First Step en Français 103: Shopping at the Grocery Store - Episode 103

Learn to use French to speak about the fruits and vegetables you eat. Also covers numbers and colors.

Vocabulary used in this episode:

Colors /  Les couleurs  

• green / vert  
• red /  rouge  
• orange /  orange  
• yellow /  jaune  
• purple /  violet  
• Fruits /  Les fruits  
• banana / la banane  
• orange / l’orange  
• apple  / la pomme  
• grapes / les raisins  

Vegetables / Les légumes  

• potatoes / les pommes de terre  
• carrots / les carottes  
• tomatoes / les tomates  
• cabbage / le chou  

 
Other food related vocabulary  

• breakfast /  le petit déjeuner  
• lunch  / le déjeuner  
• dinner /  le dîner  
• milk / le lait  
• bread   /  le pain  
• chicken /  le poulet  
• salad / la salade  
• cheese / le fromage  
• dessert / le dessert  
• wine / le vin  

Lesson 103 - Shopping at the Grocery Store

Objectives

1. To continue learning color names 
2. To learn the names of fruits and vegetables 
3. To practice counting 
4. To learn about meals in French speaking countries 

Culture  

The French are know world-wide for their haute cuisine (the kind that expensive restaurants serve).  Cooking at home is much simpler but still a very special part of the culture. Often the meals are prepared with fresh products from the local market or specialty shops.  Bread is a very important basic food in France and is eaten at most every meal.  French bread is most commonly known as a baguette - a long crusty roll with a very soft white center.  It is generally purchased unpackaged each morning at the boulangerie (bakery).  It must be eaten the day it is bought because it goes stale and becomes extremely hard after one day. 

Information for the Teacher

French nouns have a gender and therefore the definite article associated with the noun is either masculine or feminine.  The article is taught as part of the noun.  The masculine article is le.  The feminine article is la.  The plural form for both masculine and feminine  is les.  Many adjectives have masculine and feminine forms; therefore, the gender of the noun and the form of the adjective must agree.  For example:  The book is green (le livre est vert) and The leaf is green (la feuille est verte).  In English the closest comparison would be the agreement between masculine and feminine names with pronouns - he/she, him/her, his/hers.  

Before Viewing the Video Lesson

1. Review previous vocabulary, especially numbers, since items at the grocery store will be counted.   
2. Tell students that in today’s lesson they will learn more colors.  Review the other colors learned in the last lesson.  What other colors do the students think will be included? 
3. If the students were to go to the grocery store on their way home from school, what would they see?  In this lesson the students will learn the names of some fruits and vegetables.   

Description of the Video Lesson

Monsieur Dubois is returning from the grocery store as the children arrive.  Fabien has company at his house so they review the words for family and learn brother (le frère) and sister (la sœur). This way they can count how many people are there. Looking at a bowl of fruit after the children unloaded the groceries, they learn the banana (la banane), the apple (la pomme), the orange (l’orange), and grapes (les raisins). At the same time they reviewed numbers. 

Counting apples                     

Les nombres...les pommes 

What color is the ...? He teaches the children yellow (jaune), red (rouge), green (vert), orange (orange), purple (violet).  

Song                                          

  la pomme, l’orange, la banane, les couleurs 

They continue discussing the color of fruits by asking questions. 

At the grocery store                 

Introduce vegetables and other foods 

Monsieur Dubois teaches them that in France there are five courses a meal as well as what the different meals of the day are and what time they are served: breakfast (le petit déjeuner), lunch (le déjeuner), and dinner (le dîner). Soup is the first course of a meal. As the children ask questions, they learn milk (le lait), bread (le pain), and potatoes (les pommes de terre), and chicken (le poulet).   At the market  les légumes, les fruits 

The second course is the main dish and salad follows as the next course. The children also learn salad (la salade), carrots (les carottes), and tomatoes (les tomates). They learn that bread is served and left on the table in France (not on one’s plate).

