Romania. I have been teaching English as a Foreign Language in Romania for 4 years. I taught at Dimitrie Bolintineanu High School for 3 years. I have taught both middle and high school students.
In Romania, my school’s name is Liceul Dimitrie Bolintineanu which stands for Dimitrie Bolintineanu High School. It is located in the capital of Romania, Bucharest, at 15-minute tram drive from downtown Bucharest. Even though it is called a high school, Dimitrie Bolintineanu High School has elementary, middle and high school.
Except for elementary, which has its own teachers, the same teachers serve all the levels. For example, a math teacher teaches in the same academic year both middle school and high school students.
All Students Learn English
There were 8 English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers at my school, including me, when I taught there. We served grades 1st thru 12th. In Romania, foreign languages are compulsory for all middle school and high school students.
For elementary school students, foreign languages are optional. Therefore, every student 5 thru 12 grade has 2 classes of EFL every week. There are students who are Honors in EFL and they have 5 or 6 classes of EFL every week. In the 3 years that I taught at Dimitrie Bolintineanu High School, I taught both Honors and Standard EFL students.
School Calendar and Holidays
Traditionally, school starts on September 15th, but there may be variations between September 1st and September 15th from year to year. The school also traditionally ends every year on June 15th.
There is a 2-week winter holiday which floats, so that it incorporates Christmas and New Year’s. The academic year is divided in 2 semesters, and the holiday between the 2 semesters is a 1-week and it is in February.
There is also a 1-week spring break, which is generally floating, so students can celebrate Easter during the holiday. Other holidays include National Day on December 1st and Labor Day on May 1st.
Daily School Schedule
In Romania, elementary school is 1st-4th grade, middle school is 5th-8th grade, and high school is 9th-12th. At school students have 6 classes of 50 minutes with a break of 10 minutes after each class. Elementary school students actually have only 4 or 5 classes a day and they can have a longer break, 20 minutes.
Students do not have lunch at school. However, they can bring a snack or buy one from the school’s store located on campus.
In general, the students in Romania go to school either in the morning or in the afternoon, the schedule being from 7:30am – 1:30pm or 1:30pm – 7:30pm. Traditionally, elementary school, 5th grade, 6th grade, 11th grade and 12th grade go in the morning, and 7th grade, 8th grade, 9th grade, and 10th grade usually go in the afternoon. But this also depends on the school.
Getting to School
Schools in Romania do not offer transportation, unless there is one school for a number of remote villages. Therefore, students and their parents are responsible for their transportation.
Students generally walk to school or use public transportation. As I mentioned above, my school is a 15-minute tram ride from downtown Bucharest. Besides the tram, there are also buses that connect almost every neighborhood with every other neighborhood.
School Uniform
My school has special rules regarding the school uniform. Students must wear the school t-shirt with the school insignia during the summer and a hoody sweatshirt during the winter. The colors of the uniform are navy and light blue. The bottoms are at their choice, but jeans are highly recommended.
Originally from Romania, Elena Andrei is currently living in Charlotte, North Carolina as a cultural exchange teacher with the Visiting International Faculty Program (VIF).
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Hi, Elena. My name is John Korst. I have a certain affection for Romania. My organization has been sending English books there for over 5 year. I’d love to hear from you.
estielmo(at)yahoo(dot) com
Hi, John!
I am happy to hear from you. What types of books do you send? I guess you are familiar with the educational system from Romania, aren’t you?
@John Do you send books only to Romania or do you send them all over the world? I know of a couple schools that would love books for their libraries…
@Ela Thanks again for writing the School Snapshot! I hope all is well with you.
Hi there! My name is Emilia, I’m in the 10th grade, and of course I learn in Dimitrie Bolintineanu High School, or LDB how we call it
. Well, I only wanted to say that I’m happy and proud of learning here. It’s also nice to hear that a teacher who left this high school behing, is still suporting ‘us’, and I’m surprised that she didn’t forget ‘us’. So thanks Mrs. Elena Andrei.
I remember that I had an english teacher 5 years ago (5th grade A), but she left Romania, and went in an English speaking country, i don’t remember where, and I don’t remember if that teacher were you? So can you help me?
Now my ‘diriginta’ (sorry but I don’t know how to translate is) is Mrs. Koleci Cristina, the best english teacher ever.
Ok then. That’s all. Bye
You summed up the Romanian Education System wonderfully – it is a place which you will fall in love with if you give it time.
At the moment, I am trying to build up a photo library of great pictures of Romania, and I would be thrilled if you would consider adding one of your stunning pictures of Romania onto my site (http://www.Pictures-of-Romania.com ), along with a comment about why you liked that particular place so much.
I love it when people show the country I love in such a positive way!
Emilia, thank you so much for taking the time to respond to Elena’s blog post. I am Anamaria, one of the founders of the blog, and I am originally from Romania. I hope you continue to find our blog interesting. If you wish to write something about your school, or education in Romania in general, or anything having to do with education, please feel free to send it to us, and we will publish it. I hope you had a great summer.
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