Home | L'art et la littérature du XIXe et XXe siècle | Culture Bee Questions | Culture Bee AnswersFor the 2001 Exam (March 2-24)
Level 01 | Level 1 | Level 2 | Level 3 | Level 4 | Level 5
Reminder: The specifications for each level are cumulative and include all material listed for lower levels.
Vocabulary
1. Greetings such as: Bonjour, au revoir, bonsoir, bon appétit, etc. Asking someone's name and telling your name.
2. Expressions to talk about the weather such as: Il fait beau, il fait mauvais, il fait du vent, il fait froid, etc, and the question: Quel temps fait-il?
3. Expressions il y a, voilà, voici.
4. Expressions of time such as: Mois, semaine, an, année, jour, journée, demain, hier, aujourd'hui, le soir, l'après-midi, etc The days of the week, the months of the year, the seasons.
5. How to tell time: Quelle heure est-il? Il est huit heures, etc.
6. How to tell someone's age: J'ai 14 ans. Quel âge avez-vous? J'ai 10 ans, etc.
7. Names of countries bordering France, adjectives of nationality; names of languages of same.
8. Cardinal numbers up to 100; adjectives premier and dernier.
9. Adverbs of time: Souvent, toujours, quelquefois, maintenant.
10. The following question words: Est-ce que, qu'est-ce que, qui, que, comment, combien, pourquoi, quand, où.
11. Common prepositions: Dans, sur, sous, devant, derrière, avec, chez, pour, après, avant.
12. Furniture of the classroom.
13. Most common clothing: Robe, manteau, bottes, etc.
14. Most common colors.
15.The following foods: Lait, café, eau minérale, coca, chocolat, croissants, pain au chocolat, glace, pizza, croque-monsieur, crêpe.
16. Names of members of the family such as: Père, fils, soeur, etc.
17. Common first names such as: Jean, Marie, Pierre, etc.
Grammar
1. Verb tenses: Imperative, present indicative of all common regular ER, IR , and RE verbs, and the following irregular verbs: être, avoir, aller, faire.
2. Use of these tenses (see No.1 above) in an affirmative, interrogative or negative construction.
3. Elision.
4. Definite, indefinite, and partitive articles and contractions.
5. Plural of nouns.
6. Agreement and position of common descriptive adjectives.
7. ossessive adjectives.
8. Demonstrative adjectives.
9. Possession with de.
10. Subject pronouns.
11. Independent pronouns: Moi, toi, lui, etc.
12. Negation: ne...pas.
Culture and Civilization
1. Phrases in greeting, introductions, farewells
2. Names of the most important French holidays and explanation of how they are celebrated.
Sound Discrimination
1. Sound of all the letters of the alphabet.
2. Sound change with accents.
3. Statement versus question intonation.
4. Liaison.
5. Difference between the sounds of all nasals.
6. Recognition of the sounds of all combinations of letters.
Everything for Level 01, plus:
Vocabulary
1. Names of cognate-based professions, such as: dentiste, pilote, docteur, etc.
2. Locations: Près de, à côté de, loin de, en face de, etc.
3. Buildings and places in a town such as: gare, hôpital, église, etc.
4. Common expressions with avoir: j'ai tort, j'ai raison, j'ai soif, j'ai faim, etc.
5. Cardinal and ordinal numbers up to 100.
6. Expressions such as: Combien coûte? C'est cher, bon marché, etc.
7. Expressions of time: le mois prochain, la semaine prochaine, l'année prochaine.
8. Polite expression: Je voudrais.
9. Names of common vegetables, common fruit.
10. Vocabulary to read a simple menu or talk about a meal: du poisson, de la viande, de l'eau, du sel, du poivre, etc.
11. Rooms in the house.
12. Furniture of the house.
13. Expressions: jouer à, jouer de
14. imple "faire" expressions such as: faire des courses, la vaisselle, faire du ski, etc.
