Topic One (1.1): Le monde et moi

Topics Icon.png Objectives for this topic

  • To say where you live, what languages you speak and what nationality you are.

Introduction Icon.png Introduction

In this topic, you will learn how to introduce yourself and also the names of European countries. You will also work on the skill of answering questions!

Interact Icon.png Working through your coursebook

Please work through the following sections in your coursebook, completing all listed exercises:

  • Page 4 – Study the map of Europe and the labelled countries. Can you work out what the countries are called in English?
  • For more practice with countries, complete the following activity: Links to an external site.

COMPLETE - Les Pays en Europe (LanguagesOnline) Links to an external site.

  • Let’s meet some young people from around Europe! Read the text boxes around the map and work out their names and the country that they are from. Draw the table from Exercise 1 and complete the first two columns with these details.
  • You are now going to look at their nationalities. In French, adjectives agree with the noun that that they are describing. Therefore, for nationalities, the word changes depending on whether it is describing a boy or a girl (or a group of people – you will learn more about plurals later!) Study the beige box in the bottom left hand corner of the page and think about how the words change depending on whether they are describing a boy or a girl. When you are confident, fill in the third box in the table to show the person’s nationality and then translate it into English in the fourth column.
  • Now try to introduce yourself with your name and your nationality! Make sure you use the correct form of the nationality (either masculine or feminine). Download Here is a list of some more nationalities to help you! 
  • You are now going to use your new vocabulary of countries to complete a listening activity about countries that people are from and the languages that they speak. Before you do, study the yellow box at the top of page 5. When you have studied it carefully, complete Exercise 2 on page 5 by listening to Audio Disc 1 Track 2.

LISTEN - Audio Disc 1 Track 2 Download LISTEN - Audio Disc 1 Track 2Play media comment.

  • Complete Exercise 4 by writing a sentence for each picture. Make sure you are writing it for the correct person – the pink figure is for a girl and the blue figure is for a boy.
  • Using the questions in Exercise 5 as your stimulus, make a poster to introduce yourself in French, say where you live and which languages you speak.

Review Icon.png Review

  • Complete Nouns and Articles on page 14 to practice your use of le, la and les.
  • Complete Adjectives of Nationality on page 14 (Exercises 2 and 3) to revisit how to talk about nationalities in both the masculine and feminine form.

Interactive Kerboodle activities

Log onto Kerboodle and complete the interactive activities for this topic by following the link below:

COMPLETE - Le monde et moi Links to an external site.

Bridge Icon.png Support activity for this topic

Log onto Language Nut and choose the Topics page.

Complete the following:

  • Me and my family - About me- Languages – Word Pop
  • Me and my family- About me- Languages – Match up
  • Me and my family- About me - Languages – Noughts and Crosses

Stretch Icon.png Extension activity for this topic

Study the Grammaire box on page 5 and read the additional information on page 167 about Prepositions. Add an additional sentence for each one you have written in Exercise 4 to show which country they live in.

e.g  Je suis française. J’habite en France.

Then complete How to say ‘in’ a country on page 15 (Exercise 5) to practise the use of en and au

Grammar Icon.png Grammar Alert

Let’s learn more about how to say ‘the’ and how the masculine and feminine work in French! Read the Grammaire box at the bottom of page 4. For more information, refer to page 166 and the section Nouns and Articles.

Vocabulary.png Vocabulary

Make flashcards of the vocabulary in the sections ‘About me’ and ‘Quelle langue parles-tu?’ on page 21. On one side, you should write the French word and on the other side either write the word in English or put a picture that represents the French word. Test yourself by seeing if you can say correctly what is on the other side!

Explore Icon.png Cultural Understanding

There are 29 countries worldwide that have French as their official language. This means that the language has special status in that country and will be used by the government when it does business. French also has 11 Overseas Territories which are countries that are politically controlled by France. These are all over the world and there is at least one country in the following regions: 

  • Africa 
  • The Caribbean 
  • Europe 
  • North America 
  • South America 
  • The Caribbean 
  • Oceania 

Can you search online and find one country from each of the above regions that speaks French? 

Download Icon.png Check your answers

To check your answers to this topic, consult the Allez 1 module answers for Topic 1.1.

Download CHECK - Topic 1.1