French with Flo

 " Les Grandes Vacances " is the term French schoolchildren use for the Summer vacations. They're called "big" because they last over 2 months, from late June to early September. Since workers in France get in general at least 5 weeks of paid vacations, families often take a long trip together during the Summer. Since we're having this class over the Summer, let's explore together the theme of Travel and Holidays with a couple of activities. Vidéo : Destination de rêve . This video produced by Easy French is a " micro-trottoir ", which means a video where ordinary people in the street are asked to answer a few brief questions. In this video, various French people talk about their dream destination for the vacations. Texte et Questions : Le voyage . Easy text with comprehension questions. [Beginner] And finally, talking about traveling, you may enjoy " La ville de Paris vue du ciel ", a quiz about Parisian landmarks based on a video ta...

 As you all know, July 14th is the French " Fête Nationale " (National Holiday). Here is a series of videos and other resources that will teach you (almost) everything you need to know about this special day for the French.  (By the way, you can also have a quick peek at my former blog on the topic , from the year 2018. I had focused mostly on "La Marseillaise", the national anthem.) In the first video I shared with the class, Ingrid from FrenchPod101.com gives a quick introduction to this Holiday. The video comes with French and English subtitles, so it's suitable for all levels. The second video we studied in class focuses on the Bastille , the royal prison that was stormed by insurgents on July 14, 1789, at the beginning of the French Revolution. This is part of the "Karambolage" series on the German and French channel Arte .  Click here to watch the video.  I also wrote a transcription of the video with some vocabulary notes. Since the above vid...

Bonjour ! I hope everyone is having a very nice dimanche de Pâques (Easter Sunday) despite the shelter-in-place order ( le confinement in French). Since we're all at home, I thought you may enjoy a few fun, Easter-related activities in French. By the way, do you know that Pâques is one of the weirdest French words ? (Yes, I know, that's saying something...) The word Pâque  (no final "s") is a feminine singular when used in the expression " la Pâque juive " (which means Passover). Example: Le pain azyme est un aliment traditionnel de la Pâque juive . (Matzah is a traditional Passover food.) The word Pâques  (referring to the Christian Holiday) is a masculine singular (despite the final "s") when it is NOT accompanied by an adjective. It is never preceded by an article (such as " le "), either. Example: Parfois Pâques tombe en mars, parfois il tombe en avril . (Sometimes Easter falls in March, sometimes it falls in April.) But...

Here is everything we studied in connection with Chapter 16 of our textbook, French Made Simple .           1. The Second Group Verbs (-IR) This is a set of regular verbs whose conjugation follows the verb FINIR . Remember, not all verbs ending in -IR belong to the second group. There are also some verbs, such as partir or venir , that belong to the third group and are irregular. See my previous blogs on the first + second groups and the third group for more information. Besides the grammar notes in the textbook, here is what we studied in class on this topic: Lesson on the 2nd Group Verbs  at Podcast Français Facile , with their handout .  This lesson includes a useful list of 2nd group verbs that are derived from adjectives, with the corresponding adjectives. (Be careful, there is a typo in their handout. the verb épaissir means "rendre  épais ", not "rendre paix". ) Also from Podcast Français Facile: a  dialogue (wit...

Between Chapter 14 and Chapter 15 of French Made Simple , there is a review section covering chapters 10 to 14. We completed the book with a few other exercices, mostly about numbers. At the Train Station [BEGINNER] This is an easy listening exercice to review numbers and hours. Click on the sound file to listen to a short dialogue between a customer and an employee at the train station's ticket window, then answer the questions by using the information on the right of the screen. At the Farmer's Market This is another exercice about numbers and prices. Listen to each sound bite and complete the chart, using the information at the top of the screen. For each line, you need to indicate what fruit or veggie is sold, what is the price and what is the quantity for that price. Understanding a Phone Message Answering the phone is one of the hardest things to do in a foreign language. Understanding a phone message is slightly easier because you can hit the repeat but...

Here is everything we've seen in connection with chapter 14 of French Made Simple .           1. The Numbers (part 3) Although our study of numbers technically ended with chapter 13 , we kept practicing with progressively larger numbers. Here is what we did in class. All the exercises come from the Podcast Français Facile website. A Few Dates : This is a listening exercise about well-known (and less known) dates in French history and culture. Click on the " Exercise " icon to access the handout. Numbers from 1,000 to 9,999 - List A : Another listening exercise, with slightly bigger numbers. Click on " Imprimer le document " to print the handout. Car Prices (numbers between 10,000 and 99,999) : The first audio link is an easy "listen and repeat" exercise that you can do at home. The Car Price exercise we did in class is the second audio link. There was no handout on the website, but I had fun creating this one . 😊       ...

