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LESSON NOTES

All About S1 #6

Top 5 Things To Know About

France

CONTENTS

2 Grammar

#

6

COPYRIGHT © 2012 INNOVATIVE LANGUAGE LEARNING. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/alls1l6091310fpod101 2/5FRENCHPOD101.COM ALL ABOUT S1 #6 - TOP 5 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT FRANCE 2

GRAMMAR

The Focus of This Lesson Is a Quiz on the Five Things You Need to Know About France

What do you know about France?

Test your knowledge! Through this mini-test, you will build your basic knowledge of France

by quizzing yourself on five areas about France:

1. Geography

2. Pop culture

3. Travel

4. Economics

5. Facts about strikes

1. Geography

France's most common nickname is l'hexagone, which refers to its geog raphical shape.

People also refer to France as metropolitain France (implying that its overseas territories are not

included in the context of the phrase). France has many reg ions divided in départements witha large variety of landscapes.

How many regions and regional parks are there in France?

A: Thirty-four regions and nineteen reg ional parks

B: Forty-five regions and twenty-six regional parks

C: Twenty-six reg ions and forty-five reg ional parks

France's Regions

France has twenty-six regions. Twenty-one of them are located in the continental part of

metropolitan France. The other five are located overseas: one, Corse, on the island of Corsica ,

and four other regions and territories spread through almost all the other continents.

The twenty-six regions are d ivided into one hundred départements, and each is numbered.

The French use these numbers for postal codes and vehicle number plates. A well-known

French car ride game while traveling to a vacation destination is to guess from the car plates

their provenance!

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France's Parks

France possesses forty-five natural parks (with one located in Guyane and another in

Martinique) and seven national parks. The reg ional parks represent:

1. Twelve percent of the French territory, providing the landscape diversity

encountered in France and its overseas territories

2. 3,690 communes

3. More than seven million hectares

4. More than three million inhabitants

2. French Pop Culture Question

France, and especially Paris, is a center for culture and entertainment, such as fashion and

music. One characteristic of new pop music trends is le tube de l'été ("a summer hit"). Le tube

de l'été is a featured song played in the summer during the vacation period.

Below you'll see three major players in French culture and the French entertainment industry.

One is a famous singer, the next an actor, and finally a sports star.

Try to match the name with the person.

A: Benjamin Siksou 1: Sport star

B: Gad Elmaleh 2: Singer

C: Laure Manaudou 3: Actor

Laure Manaudou is a French swimming star. She broke world records for the four hundred

meter freestyle (short course). She also won the gold medal in the women's four hundred

meter freestyle at the 2004 Athens Olympics. It was France's first gold medal ever in women's

swimming, and the first swimming gold medal a French athlete had won since 1952. In the2008 Summer Olympics, Manaudou was unable to recapture her form from the previous

Olympics and didn't win the gold medals she aimed for.

Benjamin Siksou became popular during the television show "Star Academy" in 2008, where

he proved his singing talent in blues-folk style with a jazz-soul influence. He plays the guitar

and has also appeared in a few movies, including Largo Winch (2007), Largo Winch 2 (2009),

and 15 et demi ("15 and a half years old").

Gad Elmaleh is a Moroccan-French comedian and actor. His first movie was Salut cousin! by

Merzak Allouache. He later appeared in L'homme est une femme comme les autres and Train

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de Vie. He became popular after the success of his second one-man comedy routine, La Vie

Normale, and the film La Vérité si je mens! 2 (2000).

3. French Travel Question

More than two-thirds of the French people go on vacation at least once a year, and the country

is one of the most popular destinations for international tourism in the world.

What is the most popular destination in France?

A: Le Var , located in the southeast of France

B: L'Auvergne, the region of old volcanoes , is located in the middle of France

C: Le Nord-Pas-de-Calais, with its flat landscape, is located in northern France

Le Var is a reg ion and a popular destination for its climate and Mediterranean landscape. It is

the reg ion of the sun and vacations, and it is a place where many French people camp or

acquire their second residence for the summer vacation. Even Sempé, a humoristic Frenchcartoonist, makes fun of it. The Le Var reg ion's specialty is le rosé de provence, a chilled rosé

wine enjoyed before lunch or dinner on a sunny patio.

4. French Economy Question

The French economy is well known for its rank in the world. In 2008, France was the fifth world

power economically after the United States, Japan, China, and Germany. It takes the fifth

worldwide position for its exportation and the sixth place for its importation.

What are the most important economic sectors in France?

A: Service sector

B: Primary sector (agriculture)

C: Secondary sector (industry)

The active French population is mainly employed in the service sector, with a rate of seventy-

two percent. Industry takes second place with twenty-four percent, and the agricultural sector

is the least popular with only four percent in 1999, according to l'INSEE , the French nationalstatistical institution.

As France is the most-visited country in the world with over seventy-five million visitors a

year, tourism is a significant contributor to the French economy.

5. French Society Question

It's commonly said that France and the French people are always on strike!

Are French people always on strike, and is striking a French characteristic?

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A: Yes

B: No

C: I'm not sure

Well, yes they are! But not as much as we think.

When classifying countries by the number of working days lost due to strikes from 1993 to

2002, we can see that France is in the middle of the class, with countries such as Australia,

Ireland, and Norway. Spain, Canada, and Iceland are the countries with the hig hest rate of lost

work days (Source: ONS).

Over the years, French people have been striking less and less. The number of non-working

days has significantly decreased over the years. This is because French people who work in

the private sector are rarely on strike.

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