In the headlines: pre- and postnominal adjectives
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can use prenominal and postnominal adjectives in the context of news headlines.
Vocabulary and transcripts for this lessons
Key learning points
- [em/am] is pronounced like 'temps' and [en/an] sounds like 'enfant' before a consonant.
- [em/am] and [en/an] are the same nasal sound before a consonant and different oral sounds before a vowel.
- Prenominal adjectives come before the noun they describe. These are Beauty, Rank, Age, Goodness and Size adjectives.
- The acronym BRAGS reminds us which adjectives are prenominal.
- 'Plusieurs', 'autre' and 'même' are examples of 'Rank' adjectives.
Keywords
[em/am] - pronounced as in 'temps'
[en/an] - pronounced as in 'enfant'
Prenominal adjective - a BRAGS adjective (beauty, rank, age, good/bad or size) that goes before the noun: 'un vieux vélo'
Nasal vowel - when pronounced, air passes through both nose and mouth
Common misconception
All adjectives are postnominal in French; they come after the noun.
Most adjectives in French come after the noun but there are a group of prenominal adjectives. We use BRAGS to remember that adjectives of Beauty, Rank, Age, Goodness and Size come before the noun like adjectives in English.
Teacher tip
Don't hesitate to exaggerate strongly the difference between nasal and oral vowels. Students might want to put their hand in front of their face to see if they can feel the difference and their fingers on their nose to feel whether it vibrates when nasal sounds are pronounced.
Licence
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.Match the English and the French
hospital
ideal
several
game
bird
Q2.Which of these is the correct definition for an 'adjective'?
Q3.Match the meaning of these adjectives
beautiful
young
old
bad
small
big
Q4.Complete this sentence with the infinitive form of 'to find': on peut un animal
Q5.Put this sentence in order.
Q6.Which of the following is true about adjectives in French?
Assessment exit quiz
6 Questions
Q1.Which word contains a nasal vowel?
Q2.Match the words to the correct pronunciation rule.
nasal vowel
oral vowel
Q3.Put the words in the correct order to form a headline.
Q4.Which of these adjectives usually comes before the noun in French?
Q5.What does the acronym BRAGS stand for in French adjective placement?
Q6.Which one sentence correctly uses an adjective from the 'Rank' category?
To help you plan your 8 French lesson on: In the headlines: pre- and postnominal adjectives, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 8 French lesson on: In the headlines: pre- and postnominal adjectives, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 3 French lessons from the In the news: plural adjectives unit, dive into the full secondary French curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.