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Year 10
Edexcel

La vie en ville : extended writing and speaking, photo description

I can describe a town in detail, using the imperfect and present tenses. I can describe a photo and draw comparisons between two photos.

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New
New
Year 10
Edexcel

La vie en ville : extended writing and speaking, photo description

I can describe a town in detail, using the imperfect and present tenses. I can describe a photo and draw comparisons between two photos.

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Lesson details

Vocabulary and transcripts for this lessons

Key learning points

  1. We use present tense for describing a photo, but a range of tenses, including imperfect, to extend the discussion.
  2. Use 'plus' and 'moins' followed by adjectives and 'plus de' and 'moins de' followed by nouns for contrasts.
  3. Immediate repetition of a speaking task, with reduced support, improves performance.
  4. It's important to plan to incorporate a range of past, present and future tenses when writing an extended text.

Keywords

  • Imperfect tense - tense used to describe how things were or used to be in the past, or to say what was happening

  • Adjective - a word that gives more information about a noun

  • Noun - word for a person, place, or thing

Common misconception

Only the near future and future tenses can be used to refer fo the future.

It is possible to refer to the future using the conditional mood: phrases like 'je voudrais' and 'il voudrait' which are followed by an infinitive. This creates the idea of what someone would like to do, clearly referring to possible future events.


To help you plan your year 10 french lesson on: La vie en ville : extended writing and speaking, photo description, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

You may wish to have current and historic photos of the town or area your school serves to use as prompts for students to practise writing sentences about their town using present and imperfect tenses.
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Teacher tip
equipment-required

Equipment

Mini whiteboards and pens are useful if available.

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Licence

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.
Match the imperfect verb forms with the subjects.
Correct Answer:je,mangeais
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mangeais

Correct Answer:il,mangeait
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mangeait

Correct Answer:nous,mangions
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mangions

Correct Answer:vous,mangiez
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mangiez

Correct Answer:elles,mangeaient
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mangeaient

Q2.
Match the imperfect verb endings with the subjects.
Correct Answer:tu,-ais
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-ais

Correct Answer:elle,-ait
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-ait

Correct Answer:ils,-aient
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-aient

Correct Answer:vous,-iez
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-iez

Correct Answer:nous,-ions
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-ions

Q3.
Which statement is a disadvantage (un inconvénient)?
Il y a beaucoup de magasins en ville et faire les magasins est ma passion.
Correct answer: Les bus arrivent souvent en retard.
Ma ville est grande et belle.
Il y a beaucoup de choses à faire pour les jeunes.
Q4.
Which sentences describe the way things used to be?
Nous aimons faire les magasins en ville.
Correct answer: Tu aimais visiter le musée de temps en temps.
Correct answer: Ils allaient souvent à Paris pour visiter les monuments.
Nous regardons parfois des films au cinéma.
Correct answer: Je me disputais tout le temps avec mon frère.
Q5.
Match the French verbs with their English meanings.
Correct Answer:invente,invent, invents (I, you, he, she)
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invent, invents (I, you, he, she)

Correct Answer:souhaitons,wish (we)
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wish (we)

Correct Answer:conseillaient,used to advise (they)
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used to advise (they)

Correct Answer:inventais,used to invent (I, you)
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used to invent (I, you)

Correct Answer:souhaitions,used to wish (we)
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used to wish (we)

Correct Answer:conseillent,advise (they)
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advise (they)

Q6.
What is the missing verb in this sentence? 'Je mes amis à bien travailler en classe'. I used to advise my friends to work hard in class.
Correct Answer: conseillais

5 Questions

Q1.
What is the acronym to remind us of things to talk about when describing a photo?
Correct Answer: PALM, palm
Q2.
Which sentence refers to the future?
J'habite dans une petite ville loin de Paris.
J'habitais à Paris.
J'aimais habiter à la campagne.
Correct answer: Je voudrais habiter dans une grande ville.
Je voulais habiter à Paris.
Q3.
What is the imperfect stem of 'être' to be, being?
Correct Answer: ét
Q4.
Put these words in order to make the sentence: He often used to go cycling with Pierre.
1 - il
2 - faisait
3 - souvent
4 - du
5 - vélo
6 - avec
7 - Pierre
Q5.
Which word is missing to make this question about the future? 'Tu aller en ville avec moi samedi ?'
Correct Answer: voudrais, veux, vas, aimerais

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