Goals
What you'll be able to doBy the end of this lesson, you can:
- Read a short portrait and identify the actions of a day
- Tell your own daily routine with times and activities
- Reuse reflexive verbs and faire / jouer
- Know the main French public holidays
- Understand the French take on holidays / time off
✏️ This is mainly a reading lesson that pulls together everything from Unit 4.
Discover — A champion's daily schedule
Reading a portrait📖 Who is Laure Manaudou?
Laure Manaudou (born 1986) is a French swimmer. She is the first French woman Olympic swimming champion (Athens 2004, 400 m freestyle). She is also a world and European champion. Her younger sister is also a swimmer, and her brother Florent is an Olympic champion too (London 2012, 50 m freestyle).
Bravo Laure! At 22, she's French, European and world swimming champion. But the life of a champion isn't easy!
Laure gets up very early, around 6 AM, every morning. She washes up, then she gets dressed and has breakfast: a piece of fruit, a yoghurt, cereal and an orange juice. By 7 AM she's at the pool.
She swims and trains until 10 AM. Then she goes home to rest a bit. She listens to music, watches TV, writes to friends and calls her family.
In the afternoon, at 3:30 PM, training starts again: 15 km of swimming! The day ends around 7:30 PM. She goes home, eats a little, watches a bit more TV… and goes to bed early, around 10 PM, because tomorrow it all starts again.
On Saturday nights, she's free! She goes out, to a restaurant or to the cinema with friends. On Sundays, she sleeps until noon, then spends the afternoon quietly with her family. And on Monday morning, at 6 AM, a new week begins!
Original text adapted for A1 learners — based on public information.
🌟 To unwind…
- Elle écoute de la musique. — She listens to music.
- Elle joue aux cartes. — She plays cards.
- Elle dort beaucoup. — She sleeps a lot.
- Elle regarde la télévision. — She watches TV.
- Elle téléphone à ses amis. — She calls her friends.
Vocabulary
Words to remember| French | Type | English |
|---|---|---|
| actuel(le) | adj. | current, present (⚠ false friend — not "actual"!) |
| bravo ! | interj. | well done! bravo! |
| les céréales | n.f.pl. | cereal (breakfast) |
| un champion / une championne | n. | champion |
| se coucher | refl. v. | to go to bed |
| se détendre | refl. v. | to relax, unwind |
| difficile | adj. | difficult, hard |
| l'endurance | n.f. | stamina, endurance |
| un entraînement | n.m. | training session |
| s'entraîner | refl. v. | to train, work out |
| éviter | v. | to avoid |
| une famille | n.f. | family |
| un fruit | n.m. | a piece of fruit |
| s'habiller | refl. v. | to get dressed |
| janvier | n.m. | January |
| un jus | n.m. | juice |
| libre | adj. | free; available |
| long(ue) | adj. | long |
| manger | v. | to eat |
| la musculation | n.f. | weight training |
| nager | v. | to swim |
| nouveau (nouvelle) | adj. | new |
| peu | adv. | little, not much |
| se promener | refl. v. | to take a walk |
| recommencer | v. | to start again |
| regarder | v. | to watch, to look at |
| retourner | v. | to go back, return |
| sortir | v. | to go out |
| le stress | n.m. | stress |
| se terminer | refl. v. | to end, to finish |
| la toilette | n.f. | washing up, getting ready |
| un yaourt | n.m. | yoghurt |
Notes
Things to notice① faire sa toilette
= to wash, brush your teeth, comb your hair… all the morning hygiene routine. ⚠️ Don't confuse with aller aux toilettes, which means "to go to the toilet / restroom" (a different thing!).
② elle reprend l'entraînement resuming training
reprendre = to start (something) again ("re-take", just like English "to re-start"). Reprendre le travail after holidays. Reprendre une nouvelle semaine = to start a new week.
③ elle regarde un peu la télé a bit vs barely
peu = "little, not much" (negative). Compare:
- un peu = "a little" (positive) → elle regarde un peu la télé = "she watches a little TV"
- peu alone = "barely, not much" (negative) → elle dort peu = "she sleeps very little"
Tiny word, big difference! English does the same with "a little" vs "little".