15. Parts of the body and expressions such as: J'ai mal à...
Grammar
1. All verbs and tenses listed under Level 01.
2. Use of these tenses in an affirmative, interrogative or negative construction.
3. Near future: Aller + infinitive.
4. Interrogative adjectives: Quel, Quelle, Quels, Quelles.
5. Expressions of quantity.
Culture and Civilization
1. Counties and bodies of water bordering France.
2. Main mountains and rivers of France.
Everything for Levels 01 - 1, plus:
Vocabulary
A more varied vocabulary including idiomatic expressions with faire (such as: Il fait nuit), avoir (such as avoir l'air, avoir envie de), être (such as: être en train de, être de), aller (such as: aller bien, aller loin)
Grammar
1. Verbs: Add to Level 01 and 1 verbs: Pouvoir, vouloir, lire, écrire, dire , voir, croire, connaître, savoir, mettre (and its compounds) venir, partir, sortir, dormir, ouvrir, and the most common motion verbs and pronominal verbs in the present, imperative and passé composé. Imperfect and future tenses will be used in listening comprehension and reading selections, but NOT TESTED as a grammar item.
2. Verbs with spelling changes, such as acheter, préférer
3. Recent past: Venir de + infinitive.
4. Use of inversion to ask questions.
5. Agreement and position of adjectives.
6. Comparative and superlative of regular adjectives and adverbs + meilleur and mieux.
7. Basic negatives: ne...jamais, ne...rien, ne... personne.
8. Possessions: être à.
9. Object Pronouns: Direct, indirect, y, en. Double object pronouns may be used in reading and listening comprehension passages but will NOT BE TESTED as a grammar item.
10. Agreement of past participle.
11. Interrogative pronouns: qui, qui est-ce qui, que, qu'est-ce qui, quoi after a preposition.
12. Relative pronouns qui and que.
13. Use of prepositions with geographical names.
Culture and Civilization
1. Recognition of the names of Francophone countries and French overseas départements and their capital cities.
2. Recognition of the most famous Châteaux de la Loire.
3. Paris and its major monuments
4. Location of major French cities.
5. An average French student's daily schedule (school and home).
Everything for Levels 01 - 2, plus:
VOCABULARY - will be a little richer than for Level 2
Grammar
1. Imperfect, future, conditional, pluperfect and past conditional.
Subjunctive will be used sometimes in reading and listening comprehension passages but NOT TESTED as a grammar item.
2. Active vs. passive voice.
3. "Si" clauses.
4. Use of the present participle, infinitive and past infinitive with appropriate prepositions.
5. Verbs requiring a preposition when followed by an infinitive.
6. Use of depuis with present tense.
7. Adjectives followed by à or de plus infinitive.
8. Demonstrative pronouns.
9. Possessive pronouns.
10. Relative pronouns: dont, où and ce qui, ce que, ce dont.
11. All interrogative pronouns.
12. Correct use of sortir, partir, laisser, quitter.
13. Use of descendre, montrer, sortir, rentrer, passer with a direct object.
14. Negatives: Ne...que, ne...ni...ni..., ne...plus.
15. Ce vs. il.
16. Plus de, moins de, autant de + noun.
Culture and Civilization
Most famous French regions: Their products and customs.
Everything for Levels 01 - 3, plus:
Grammar
1. Recognition of the passé simple, and future perfect.
2. Forms and use of the present and past subjunctive.
3. Use of the present and imperfect with depuis, il y a..que, ça fait...que, voilà...que.
4. Indefinite pronouns.
5. All negatives.
6. All relative pronouns.
7. Correct use of manquer, manquer de, manquer à.
Culture and Civilization
1. General recognition of famous names and important periods and events of French history, such as those which can be found in most review texts and workbooks.
2. Introduction to the arts and literature of the 19th and 20th centuries.
3. Current events.
Everything for Levels 01 - 4, plus:
Grammar
Recognition of all verb tenses, including the imperfect and pluperfect subjunctive. Thorough review of all aspects of French grammar.
Culture and Civilization
Introduction to the arts and literature of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries.
REMEMBER! THESE SPECIFICATIONS ARE CUMULATIVE.
The new computer grading system CANNOT ACCOMMODATE THE CHOICE OF CLUSTERS for the culture questions. So we will continue having a maximum of seven culture questions per test on a variety of topics as stated in the specifications for each level.
However, in composing the questions, the committee will, as much as possible, follow the suggestions of the AATF Committee on Cultural Competence, and may ask the questions in ENGLISH at levels 01, 1, and 2.
When necessary to better test global understanding of the passage or understanding of the main idea, questions on listening comprehension and reading passages may also be asked in ENGLISH. This seems to be the trend in the new textbooks and consequently will be more reflective of current classroom methodology.
