Mathis - French Course
- Andrew Starr
- Jul 25
- 12 min read
Updated: Jul 25
This page is for use with lessons with Mathis, who is ultimately preparing for the IGCSE in French.
The shortened link to this blog page is rebrand.ly/frasml
Blue links are online. Red links are only available to my account. Purple links will require a specified Gmail account to be accessible.
General Information
vendredi, 29 août 16h15 - in person
All of Book 1 is now complete, so the homework set (below) and the booklet and sheets given on July 25th can be completed by today.
Possible - Métro 1 revision and assessment tasks - (if they cover the main themes in Dynamo).
vendredi, 25 juillet 16h15 - in person
We can look at Module 5 - Ordering food and drink in a café - P112 and 113 - particularly looking at describing a photo (a GCSE Speaking exam skill).
Looking at speaking about the simple (near) future - What are you going to do in Paris? P114 and 115.
Contrasting what you normally do at the weekend with what you are going to do in Paris. (Mixing two time frames together).
For the homework between now and August 29th:
You should be able to complete your written document as a recap of the Year 7 course:
It should include (among anything else)
An Introduction to you with your name and age. Information about your family and their ages.
A description of things you like and dislike.
Describe your personality and that of your family members and friends.
Please state your birthday and those of your family members.
Talk about school subjects you like and dislike, and say why this is so.
Discuss what you wear to school and share your thoughts on it.
Describe what you do on a typical school day and specify the time you do it.
Discuss the seasons and typical weather conditions, and describe the activities you engage in during different types of weather.
Describe how sporty you are and what activities you enjoy, specifying how often you participate in them.
Discuss how you use (or might use) a mobile phone.
State whether you have pets or not, and describe them and your family in more detail, including their hair and eye colours and styles.
Describe your home, including its rooms, furnishings, and your bedroom.
Say what you eat for breakfast and how healthy it is.
Discuss what there is to see and do in your town and some things that your town does not have. Stating your opinion about where you live.
State where you usually go and what you usually do at the weekend.
State where you are going to go and what you are going to do at a time in the future.
Discuss what you are going to do on a trip to... (Paris).
Speaking
You should aim to record yourself reading out what you wrote for pronunciation practice.
Use the website Natural Reader to help get it all correct.
Listening
You should also aim to complete all the listening activities that the school has given you access to. You need to sort out the issue with accents, as I imagine you will be set Spanish/German homework on the same system.
Reading
You should revise all 5 vocabulary sections of the book, including spellings.
Reading
Please complete the Year 7 revision booklet I have printed for you.
vendredi, 18 juillet 14h30 - in person
We can look at Module 5 - En ville - P108 - Talking about things in the present tense - What you are doing (this weekend). We will also add an idea of the simple future. e.g. 'What you are going to do this weekend...'
You may also be able to say what you are going to do during the school holidays...
The very first thing to get to grips with is the verb «aller»
Je vais I go/I am going/I do go
Tu vas You go/You are going/You do go
Il va
Elle va
On va
Nous allons
Vous allez
Ils vont
Elles vont
A simple way of talking about the future in English is to say "I am going" then add the infinitive form of the verb e.g. "to play".
I am going to play... It is the same idea in French - Je vais jouer
To talk about what is going to happen.
This one is the direct translation of the same tense in English.
You use the verb 'aller' - 'to go' as an auxiliary verb and the verb you are using is in its infinitive form.
Let's use 'jouer' as an example to use any other verb, just replace 'jouer' with the verb you wish to use in its infinitive.
je vais jouer I am going to play
tu vas jouer You are going to play
il va jouer He is going to play
elle va jouer She is going to play
on va jouer One is going to play
nous allons jouer We are going to play
vous allez jouer You are going to play
ils vont jouer They are going to play
elles vont jouer They are going to play
You could use 'donner', 'choisir' and 'rendre' for any practising here. Although all verbs follow this pattern even 'être' ...
Now to say where you are going...
Here you must think about the gender of each place you are going and change the definite article (that is the word for 'the'), either «le», «la», «l'», or «les» and change it to the equivalent of 'to the' or 'at the'... So this is how it works:
masculine (le) à + le = au
feminine (la) à + la = à la
vowel or silent 'h' (l') à l' = à l'
plural (les) à + les = aux
Examples from your book
Je vais au bowling
Je vais à la plage
Je vais à l'église
Je vais aux magasins
Possibly inviting people to go somewhere...
«Tu veux aller...»
For homework:
You should be able to add to your writing anything you can say about what you usually do at the weekend, and then write something you are going to do this week.
Normalement, le weekend je...
Ce weekend je vais....
You should be able to invite someone to do something at the weekend in French...
You should aim to be completing all but the very final exercises from the school's online activities to which you have been given access.