④ D'après… according to…
Preposition for citing a source.
- D'après Actuelles, janvier 2008 = "According to Actuelles magazine, January 2008"
- D'après lui, tout va bien. = "According to him, everything's fine."
- peindre d'après nature = to paint from life
⑤ False friend: actuel(le)
actuel = "current, present-day" — NOT "actual" (English "actual" = "real, true" → French vrai, réel).
Likewise actuellement = "currently" / "right now", not "actually".
So "la situation actuelle" = "the current situation", not "the actual situation".
How to say it
Useful chunks① Telling a day
- Je me lève à 6 heures. "I get up at 6."
- Je prends mon petit-déjeuner. "I have breakfast."
- Je vais au travail à 8 h. "I go to work at 8."
- Je rentre à 18 h. "I get home at 6 PM."
- Je me couche vers 23 h. "I go to bed around 11 PM."
② Marking sequence
- D'abord "first", je me lève. Puis / Ensuite "then", je m'habille.
- Le matin, je travaille. L'après-midi, je sors.
- Vers 8 h "around 8", jusqu'à 10 h "until 10", après ça "after that"…
- Et le lendemain, tout recommence. "And the next day, it all starts again."
③ Talking about free time
- Pour me détendre, j'écoute de la musique. "To unwind, I listen to music."
- Le dimanche, je dors beaucoup. "On Sundays, I sleep a lot."
- Je sors avec des amis le samedi soir. "I go out with friends on Saturday nights."
Practice
Try it outExercise 1 — Who is it? True or false?
Decide whether each statement is true or false, based on the portrait.
1. Laure Manaudou est nageuse.
2. Elle se lève à midi.
3. Elle s'entraîne le matin et l'après-midi.
4. Le samedi soir, elle dort tôt.
5. Le dimanche, elle reste avec sa famille.
6. Une vie de championne, c'est facile.
Exercise 2 — When? Times in the portrait
At what time does Laure do these things?
- Elle se lève à .
- Elle est à la piscine à .
- Elle s'entraîne le matin jusqu'à .
- Elle reprend l'entraînement à .
- Sa journée se termine vers .
- Elle se couche vers .
Exercise 3 — Interview Imagine the questions
Imagine the journalist's questions matching Laure's answers.
Example: — Vous vous levez à quelle heure ? — À 6 heures.
- — ? — Je suis nageuse / championne de natation.
- — ? — J'ai 22 ans.
- — ? — J'écoute de la musique, je joue aux cartes.
- — ? — Je passe la journée avec ma famille.
Exercise 4 — And you? Et vous?
Discuss with a partner:
• What time do you usually get up?
• What do you do to unwind?
• Do you do any sport?
• What do you do on weekends?
Exercise 5 — A day like Laure's Write a portrait
In the style of the portrait above, describe a typical day for your partner (or someone famous). Write 6-8 sentences. Use times, reflexive verbs and time markers (d'abord, puis, ensuite, vers, jusqu'à).
Cultural snapshot — French public holidays
11 jours fériésFrance has 11 official public holidays per year. Most are of Catholic or commemorative origin. The main ones:
🏖️ School holidays
On top of that, the French have 5 main school holiday periods per year:
- Vacances de la Toussaint (late October, ~2 weeks)
- Vacances de Noël (late December, ~2 weeks)
- Vacances d'hiver (February, ~2 weeks — for skiing)
- Vacances de printemps (April, ~2 weeks)
- Grandes vacances (July-August, ~2 months!)
The summer "grandes vacances" last about 2 months — much longer than US/UK summer breaks. During this period, many French go away on holiday: to the seaside (Mediterranean, Atlantic), the mountains (Alps, Pyrenees), or abroad.
💡 Faire le pont — "to make a bridge"
A typically French expression: if a public holiday falls on a Thursday, many French people also take the Friday off to enjoy a 4-day long weekend. They « font le pont » ("make a bridge"). Very common in May, when there are several public holidays in a row. No real English equivalent — Americans might say "bridge day" but it's not a fixed phrase.