In order to analyse the difference between institutional guidelines (an approach according to skill), and actual practices in the French classes in Algeria, we used an ethnographic approach to the class, based on a body of film made in two sessions. The analysis of this body and of institutional texts for reference (curriculum, guidelines) show that the cultures of teaching and apprenticeship in Algerian schools insist more on knowledge (rules of language) and on the four traditional skills (listening, speaking, reading, writing) during interactions with the teacher than on their own ability and self-confidence (sociolinguistic, socio cultural and pragmatic rules). In such situations, certainly not unique to Algeria, it would undoubtedly be advisable, to move towards methods of teaching and apprenticeship, based on a teaching structured around didactic interactions focused on those learning, around mediation by the adult of the linguistic and educational needs, and around education according to the terms of the socio constructivist model of apprenticeship. Our research is concentrated on the consideration of a potential integrated didactic model, multilingual and contextualised, which underlines the role and the importance of native languages of Algerian pupils in the learning of languages and of other disciplines
