ID for French pension

Savvy_Sue · 22 September 2014 at 7:22PM

I can't see why it wouldn't be fine, as you say it is the equivalent of the Mairie.

I was talking about this with DH, and he says in the UK we may have rules and jobsworths, but we're generally able to apply common sense (which is of course rarer than that sounds). I did say that in France, they don't need the application of common sense so much, because that's the only way anyone knows, so it never occurs to anyone to try any other way.

Another funny story from my 'French' friends (although I'm not sure I'd have laughed, but they've got to that stage ...): their teenage DD was getting very bad marks in French throughout the school year, although previously she'd been 'very good', and she is extremely bright and communicative.

The end of year report said "I wish I had known earlier that N could speak French, I would have given her better marks."

It turned out that N had had to complete a form at the start of the school year and her French teacher noticed that both her parents were English. French teacher therefore assumed - on zero other evidence - that N would not be able to speak French, and marked her work accordingly.

Only late in the year did this teacher overhear N chatting completely fluently to her friends in the school corridor and check the actual situation: N was born in France, spent a year in the UK before starting school, and has lived over there ever since. At home, one parent has always spoken French and the other English. The French speaker has people wondering which part of France they're from rather than whether they learned their French in England or in the USA.

(Actually I suspect N's French is better than her English, which is excellent but slightly accented and with some spellings and phrasings which suggest the francophone background. I will never forget the two year old "Moi, je not want that.")

Sorry, rambling a bit. Here's hoping the form finds a happy reception 'a la belle France' (and apologies for the lack of accent there ....)

Newly_retired · 23 September 2014 at 6:34PM

I am curious that the girl was getting low marks for French. In my teaching days we gave separate marks for listening, reading, writing and reading skills. It was perfectly possible for a native speaker to get high marks for speaking, but to do less well on the other skills. Their grammar and spelling could be horrendous, and marks could be lost for not actually answering the question set in reading and listening tests.
Not easy to be bilingual at school, though an excellent base for a future career in many fields. Bilingual children I have known have always amazed me with their ability to switch so readily between the two languages.

Savvy_Sue · 23 September 2014 at 9:29PM

DH says it's the classic case of pupil achieving expectations: low expectations = low marks regardless of achievement or effort.

Yes, that girl will go far. She had an oral exam on French literature, and was asked about some famous French author's attitude to X in one of his works. She had not read the work, but took a deep breath and launched forth with great confidence with what she presumed a French author of that era would think about X. Got very good marks too, probably from the confidence with which she spoke as much as anything.

Newly_retired · 23 September 2014 at 10:08PM

One of my favourite successes in French GCSE was a pupil who spoke brilliantly about her trip to Spain with the youth orchestra. She told me afterwards that none of it was true.she had had to drop out, but had prepared what to say if asked.

ljonski · 26 September 2014 at 3:47PM

if you are going to lie, then you might as well make it a big one!

Newly_retired · 26 September 2014 at 11:13PM

Whilst I never encouraged a pupil to lie, a French oral is a test of spoken French, so as long as a suitable answer was given, I was happy.

datostar · 9 October 2014 at 4:32PM

Small local solicitors' firms will do this kind of of thing for £5 or so in cash. I got a certified copy of a will done for £5 including the photocopying and a friend of mine who worked as a process server for a while often had statements sworn on the same basis. Don't automatically knock them!

Newly_retired · 9 October 2014 at 5:02PM

Update
My French pension payment came into my account today as normal, so I presume they received my paperwork and it was acceptable.
Result - and for free.

Nebulous2 · 10 October 2014 at 8:11PM

In Scotland local authority councillors sign documents such as this. Our council has a signing session in the morning with a councillor on duty, where people can turn up to get documents signed.

BlondeHeadOn · 18 November 2014 at 7:33PM

CAB will do this for free, as an option for the next time you need it doing.

IME these things need signing very year. so take it to your local CAB office next year.

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ID for French pension

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