Grade by Grade
C. Reading / D. Writing · Reading and Writing in French: First Steps

Les mots amis: Cognates and Reading Strategies

C1.1 C1.2 C2.3About 40 minutes
Learning goals
  • I can find cognates: French words that look like English words and mean the same thing.
  • I can watch out for false friends.
  • I can use the title, pictures and words I know before, during and after reading.
  • I can tell someone which reading strategy helped me.

Words to know

cognate (un mot ami)
A word that looks and means almost the same in French and English, like animal and animal.
false friend (un faux ami)
A word that looks like an English word but means something different, like raisin (grape).
strategy
A plan or trick that helps you do something.
predict
Make a smart guess about what will happen or what a text is about.
context
The words and pictures around a new word. They give you clues.

You already know some French!

Read these French words: animal, chocolat, éléphant, musique, banane, hockey, pizza, table, orange, famille.

Did you understand them? Of course! These are cognates. In French, we call them les mots amis (friendly words). They look almost the same in French and English, and they mean the same thing. They are the best friends of a new French reader.

Bananas, oranges, a bar of chocolate and a slice of pizza on a wooden table.
Une banane, des oranges, du chocolat et une pizza: all cognates! These French words look almost the same as the English ones. AI-generated image
FrenchEnglishWhat changed?
animalanimalnothing
chocolatchocolateno e at the end
éléphantelephantaccents
musiquemusic-ique instead of -ic
girafegiraffeone f
famillefamily-ille instead of -y
dentistedentiste at the end
Cognates often change just a little at the end.

Two cognate secret codes

  1. A word starting with é is often an English word starting with s: école = school, éponge = sponge, étudiant = student.
  2. An accent circonflexe (^) often stands for a missing s: forêt = forest, hôpital = hospital, fête = feast (a party), île = isle (island).

Watch out for false friends!

Some words pretend to be cognates. They are faux amis (false friends):

  • raisin = grape (not raisin)
  • pain = bread (not pain!)
  • coin = corner (not coin)
  • librairie = bookstore (a library is une bibliothèque)

If a cognate meaning doesn't make sense with the pictures, check it!

Code 1: é at the start = sCode 2: ^ = a missing sécoleschoolépongespongeétudiantstudentforêtforesthôpitalhospitalîleisle
Two secret codes: an é at the start often stands for an English s, and a ^ often stands for a missing s.

Reading strategies: before, during and after

Good readers use tricks called strategies.

Before reading

  • Read the title and look at the pictures.
  • Look for cognates and words you know.
  • Predict: What will this be about?

During reading

  • Make a picture in your head.
  • For a new word, look at the picture and the words around it (the context).
  • Reread a sentence if it doesn't make sense.

After reading

  • Retell in English, or draw what happened.
  • Check: Was your prediction right?
  • Think: Which strategy helped me most?
BeforeDuringAfter...title, pictures,cognates; predictpicture it; usecontext; rereadretell; checkyour prediction
Good readers use strategies before, during and after reading.
Worked example

Let's read with strategies

Read this short text:

Au zoo

Au zoo, il y a un éléphant. L'éléphant est gris. Il y a une girafe. La girafe mange des feuilles. Il y a un crocodile dans l'eau. J'adore les animaux!

  1. Before: The title has zoo, a cognate. Prediction: this is about animals at the zoo.
  2. Cognates: zoo, éléphant, girafe, crocodile, animaux (animals), adore (adore, love).
  3. Words I know: un, une, est gris (is grey), il y a means there is or there are.
  4. New words: mange des feuilles. A picture of a giraffe eating leaves would help. Giraffes eat leaves, so mange = eats, feuilles = leaves. dans l'eau = in the water (crocodiles live in water!).
  5. After: Retell: At the zoo there is a grey elephant, a giraffe eating leaves and a crocodile in the water. The writer loves animals. My prediction was right!

The text is about animals at the zoo. Cognates and context helped the most.

Say what helped you

After you read, finish this sentence out loud: "A strategy that helped me was ___ because ___." For example: "Looking for cognates helped me because I found five words I already knew." Good readers think about how they read.

Hands-on activity

Cognate hunt in the kitchen

You need: food packages or a flyer from a grocery store (in Canada, labels and flyers are often in English and French), paper and a pencil.

  1. Make two columns on your paper: Mots amis (cognates) and Faux amis? (not sure).
  2. Find French words on the packages. Cover the English with your thumb!
  3. Guess the meaning. Then lift your thumb to check.
  4. Write each word in the right column. Try to find 10 cognates.
  5. Did you find one that starts with é, or one with ^? Do the secret codes work?

Examples you might find: tomate, carotte, crème, céréales, biscuits.

Just for fun

If a French friend says J'ai du pain!, don't worry. Nobody is hurt: pain just means bread!

Your turn

1

What does musique mean?

2

What does dentiste mean?

3

Use the é code: what does école mean?

4

Use the ^ code: what does forêt mean?

5

Is pain a cognate or a false friend? What does it mean?

6

Name one thing you can do before reading.

7

You read Le chat mange une souris. The picture shows a cat chasing a mouse. What could souris mean?

More practice: warm-up

1

What does banane mean?

2

What does famille mean?

3

What does hôpital mean?

4

What does raisin mean in French?

5

What is a cognate?

More practice: on your own

1

What does éponge mean? Explain your thinking.

2

A sign says Librairie. Can you borrow books there for free?

3

What does île mean? Use a code.

4

Name one during-reading strategy.

5

You predicted a story would be about a dog, but it was about a cat. Is that bad?

Challenge

1

Read: Mon oncle est dentiste. Il travaille dans une clinique à Ottawa. What does Mon oncle do, and where?

2

Which word is not a cognate: table, girafe, coin, orange? What does it mean?

3

Your friend says: "I don't know every word, so I can't read this French text." What two strategies would you tell your friend to try?

Check your understanding

Quiz

1.

What does the cognate éléphant mean?

2.

Which word is a false friend?

3.

What does fête probably mean? (Hint: ^ can stand for a missing s.)

4.

Which is a before-reading strategy?

5.

What does école mean?

6.

You don't know a word. What is a good strategy?

For parents and teachers

Big idea: The curriculum asks Grade 4 students to use a few reading strategies before, during and after reading, including previewing familiar words and cognates (C1.1), to show understanding of texts with visuals and familiar words (C1.2), and to talk about which strategies helped them (C2.3, metacognition).

Common difficulties:

  • Thinking they must know every word. Reassure your child that readers in any language guess from context. The main idea is the goal.
  • Trusting every look-alike. Teach a few false friends (pain, raisin, coin, librairie) and the habit of checking against pictures.
  • Skipping the "what helped me" talk. Ask after any reading: "What trick did you use?" Naming strategies is part of the expectation.

At home: Bilingual labels, flyers and cereal boxes are perfect: cover the English, guess, then check.