Religion in Francophonie: feminine and plural nouns
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can read and understand sentences about secularism in France.
Vocabulary and transcripts for this lessons
Key learning points
- Nationality and religious adjectives can become nouns when used with an article. These are identity nouns.
- Religious nouns do not use capital letters, unlike nationality nouns. Le musulman - l'Algérien.
- There is no article 'un/une' after 'être' when using nouns to describe identity. Il est Anglais: He is an Englishman.
- Nouns ending in -ien often change to -ienne in the feminine form: le chrétien - la chrétienne.
- To make nouns plural, we usually add an -s. Nouns ending in -eu, -(e)au, -al or -ail make their plurals with -(au)x.
Keywords
Identity noun - noun describing one's identity, religion or profession, having different forms based on the gender of the person it is referring to: un Italien - une Italienne
Feminine - form for nouns with feminine grammatical gender: la foi, une Canadienne
Plural - form for nouns that refers to more than one person place, thing or idea: des Canadiens
Common misconception
Like non-person or object nouns, identity nouns exist in only one form and gender.
Unlike non-person or object nouns, identity nouns can have both masculine and feminine forms: le chrétien - la chrétienne. This is the same as other French person nouns you may know, e.g. le directeur/la directrice.
Teacher tip
Following on from exercises A1 and A2, discuss the following questions with your class: How is religion viewed in French schools? How is it different from your school and other schools in your area? Are you surprised? What do you think of the idea of 'la laïcité'?
Licence
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.Match the French verbs to their correct English meanings.
to read, reading
to write, writing
to forbid, forbidding
to inscribe, inscribing
Q2.Which of these sentences correctly uses the verb appartenir?
Q3.What is the feminine form of the adjective canadien?
Q4.Translate this sentence into French: 'He is a Frenchman'.
Q5.Which sentence shows the correct singular conjugation of croire (to believe)?
Q6.Match each French noun to its correct meaning.
tree
people
bus
group
Assessment exit quiz
5 Questions
Q1.Match the meaning.
I know
I support, I am supporting
I write, I am writing
I believe, I am believing
Q2.Which of these correctly translates: 'He is a European'?
Q3.What is the feminine form of the noun chrétien (Christian)?
Q4.Which sentence correctly uses capital letters for identity nouns?
Q5.True or false? Identity nouns like 'chrétien' exist in only one gender form.
To help you plan your 9 French lesson on: Religion in Francophonie: feminine and plural nouns, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 9 French lesson on: Religion in Francophonie: feminine and plural nouns, 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 People and places: present and perfect tense unit, dive into the full secondary French curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.