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Year 8

When people celebrate: dates

Learning outcomes

I can form the date in French to express when people celebrate.

I can recognise and pronounce the sound [aim/im].

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New
New
Year 8

When people celebrate: dates

Learning outcomes

I can form the date in French to express when people celebrate.

I can recognise and pronounce the sound [aim/im].

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Lesson details

Vocabulary and transcripts for this lessons

Key learning points

  1. The SSCs [aim] and [im] sound identical in French.
  2. 'Préférer' is a regular -er verb but the 2nd -é in the stem changes to an -è in all forms apart from 'nous' and 'vous'.
  3. In French we add 'le' before a number to make it into a date. 'Of' in English is not translated, e.g. 'le deux mai'.
  4. We only use an ordinal number to express the first of the month in French, e.g. 'le premier janvier.'

Keywords

  • [aim/im] - sound-symbol correspondence like the [aim] in 'faim'

  • Préférer - French verb meaning 'to prefer, preferring'

  • Ordinal numbers - numbers that indicate the position of something in a series, e.g. 'first', 'second', 'third'

Common misconception

To express the date I use 'de' for 'of' so 2nd January would be 'le deux de janvier'.

There is no need to translate 'of' into French to express the date. For example 2nd January would be 'le deux janvier'.


To help you plan your year 8 french lesson on: When people celebrate: dates, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

There are several interesting cultural references in this lesson which could be explored further, such as Epiphany, Feast of the Kings, April Fools and Candlemas.
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This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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6 Questions

Q1.
Put the first six months of year in order in French.
1 - janvier
2 - février
3 - mars
4 - avril
5 - mai
6 - juin
Q2.
Match the French to the English.
Correct Answer:l'événement,the event
tick

the event

Correct Answer:la date,the date
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the date

Correct Answer:la tradition,the tradition
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the tradition

Correct Answer:célébrer,to celebrate, celebrating
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to celebrate, celebrating

Q3.
Select the three highest numbers.
Correct answer: vingt-et-un
quinze
Correct answer: trente
dix-sept
Correct answer: dix-neuf
Q4.
Solve the equations.
Correct Answer:dix + trois =,treize
tick

treize

Correct Answer:vingt-trois - cinq =,dix-huit
tick

dix-huit

Correct Answer:dix-sept + six =,vingt-trois
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vingt-trois

Correct Answer:seize + treize =,vingt-neuf
tick

vingt-neuf

Correct Answer:dix + vingt =,trente
tick

trente

Correct Answer:trente-trois - deux =,trente-et-un
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trente-et-un

Q5.
Match the forms of 'célébrer' with the correct pronoun.
Correct Answer:célébrons,nous
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nous

Correct Answer:célèbres,tu
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tu

Correct Answer:célèbre,je, il, elle
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je, il, elle

Correct Answer:célébrez,vous
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vous

Correct Answer:célèbrent,ils, elles
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ils, elles

Q6.
Match the word to the correct category.
Correct Answer:aimer,verb
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verb

Correct Answer:vingt-trois,number
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number

Correct Answer:la chose,noun
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noun

Correct Answer:devant,preposition
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preposition

Correct Answer:avril,month
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month

Correct Answer:amusant,adjective
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adjective

6 Questions

Q1.
Match the word to the missing sound-symbol correspondence.
Correct Answer:m_____ (May),[ai]
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[ai]

Correct Answer:f_____ (hunger),[aim]
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[aim]

Correct Answer:_____primer (to print),[im]
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[im]

Correct Answer:tim_____de (shy),[i]
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[i]

Q2.
Put the following numbers in ascending order (lowest to highest).
1 - premier
2 - cinq
3 - douze
4 - dix-sept
5 - vingt-deux
6 - trente
7 - trente-et-un
Q3.
In French, we add before a number to make it into a date.
Correct Answer: le
Q4.
Match the English to the French.
Correct Answer:le trois janvier,3rd January
tick

3rd January

Correct Answer:le premier avril,1st April
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1st April

Correct Answer:le seize mars,16th March
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16th March

Correct Answer:le vingt-neuf février,29th February
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29th February

Correct Answer:le dix juin,10th June
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10th June

Correct Answer:le dix-neuf mai,19th May
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19th May

Q5.
Translate into English: 'Nous préférons.'
Correct Answer: We prefer.
Q6.
Translate into French: 'I prefer.'
Correct Answer: Je préfère.

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