C. Reading / D. Writing · Reading and Writing in French: First Steps

Signs, Lists, Menus and Stories: Reading Different Kinds of Texts

C2.1 C2.2 C1.1 C1.2 C1.3 C2.3About 45 minutes

Learning goals

I can tell the purpose of a sign, a list, a menu, a card, a poem and a story.
I can name features that help me read each kind of text.
I can read a short French story and retell it.
I can read aloud smoothly, pausing at periods and commas.
I can say which reading strategy helped me.

Words to know

le texte
Any piece of writing you can read: a sign, a list, a story, a poem.

purpose (le but)
The reason a text was written: to tell, to entertain, to give directions, to sell...

feature
A part that helps you read a text, like a title, a picture, a price or a rhyme.

une affiche
A sign or poster.

une histoire
A story.

fluency
Reading smoothly, at a good speed, so it sounds like talking.

Texts are everywhere!

On the way to school you might pass a sign that says ARRÊT. At lunch, you might read a menu. At home, a grown-up writes a grocery list. At bedtime, you read a story.

Each kind of text has a different purpose (job) and different features (parts) that help you read it. When you know the features, reading in French gets much easier, even with words you don't know.

Baskets of croissants, baguettes, round loaves and blueberry muffins in a bakery. — A bakery (une boulangerie) is full of things you might see on a French menu: des croissants, des baguettes et des muffins. A menu lists food choices and prices. AI-generated image

Text form	Purpose (its job)	Features that help you
Sign (une affiche)	Get your attention or give directions	Few words, big letters, colours, symbols
List (une liste)	Remember or organize things	Items one under another, sometimes numbers
Menu	Show food choices and prices	Sections, food names, prices, sometimes pictures
Card (une carte)	Send good wishes or thanks	Short message, greeting, name, pictures
Poem or song (un poème, une chanson)	Share feelings with fun language	Short lines, rhyme, repeated words
Story (une histoire)	Entertain	Title, characters, pictures, a problem and an ending, sometimes a repeated sentence
Ad (une publicité)	Make you want to buy or do something	Bright pictures, big words, prices, !

Different text forms, their purposes and their features.

Three French signs: ARRÊT (stop), SORTIE (exit) and OUVERT (open). Other signs: ENTRÉE (entrance), FERMÉ (closed), TOILETTES (washrooms).

Worked example

Let's read a menu

Read this school lunch menu:

Menu du dîner
Plats: soupe aux légumes 3,00 $ / sandwich au fromage 4,50 $ / pizza 4,00 $
Desserts: pomme 1,00 $ / biscuit 1,25 $
Boissons: lait 1,50 $ / jus d'orange 1,75 $

Title: Menu du dîner. In Canada, le dîner is lunch.
Sections: Plats (main dishes), Desserts (a cognate), Boissons (drinks: lait = milk, jus = juice).
Prices: In French Canada, prices use a comma and the $ goes after: 4,50 $ means $4.50.
Cognates: soupe, sandwich, pizza, dessert, orange. aux légumes = with vegetables; au fromage = with cheese.

A pizza and a milk cost 4,00 $ + 1,50 $ = 5,50 $. The menu's purpose is to show food choices and prices.

In French Canada, prices use a comma and the $ comes after the number: 4,50 $.

Reading a story: Le bonhomme de neige

Stories for new readers often have a repeated sentence. Once you can read it, you can read it again and again! Before you read, look at the title: bonhomme de neige means snowman. Predict: what might happen to a snowman?

Le bonhomme de neige
C'est l'hiver. Il neige. Lila fait un bonhomme de neige.
Il a un chapeau noir. Il a une carotte pour le nez.
« Bonjour, bonhomme! » dit Lila.
C'est le printemps. Il fait chaud. Oh non! Le bonhomme fond.
« Au revoir, bonhomme! » dit Lila.
Lila est triste. Mais elle a une idée: elle dessine un bonhomme de neige!

French uses « » (called guillemets) for quotation marks. dit Lila means Lila says.

