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French I—Semester A

Voulez-vous étudier avec moi ce soir?

  • Credit Recovery Enabled
  • Course Length: 18 weeks
  • Course Type: Basic
  • Category:
    • High School
    • Foreign Language
    • Middle School

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Many consider French to be the most beautiful language in the world. 

...To which we say: come on, have you even heard Klingon?

French may be a more practical choice than Klingon in the long run, though. In addition to being considered très belle, it's one of the most widely spoken languages in the world. Yup: French is a language of the past (Vive la révolution!) and the modern day, spoken in Africa, Europe, and North America.

And now, you don't even need a brick and mortar classroom and a teacher in a beret to learn it. This course is your entrée to the French language, culture, history, and people. We'll take you around the world with French⎯from eating fondue in Switzerland to perusing the local mall. Along the way, you'll admire classic French art, jam out to some sweet tunes, and

  • use simple phrases of greeting and conversation and other culturally appropriate gestures such as making introductions. "Bonjour, Shmooper!" "Merci." 
  • conjugate regular and common irregular verbs in present, passé compose, and imperfect tenses (which is a fancy way to say, you'll learn how to avoid mistakes like "you is smart"—tu est intelligent).
  • expand geographic knowledge through a study of the many countries in the francophone world and their key geographic features.

So until we offer an online course in le Klingon, might we recommend you pull up a chair, grab a baguette, and consider French I Semester A?

Unit Breakdown

1 French I—Semester A - Bienvenue en France

In Unit 1, you'll learn the basics—the alphabet, introductions, sentence structure, and what to bring to the beach.

2 French I—Semester A - La Cuisine de Chef Shmoop

Ready for an American to chef-splain French cuisine? We thought so. Meet the tasty world of Francophone food through Julia Child, who introduced French food to the United States. Through a tour of the supermarket, the kitchen, a restaurant, and even the set of Julia Child's Kitchen, learn key vocabulary while learning new foundational grammar points: how to conjugate regular –re and –ir verbs in the present tense, ask questions, and use the imperative. Délicieux.

3 French I—Semester A - Get Ready and Go...To Paris

Turn off your phone alarm. Shower. Eat. Repeat….forever. 

In this unit, you'll learn the necessary foundational vocabulary and grammar skills to describe your daily lives⎯from getting ready to getting around. This unit focuses on reflexive verbs in the present tense and introduces passé compose (present tense), as well as learning about Paris' famous sights and culture. Because a whole unit about the daily grind can get sorta dull—but learning the reflective verb for brushing your teeth in Paris is simply fascinating.

4 French I—Semester A - Aux Magasins, Allons-y

At the end of Semester A, learn how to shop and everything that comes with it—from the classic makeover montage to how to ask to speak to someone's manager (sort of). This unit also reviews cultural differences and guides you on etiquette abroad. At the end of the unit, you'll interview someone you admire about their work. Très bien!


Sample Lesson - Introduction

Lesson 2.04: Au Supermarché

An aerial view of a well-stocked <em>supermarché</em>
A trip to the supermarket seems pretty appetizing right about now.
(Source)

Aisles of food and drinks. Grumpy cashiers. Screaming toddlers.

Visits to the supermarket can be less than super. But it can also be fun to peruse the aisles, discover new noms, and there are sometimes free samples (score!). In addition to the giant supermarket chains, farmers markets and small stands are also a fun place to buy snacks. There's just something about buying food or flowers from a local grower that gives us a little happy feeling inside.

French speakers must share these positive feels about buying local, 'cause a lot of French grocery shopping is done outside of the supermarché. It's important to point out that most French supermarchés, like Casino and Carrefour, are generally much tinier than our très grands American stores. But even in towns with large supermarchés, the majority of French people do at least some—if not all—of their shopping at outdoor open-air markets called marchés or at indoor equivalents known as les halles.

Whether you hate pushing a caddie around the aisles or love shopping for BOGO deals, this lesson is going to be your key to finding what you need should you ever find yourself at a French market. Trust us, it's a lot easier once you have the vocab down.

Sample Lesson - Reading

Reading 2.2.04a: Vocabulary

So far in this unit you've learned all about French cookin' ingredients, chefs, and their fave meals. But where do French chefs buy the ingredients they need to cook these fantastic feasts? We're about to find out.

Take out your vocabulary notebooks and warm up your vocal cords—it's time to drill the following new terms:

Nouns

  • le supermarché (m): supermarket
    Plural: les supermarchés
    Je vais au supermarché.
    I'm going to the supermarket.
  • la nourriture (f): food
    Plural: les nourritures
    Il y a beaucoup de nourriture dans le frigo.
    There's a whole bunch of food in the fridge.
  • le caddie (m): shopping cart
    Plural: les caddies
    Dans le caddie il y a deux citrons.
    There are two lemons in the cart.
  • le panier (m):basket
    Plural: les paniers
    Nous n'avons pas besoin d'un caddie. Un panier, c'est bien.
    We don't need a cart. A basket's good.
  • le rayon: aisle
    Plural: les rayons
    Vous trouvez des carottes dans le rayon légumes.
    You can find carrots in the vegetable section.
  • le rayon épicerie (m): baking section
    Plural: les rayons épiceries
    Tu as du sucre? Non? Il faut aller au rayon épicerie.
    Do you have sugar? No? We need to go to the baking section then.
  • le rayon crémerie (m): dairy section
    Plural: les rayons crémeries
    Où est le fromage? C'est dans le rayon crémerie.
    Where's the cheese? It's in the dairy section.
  • la caisse (f): checkout
    Plural: les caisses
    Il faut payer pour la nourriture à la caisse.
    You have to pay for the food at checkout.
  • le caissier (m)/la caissière (f): cashier
    Plural: les caissiers (m), les caissières (f)
    Mon ami, Léo, est caissier à Carrefour.
    My pal, Leo, is a cashier at Carrefour.
  • les céréales (f, pl): grains, cereal
    Tu aimes quelles céréales?
    What cereal do you like? 
  • la charcuterie (f): charcuterie, cold meats
    Plural: les charcuteries
    La charcuterie est très fraîche au restaurant.
    The charcuterie is very fresh at the restaurant.
  • le poisson (m): fish
    Plural: les poissons
    Mon poisson préféré est le saumon.
    My favorite fish is salmon.
  • le poulet (m): chicken
    Plural: les poulets
    Ma viande préférée est le poulet.
    My favorite meat is chicken.
  • le plat cuisiné (m): ready-made meal, kinda like Lean Cuisine
    Plural: les plats cuisinés
    Elle n'aime pas cuisiner donc elle mange beaucoup de plats cuisinés.
    She doesn't like to cook so she eats a lot of ready-made meals.
  • le produit d'entretien (m): household cleaning product
    Plural: les produits d'entretien
    Il y a beaucoup de produits d'entretien dans la cuisine.
    There's a bunch of cleaning products in the kitchen.