(We have not yet done Module 5 units 3, 4, 5, but all others have been done, so you should aim to complete those exercises - perhaps logging in to a computer?)
vendredi, 4 juillet 16h15 - in person
We can look at Module 5 - En ville - P104 to 107.
Looking at Paris.
We can try to identify some places in Caen.
For homework, you may have all of the things below to complete.
If you gave me a new piece of writing to correct, then you can add it the next time I see you.
You should aim to complete up to Module 4 of the tasks from the school's folder. Dynamo 1 Listening Material
What French foods and drinks have you tried already? You could write about French foods and drinks you have tried and liked.
vendredi, 27 juin 16h15 - in person
We can look at - « Une drôle de famille » from your coursebook Dynamo 1
p. 92 & 93. Qs 4, 5, 6 on page 97
We can try to play a few rounds of Qui est-ce?
Il/Elle a les cheveux noirs?
Il/Elle a les yeux bruns?
Il est chauve?
Il/Elle porte des lunettes?
For homework:
You should now be able to complete all the online exercises to which you have been given access from the school, right up to the end of Module 4.
You can answer the email in Q7 on p. 97.
You can complete p. 98, Q 1, p. 99, Qs 4, 5, and 8.
You could also write up the corrections I gave you today.
You should also complete the bilan and revise all vocabulary from the end of the module, on pages 102 and 103.
vendredi 20 juin - no lesson as I am in France.
However, these videos should all be understandable and review the themes we have covered so far. There may be some new ideas too, but the idea is to watch, follow and see how much can be understood. Make a note of new vocabulary and consider adapting some phrases for your own presentation document.
Quinze Minutes Plus
vendredi, 13 juin 16h15 - online
For homework, you should aim to add to your written document about your house and room, along with some things you have for breakfast and comment on how healthy you try to be at breakfast time.
Then, aim to add detail about what you would do on a memorable summer day out somewhere. (Use the p. 90 details to help).
TODAY:
We will cover breakfast habits and touch on healthy eating.
We will examine a festival that takes place every July in France and discuss the associated days off.
One to watch in your own time.
vendredi, 6 juin 16h15 - in person
We will begin with a big vocabulary test on Modules 1 to 3
We will examine describing people (with reference to family and friends), and we will also explore describing a house. Using Dynamo 1, Chapter 4, pp. 86-89.
vendredi, 23 mai 16h15 - in person
For your homework, you could add a more detailed description of your family and friends and any pets to your written record.
Do not forget the hair, eye colour, height and personality traits.
Is there someone you admire? Could you describe them?
Today, we will look into Module 4, « Ma vie de famille ». PPT
vendredi, 16 mai 16h15 - in person
We will examine pages 66- 69 of the course book, Dynamo, and the revision and reinforcement section. (Up to p.79 if we have time). Once this is done, you will be complete up to the February half term of Year 7 work.
Talking about wider hobbies you may like and not like to do. Looking at formulating questions in French and preparing answers.
For your homework:
You may already have done the following...
What do you wear in Autumn? What do you wear in Winter? What do you wear in Spring? What do you wear in Summer?
What do you do in Autumn? What do you do in Winter? What do you do in Spring? What do you do in the Summer?
What is your opinion on each season (use p59 to help you)?
From p60 to 63 - What other activities and how often? What about your friends and family?
- Use the examples on p. 63. What activities are there in your town and your region? (du ski nautique... de l'escalade... )
Add the questions and answers to the questions at the bottom of p.69, question 3.
Check that you can do the 'Bilan', p.70 & 71.
vendredi, 9 mai 16h15 - in person
We will look at pages 60- 66 of the course book Dynamo - « Tu es sportif? » & « Qu'est-ce que tu fais? » « Le sport dans les pays francophones »
Talking about sports and other pastimes.
I will give you many sheets relevant to what we have been doing over the last few lessons.
See below for videos on hobbies and pastimes.
Homework:
You should now aim to create your best copy of the work I corrected in this Google Doc.
Remember that you can have completed the first two chapters and up to part 1 of Module 3 from the Dynamo 1 Listening Material as well.
You may have already completed much of this for your draft document.
These were the newer questions to add to your document... (write in draft form first).
What is your school life like? - (You may need to imagine life at KES for this section.)
What sort of school holidays do you have? p42
What is the school canteen like?
What do you wear in Autumn?
What do you wear in Winter?
What do you wear in Spring?
What do you wear in Summer?
What do you do in Autumn?
What do you do in Winter?
What do you do in Spring?
What do you do in Summer?
What is your opinion on each season (use p59 to help you)?
From p60 to 63 - What other activities and how often ? What about your friends and family?
- use the examples on p63. What activities are there in your town and your region? (du ski nautique... de l'escalade... )
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vendredi, 2 mai 18h30 - online
We will keep the first section in last week's notes for the next time you are here in person.
