Flying start: A Level French
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Flying start: A Level French 1
Bonjour! Welcome to A Level French at TRC and thank you for showing such a strong interest in studying with us. The following pages have been put together to help you make a flying start to the course. The activities will enable you to: • See what you remember from GCSE French • Consolidate your writing, reading, translation and listening skills before you start advanced level study in the language • Develop some knowledge and understanding of what you will be covering in the first few weeks of the A level course I am very much looking forward to meeting you in September. Best wishes Sylvie Le saviez-vous? - Over 275 million people around the world speak French and French is an official language in 29 countries such as Switzerland, Belgium, Senegal and Seychelles. - Studying a language at A-level offers you a range of career possibilities from law to tourism, or teaching to marketing… Knowing a foreign language will increase your opportunities in the world of work. - By learning a language, you will develop a wide range of skills such as communication or research skills, which you will be able to apply to your other subjects. 2
Planner The following plan is meant as a guide to help you structure the activities in this flying start pack between June and August. However, if you would like to complete this at a different pace and/or spend less or more time on each activity this is entirely your choice. Week and activity Page number Time allocation Complete? number 1 3 30 minutes 2 4 30 minutes 3 5 1 hour 4 6 35 minutes 5 7 35 minutes 6 8 40 minutes 7 8 40 minutes 8 9 1 hour 9 10 30 minutes 10 11 35 minutes 3
The French course at TRC follows the A Level AQA Specification which includes an interesting range of topics for you to study throughout the two years. Link to the specification - https://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/languages/as-and-a-level/french- 7652 Your knowledge of these topics and the grammar you study will all be tested at the end in 3 papers. Paper 1 – Listening, Reading and Translations - At GCSE you had these skills tested in different papers. At A level, this exam combines the same sort of activities – Vrai/Faux/Non donné Choose the correct statements/Translate into French and English/ Answer in French/ Find the synonyms, … Paper 2 – Writing - Your writing skills will be tested through two essays, one on a film and one on a book we study together. I will be teaching you how to write an essay in French. Paper 3 – Speaking - Your conversation skills as follows: a) Talking about a topic on a card, which has some pictures and questions (similar to those at GCSE) and b) Talking about a topic of your choice you will have prepared. Passionnant! 4
Activity 1 / Week 1 The first topic you will be studying will be La famille en voie de changement (‘The changing nature of family’). To help you with your first lessons on it, compile a list of words that you could use for the topic. Use your GCSE notes and a dictionary. You will need to have two columns (English and French) and for each set of words below (members of the family, pets, appearance, …) include a minimum of 20 words: For example: Français Anglais Un neveu / une nièce Nephew/niece Les grans-parents Grandparents etc etc Words for the different members of a family a) Words for different pets b) Words to describe people’s appearance (eg. blond, blue eyes, …) c) Words to describe the way people are/behave (eg. understanding, protective, nice, nasty, …) d) Verbs to use for this topic (eg. to love, to understand, to see, to get married, to get divorced …) Le Mont Sain-Michel (Normandy) 5
Activity 2 / Week 2 Grammar is going to be an important part of your language course too. Using your GCSE notes and/or doing some research, write a definition for each of the following words. Grammar Term Definition Examples A verb is … A noun is … A pronoun is … An adjective is … An adverb is … A preposition is … Un peu de pratique! Copy the following links onto a browser and do the exercises on articles, adjectives and adverbs. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zjv9xyc/revision/1 https://www.languagesonline.org.uk/French/ET2/Partitives/Index.htm https://www.languagesonline.org.uk (go to the section ‘Français’ then, Grammar and finally, Adjectives (les adjectifs) https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/examspecs/zr8bmfr (go to Grammar, French adjectives, test) https://www.laits.utexas.edu/tex/gr/index.html#det (adverbs) 6
Activity 3 / Week 3 Votre famille To help me (as your teacher) learn about you as we start the course, you need to write at least one full page in French about yourself and your family. You need to bring this work to your second French lesson. Make sure you include information on the following points: - Who you are (name, where you live, what you look like and what you are like as a person) - Your hobbies/what you like to do in your spare time - The place where you live (what it is like, what is good/not so good about it) - Your family (have you got a big/small family, how many siblings, what are your family members like, what your parents do for a living, what you do as a family together – ie. go out to the cinema, shopping, eating, holidays, …) - Relationship with your immediate family members - Your future aspirations/plans - Why you have chosen French as one of your A levels 7