Adjectives

  • surgelé(e): frozen
    Je n'aime pas les légumes surgelés, je préfère les légumes frais.
    I'm not big on frozen veggies, I prefer fresh veggies.

Sample Lesson - Reading

Reading 2.2.04b: A Feast Fit For A Shmooper (Video)

Preparing for a large dinner party or holiday involves lots of grocery shopping—hunting down different ingredients, confirming everyone's allergies and food preferences ten times. Given all the rigamarole involved, we can sympathize with Clotilde, a French woman about to cook an elaborate meal for her in-laws. Listen to the following dialogue as Clotilde makes her way around the supermarché in search of all the necessary ingredients to make her grand repas a success.

Sample Lesson - Activity

Activity 2.04: Ray-ons Of Sunshine

Clotilde sure did run all over that store, didn't she? Even if French supermarkets have a smaller footprint than our gargantuan grocery stores, that lady burnt some calories. She's earned herself an extra piece of tarte tatin for sure.

Step One

Using your new knowledge of French groceries, draw the grocery store where Clotilde is shopping, then label each department en français. Make sure to include the following in your drawing:

  • Label
    • rayon viande et poisson.
    • rayon surgelé.
    • rayon épicerie.
    • rayon crémerie.
    • rayon fruits et légumes.
    • la caisse.
  • Pictures (either hand-drawn or from the internet) of the food available in each rayon

Check out our ah-mazin' drawing here:

Shmoop 'R Us


(Sources: Milk, Cheese, Steak, Trout, Sugar, Spices, Popsicle, Orange, Tomato, Eggplant)

Step Two

Once your drawing of the supermarché is complete, upload it to the class discussion board to share with your classmates.

Step Three

Check out your classmates' stores on the class discussion board. Then, using what you learned about asking questions from Lesson 3, ask at least two questions each to three different classmates about their stores.

You can use

  • interogative words like qui, quel, quand, comment, pourquoi et où. 
  • est-ce que or qu'est-ce que.
  • inversion of the subject and the verb.
  • a statement with a question mark.
  • n'est-ce pas at the end of the sentence.

Here are some examples of questions you might ask:

  • Quels types de légumes avez-vous dans le supermarché?
  • Est-ce que vous avez le lait?
  • Préférez-vous le rayon surgelé ou le rayon viande?

Step Four

Answer the questions about your own store in one to two sentences.

Here's how we would answer the questions we asked ourselves above:

  • Nous avons des haricots verts, des petits pois, des carottes, et la salade.
  • Oui, nous avons le lait.
  • Nous préférons le rayon viande parce que la viande est naturelle.

We don't blame you if you're as exhausted as Clotilde after all that. Why don't you also help yourself to another slice of tarte tatin?

Foreign Language: Creative Project Rubric - 50 Points

OutstandingProficientDevelopingNeeds Improvement
Cultural Understanding

Response demonstrates a complete understanding of the culture or product being studied. Presentation cites specific details.

(4)

Response meets the criteria and demonstrates some understanding of the culture or product being studied, but doesn't include specific details.

(17)

Response demonstrates only a basic understanding of culture or product being studied. May miss one or two criteria.

(15)

Response contains major errors or demonstrates significant misunderstanding of the culture or product studied.

(13)
Analysis

Response demonstrates a sophisticated ability to describe the significance of cultural products or practices, or to draw connections to own culture.

(11)

Response demonstrates some ability to describe the significance of cultural products or practices, or to draw connections to own culture.

(9)

Response demonstrates a limited ability to describe the significance of cultural products or practices, or to draw connections to their own culture.

(9)

Response doesn't contain analysis or personal reflection.

(8)
Creativity

Presentation is very creative, bringing additional levels of interpretive depth, while remaining true to original topic.

(24)

Presentation is creative and demonstrates an understanding of the topic.

(21)

Presentation shows minimal creativity—or is very creative, but departs significantly from the topic.

(19)

Presentation isn't creative and departs significantly from the topic.

(16)
Language

Language in response is clear and exceeds criteria. Speaks confidently with few pauses. Spoken and/or written language contains no errors.

(11)

Language is clear and meets criteria. May contain spelling or grammatical errors. May occasionally pause or hesitate while speaking.

(9)

Language is occasionally unclear, but meaning is generally understandable. Contains frequent spelling/grammar errors that don't impede comprehension. Spoken language is often incorrect, with frequent pauses to search for vocabulary, but manages to express ideas.

(9)

Language is very difficult to understand. Contains frequent spelling or grammar errors that impede comprehension. Spoken language is difficult to understand, with frequent lapses to native language or long pauses.

(8)