Worked example

Let's read it with strategies

Retell Le bonhomme de neige and find the meaning of fond.

Before: title = snowman. Prediction: maybe it melts.
Words I know: Il neige (it's snowing), un chapeau noir (a black hat), une carotte (cognate: carrot), le nez (the nose).
New word, fond: It is spring and it is hot. What happens to a snowman when it is hot? It melts! So fond = melts. Context helped.
The ending: triste = sad. dessine = draws. Lila draws a snowman so she can keep it.
After: My prediction was right. Lila makes a snowman in winter; in spring it melts; she is sad, so she draws one.

The snowman melts (fond) in the spring, and Lila draws one so she can remember it.

Reading aloud smoothly (fluency)

Stop a little at a period ( . ) and pause at a comma ( , ).
Make your voice go up at a question mark ( ? ) and sound excited at an exclamation mark ( ! ).
Read the story three times. Each time it gets smoother. That's how fluency grows.

Hands-on activity

Make a French grocery list and menu

You need: paper, a pencil, a grocery flyer (many Canadian flyers are bilingual).

Write a liste d'épicerie (grocery list) with 6 items, one under the other, with un, une or des: du lait is fine too (some milk). Example: des pommes, du pain, un fromage.
Look in the flyer for prices written the French way: 2,99 $. Copy 3 prices.
Make a menu for a family supper (le souper, Canadian French): a title, 2 sections (Plats and Desserts) and prices like 3,50 $.
Read your menu to your family like a server: Bonsoir! Aujourd'hui, il y a... (Today there is...)
Talk: How is a list different from a menu? (Look for: a list helps you remember; a menu shows choices and prices.)

Just for fun

Funny but true: in Québec, stop signs say ARRÊT. In France, the stop signs say STOP. So in France, the sign is in English!

Your turn

What is the purpose of a sign that says SORTIE?

Name two features of a menu.

How is $4.50 written in French Canada?

In the story, what does Lila use for the snowman's nose?

What is the purpose of a story?

What does FERMÉ on a store door mean?

In the story, what does triste most likely mean? What clue helps?

More practice: warm-up

What does ARRÊT mean?

What does OUVERT mean?

What is the purpose of a grocery list?

What does bonhomme de neige mean?

What should your voice do at a question mark?

More practice: on your own

On the menu, how much do a sandwich and an apple cost?

Which text form has rhyme and short lines?

An ad says: Grande vente! Tuques 10 $! What is its purpose? Name one feature.

What are « » used for in French?

Put the story events in order: Le bonhomme fond. Lila dessine un bonhomme. Lila fait un bonhomme.

Challenge

A card says: Joyeux anniversaire, Théo! Bonne fête! De Sophie. What kind of text is it, what is its purpose, and what does anniversaire mean?

Why does a sign use very few words and big letters, while a story uses many words?

Which strategy helped you most to understand Le bonhomme de neige? Explain in a sentence.

Check your understanding

Quiz

What is the purpose of a menu?

How is three dollars and fifty cents written in French Canada?

What does SORTIE mean?

Which is a feature of a poem?

In the story, why is Lila sad?

What should you do at a period when reading aloud?

For parents and teachers

Big idea: The curriculum asks Grade 4 students to identify the purpose of familiar text forms such as poems, menus, calendars, lists, cards, signs and ads (C2.1), their features such as rhyme, illustrations, sections, prices and captions (C2.2), to use reading strategies (C1.1), to show understanding of short texts (C1.2), to read aloud with phrasing guided by punctuation (C1.3) and to talk about strategies that helped (C2.3).

Conventions to notice: In French Canada, prices are written 4,50 $, quotation marks are « », and dîner = lunch, souper = supper.

Common difficulties:

Reading word by word. Rereading the same short story 3 times builds fluency; it's not boring for the brain!
Getting stuck on one unknown word. Model skipping it, reading on, and coming back with the context.

At home: Read French signs together when you are out (many federal buildings, highways and stores in Ontario have bilingual signs).