Hello friends! Are you ready to learn about another country? I hope you are because today we will see how some people live in France!
If you want to learn more about France don’t forget to download our activity package:
Click here to download our France learning guide
Click here to download our France flashcards
Click here to download our France coloring pages
Click here to download our France handwriting sheets
10 year-old Lucy
This is Lucy, a 10-year-old girl who lives in Paris, France!
Early in the morning, she and her family have bread with butter and marmalade for breakfast. While her parents drink coffee, Lucy and her brothers drink lavender tea since lavender flowers are very popular in France and there are a lot of fields in the country. Just like almost everyone in France, Lucy loves bread, especially lumberjack bread, Viennese bread, and of course, the famous and traditional baguette. When Lucy asks her mother to pass her the marmalade she says “S’il Vous plaît” which means “please,” and then she says “merci” which means “thank you.”
At 8:30 am Lucy walks to school by herself because is quite safe in this part of Paris. On her way to school, she walks in Rue de Rivoli which has buildings with really amazing and classical architecture. She also passes right in front of the Louvre Museum which holds the Mona Lisa, the most famous painting in the whole world! Right outside the Louvre Museum, Lucy can see a flagpole with the waving French flag which is a rectangle with three blue, white, and red vertical bars.
While Lucy is at school, her mother, Michelle, goes to the supermarket where instead of using a classic metal shopping cart, she uses her own caddie, which is basically a supermarket trolley used to carry heavy groceries around. Pretty much everyone in Paris uses them instead of plastic bags to avoid adding plastic to the oceans because in France people are quite environmentally conscious. Just like a lot of people in France, Michelle goes to the supermarket almost every day because she likes to buy very fresh products. In French supermarkets, there are huge juicer machines where people can fill their own bottles with orange juice! Orange juice has a lot of vitamin C, which is really good for you, it helps you to be tougher against the flu!
At 4:30 pm Lucy leaves school and happily walks back home, thinking about what she will do tomorrow since is Tuesday and students in France traditionally have no school on Wednesdays!
On her way home, Lucy stops at a bakery to buy some sweets and bread. Bakeries are super popular in France, there’s one in almost every street corner. Every day at around 6 pm there’s a queue in almost every bakery to buy baguettes, but Lucy got here early and doesn’t have to wait. She buys profiteroles, macarons, baguettes, and five croissants; one for each member of her family. As she grabs them from the shelf she counts them: 1 (un), 2 (Deux), 3 (Trois), 4 (quatre), and 5 (cinq). After paying the baker and before she leaves the bakery, Lucy says ”Bonne journée” which means “have a nice day,” and the baker says “Merci à Vous aussi” which means “thank you, you too.”
When Lucy and her siblings get home from school, their mother greets them by saying “Salut!” which means “hello”, but it’s only used for friends and family.
Lucy thinks that after a long day of school and work, there’s nothing better than to sit down and have dinner all together while watching the beautiful and bright Eiffel Tower at night.
Chef Louis
Now, this is Louis, and he is a chef!
Chefs from all over the world travel to France to study and qualify as some of the best chefs in the world. But why France? Well, French cuisine is often considered the best in the world! Louis works in a fancy French restaurant where he cooks dishes that have small portions, and some people can get a little disappointed at first, but then they try it and it’s just wonderful. Louis cooks dishes like Bullabesa, Ratatouille, and quiche Lorraine. He also enjoys cooking snails. Yes!, snails are one of France’s most famous dishes and it’s considered a delicacy. Over 25,000 tons of snails are eaten every single year. Snails are often enjoyed during holidays.
7-Year-Old Julien
Now, this is Julien, a 7-year-old boy who’s on vacation with his parents and he’s about to have a picnic at the beach!
Probably one of the best places to have a picnic in France is the north coast where people can admire the beautiful view of the ocean.
While an old man riding a bicycle passes by and says “bonjour,” which means “good morning,” Julian’s mom, Mila, takes out of their classic French picnic basket some fresh cheese, grapes, a baguette, a bottle of wine, and for Julien, grape juice. French people are crazy about wine, they drink a lot of bottles per year! They also love cheese, it is said that in France there are over 1,500 different cheeses, and more than 95% of the French population eats cheese. Julien’s favorite cheese is brie!
When Julien is not on vacation, he and his parents live in the French Alpes! During the winter, Julien’s family experience big snowfalls that make 11, 15, or almost 20 inches of snow! Curiously, instead of lingering around for months, the vast quantities of snow often are gone in just a few days. So, Julien has learned that if he wants to play in the snow, he better do it as soon as possible!
Julien and his father, Arthur, have lots of fun skiing just in their backyards! But it’s not all fun, since sometimes the weight of the snow knocks out the power, and Julien’s parents must resort to using their wood stove, not only heating for the house but also because sometimes is the only way to warm up some dinner.
Luckily, as soon as the summer starts, French families living in the Alpes can enjoy peaceful warm weather. And this is the perfect time for Julien and his family to travel to the beach!
And those are a few things about France and how some French people live!
Au revoir mes amis!
