Giving Instructions in French

Context:

The purpose of this lesson is to be able to recognize and follow simple instructions given in French. Basically, the audio segments you are about to hear below are simple commands I give my students on the very 1st day of class. I do lots of physical gestures as I pronounce them, (but I acknowledge that this may be hard to do in this current context). But after my demonstrations, I later ask my students to ONLY respond physically to what they hear; for this lesson, there is absolutely no need to utter a single French word.

Goals:

As an active learner, your goal in this lesson is to show that you understand me by responding physically, that is, by acting out the commands that you’ll hear in each of these audio segments. (Of course, it will also make good sense to learn how to pronounce them at the same time. :-) )

Chapter 1 –> Lesson 1:

Level of difficulty: Easy

levez-vous! stand up!

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asseyez-vous! sit down!

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lisez! read!

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écoutez! listen!

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prenez un stylo! take a pen!

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écrivez! write!

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écrivez votre nom! write your name!

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ouvrez le livre! open the book! …

(although the picture shows a box, but you get the idea :-) )

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fermez le livre! close the book!

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tournez la page! turn the page!

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regardez le tableau! look at the (black)board!

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levez la main! raise your hand!

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New Vocabulary

Notice that some commands have the word vous attached to the verb, whereas others do not.

Levez-vous, s’il vous plaît! Stand up, please!

Levez la main! Raise your hand!

Verbs of this kind are referred to as reflexive verbs, and I provide more details on this subject in a previous lesson.

    1. un nom –> a name

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    2. un tableau –> a blackboard

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    3. un livre –> a book

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    4. un stylo –> a pen

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    5. la main –> the hand

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    6. la page –> the page

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    7. écrire –> to write

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    8. regarder –> to look at

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    9. écouter –> to listen

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    10. lire –> to read

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    11. tourner –> to turn

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Will you now complete the activity that accompanies this lesson?

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