Goals
What you'll be able to do- 📰 Read short portraits of young French teens
- 👨🎓 Understand the daily life of a French teenager
- 🆚 Compare French teens with teens you know (UK, US, etc.)
- 📚 Reactivate the vocabulary and grammar of Unit 2
- ✍️ Write your own portrait as a teenager
Discover · 4 portraits
Reading: four French teens📍 Survey: a sociologist interviews 4 French teenagers, ages 13–17, to understand their lives. Here are their answers.
👦 Simon — 14, Paris
« Je suis trop traînée, je dis "ouais", j'ai un bon nom mais pratiquement, j'ai aussi un autre nom à l'école. C'est pas facile, j'avoue. Mais je m'en sors ! »
"I'm laid back, I say 'yeah', I've got a good name but really I have another nickname at school. It's not easy, I admit. But I'm getting by!"
- My future job
- journalist
- Things I like
- fashion, cinema, hanging out with friends
- What I worry about
- the planet, the climate, the future
- My dream
- to run the New York marathon
👧 Sarah — 13, Strasbourg
« Mes parents sont divorcés. Mon père vit en Allemagne, ma mère vit ici, à Strasbourg avec moi. Je vois mon père un week-end sur deux. C'est un peu compliqué, mais ça va. »
"My parents are divorced. My dad lives in Germany, my mum lives here in Strasbourg with me. I see my dad every other weekend. It's a bit complicated, but I'm OK."
- My future job
- fashion journalist
- Things I like
- fashion, singing, talking with friends
- What I worry about
- seeing my friends often enough
- My dream
- to become a TV journalist
👧 Estelle — 17, Pontry (Brittany)
« Mes parents sont agriculteurs. Je les aide souvent à la ferme — surtout pendant les vacances. C'est un travail dur, mais j'aime ce mode de vie. La nature est tout autour de nous. »
"My parents are farmers. I help out on the farm — especially during the holidays. It's hard work, but I love this way of life. Nature is all around us."
- My future job
- vet
- Things I like
- nature, listening to music
- What I worry about
- my parents' money problems, health
- My dream
- to find love
👦 Félix — 15, Montpellier
« Mes parents sont profs, donc je suis aussi un peu prof à la maison ! Ce qui m'intéresse, ce sont les sciences. Plus tard, je voudrais étudier la biologie ou la médecine. »
"Both my parents are teachers, so I'm sort of a teacher at home too! What I really care about is science. Later I'd like to study biology or medicine."
- My future job
- scientific researcher
- Things I like
- science fiction, rugby
- What I worry about
- the future
- My dream
- to travel around the world
💡 Notes
- Un ado / une ado = short for adolescent / adolescente. Same vibe as English "teen". Used constantly.
- Mes parents sont divorcés — very common in France (divorce rate ~45%). Students will mention it casually.
- Un week-end sur deux = "every other weekend" — the classic shared-custody arrangement after a divorce. Same setup as in the UK/US.
- Un agriculteur / une agricultrice — a farmer.
- Un mode de vie — "a way of life", "a lifestyle".
Vocabulary
Words to remember| French | Type | English |
|---|---|---|
| un / une ado(lescent[e]) | n. | teenager, teen |
| la jeunesse | n.f. | youth (the period of life) |
| un collège | n.m. | middle school (ages 11–15) — ⚠ false friend, NOT "college" / university! |
| un lycée | n.m. | high school (ages 15–18) |
| un / une élève | n. | pupil, school student (primary–high school) |
| un / une prof(esseur) | n. | teacher (informal short form of professeur) |
| un / une journaliste | n. | journalist |
| un / une vétérinaire | n. | vet, veterinarian |
| un agriculteur / une agricultrice | n. | farmer |
| un chercheur / une chercheuse | n. | researcher |
| une ferme | n.f. | farm |
| la nature | n.f. | nature, the outdoors |
| un mode de vie | n.m. | way of life, lifestyle |
| une préoccupation | n.f. | worry, concern |
| l'avenir | n.m. | the future |
| l'amour | n.m. | love |
| la santé | n.f. | health |
| la planète | n.f. | the planet |
| le climat | n.m. | climate |
| divorcé / divorcée | adj. | divorced |
| le rugby | n.m. | rugby |
| la science-fiction | n.f. | science fiction |
| la biologie | n.f. | biology |
| la médecine | n.f. | medicine (the field) |
| aider qn (à + inf.) | v. | to help someone (to do) |
| retrouver | v. | to find again; to meet up with |
| compliqué / compliquée | adj. | complicated |
⚠️ False friend alert: un collège in French is middle school (ages 11–15), not a university or "college" in the American sense. Un lycée is high school. The word for university is une université (or une fac, informal).