Here is everything we studied in connection with Chapter 13 of French Made Simple . 1. Shopping for clothes Our study of numbers took us on a detour down the clothing aisle of our favorite department store. We started with the following exercise from Podcast Français Facile : Listen to the price  (numbers from 1 to 400): t his text describes a customer's shopping trip to a boutique. Listen to the audio file from the link above and fill in the prices in  the class handout . I adapted my handout from   this original pdf , which includes the answers.  Buying Clothes   (created by tkdana at ISLCollective ): w e took the shopping theme a little further with these two short dialogues between a customer and a clothing store attendant. In class, we used these as templates to improvise little dialogues.  [BEGINNER] Clothing vocabulary : t his is a useful vocabulary list, also created by Podcast Français Facile . You can hear an audio vers...

Last week, we did two unrelated exercises. To begin, we practiced again our food, color and clothing vocabulary with this image description exercise : Un bon petit déjeuner (created by s ilvialefevre on ISLCollective ). We then studied how to say the date in French with this handout (adapted from a document by osfr on ISLCollective ). [BEGINNER] You can also visit this page on Podcast Français Facile for another overview of the date and seasons in French.

In chapter 12 of French Made Simple , we are continuing our study of numbers and we're having a look at two other verbs in the present tense.           1. Faire and croire Both verbs belong to the 3rd group, so they are irregular and their conjugations need to be memorized. Generally speaking, the verb faire corresponds to the English verbs to do or to make , but there are some idiomatic uses. For example: faire faire quelque chose : to have somebody do something, to have something done. ex.: Je fais réparer ma voiture = I'm having my car repaired faire de... (+ sport or leisure activity): to do / practice an activity, to play a sport... I handed out in class this exercise (created by Paugaliza on ISLCollective ) to practice using the verb faire with names of sports or activities. You can also practice conjugating the verb faire with the following exercises: http://www.didieraccord.com/exercices/index.php?ex=2.2.10 https://fog.ccsf.e...

I'm going to gather in this post everything we've studied in connection to  chapter 11 of the French Made Simple textbook.           1. Vouloir, pouvoir, etc. The grammar point in chapter 11 is the conjugation of the verbs  vouloir  and  pouvoir  in the present tense. To get a little more practice, I handed out  this exercise  (created by  silvialefevre  on ISLCollective), in order to review the verbs vouloir, pouvoir, as well as savoir et devoir. You may also be interested in  this online quiz  on the same topic.          2. The numbers (part 1) In chapter 11, we're also learning the numbers from 1 to 69. Here are some extra ressources, including the exercises done in class: Numbers from 1 to 20 on Podcast Français Facile. [BEGINNER] We did the first addition exercise in class. If you'd like extra practice, you can do the second one on your own! 😉 I also...

French Made Simple - Chapter 3 Meet Mr. Brown!  I recorded the dialogue twice: a first time at normal speed, and a second time a little slower, with space for students to repeat. Dialogue pp.15-16: Qui est Monsieur Brown ? 🔊FMS 03-01 Pronunciation and Spelling Aids p.16: 🔊FMS 03-02 Note: in #1, the book recommends to pron ounce the liaison between " affaires " and " américain " in the phrase " un homme d'affaire s a méricain ". However, in this case the liaison is optional and, actually, it is very often omitted. I demonstrated both possibilities in the recording. Vocabulary p.17-18: 🔊FMS 03-03 Exercise 1 p.18: Completion of Text 🔊FMS 03-04 Say the right answer after I call the question number, then listen to the answer. Exercise 2 p.21: 🔊FMS 03-05 Exercise 3 pp.21-22: 🔊FMS 03-06 Some Common Verb Constructions p.22: 🔊FMS 03-07 Exercise 4 p.22: 🔊FMS 03-08 Exercise 5 p.23: Questionnaire 🔊FMS 03-09 You can ei...

