D’où vient ton T-shirt ? ┃Where does your T-shirt come from ?┃Ethical shopping in French

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In this lesson, you will learn what you need to know to answer this French GCSE speaking exam question about ethical shopping in French and you will review the use of the passive voice in French. This is part of an online French GCSE course. See below to check out the course and access the demo version. One new lesson every week ✅

How do I talk about ethical shopping in French ?

The passive voice in French

D’où vient ton T-shirt ? To answer this question, chances are that you will need to use the passive voice in French.

The passive voice is used when it is not very important to know who has done the deed but the deed is more important. It is a journalistic style of writing.

You take the object of the active voice and you turn it around, it becomes the subject of the passive voice in French.

Then, you take the tense of the verb of the active voice and conjugate the verb to be in that tense plus you add the past participle of the verb

Passive voice = Verb to be in the tense of the active voice + past participle

Using the passive voice you can add but this is optional ‘par’ which means ‘by’ to introduce the person who did the action.

Note : The past participle will have a different ending according to the subject (féminine = add ‘e’ and plural, add ‘s’.

For example.

L’ouvrier a construit la maison.

The verb = construire

The tense = passé composé

The object = la maison

1. Turn the phrase around and the object becomes the subject = la maison
2. Conjugate the verb to be in the same tense = a été
3. Add the past participle of the verb = construit
4. Add ‘e’ to the past participle because the subject ‘la maison’ is feminine = construite

Result = la maison a été construite (par l’ouvrier)

Now work out what the passive voice means here

Les produits bon marchés sont fabriqués dans des conditions inacceptables

You can see that who made the products is not the important thing in this statement, it is not mentioned, however, one can easily guess that workers made the products

So this is the active voice : workers make products – les ouvriers fabriquent les produits

This in the active voice = turn it around, conjugate the verb to be in the same tense, add the past participle, add ‘e’ or ‘s’ if needed to the past participle = les produits sont fabriqués.

This is the same with ‘les ouvriers sont exploités’, can you work out the active voice

Use of should in French ┃On devrait en anglais

To give your opinion in French, you can use ‘on devrait’, remember that it needs the infinitive afterwards

You can review using should here
➨ 10 things we should do to save the planet in French┃GCSE French Environment questions

Ethical shopping in French ┃give your opinion in French

Now give me your opinion about ethical shopping in French, what should we do ?

I think we should buy clothes made in France and buy them second-hand too.

On devrait acheter des vêtements fabriqués en France et également d’occasion.

Great, now in my online course, you will find a new lesson like this every week, with additional exclusive content such as the podcast, the interactive exercise, the vocabulary PDF download and interactive cards.

This is an online training, fully interactive with a progress bar to monitor your progress. It is made up of a selection of videos, audios, texts and interactive exercises such as

• Select the right answer from the drop down menu
• Match the picture to the description
• Type in the right answer
• True or false etc…

This is what you will get when you log into your course :

1. Before you start : This helps you learn the instructions in French so that you can understand the instructions.
2. Topics 

This French e-learning course is based on the French Edexcel study book and consists of 7 different topics :

1. My friends, my family and I
   1. Describe my family
   2. Talking about my friends and I
   3. The person I admire
2. Leisure activities
   1. Sport
   2. Cinema, TV, Reading
   3. Technology
   4. Exclusive video : ‘Pensez-vous qu’internet a tué la lecture?’
3. My region
   1. Describe your region
   2. What would you like to do in your area
   3. What are the advantages and disadvantages of your area?
   4. Exclusive video : ‘Qu’est-ce que vous aimez dans votre région?’
4. My holidays
   1. What I do on holiday
   2. What I did on holiday last year
   3. At the restaurant
5. My school
   1. Describe my school and my favourite subjects
   2. Compare the school system in France and in the UK
   3. Exclusive videos: ‘Aimes-tu l’école et pourquoi?’ + ‘Quelle est ta matière préférée?’
6. My ambitions
   1. Jobs and future ambitions
   2. What would you like to do after school?
   3. Exclusive videos: ‘Quelles ambitions avez-vous dans la vie?’ / ‘Quel est votre emploi idéal?’
7. The environment
   1. What is most important in life
   2. What should you do to protect the environment?
   3. Exclusive video : ‘Que faites-vous pour protéger l’environnement?’

