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KS4 · French · Year 11

L'Hexagone : present tense, prepositions 'à' and 'en'

Travel and tourism: Des pays francophones

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Your learning goal

I can explore the diversity of France by accessing a range of texts and recognising the different uses of prepositions.

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L'Hexagone : present tense, prepositions 'à' and 'en': slides adapted from the imported teaching text; recall questions created from its keywords, learning points and common mistakes. Self-check practice, with no automatic grading or XP. Answers stay on this page and are cleared when you leave.

Original teaching resources

The original illustrated PowerPoint is available as well as the IllumED text slides. It retains the publisher’s design and credits.

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What you’ll learn

I can explore the diversity of France by accessing a range of texts and recognising the different uses of prepositions.

Key learning points

  • [a] sounds like 'animal' and [au] sounds like 'gauche'.
  • Use 'en' to mean 'to' or 'in' for feminine countries or regions.
  • Use 'à' plus the definite article for 'to' or 'in' masculine countries. 'À' combines with 'le'/'les' to form 'au'/'aux'.
  • Use 'à' to mean 'to' or 'in' before all cities and towns.

Words to know

preposition
a word used before a noun, a noun phrase, or a pronoun, connecting it to another word

Common mistakes

The preposition 'à' is used to mean 'to' or 'in' for both cities and countries.

Prepositions can be tricky to master. Students must practise them carefully and thoroughly. Use 'à' before a city or town. Use 'en' before a feminine country or region. Use 'au' before a masculine country or region and 'aux' before a plural country.

For parents, carers and teachers
  • The second part of task B2 allows students to listen to each sentence to hear the correct preposition. Teachers may like to get the class to repeat after the native speaker in order to practise pronunciation.
IllumED Slides adapts “L'Hexagone : present tense, prepositions 'à' and 'en'”, French, by Oak National Academy ↗. Licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Slides and recall practice adapted by IlluminatED; no publisher endorsement. Restricted lessons have listing information only.