We completed chapter 2 last week.
We would be at Christmas of Year 7 if this were completed in school. By now, there would have been some class testing. Mathis's online self-marking exercises should be a suitable alternative to these.
So, today we begin Chapter 3 from Dynamo.
P56 and 57 Hobbies in the French-speaking World.
P58 and 59 - The weather, the seasons and activities in various weather conditions.
This chapter discusses hobbies and other pastimes. It begins by introducing the idea of « La Francophonie, " which refers to the countries where French is the main or a significant language.
Homework:
If you haven't already, you should now be able to add some of your hobbies to your written document.
A little reinforcement on hobbies...
Reinforcement on the weather
Further information on la Francophonie
La Francophonie - What do you know about La Francophonie?
Carte de la Francophonie How much of this video can you understand?
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vendredi, 25 avril 15h00 - online
You may have answered the questions below for me to check. After your next in-person visit, you should be able to start writing the best copy of your work in your Google Doc.
You have given me a fairly successful written document as a first draft of these questions.
What you like and do not like.
What do members of your family like and do not like?
Can you give some reasons why?
Describe yourself and members of your family. What do you/they look like? What sort of personality traits do they have?
What sort of activities do you and they do?
These were the newer questions to add to your document...
What do you learn at school? What is your favourite thing about school?
What do you wear to school?
What do you do on an average school day?
What sort of sports do you do/play?
What about your friends and family?
Newer questions after today's session to write about
What is your school life like? - What sort of holidays do you have? What is the school canteen like? What is your favourite day? What is on your timetable? What are your favourite subjects? (You might need to imagine life at KES, as that is where you will be; you can always adapt it later if need be.)
Today, we will look at: French schools
We will base it on the course currently used in the school. Dynamo 1.
C'est comment un collège français?
vendredi, 4 avril 16h15
Today, we will look at: Uniforms, a typical school day, French schools, sports.
We will base it on the course currently used in the school. Dynamo 1.
This will likely be a few lessons' worth of themes, but we will see...
Mon uniforme scolaire...
Au collège, je porte ...
un pullover brun. une chemise blanche, un pantalon brun, une veste brune et une cravate rayée marron et jaune avec des chassures noires et des chausettes noires.
La routine journalière
1. À quelle heure tu te lèves?
2. À quelle heure tu te douches?
3. À quelle heure tu te brosses les dents?
4. À quelle heure tu t’habilles?
5. À quelle heure tu prends ton petit déjeuner?
6. À quelle heure tu vas au collège?
7. Tu aimes le collège? Pourquoi?
You may have already completed a description of your family as outlined below...
You should consider writing a text for a presentation about yourself and your family.
Include:
What you like and do not like.
What do members of your family like and do not like?
Can you give some reasons why?
Describe yourself and members of your family. What do you/they look like? What sort of personality traits do they have?
What sort of activities do you and they do?
Newer Questions
What do you learn at school? What is your favourite thing about school?
What do you wear to school?
What do you do on an average school day?
What sort of sports do you do/play?
What about your friends and family?
vendredi, 21 mars 16h15
Today, after reviewing the first term of year 7 at King Edward VI School, we found a few gaps that need to be filled from that section.
Let's look at:
Numbers and Alphabet. - Have you looked at the sheets I gave you last week?
What do you like and not like (p 14 Dynamo 1).
Hair and eye colour and more in-depth descriptions. (p16 Dynamo)
Talking about the family in more detail.
For homework:
You should consider writing a text for a presentation about yourself and your family.
Include:
What you like and do not like.
What do members of your family like and do not like?
Can you give some reasons why?
Describe yourself and members of your family. What do you/they look like? What sort of personality traits do they have?
What sort of activities do you and they do?
These videos have some helpful language to help extend your presentations.
This one for introductory purposes:
This one for family descriptions
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vendredi, 14 mars 16h30
Today, as it is essential to ensure that Mathis has the solid grounding in French required to embark on a GCSE course, we will begin by checking his knowledge of what should have been covered had he studied the French Key Stage 3 course at the King Edward School.
Term 1: Family, likes and dislikes, describing oneself and others, school subjects and around the classroom.
Today, what you need in school, what is in the classroom,
J'ai un/une...
Je n'ai pas de/d'...
J'ai besoin de/d'...
Les chiffres
L'Alphabet
Les jours de la semaine
Les mois de l'année
Comment écrire la date en français
Quelle est la date de ton anniversaire? (Song below)
_____________________________________________________________________________
For reinforcement & revision
Family Members
Likes and dislikes
Describing people
School subjects
French school subjects
Introductions
The Alphabet - Florabelle et la Mushroom Family - L'Alphabet en chantant
French numbers 1-100
Months of the year
A song about the months of the year.
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