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SavannahYear 8
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LanguagesLe monde francophone25 min★★ difficulty

Le français dans le monde

French is spoken on five continents. Reading texts from Senegal, Quebec or Martinique means meeting unfamiliar words — and working them out rather than looking every one up.

Part of your national curriculum
  • Reading: Deduce meaning from a variety of texts, using context and knowledge of word patterns and cognates

Lesson overview

What you'll learn in this lesson

Deduce meaning from a variety of texts, using context and knowledge of word patterns and cognates

Key learning points

  • • Where French is spoken
  • • Cognates and near-cognates
  • • Working out the rest from context

This lesson at a glance

  • 25 minutes
  • 16 parts to scroll through
  • 4 quick checks
  • Marked quiz at the end
  • Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses

Words to know

deducemeaningvarietycontextknowledge

Scroll down — the lesson carries on below

Part 1 of 16 · Discover6%
1

Watch & discover

Part 1 of 16

Watch first

Le français dans le monde

An English teaching video on this topic from Risedale School. Watch it, then scroll down for the lesson.

In a nutshell

Deduce meaning from a variety of texts, using context and knowledge of word patterns and cognates

2

Learning cycle

Part 2 of 16

Learning cycle 1 of 2

Part 1 · Where French is spoken

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

3

Explore the idea

Part 3 of 16

Learn

Where French is spoken

France, Belgium, Switzerland, Canada (especially Quebec), Senegal, Ivory Coast, Morocco, Haiti, Martinique. Roughly 300 million people use French, and more of them live in Africa than in Europe.

4

Explore the idea

Part 4 of 16

Learn

Cognates and near-cognates

Words that look like English usually are: la nation, la musique, l'université, important, la population. Watch spelling patterns: -tion stays -tion, -ly becomes -ment (rapidement = rapidly), -ty becomes -té (la liberté = liberty).

5

Quick check

Part 5 of 16

Quick check

Which continent has the most French speakers?

6

Quick check

Part 6 of 16

Quick check

'Rapidement' most likely means...

7

Reset break

Part 7 of 16

Pause

That's sitting 1 of 2 done

Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.

Stop here for now
8

Learning cycle

Part 8 of 16

Learning cycle 2 of 2

Part 2 · Working out the rest from context

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

9

Explore the idea

Part 9 of 16

Learn

Working out the rest from context

In 'Le fleuve Sénégal traverse le pays et beaucoup d'agriculteurs cultivent du riz sur ses rives', you may not know rives. But a river crosses a country and farmers grow rice on its ___ — banks. Context plus logic beats guessing.

10

Quick check

Part 10 of 16

Quick check

'La liberté' translates as...

11

Quick check

Part 11 of 16

Quick check

Best strategy for an unknown word in a sentence you mostly understand?

12

Explore the idea

Part 12 of 16

Worked example

Worked reading

Text: 'À Québec, la population est majoritairement francophone. La ville est célèbre pour son architecture historique et son festival d'hiver.' Cognates carry almost all of it: population, architecture, historique, festival. Majoritairement = mainly (major + -ment). Hiver = winter, from context with 'festival'.

13

Challenge round

Part 13 of 16

Game · Sort it

Which of these are true?

Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.

True

Not true

14

Challenge round

Part 14 of 16

Game · Fill the gaps

Finish the sentences

Choose the word that belongs in each gap.

____ plus logic beats guessing.

15

Mastery quiz

Part 15 of 16

Marked quiz

End of lesson quiz: Le français dans le monde

4 questions, marked with the reasoning shown. No timer.

  1. 1. You meet 'rapidement' for the first time. It most likely means...

  2. 2. Which continent has the most French speakers?

  3. 3. 'Rapidement' most likely means...

  4. 4. 'La liberté' translates as...

16

Lesson round-up

Part 16 of 16

Lesson round-up

Ready when you are

Quiz score

Not sat

Games

Not played

Points this lesson

0

Best run

0 in a row

Luna: 0 out of 4 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?

Ask Luna

Do the work

Your written work for this lesson

This is the part you'd do in your book at school. Pick the pieces below, write here or on paper, and photograph anything you draw or work out.

Extract

Une journée à Lyon

Samedi matin, je me lève à sept heures et demie. Je prends le petit déjeuner avec ma sœur — du pain, du beurre et un chocolat chaud. Ensuite, nous prenons le bus jusqu'au centre-ville.

J'aime beaucoup Lyon parce qu'il y a un grand marché près du fleuve. Ma sœur préfère les magasins, mais moi, je préfère le marché : c'est moins cher et c'est plus intéressant. À midi, nous mangeons un sandwich au parc.

L'après-midi, il commence à pleuvoir, alors nous rentrons à la maison en tram. Le soir, je fais mes devoirs et je regarde un film avec mes parents.

Original text written for Good Learning Co.

Reading questions

  1. In English, say what the writer does in the morning, at midday and in the evening.
  2. Find the phrases that give an opinion and a reason, and copy them out.
  3. Write 8–10 sentences about your own Saturday, using at least three phrases from the text.

  • Written practice

    Writing

    Write the sentences out in the language, then translate them back into English.

    8–10 sentences

  • Vocabulary page

    Working out

    Copy the new words, cover them, and test yourself. Note the ones you keep missing.

    15 words

Saved as you type.

Part 1 of 16 · Watch & discover

How this is going

  • Not looked at yet

    Deduce meaning from a variety of texts, using context and knowledge of word patterns and cognates

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