Cultural snapshot
Being a teen in France🎒 What it's like to be a French teen
A few hallmarks of French teenage life:
- 📚 School: collège (11–15, classes 6e down to 3e — the numbers count backwards here), then lycée (15–18). The high-school exit exam, the baccalauréat (bac), is taken at 18.
- 👫 Friends: central to teen life. After class they meet up in cafés, parks, McDo (McDonald's).
- 📱 Screens: nearly 100% have a smartphone by 14. Mostly Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat — same platforms as UK/US teens.
- 🍕 Pocket money (l'argent de poche): typically 10–30 € a month.
- 🚌 Independence: taking public transport alone from age 12–13 is totally normal — French cities are walkable, suburbs less so.
- 💔 Blended families: roughly 1 in 3 French marriages ends in divorce. Many teens split their time between two households (garde alternée).
🆚 French teens vs UK / US teens
🇫🇷 French teen
- 📚 ~28 hours of class per week
- 🏠 Almost no after-school tutoring (it exists but isn't the norm)
- ⏰ ~16 weeks of school holidays per year — among the longest in Europe
- 🍷 Legal drinking age: 18 (no separate beer/spirits split). Casual wine at the dinner table from 14–15 is common
- 💑 First romantic relationships often around 14–15
- 🎓 The bac at 18, then university (mostly free / very cheap)
🇬🇧🇺🇸 UK / US teen
- 📚 ~25–30 hours of class per week
- 🏠 Heavy emphasis on extracurriculars (sport, music, clubs)
- ⏰ ~13 weeks of holidays in the UK; ~12 in the US
- 🍷 Legal drinking age: 18 (UK) / 21 (US) — much stricter culture around alcohol than in France
- 💑 Similar timing for relationships
- 🎓 GCSEs / A-levels (UK) or SATs / APs (US); university tuition often substantial
💡 Did you know?
- In France, the word « ado » is largely positive. Media often talks about teens with affection (films, series, magazines aimed at them).
- Magazines for teens: Phosphore, Okapi, L'Étudiant — French equivalents of Seventeen or The Week Junior.
- According to a 2023 study, 92% of French teens have at least one social media account. But 60% say they want "less screen time".
- French school grades go from 0 to 20 (yes, /20) — getting a 14 is solid, a 17 is excellent. Anglophones often misread their grades the first time.
Practice
Try it outExercise 1 · Who is it?
Based on the four portraits.
- Who wants to become a vet? →
- Whose parents are farmers? →
- Who dreams of running the New York marathon? →
- Who likes fashion?
- Who sees their dad every other weekend? →
- Who likes rugby and science? →
Exercise 2 · True or false?
About French teen life.
| Statement | True | False |
|---|---|---|
| The bac is taken at 18. | ||
| French teens have ~28 hours of class per week. | ||
| French school holidays are among the longest in Europe. | ||
| 92% of French teens have a social media account. | ||
| The word "ado" is derogatory in France. |
Exercise 3 · Unit 2 recap
Fill in with relative pronouns (qui / que) or demonstratives (celle-ci / celle-là).
- Estelle vit dans une petite ville est en Bretagne.
- Le métier Simon veut faire est journaliste.
- Sarah a deux maisons. est à Strasbourg, en Allemagne.
- Félix est un ado aime les sciences.
- Le rêve partage Félix avec Vincent (L7), c'est faire le tour du monde.
Exercise 4 · Conditional
If you were 14 again… what would you do? Conjugate.
- Si j'(avoir) 14 ans, j'(étudier) mieux.
- Si je (être) ado, j'(aller) souvent au cinéma.
- Si tu (pouvoir) revivre cette époque, qu'est-ce que tu (faire) de différent ?
Communicate
Real-world tasks👥 What were you like as a teen?
Pair work. Talk about your life when you were 14–17. Borrow the questions from the four portraits:
- What career did you want?
- What did you like doing?
- What worried you?
- What was your big dream?
💡 Use the imparfait (covered in A1 L29) to talk about the past!
📰 Your portrait at 14
Following the model of the four portraits, write your own profile (80–100 words) with:
- First name · age · city
- A quote in quotation marks
- Future job · things I like · what I worry about · my dream
🆚 French teens vs the teens you know
Pair discussion: what are the 3 biggest differences between French teens and teens in your country? And the 3 biggest things in common? Present your conclusions to the class.