Bringing the world together┃Talking about Volunteering in French ┃ French GCSE Speaking exam

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In this lesson, you will learn what you need to know to answer this French GCSE speaking exam question about volunteering in French and you will review the use indirect object pronouns  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 ✅

Talking about volunteering ┃ Why do we become a volunteer

Pourquoi devient-on un bénévole?

Que fais-tu pour aider les autres ?

Pour aider les autres, je suis bénévole à la SPA, je soigne les animaux et je leur donne à manger. Je promène les chiens et j’accueille les personnes qui souhaitent adopter des animaux.

Pour aider les autres, je travaille sur un stand d’Oxfam, je sensibilise les gens à la pauvreté dans le monde. 

Pour aider les autres, je travaille pour une société caritative qui s’occupe des sans-abris. Je leur rends visite, leur livre des repas et les écoute.

Voudrais-tu faire du travail bénévole un jour ?

Oui, j’aimerais faire du travail bénévole un jour car cela m’aiderait à me sentir utile et que c’est aussi important de faire partie de la société.

Volunteering in French ┃Using indirect object pronouns

We use indirect object pronouns in French when we want to replace the object of the sentence, what we talked about and avoid repeating ourselves.

For example :

Je soigne les animaux et je donne à manger aux animaux.

I look after animals and I feed animals.

We want to replace animals with ‘them’ in the second sentence. In French ‘them’ = ‘les’ if it is a direct object and ‘leur’ if it is an indirect object. To feed animals in French needs an indirect object. (because you give food ‘to’ them/ to mean indirect object in French / It is ‘à/aux’.

You need to put it in front of the verb.

The solution is to say : Je soigne les animaux et je leur donne à manger. I have replaced ‘les animaux’ by ‘leur’. See the table below.

The table of direct and indirect object pronouns in French

Please note that the apostrophe version of me, te, le, la is only used in front of a verb starting by a vowel. For example, I give her a call. Je l’appelle.

Volunteering in French ┃Manipulating language to make it your own

Use sentence starters to re-use the vocabulary your learnt and use it whatever the circumstances.

For example :

Re-use ‘ça me donne le sentiment d’être utile’

Answer different questions with the same bit of phrases.

Pourquoi devient-on bénévole ?

On devient bénévole parce que ça nous donne le sentiment d’être utile. (Replace ‘me’ by ‘nous’ to make it an impersonal form)

Que fais-tu pour aider les autres ?

Je rends service aux autres parce que ça me donne le sentiment d’être utile. (You say that you help others because …. so you use the phrase as it is)

Voudrais-tu faire du bénévolat un jour ?

J’aimerais faire du bénévolat un jour parce que ça me donnerait le sentiment d’être utile. (Use a variant of the question to start the answer, ‘Je voudrais’ and ‘j’aimerais’ are synonyms, then add your phrase but make it conditional by adding ‘rait’ because the question was in the conditional tense.

To help you conjugate French, have a look at my conjugation table in the ribbon above.

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 :

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

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

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

• About the exam : Exam information and tips
• Role Play practice 
  • 5 Role-play practice cards
  • What you will see on the card
  • What you will be asked
  • What good answers could look like
• Picture-based task
  • 10 picture-based tasks on the different French GCSE topics
  • Essential vocabulary
  • What you will be asked
  • What good answers could look like
• Conversation
  • 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

French GCSE Course

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

French GCSE videos

➢ Do you want to watch more videos like this to help you learn French for your French GCSE exam ? ☞ Check out the French GCSE Videos here

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

➢ Do you want to join my French podcast and learn French on the move ? ☞ Check out my French podcast here

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

➢ Go and check out my Facebook page  ► Learn French with Lara facebook page

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 !