Use this short story in French with food to give novice learners repeated, understandable language in a memorable context. Marc a faim is a comprehensible input French story and one-hour lesson featuring printable text, two animated video options, comprehension activities, story-retelling practice, and an answer key.

Marc is a hungry squirrel. His refrigerator is full, but it does not contain his favorite food: baguettes! How will he fill his stomach, and can his friends help him?

This beginner-friendly French food story repeatedly uses four target structures:

• a faim
• il n’y a que
• il cherche
• une baguette

The simple, repetitive language is designed for novice-low and novice-mid learners. Teach the story as written, pause the video for discussion or storyasking, or let students watch for comprehension.

You can also adapt the lesson for other proficiency levels:

• Novice low and novice mid: Tell or watch the story as written.
• Novice high: Add details, ask extension questions, or create a parallel story.
• More advanced learners: Have students retell the story in the past tense.

This French comprehensible input lesson includes:

• Printable PDF version of the story
• Link to an animated video with text
• Link to an illustration-only video for oral retelling
• Comprehension-question worksheet
• “Who Said It?” worksheet
• Story-retell worksheet
• Answer key

The main animated story is just over five minutes and includes pauses that give students time to read. The illustration-only version removes the written text, making it useful for oral narration, sequencing, and story retells.

Use this resource as a complete one-hour lesson, a novice French reading activity, a food-vocabulary lesson, or a starting point for storyasking and parallel stories.

Please note: The download includes links to the animated videos. The videos are not embedded in the printable PDF.

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