Topic Two (1.2): Quelle est la date?

Objectives for this topic

To be able to understand people talking about their birthdays.
To be able to say when your birthday is.

Introduction

In this topic, you will learn the numbers 1-31 and the twelve months of the year and use them to build your confidence with understanding and saying dates. You will also think about different ways to help you to learn new words.

Working through your coursebook

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

The months of the year in French contain a large number of cognates (words that are from the same origin or similar to English). Look at the box in Exercise 1 on page 6. Can you work out the correct order of the months of the year? Write them into your book! Listen to audio Disc 1 Track 3 to check you got them correct!

LISTEN - Disc 1 Track 3 Download LISTEN - Disc 1 Track 3 Play media comment.

Let’s do some practice with the months of the year! Complete the activities in the section 'Les 12 Mois'

COMPLETE - Les 12 Mois (LanguagesOnline) Links to an external site.

Now, to be able to use the months of the year to understand dates, you need to be confident with using numbers 1-31. Listen to audio Disc 1 Track 4 as they are read to you while you read the purple box on page 6.

LISTEN - Disc 1 Track 4 Download LISTEN - Disc 1 Track 4 Play media comment.

Practise repeating the numbers yourself after listening to the track. If you find it hard to remember the correct pronunciation, play Track 4 again!
You are going to need to memorise these numbers as you will use them again and again as you continue your French studies. Read the box on page 15 about memorisation strategies and identify some memorisation strategies that you will use to learn the numbers. Try it out and test yourself!
How to answer the question ‘How old are you?’ in French. In French, we use the verb avoir (to have) when we are talking about ages. This is different to English as we would use the verb ‘to be’. Read the information in the yellow box in Exercise 4 about how to ask the question and how to answer it.
Page 6 Exercise 5. Read the information on the birthday cards and write a sentence to explain how old the people are. E.g. J’ai cinq ans.
Page 7 Exercise 6. Let’s practise your listening skills! Listen to audio Disc 1 Track 5 where people are saying when their birthday is.

LISTEN - Disc 1 Track 5 Download LISTEN - Disc 1 Track 5 Play media comment.

Listen to each one twice and write down their birthday in English. If you can, as an extension to this activity, write down the ages of the people as well.
Page 7 Exercise 8. Read the three speech bubbles and copy and complete the grid with their information in English.
Page 7 Exercise 9. Pick a celebrity and pretend that you are them. Using the phrases in bold from Exercise 8, write a short paragraph to give some basic information about yourself. Add a picture of the celebrity as well!

Interactive Kerboodle activities

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

COMPLETE - Quelle est la date… ? Links to an external site.

Support activity for this topic

Log onto Language Nut and choose the Topics page.

Complete the Practice activities in the following section for numbers 1-31:

Numbers and Time – Numbers

Then complete the Practice area activities in the section:

Me and my family – How old are you?

Extension activity for this topic

Make a booklet about your family and friends, introducing each one of them using the same structures as Exercise 8, page 7.

Grammar Alert

Read the Grammaire box on page 7 and the information on page 170 about dates in French. Then answer the question ‘Quelle est la date de ton anniversaire?’ for yourself in writing.

Practice using ‘avoir’ by completing Exercise 4 on page 14.

Vocabulary

Using the vocabulary about dates and numbers on page 21, make yourself a calendar to practice using it!

Check your answers

To check your answers to this topic, consult the Allez 1 module answers for Topic 1.2.

CHECK - Topic 1.2 Download CHECK - Topic 1.2