French II, First Half Unit

This lesson presents a review of material covered during the first year of French study.

Objectives

This lesson is designed to reinforce your knowledge of how to form and use the following grammatical constructions:

Assignments

Reading Assignment

Read pages xxi–xxxv in your textbook, Bon voyage! Level 2. Then read the review of grammar covered in French I on pages R1–R57. Read the Lesson 1 Commentary. Do all the exercises in the textbook and the writing workbook and check your answers carefully as you go along.

Listening Assignment

Listen to the French songs on CD 1 and read along with the words on workbook pages v–xii (between the writing workbook [page 170] and the audio activities [page A1]). Try to learn the songs and sing along, which will help tremendously with the rhythm of your speech. Rhythm is fundamentally important in any language.

The audio CDs for this course are available to you via streaming audio. You will listen to them online. Click the link below to launch the audio player. (This option is only available to enrolled students. You can keep this window open as you work through your lesson.)

Online Assignment

There are no specific activities on the publisher's Web site for this lesson. However, I encourage you to take the time to explore the site.

Commentary

The French have an expression, au cas où (just in case), which they use often. This first lesson of your French II course is au cas où you need to be reminded of the most important things you learned in French I. These are the things you need to know before you embark upon your second year of French study. Do a thorough job on this review lesson! You already have many of the big pieces of the huge puzzle that is the French language. This lesson will remind you of how much you already know.

Révision A: Les copains et l'école

On page R3 of your textbook, you have two "Historiettes" (short stories) to complete. Examples to help you are shown on page R2. Complete these exercises, and then record your written responses to check your grammar and pronunciation. Once you are done, compare your answers with the sample answers provided.

L'accord des adjectifs

Les verbes être et aller

Page R6 helps you review two very familiar verbs, être and aller. Complete the exercises on pages R6–R7, and check your answers.

Have you noticed how many words ending in the letters -tion are identical in French and English? We have la nation, la situation, la démonstration, la position, and so on. The meaning is the same, but the pronunciation is different. There is no "shun" sound in French. For French words ending in -tion, the letter t has the sound of "si" (see). Follow that with the sound of English "own" and you will be pronouncing a very nice French -tion. It's handy to remember that all French words ending in -tion are feminine.

Les contractions

Before you continue with Révision B in your textbook, please complete all of the Révision A activities in your workbook (pages R1–R6). Once you have completed these activities, check your answers.

Révision B: La famille

Start by studying the "Vocabulaire" on page R12 of your textbook. Complete the exercises on page R13. Once you're done, check your answers.

On page R14, read the "Conversation" and answer the "Vous avez compris?" questions. When you're done, check your answers.

Les verbes réguliers en -er

Review -er verbs on page R15. You can go to the help sheets to review how to make a verb schéma for -er verbs, if you like. Then do the exercises on pages R15–R16, and check your answers. Note: Answers to the personal questions will vary.

Le partitif and Les verbes avoir et faire

Continuing on page R16, please review the proper use of the partitive. Do the exercises on page R17 of your textbook. Be careful of the negative partitive! See the "Rappelez-vous que…" signpost on page R18 and the help sheet on the partitive, if you need more information.

Pages R18–19 help you review avoir and faire. You can go to the help sheet on idioms to expand your knowledge of avoir and faire expressions, if you like.

Before you continue with Révision C in your textbook, please complete all of the Révision B activities in your workbook (pages R7–R14). Once you have completed these activities, check your answers.

Révision C: Les courses

This section of the review lesson takes you to the market. It also takes you shopping. Study the vocabulary on page R22 of your textbook, then do the exercises on page R23 and check your answers.

On page R24 of your textbook, practice the "Conversation." Of course un achat is "a purchase." You would guess that from the verb acheter.

This is a good time to remind you of the spelling changes necessary for some verbs, such as acheter. In the present tense of this verb, the forms with mute endings would be impossible to pronounce without the addition of a grave (`) accent to the next-to-last syllable. (It is not possible to pronounce two syllables in a row with a mute e.) The forms affected include all the singulars and the third-person plural. This means the forms for nous and vous do not need accents. The addition of the grave accent gives an "eh" sound to the e (è) and lets us pronounce it properly. See the help sheets to review other spell-changing verbs.

Now read these forms aloud:

j'achète, tu achètes, il achète, nous achetons, vous achetez, ils achètent.

With the addition of the grave accents, as shown, all the forms (except nous and vous) will have the "eh" sound in the next-to-last syllable. Practice! Among other verbs that need the same treatment are mener (to lead), lever (to lift), and se lever (to get up).

