A special Christmas in Switzerland

"Un Noël spécial en Suisse"
French C1 writing exercise

Damien recalls a wonderful family Christmas holiday in Switzerland.

Pay attention to the hints!

Some vocabulary you may want to look up before or during this exercise: "to cry with joy", "the big news", "a long-haul flight", "a fairy-tale setting", "a chalet", "in the heart of", "snow-covered", "a mountain top", "Christmas lights", "a window pane", "frosted (window)", "freezing wind", "icing on the cake", "undoubtedly", "Swiss", "a cardoon gratin", "ham on the bone", "to digest", "Christmas carols".

I’ll give you some sentences to translate into French

  • I’ll show you where you make mistakes
  • I’ll keep track of what you need to practise
  • Change my choices if you want
Start the exercise

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That year, my dad had decided that the whole family would spend Christmas in Switzerland. I remember how my sisters and I cried with joy the day he'd announced this big news. Not only were we going to get on a long-haul flight for the first time, but we were also going to celebrate Christmas in a fairy-tale setting! A few days before Christmas, we finally arrived in our chalet which was located in the heart of the Swiss mountains. The view over the snow-covered mountain tops was the most beautiful I had ever seen, especially at night when the Christmas lights would illuminate the valley. I would have been happy to spend Christmas Day at the window, with my nose glued to the window panes frosted by the freezing wind. But the icing on this holiday's cake had undoubtedly been the Christmas Day festivities: our parents had covered the table with typically Swiss festive dishes, including a cardoon gratin, a Swiss hotpot, ham on the bone and Swiss bricelets. Then, after having digested this delicious meal, we went to the local church to listen to Christmas carols.

Thinking...