1: Où habites-tu? - Where do you live?
Early Start French 2: CONTENTS | HOME


1 Where I live
2 Places in town
3 Directions
4 School
5 Class objects
6. Time?
7. Weather
8.Numbers 40-200
9. Euro
10. Food likes
11. Bon appetit!
12. Icecream
14. School subjects
15. Clothes
16. Bridging unit
17. Class language





What you will learn with film 1:

You will hear different people - mainly children - tell you where they live. In hearing and saying the names of French towns, you will practise a lot more typical French sounds.

You will see something of their towns in Northern France - showing what a diverse country it is. Some live in big towns and others in the country.

You will learn how to say where you live (which town you live in) - and whether you live in a town or in the country.

 I live in Roubaix I live in Sars-Poteries
(Left) "I live in Roubaix" (Right) "I live in Sars-Poteries"
Roubaix trams Cows near Hesdin
Fast modern trams in Roubaix - country scene near Hesdin, a rural market town.
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Find about "the Hexagon"

This is France as French people know it! 6-sided (a hexagon), one of the biggest countries in Europe.

France - the Hexagone  
The Hexagon.

This section's video focuses on towns and villages in the north of France, in the characterful Nord - Pas de Calais region near the Belgian border, which includes Dunkerque (on map, left).

For interesting cultural background information about France nationally, see two really helpful websites from the French Embassy:

For pupils: Zip zap France! - lively website aimed at KS2 and young beginners
For teachers:
France @ la carte - very helpful background information about France for teachers.
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Some towns in France

The towns and villages in the video

Thumnail ref extract from online Michelin map
Find a town you are researching on an on-line map, like this MICHELIN map. It shows Sars-Poteries is very close to the Belgian border (marked with ++++)

We filmed in and around Hesdin, Sars-Poteries, Roubaix and Boulogne, showung very different urban and rural environments in Nord Pas-de-Calais

These links are to a website designed to help teachers plan trips to the region: www.theotherside.co.uk).

These places are within 2 hours drive or railway journey from Calais; or within 1-2 hours travel from the Eurostar terminal at Lille.

Find them the on-line MICHELIN map, at http://www.viamichelin.co.uk

Oher towns in France

Find out more about these five towns in France:
Lyon, Marseille, Montpelier, Paris, Toulouse.

"France Inside Out"

France offers the traveller some of the richest experiences to be found in Europe.


This website accompanies the TV series of the same name, which is repeated regularly on BBC Learning Zone.

Both website and TV series focus on five key cities and the places around them - Marseille, Lyon, Montpellier, Toulouse and Paris. They take the viewer beyond the most obvious tourist haunts to experience the real France.

Toulouse is the centre of the French aerospace industry. It is where Ariane rockets are developed and manufactured. They are launched not from France, but, from French Guyane (picture below). Because it is near the Equator , much less energy is required for the rocket to get into orbit. Find out more......

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Plan a journey to France:

Railways in Nord / Pas de Calais
If children are planning how to get from their home town to a town in Nord - Pas de Calais, you will find links to ferries, railways and the Channel Tunnel on this website: http://www.theotherside.co.uk/tm-heritage/travel/travel-menu.htm
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Where people speak French.

In Europe
French is also the first language of many people in neighbouring countries: in Belgium, Luxembourg;, and Switzerland.

In America
Today there are also French-speaking Canadians in Québec; French is the main language in former Caribbean sugar islands like Haiti, Martinique, Guadeloupe; and in the former prison colony of Guyane, now a famous base for rockets made in

In Africa and the East
French remains the main language of Africans in many countries of North and Central Africa where France once had colonies; and on island relics of empire in the Indian Ocean like Madagascar, and in the Pacific like Tahiti.

French is one of the most widely learnt second languages in the world - one reason being that France attracts so many tourists. It is the most visited country on earth, way ahead of the USA, Spain, Italy and Britain.

 A French Ariane rocket takes off from French Guyane (in S.America, near the Equator).

French Canadian Culture and History
A CD-ROM - La Chaise Berçante - £25. See the summary of the paper given by one of the authors, Donna Mydlarski, at CALICO 2001:

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How to send a "Talking postcard"...

Even if you are just starting to write French, you can send an interesting postcard to a link school in a French-speaking country!

  • Keep it short and simple! You can say a few words in French to say what your picture or photo is about.
    If your French contacts are learning English, they may also welcome a short message from you in English.
  • 5. Make a careful note of the name of the folder on your computer where you stored the picture file and the sound file.

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IPA (International Phonetic Aphabet)

The IPA was invented as a set of standard international symbols for writing down sounds, so that it could be possible to show in writing how to pronounce any language in the world.

The Teacher's manual uses just a few of its symbols - see example, right.

You can find the whole phonetic alphabet on the website of the Association that develops and maintains how IPA is used:


- for the complete phonetic alphabet.

Introducing IPA
In the Teacher's Manual: the symbol for thge 'an' sound in 'France' can be checked against the pronunciation of other words.
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