Complete the "Vous avez compris?" questions on page R24, then check your answers.

Les verbes vouloir et pouvoir

On page R25 of your textbook, you are presented with a review of vouloir and pouvoir. You can say a lot of things using these verbs! Just use the present tense form that agrees with the subject of your sentence and add any infinitive you like.

Tu peux dire beaucoup de choses que tu veux dire. You can say lots of things that you want to say. See how easy that is? Vous pouvez parler français! You can speak French! It's the same structure we use in English and the one that you learned with aller to talk about near-future actions.

Nous allons continuer à apprendre beaucoup de français. We are going to continue to learn lots of French. Tu vas parler français. You are going to speak French. Tu peux avoir une bonne note. You can have a good grade. Le prof veut te donner une très bonne note. The teacher wants to give you a very good grade.

Le verbe prendre

You'll review another very important verb, prendre, on page R26. Do the exercises on page R27 (skip number 12 if you find it hard to do alone), and then check your answers.

Before you continue with Révision D in your textbook, please complete all of the Révision C activities in your workbook (pages R15–R20). Once you have completed these activities, check your answers.

Révision D: En voyage

After reviewing railroad station and airport vocabulary on page R30 of your textbook, complete the exercises on page R31. Then check your answers.

Study the "Conversation" on page R32. Answer the questions in "Vous avez compris?" and check your answers.

Les verbes en -ir et -re

On pages R33–R35, review -ir and -re verbs. If you like, you can go to the help sheets to review how to make a verb schéma for these verbs. It helps. Then, complete all of the exercises on these pages and check your answers.

Before you continue with Révision E in your textbook, please complete all of the Révision D activities in your workbook (pages R21–R26). Once you have completed these activities, check your answers.

Révision E: Les sports

Review the sports terms presented on page R38 of your textbook. Complete the exercises on page R39—be sure to use the passé composé. Once you have completed these activities, check your answers.

On page R40, study the "Conversation." Complete the "Vous avez compris?" questions, then check your answers.

Le passé composé

Review the passé composé with avoir on page R41. You can go to the help sheet on the passé composé for clarification on when to use avoir or être. Then practice the passé composé with the exercises on page R42.

Review the irregular past participles on page R43, then do the exercises on pages R43–R45. For exercise 9, write out and then read aloud a short work on your favorite season. You may skip exercise 10.

Once you have completed exercises 3–9 (pages R42–R45), you should check your answers.

Before you continue with Révision F in your textbook, please complete all of the Révision E activities in your workbook (pages R27–R32). Once you have completed these activities, check your answers.

Révision F: La routine quotidienne

Page R48 in your textbook presents a review of the reflexive pronouns. Review the vocabulary and the concepts. Remember that there will always be an object pronoun with a reflexive verb, such as me, te, se, nous, or vous.

Study the "Conversation" on page R50 and do the "Vous avez compris?" questions. Then check your answers.

Les verbes réfléchis au présent

Le passé composé avec être

Les verbes réfléchis au passé composé

Review the passé composé of reflexive verbs on page R55. Complete the exercises on pages R56–R57, and check your answers.

It's always a good idea to talk to your mirror when you do oral work. It helps a great deal in developing good muscles français and une bonne prononciation française.

Now complete all of the exercises under Révision F in the workbook (pages R33–R38) and check your answers.

Now you are ready to complete the Lesson 1 Progress Evaluation. It is computer-evaluated, and this will give you your first grade for the course.

Review Exercises

These exercises are for your practice only; do not send your responses to the Center.

Textbook Exercises

Workbook Exercises

Complete all of the exercises for Révision A–F in your workbook (pages R1–R38). Once you have completed these exercises, you can check your answers.

Vocabulary

There is no new vocabulary presented in this lesson. However, you should take the time to review the vocabulary that you learned in your first year of French study as you will continue to build on this foundation.

Progress Evaluation

You should now complete the Lesson 1 Progress Evaluation. This progress evaluation consists of 60 multiple-choice and true/false questions worth 1 point each for a total possible of 60 points. Remember to mark your answers on a printed copy of the progress evaluation preview so you will have a record of them. (Select "Lesson 1" to preview this progress evaluation.) When you have finished filling in and checking your answers on a copy of the progress evaluation preview, click on Submit a Lesson for an actual lesson submission page.

Note: Progress evaluations must be submitted in sequence, and you may submit no more than three progress evaluations in a seven-day period. You should keep the printed copy of each progress evaluation preview with your answers marked so you will have a record of them.

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Purpose