SONG                                                    

 Les legumes

After salad, cheese (le fromage) is served as the fourth course. It is put on bread. The fifth course is dessert (le dessert.) 

Review                                                 

Les couleurs 

• la pomme 
• la banane 
• les raisins

Follow-up Activities

1. Use the First Step en Français Again video lesson to review the emphasized vocabulary. 
2. Review vocabulary words related to color from this lesson and lesson two. Use color circles like those used in the lesson to name colors.  Add labels to things in the room for these colors.   Avoid using words in isolation. 
3. Review names of fruits and vegetables.  Use color circles to tell what color these fruits and vegetables are.  Take the week’s lunch menu and replace the names of any known French words for the fruits and vegetables offered at lunch.   
4. Discuss the meals as shown in the program.  How are they like the meals served in the students’ homes and how are they different?  What would the students have expected as a “typical” French meal?  Many students are familiar with some things the French eat, such as crêpes (a pancake-like food) and escargots (snails).  What are some other foods they associate with French culture?  Try to avoid mixing languages during this discussion. 
5. After these follow-up activities, let students view the video lesson again so they can respond and practice with the children on the lesson. 

Supplemental Activities

1. With a large bowl of water and some fresh fruit, play a game where students discover which fruits float and which do not.   This would be a good time to discuss why some things float and some do not.  Why would these types of fruits float?  Are the students surprised at any of the things that float and the things that do not float? 
2. A Gouin series is an activity used by foreign language teachers where all steps in an activity are given in order.  This can be done using the food (or imaginary food) taught in the lesson. For example: Take an orange, slice the orange, squeeze the orange, pour the juice into a glass, drink the juice.  Repeat the same steps over and over in the target language until the students can do the series by themselves. 
3. Continue the art activity begun last week using the new colors today. 
4. If possible, serve some of the dishes shown as part of these meals.  Maybe your room parents would be willing to prepare a typical meal and serve it to your class. Instead of the meal, a tasting party would be fun.  Ask each student to bring to class something that they think is traditionally a food in a French-speaking country. This might be a good research idea for the students to look up using resources in the media center or using the internet.  Students may be surprised to find that different countries have different kinds of traditional foods. Why do they think there would be differences?  Would the climate and geographical location of the country play any role in the types of foods eaten?  Are specific foods associated with certain holidays? 

Remember to use the vocabulary words in context as much as possible in class during the next week.  This should be especially easy since these are words related to foods and colors. Add to the First Step en Français suitcase folders.   

Recipe for crêpes   

Les Crêpes  

Crêpes, originally a Breton dish, are a treat at any time in France. In cities and towns, they are often sold from vendors on the street. They are quick and easy to make and can be eaten with delicious fillings such as cheese, mushrooms, chocolate, jelly, or even ice cream. 

Ingredients: 

• 150g plain flour 
• 1/4 teaspoon salt 
• 2 eggs 
• 300ml (1/2 pint milk) 
• 1 tablespoon oil 
• oil for cooking 

Preparation time: 10 minutes 

Cooking time: 15-20 minutes 

Sift the flour and salt into a bowl and make a well in the center. Break in the eggs and add 150 ml of the milk. Beat in the flour from the sides of the bowl until you have a thick, smooth batter. Gradually add the rest of the milk. Heat a little oil in a frying pan, then pour it off, leaving a very thin coating on the base of the pan. Pour in just enough batter to cover the base of the pan thinly. Tip the pan from side to side to make sure the batter is spread evenly. When bubbles appear on the surface, and the underside is nicely browned, turn the crêpe over with a spatula and cook on the other side for one to two minutes. Make the rest in the same way, re-oiling the pan and reheating it again for each one. To keep hot, place a saucer upside-down on a large plate over a pan of simmering water. As the crêpes are cooked, drape them over the saucer. If you are going to keep them for a long time or are going to re-heat them, cover the plate with a bowl.