New
New
Year 4

At the zoo: writing from a word list for reference

Learning outcomes

I can use reference materials to determine the gender of nouns when writing descriptions in French.

I can identify and pronounce different nasal sounds, when talking about my favourite animals.

New
New
Year 4

At the zoo: writing from a word list for reference

Learning outcomes

I can use reference materials to determine the gender of nouns when writing descriptions in French.

I can identify and pronounce different nasal sounds, when talking about my favourite animals.

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Lesson details

Vocabulary and transcripts for this lessons

Key learning points

  1. The SSCs [ien], [(a)in] and [on] make nasal sounds. Air passes through both the nose and the mouth.
  2. In French all nouns are either masculine or feminine. This is grammatical gender. It is not the same as male or female.
  3. We can use reference materials such a dictionaries to help us determine the type of a word and the gender of a noun.
  4. All dictionaries have symbols to give information about word type and noun gender. For example 'nm' is a masculine noun.
  5. When saying your favourite animal in French, use the article the (le, la, l'): mon animal préféré est le chien.

Keywords

  • Nasal sound - a sound in which the air passes through both one's nose and mouth

  • [ien] - pronounced as in 'chien'

  • [(a)in] - pronounced as in 'train'

  • [on] - pronounced as in 'non'

Common misconception

When saying your favourite animal in French, use the article 'an/an' as in English: my favourite animal is a dog.

When saying your favourite animal in French, we in fact use the article 'the': mon animal préféré est le chien.


To help you plan your year 4 french lesson on: At the zoo: writing from a word list for reference, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

In Task B2, instead of drawing the image of the horse, pupils could draw their own picture and write a corresponding description, following the same formula as: [article] [noun] [adjective], [article] [noun] [adjective], et au centre [article] [noun] [adjective].
Teacher tip

Equipment

Pupils will need access to a physcial or online French-English dictionary for this lesson.

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.
What does 'combien' mean in English?
what
Correct answer: how much
where
who
Q2.
Match each French word to its English meaning.
Correct Answer:la,the (feminine)

the (feminine)

Correct Answer:le,the (masculine)

the (masculine)

Correct Answer:j'adore,I love

I love

Correct Answer:animaux,animals

animals

Correct Answer:animal,animal

animal

Q3.
Put the words in the correct order to form a French sentence.
1 - il y a
2 - un
3 - chat
4 - au centre
Q4.
Which of these nouns would use l' in French instead of le or la?
gâteau
chapeau
Correct answer: éléphant
chat
Q5.
Which sentence shows correct adjective agreement in French?
une tortue lent
un chien lente
Correct answer: une tortue lente
un chat lente
Q6.
Match the animal to the most likely description in French.
Correct Answer:le lapin,est petit et curieux

est petit et curieux

Correct Answer:le lion,est grand et méchant

est grand et méchant

Correct Answer:le cheval,est rapide et gris

est rapide et gris

5 Questions

Q1.
Which of these words contains a nasal sound?
chapeau
fruit
Correct answer: garçon
vélo
Q2.
Match the French words to their English meanings.
Correct Answer:professeur,(male) teacher

(male) teacher

Correct Answer:professeure,(female) teacher

(female) teacher

Correct Answer:sympathique,nice, kind

nice, kind

Correct Answer:au centre,in the centre

in the centre

Q3.
Which of these is true about grammatical gender in French?
It always matches the animal's real gender.
It only applies to people.
Correct answer: It tells us if a noun is masculine or feminine.
It changes depending on how you feel.
Q4.
Put the words in the correct order to say your favourite animal in French.
1 - mon
2 - animal
3 - préféré
4 - est
5 - le
6 - chien
Q5.
Fill in the gap to complete the French version of the sentence 'My favourite animal is a dog': Mon animal préféré est chien.
Correct Answer: le

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