Activity 4 / Week 4 A. Pratique à nouveau des adjectifs en musique Listening is also an important part of the course. Copy the following link onto a browser and do the online exercises. https://apprendre.tv5monde.com/fr/exercices/a1-debutant/grammaire-laccord-et-la-place-des- adjectifs a) First, watch the video and answer the questions. Tick the correct answers. b) Secondly, look at the pictures and click on the words you have heard. c) Thirdly, decide which adjectives are masculine singular and which ones are feminine singular. Put them in the right column. Do a similar exercise but this time with the plural form of adjectives. d) Finally, read the sentences and choose the correct adjective for each. B. Choisir la bonne forme de l’adjectif a. C’est un gentil / gentille garçon. b. Claire porte une long / longue jupe vert / verte. c. Nous sommes restés dans un très belle / bel / beau hôtel. d. Le professeur a les cheveux court / courte / courts / courtes. e. Elle est partie en Allemagne avec un très vieux / vieil / vieille ami. f. Ils ont eu une conversation très bref / brève. g. Lucie semble très inquiet / inquiète. Ecrire la forme correcte de l’adjectif au féminin a. Ils sont italiens, elles sont __________________ b. Son ami est gentil, son amie est ____________________ c. Luc est heureux, Christelle est _____________________ d. Ils sont beaux, elles sont ______________ e. Le pain est sec, la viande est __________________ f. Fabien est fatigué, Sophie est __________________ g. Le pantalon est long, la robe est __________________ 8
Activity 5 / Week 5 Copy the following link onto a browser and read about the present tense of regular verbs in French. Make some notes. https://www.languagesonline.org.uk/Hotpotatoes/Index.htm Now, complete the following sentences with the right form of the verb (in the present tense), as in the example. Exemple: (je) ……joue…… au tennis Tous les samedis matins. (jouer) 1. Nous …………………………… la télévision de temps en temps. (regarder) 2. Le chat ……………………………… l’escalier (descendre) 3. Quand nous allons au restaurant, mon père …………………………… toujours les frites (choisir) 4. Mon frère ………………………………… faire du ski. (aimer) 5. Mes grands-parents ……………………….. des gâteaux à la fête tous les ans (vendre) 6. Vous ………………………………… le château aujourd’hui (visiter) 7. Mes soeurs ……………………………… la cuisine pour le dîner ce soir. (finir) 8. Je …………………………….. un gâteau au chocolat (acheter) 9. Nous ……………………….. à huit heures chaque jour (commencer) 10. Lucie et Emilie …………………….. un cadeau pour leur mère (choisir) Faites les exercices sur le présent sur https://www.languagesonline.org.uk/Hotpotatoes/Index.htm Le château de Chambord 9
Activity 6 / Week 6 You will have reading exercises to complete in the A Level exam as well as a passage to translate from French into English. Copy the following link onto a browser and do the exercises on family. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zfnbjhv/revision/2 Reading practice - views on marriage In France you read a magazine article about marriage. It includes comments by Omar. Read the article and do the exercises online a) Answer the True, False, Not mentioned questions b) Translate the passage into English Activity 7 / Week 7 This exercise will help you revise how to ask a question in French. Using your GCSE notes and/or using the following link https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zvsr7nb/revision/1, find out how to formulate a question in French. Then, practise online: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zvsr7nb/test Encore de la pratique! Traduire en français 1. Does she like watching football ? 2. Do you speak English ? 3. What time does your French class start? 4. When are they going to France? 5. Where does she work? 7. Who plays the guitar? 8. What are you (formal) doing? 9. How many brothers does she have? 11. How do they travel to work? 12. How long have they been waiting for? 10
Activity 8 / Week 8 Est-ce que vous aimez aller au cinéma ? Avez-vous déjà regardé un film français ? Watch 3 films on Netflix or the trailers on Youtube. They are all related to our first topic: La famille en voie de changement (‘The changing nature of family’). a) Ecrivez un résumé (summary) en français pour chaque film ou bande-annonce (trailer) b) Finalement, expliquez : quel film préférez-vous et pourquoi ? Il a déjà tes yeux (he even has your eyes) - Bande-annonce : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mNuKbk01ZA - C'est quoi cette famille (We are family) - Bande-annonce : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKFJLHUHsQQ - Papa ou maman - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGE5WtXWcCI 11
Activity 9 / Week 9 Translate the text into English Dans les années 50 en France, les gens devaient se marier s’ils voulaient avoir des enfants. Le divorce n’existait pratiquement pas. Il est aujourd’hui très courant avec presque 50% de couples qui divorcent chaque année. Au lieu de se marier, de plus en plus de couples décident de se pacser. Le PACS offre plus ou moins les mêmes avantages que le mariage mais est beaucoup moins coûteux quand les deux partenaires décident de se séparer. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 12
Activity 10 / Week 10 La musique francophone Listening to French songs will help you enhancing your listening skills as well as developing a wider knowledge of vocabulary and understanding of French grammar. We will study French music together but, in the meantime, listen to the following songs: Louane - Donne-moi ton coeur Big Flo et Oli - Bienvenue chez moi Les Rita Mitsouko - C'est comme ca Francis Cabrel - Je t'aimais, je t'aime et je t'aimerai - Choisis-en une (choose one) que tu aimes. Ecris un petit paragraphe pour expliquer ce que tu comprends (what you understand) de la chanson et pourquoi tu l’aimes. Pense aux paroles (lyrices), la voix du chanteur (the voice), la mélodie (the tune), le rythme… Saint-Emilion 13
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