French Stories for Children
Free online French short stories with Video clips, Worksheets and Online Quizzes.
Every story includes a video clip, grammar, vocabulary, questions and translation practice.
The videos are about 3 minutes long. They are for listening and oral practice supported by reading, writing and translation exercises. Example of a video:
Video
Ideas for use in class:
a) Watch the video
b) Highlight/point out phrases of particular interest/use
c) Talk about the story in English
d) Encourage students to engage with the characters, their feelings and experiences.
e) Relate those feelings and experiences to children’s own lives.
f) Return to and discuss the phrases highlighted at the beginning.
g) Ask students to write and illustrate the story
h) Encourage students to return to the video for more practice …
i) And go on to write and produce stories of their own!
KS2/3 French Hamster Story
Simple story using verbs in the 3rd person: Questions and answers about two hamsters who share a cage and enjoy doing different things. One of them becomes ill and has to take medicine:
Qu’est-ce que c’est? C’est un hamster …
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KS2 French Story – A New Puppy
Simple description + LIKES and a few DISLIKES:
Meet a tiny puppy on its first day in a new home. Follow its progress as it grows and find out what it enjoys doing:
A New Puppy
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French Story: Maggie is Mischievous
Simple true story with practice using a possessive adjective in French: ‘Mon’ – ‘Mon jouet!’ C’est à moi!
Maggie est coquine!
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My Birthday in French
Primary French Story about Birthdays. Learn days and months of the year and how to say when you were born:
My Birthday in French
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ON – Pourquoi on va à l’école?
Use ON + Verbs to say what happens at school, and in a dog agility class:
Qu’est-ce qu’on fait à l’école?
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Carnival in France:
ON + Verbs are used alongside images to see how children parade and celebrate carnival in France. Find out about Monsieur Carnaval and Pancake Day (Mardi Gras):
Carnival at School in France
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Comparisons in French:
Friendly contrast between an old dog and a speedy young one.
Age + speed are used for practice using comparisons in French:
Comparisons in French
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KS2/3 French Story about a Squirrel
Nature Story that encourages children to listen, feed the birds, and think about how you do things:
Maggie and the squirrel
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My Family in French:
Meet Maggie’s family and litter of puppies to learn the vocabulary for family members in French:
Ma Famille – A True Story
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KS2 French Story – Dogs at the River:
Simple sentences in the present tense describe a friendly walk by the river with likes and dislikes about swimming:
Maggie and Billy at the River in French
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KS2/3 French Story about Supper
It’s suppertime. All eyes on the ‘cook’. Please can we have some more. And what about pudding? ‘Nous voulons un peu plus …
We want some more:
C’est l’heure de manger. Supper!
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French Story: Chez le coiffeur
Short story in the Present Tense about a trip to the Hairdresser’s:
French Story – A Trip to the Hairdresser’s
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Je m’appelle Billy
Example of how to introduce and describe yourself in French:
Billy, introduces himself, talks about where he lives, his character and likes/dislikes:
Je m’appelle Billy
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Learn French Prepositions
Billy and the Stick Insects!
Prepositions are used throughout this short story about looking after stick insects:
Billy and the stick insects
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Negatives in French
Maggie says she never gets anything good to eat, but one day she gets a surprise which provides even more opportunity to use negatives in French:
A Bone from Twitter!
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A Winter ‘Story’ in French:
Winter weather in French – Friendly winter scenes with accompanying short sentences to listen to and join in with:
Winter Weather in French!
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Faire – What are you doing?
Questions and answers about what Maggie and Billy, and one or two others are doing, usually after asking what the weather is like:
Faire Practice – Que fais tu? Je fais …
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Il y a + il faut short Story
Maggie, Billy and the Apricots …
Learn how to use il y a and il faut in a short story about Maggie and Billy trying to ‘steal’ apricots:
Maggie, Billy et les abricots!
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Birds in French – Story/Description
Character Adjectives
Focus is again on the natural world which provides lots of opportunity to use a variety of adjectives to describe some very different characters!
Le MacDo des Oiseaux
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CES, SES, C’EST in a Nature Story
This is a true story about a sleeping chick on a feeder and its worried parents. The event is described in short sentences for practice using French Homophones:
Ces,ses, c’est: French homophones
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Future Activities on a Desert Island:
French Practice using the Near Future in French to talk about a longed for holiday:
A Future Holiday
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KS2/3 French Story – Maggie a grandi
Introduction in the Perfect Tense followed by likes and dislikes in the Present Tense:
Maggie has grown
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KS3 French Story – Ma Voiture
Present + Perfect Tenses:
J’ai eu, J’ai fait, Elle n’a pas été, j’ai acheté
Ma Voiture
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French Direct Object Pronouns …
Short story introducing Direct Object Pronouns: le, la, l’ and les to aid with understanding and practice in context:
French Direct Object Pronouns
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French Story using Reflexive Verbs:
The special event of a litter of puppies being born is used to illustrate many reflexive verbs in context:
One of them was Billy. See him moving about with his siblings.
Reflexive Verb Practice
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French Adverbs in a Story
Learn French Adverbs to say how, when and where verb actions take place:
French Adverb Practice – Story, Video + Worksheets
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My Summer Holiday
Description of a boy’s summer holiday that begins in the present before moving to the near future and then to the passé composé:
My Summer Holidays in French
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A New Puppy – Imperfect + Perfect
A short description of a puppy growing up is used to show how and when to use the imperfect instead of the perfect tense (and vice versa):
Imperfect + Perfect Tenses – A New Puppy
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KS3/4 Story about a Forest Fire:
In the heat of summer fires can easily start. This quite detailed story in the present tense describes how a fire starts in the mountains and how it is finally put out.
Fire in the mountains
