Mon Lycee est bloque, comment le dit en anglais?

Lycee Artaud (which reminds me, I must look up who Antonin Artaud is/was - he has a school named after him!) 7h45. There is the usual group of students outside the gates, nothing looked out of the ordinary as I approached the gates. That is until I saw the banner 'Lycee Artaud en greve', I then saw the matresses, sofas, tables and bins stacked against the school gates. I then saw the tape around the gates to stop it from being opened. I then saw the students creating a human barrier to stop other students from entering. I realised that 'mon Lycee etait bloque' and no, I'm sorry, I don't know how to say that in English. The students of my Lycee had joined the students of Lycee Diderot (where Auriane goes) and Saint Charles in protesting against la loi pecrasse which is to do with the privatisation of the universities. It would basically make the french university system more like the UK's. Personally I think that would be a good thing but I'll keep that opinion to myself I think... I didn't know how to get into the Lycee, it was impossible to pass through the gates, but yet I could see members of staff on the other side of the gates. I walked along the gates to the car entrance and went in that way. When I got the staff room all the teachers were there. I was told there wouldn't be any classes today because the students were 'on strike'. The teachers were quite surprised it had taken the students so long to organise this as apparently the students at Lycee Artaud are usually amoung some of the first to protest on new laws. The last event like this where the students had striked and 'bloque' the Lycee was 2 years ago in protest over a law which would make it easier to sack young people, I vaguely remember. I thought I might be allowed to go home seeing as there were no students, but oh no. Members of staff are obliged to stay. So, i spent 3hrs sat in the staff room. It was actually really good because I was talking to Anne and I learnt so much about the school, the french education system. Even though the government want 80% of students to leave school with their bac, in order to achieve this standards have dropped and now, because virtually everyone has their bac, it isn't really worth anything and employers are asking for bac+3 or bac+5 instead. I learnt about how France doesn't have any exam boards and that each academie is asked to write the exam papers for various subjects. So, for example, Marseille might write the French paper, Paris the maths paper, Lyon the science paper. But Paris might also write a maths paper. So it ends up with 5 exams per subject and the different students in different regions sit one of the 5 papers. Then, every teacher is sent papers from a different region to mark. There are also no parents' evenings and no reports like at home. I also learnt that La Rose is an area with lower working class people and that half of the students at the Lycee are from La Rose. The other half are middle class and live in Allauch or Plan de Cuques. Religion is pretty mixed too - in a average class of 30 you could apparently expect to find 14 catholics, maybe 1 protistent, 4 or 5 jews and the rest muslim. Apparently the laicite debate wasn't really a problem at my Lycee, there were 2 girls who wanted to wear the full muslim head dress but were told they couldn't, instead they wear a scalf/headband thing to just cover the top of their heads which is acceptable. I've never seen anyone wearing any religious symbol and I'm always really conscious that I'm not wearing my necklace that's a cross when I'm at work! Also, there are no RS classes, I never realised this but I guess it's obvious with the 'laic' system. Again, I'm not entirely sure I agree with this - surely it would make for a more tolerant society if everyone were to learn about other religions?? Anyway. At 11h when my lessons would have ended I went home and it was my 4h lunch break. The landlord came round to fill in my CAF form, I just need to photocopy it and then, finally, I can send it off. He also said he was replacing our microwave with a microwave/oven... watch this space. I prepared some worksheets for my new private student. The first lesson's always really hard because I never know what level they're going to be which makes it impossible to prepare for. I therefore prepared a worksheet on telling the time (because no one, regardless of their level) can ever do that. I also did a number revision sheet. At about 14h20 I left to go back to Lycee. It was silly going back really, there was no way my secondes were going to be there. When I got there I was able to get in my normal way. The students had subsided after successfully managing to 'bloque' the Lycee. The chairs, tables, bins, matresses etc had been moved to one side. I went to the staff room and was told the lesson was cancelled. I knew it would be. It was ok though, I didn't go all that way for nothing. My private students lives just behind the Lycee and I needed to print off my worksheets. I was slightly early for my cours de conversation which wasn't due to start until 16h30. I waited by the gate and the mum came to get me. It was like an estate but there were gates at the entrance to let the cars in and out. Camille, my student, lives on the 5th floor of a high rise block of flats, that, from the outside looks pretty drab. It was in La Rose - what did I expect?! She met me at the entrance to the block of flats and I was like 'Bonjour, Je m'appelle Gill' and then she faired la bise which I found most random. Her flat is really really nice. I took my shoes off and she gave me a pair of slippers! I was offered tea, coffee, cake! We went into her room and sat down. I introduced myself. I had no idea whether she'd understood me or not. All I knew was that she was in 3ieme - the year below my secondes and if their level was anything to go by then well... I ask her after I'd finished speaking 'what am I doing in France?' and 'what do I study in England?' to see if she'd understood. I told her 's'il y a des choses que tu ne comprends pas, il faut que tu me le dises' and she was like 'd'accord'. We talked about me a bit more, I showed her my map of England and then asked her to introduce herself. We then had a bit of grammar - when to use 'for' and 'since'. I was quite proud, I drew time lines and everything. We talked about the cinema, her hobbies, just general things. We then did the worksheets on telling the time which she couldn't do but she picked it up really quickly. We then revised numbers but, to be honest, her numbers were fine. We then just chatted generally. she explained a film to me she'd seen and I ended up explaining the present perfect continuous - but just one use of it mind - for something that began in the past and is still happening now (because she wanted to say 'I have been playing the piano since I was 9) That linked nicely back to 'since' and 'for'. I then ended up explaining 'he used to have a wife and child' because she was telling me about the film she'd seen. At the end she said she couldn't have a lesson next week because she has a piano lesson, so I won't see her again until December 20th. I was then driven to the metro and got the metro home. I came in and ate, I was about to go for a shower when Rachel asked whether I wanted to go round to hers so off I went. Et voila, jeudi.