You will also be encouraged to develop your speaking and listening skills, giving you the confidence you need to test out your conversational abilities for real.

Speaking activities are practices using speaking frames and interactive videos.

In every lesson, there will be a ‘describe the picture exercise’ to practice for the speaking exam ✅

3. Vocabulary bank : All the essential vocabulary for each topic has been prepared in the app Quizlet : to help you learn the vocabulary in a fun way: you will find all the links there

4. Grammar : French conjugation does not need to be hard. Here is a color-coded user-friendly 24 and 80 verb conjugation table in French to help you understand French conjugation in one eye blink

5. Speaking exam preparation :

This module is dedicated to make you practice for you speaking exam, you will find here :

1. About the exam : Exam information and tips
2. Role Play practice 
   1. 5 Role-play practice cards
   2. What you will see on the card
   3. What you will be asked
   4. What good answers could look like
3. Picture-based task
   1. 10 picture-based tasks on the different French GCSE topics
   2. Essential vocabulary
   3. What you will be asked
   4. What good answers could look like
4. Conversation
   1. 13 speaking frames based on typical French GCSE questions to help you learn easily and recycle vocabulary from one topic to the next to make your learning more efficient.

6. Literature: Here you will find a poem of Arthur Rimbaud with the listening to help you immerse in French literature.

The grammar part :

This course’s aim is to show you the grammar in a situation and then give you the opportunity to interpret the rules and practice in different types of exercises, such as type in the correct answer.

• Conjugate the ER, IR and RE verbs.
• The present tense, the perfect tense, the passé composé, the pluperfect, the future simple and the future proche, the conditional and the modal verbs in French.
• The adjective and possessive pronouns.
• The demonstrative pronouns.
• The ‘Y’ in French.
• The linking words
• And much more …

The functions :

On top of learning to introduce yourself, you will also learn to express your opinions, talk about your likes and dislikes, talk about your future plans and use French idioms to add creative language (which earns you extra points) and speak French like a native.

The bonus parts :

• The music : a selection of videos of French singers with interactive exercises to immerse you in French culture

The benefits of this course :

All the information you need in a user-friendly, interactive and fun format. The learning has been structured, simplified and summarized by a professional and experienced teacher in a straight-to-the point delivery to enable you to spend less time on revising for your French GCSE exam and enable you to have more time to do the things you like. Get top marks at your French GCSE, make your friends and family proud but don’t waste your time or be bored, this is our motto. Learn French the easy and friendly way with a real teacher ; Lara without spending thousands of pounds on private lessons *

* Typically you would need two years of private tutoring to prepare for your French GCSE exams. Good tutors cost about £50 an hour, one hour per week is the minimum.

👩‍🏫 ‘I want you to be happy with the course, why don’t you try out the demo version first and see if this is for you’ ☞ Link to the demo version page.

Check out the French GCSE Course here

➢ Do you need help with your French GCSE speaking exam ? ☞ Download your free GCSE French speaking booklet here

French GCSE videos

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French GCSE idioms

➢ Do you want to learn new French idioms and know how to use it in your French GCSE speaking or writing exam ? ☞ Check out the French GCSE idioms here

French GCSE podcasts

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➢ Do you want to visit my youtube channel ? ☞ Check out Learn French with Lara Youtube channel here

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More about Lara

Lara is a French and English teacher with over 20 year experience in languages. She gives private lessons of French and English in Les Sables d’Olonne, France where she lives and in videoconferencing via zoom. Her style is relaxed and her sense of humor is legendary. « I can help you take your French further and realize your full potential » 

To book a French class with Lara ► Simply contact me here

Would you like to visit my French website to help the French learn English ☞ Apprendrelanglaisrapidement.fr

Happy learning !