French Made Simple - Chapter 2, Part 3 The third part of chapter 2 starts with a few grammar / pronunciation notes. ©Amberly Maxwell at https://slideplayer.com/slide/10293639/ The liaison : 🔊 FMS 02-10 (For more information on the liaison, see this blogpost .) The élision : 🔊 FMS 02-11 The stress in words and sentences: 🔊 FMS 02-12 Chapter 2 then concludes with three short dialogues. Dialogue 1: 🔊 FMS 02-13 Dialogue 2: 🔊 FMS 02-14 Dialogue 3: 🔊 FMS 02-15 Congratulations, you've finished the introductory chapters! 🙌 You're now ready to start with the book's main story in the next chapter.

French Made Simple - Chapter 2, part 2  And now we can start speaking French! In this section, you will learn some simple, useful phrases. Here is the vocabulary: 🔊  FMS 02.05 Exercise p.10-11: Combien coûte...? 🔊  FMS 02-06 Exercise p.11: Pardon Monsieur. Où est...? 🔊  FMS 02-07 (Note: in France, the word "toilette" - restroom - is usually used in plural form: les toilettes. The verb "être" needs to be plural, too: Où sont les toilettes?) Exercise p.11: Je voudrais... 🔊  FMS 02-08 Image: Eulalie Lopez at slideplayer.fr/slide/173343/ Numbers from 1 to 21: 🔊  FMS 02-09 (Note: as an example, I also added the words "dollar" and "euro" after the numbers. Note the liaison before the word "euro".) In class, I also handed out this sheet that expands on the vocabulary and exercises of this section, as well as the Color Adjective List (document created by  Nathalie74160 on ISLCollective.com .)

To my knowledge, our classroom textbook " French Made Simple " doesn't come with an audio version, which makes things difficult for beginners who try to study on their own. To help them, I intend to record the French examples, texts and (possibly) exercises as we progress in our study of the book. Tall order! Wish me luck... And now, let's start at the beginning. French Made Simple - Chapter 1 This is a general presentation of the French language, including many words that are very similar between French and English. Page 1: Words with same spelling, same meaning, different pronunciation 🔊 FMS 01-01.mp3 Page 1-2: Words with same meaning but slightly different spelling 🔊 FMS 01-02.mp3 Page 2: Words directly borrowed from French, with similar pronunciation 🔊 FMS 01-03.mp3 French Made Simple - Chapter 2, Part 1 : Pronunciation Pages 4-6 - Introductory section: some basic French vowel sounds 🔊 FMS 02-01.mp3 Pages 6-7: French Vowe...

As we end 2018, here are some handouts and links that, for some reason (such as me being absolutely terrible with anything having to do with the Internet) never made it to the blog after I taught the corresponding class. This is material we studied between June and September 2018. Hopefully, posting this, even late, will be useful for returning and new students alike.       Texts / Dialogues La fête des voisins: Neighbors Day      1. Text and exercises:  Voisins, voisines      2. Learn more about France's Neighbors Day  here Booking a Table      1. Dialogue:  Réserver une table au restaurant      2.  Dialogue in pictures  (both documents created by  carolebim  at  Tes )       Exercises Crosswords to Practice the Present Tense      1. Mots Croisés:  présent des vacances  (created by  dodeuil  at ISLC...

Are you in touch with your inner child? it can be really useful for learning a language! Here are a few videos in French, with French subtitles.  And first, let's start with the alphabet: Illustrated alphabet for English speakers:   https://youtu.be/E7MrFRKRtPg The Alphabet Song, adapted in French:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xuZxGirWQI Mozart's Alphabet, followed by another version of the Alphabet Song:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lp1IU2VGpBQ Then, I've found a whole series of "comptines" (nursery rhymes.) Here are a few examples, but you'll find much more on Youtube once you start watching them. Many of them are classics, going back several centuries, which may explain how weirdly inappropriate for kids they can sound nowadays! 😳 Trois jeunes tambours: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuyOfi7lKUk Biquette:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmsxJ5MzrRY Frère Jacques: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0Y7D7xNQG8 Au clair de la lune: http...

The first part of our class about devinettes (guessing game) was a couple of beginner-level dialogues from Podcast Français Facile , introducing the vocabulary and sentence structure needed to describe an object. Here are the two dialogues (with the audio recordings), and the accompanying vocabulary . [BEGINNER] We then used a vocabulary in pictures about classroom items in order to practice the guessing game. (source: ISL Collective, originally created by mafaldita47 and updated by me.) [BEGINNER] And finally, here is the list of 10 devinettes we went over today. You all did a great job guessing the answers. Congratulations! 👏