I’m a post-Brexit expat who took a training course to learn how to be French - here’s how I got on

What makes a good citizen? Or more specifically, what makes a good French citizen?

In theory, you need look no further than me - a recent graduate of France’s compulsory four days of formation civique, or civic training, designed to get immigrants to “better understand the values of the Republic and French society”.

These training days, delivered in French, now await any Brit like myself who has migrated to France since the UK fully left the EU - and who is looking to stay long-term.

As one of the many bureaucratic hoops that immigrants from outside the EU, EEA and Switzerland have to jump through, the civic training days teach you all about French culture, values, history and practical things like how the social security system and other state institutions work. Essentially, how to be a good resident in your new home.

The whole process is a good idea in principle. Even though I’ve visited France several times in the past and speak the language of Molière, it can be very disorientating to pitch up in a foreign land where you have a limited network and understanding of what it’s like to actually live there.

So in theory, the civic training is a bit of a lifeline as you drown amid a sea of forms to fill in, try in vain to work out which social benefits you might be entitled to, and generally attempt to establish yourself in the country.

In practice though, I found the days a bit hit and miss, especially from a UK perspective.

Let’s start with one of the training’s main focuses: French and wider European values. Despite the current British government’s apparent desire to distance itself as much as possible from anything remotely European, the truth is we haven’t diverged from EU principles that much since we Brexited over two