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      School reporter: past inversion questions

      Lesson details

      Learning outcome

      I can plan questions for a school report using inversion and the perfect tense

      Vocabulary and transcripts for this lessons

      Key learning points

      1. The French [s] can make a hard 'z' or a soft 's' sound: maison, société.
      2. The SSC [tion] makes a soft 's' sound: attention. The SSC [ç/c] makes a soft 's' sound: cinéma.
      3. Use the perfect tense to talk about an action that happened in the past: avoir + past participle.
      4. To ask a closed question in the perfect tense use inversion: swap the subject and the verb (avoir): as-tu commencé ?

      Keywords

      • [s] - pronounced as in 'maison'

      • [tion] - pronounced as in 'attention'

      • [c/ç] - pronounced as in 'ici'

      • Perfect tense - a verb tense that describes completed actions in the past e.g. I listened, you played

      • Inversion - when the subject pronoun and the verb switch place to form a question

      Common misconception

      When forming an inversion question in the perfect tense, the past participle comes after 'avoir'.

      When forming an inversion question in the perfect tense, only the verb avoir and the subject swap. The past participle remains at the end: as-tu commencé ?

      Teacher tip

      Once pupils have prepared questions for their school project, ask volunteers to present their 'school report' to the class, as Amir did in task B1. Use task B1 as a model answer on the board.

      Licence

      This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2026), 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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      Prior knowledge starter quiz

      6 Questions

      Q1.
      Match the French to the English.

      Correct Answer:décire,to describe, describing

      to describe, describing

      Correct Answer:expliquer,to explain, explaining

      to explain, explaining

      Correct Answer:emprunter,to borrow, borrowing

      to borrow, borrowing

      Correct Answer:quitter,to leave, leaving

      to leave, leaving

      Correct Answer:nourrir,to feed, feeding

      to feed, feeding

      Correct Answer:finir,to finish, finishing

      to finish, finishing

      Q2.
      Which words mean 'time'?

      Correct answer: temps
      communauté
      produit
      Correct answer: fois
      expérience

      Q3.
      Order the words to say 'vaping is dangerous for young people'.

      1 - le
      2 - vapotage
      3 - est
      4 - dangereux
      5 - pour
      6 - les
      7 - jeunes

      Q4.
      'Aujourd'hui je vais emprunter ton livre.' Which is the correct translation?

      Today, I borrow your book.
      Tomorrow, I am going to borrow your book.
      Correct answer: Today, I am going to borrow your book.
      Today, I am going to read your book.
      Today, I am starting your book.

      Q5.
      'Avez-vous écrit une lettre?' Translate this sentence into English.

      Correct Answer: Have you written a letter, Did you write a letter

      Q6.
      'Have they found a solution?' Translate this question into French using inversion into French.

      Correct Answer: Ont-ils trouvé une solution, Ont-elles trouvé une solution

      6 Questions

      Q1.
      Which of these words is an adverb?

      réponse
      journal
      autre
      Correct answer: enfin
      lire

      Q2.
      'Nous __________ parlé avec les élèves et leurs parents pour trouver une solution.' Which word best completes this sentence?

      sommes
      ont
      parlons
      avez
      Correct answer: avons

      Q3.
      'Je quitte __________ l'école à trois heures.' Which word best completes this sentence?

      déjà
      Correct answer: toujours
      parfois
      aujourd'hui
      hier

      Q4.
      Order these words to say 'I want to work with the local community'.

      1 - je
      2 - veux
      3 - travailler
      4 - avec
      5 - la
      6 - communauté
      7 - locale

      Q5.
      'Avons-nous envoyé un e-mail urgent?' Translate this sentence into English.

      Correct Answer: Have we sent an urgent email, Did we send an urgent email

      Q6.
      'I have already proposed a meeting.' Translate this sentence into French.

      Correct Answer: J'ai déjá proposé une réunion

      To help you plan your 8 French lesson on: School reporter: past inversion questions, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...