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Our next beginner’s course in French | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| Jeffers Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4911 days ago 2151 posts - 3960 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German | Message 9 of 15 02 October 2011 at 8:08pm | IP Logged | ||
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Palfrey, that's a good suggestion, and I've looked at it as well. I would find it brilliant for me, to use alongside native materials. But the grammar is too dense for my son at his current stage. After about 3-4 lines he would be reading "blah blah blah blah".
At school they don't learn a lot of new grammar per week. They just work on various tasks to practice the grammar of the term. What I want is something which might give him a bit more grammar than he's getting at school. But more important than teaching him new grammar is something which helps him to use it, because at his stage in life, grammar rules are going over his head. We are using Assimil and Pimsleur, as I mentioned in the first post. These teach students to use grammar, rather than teach them the grammar rules. But I want to use a beginner's textbook (initially) in order to teach him a bit of grammar explicitly. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Elexi Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5567 days ago 938 posts - 1840 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, German, Latin | Message 10 of 15 02 October 2011 at 9:14pm | IP Logged | ||
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Given you have the French in Action DVDs - have you considered the work books, study guide and the (available with a bit of digging) audio?
If you can't get them PM me.... 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Jeffers Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4911 days ago 2151 posts - 3960 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German | Message 11 of 15 02 October 2011 at 11:06pm | IP Logged | ||
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Well spotted Elexi! And yes I have managed to get the lot. My son likes the videos, but is less keen on the audio. Actually, my younger kids like watching it too!
I plan on using the FIA exercises and audio when we've gotten a bit further along. The reason I still want a textbook is that FIA doesn't really teach grammar explicitly. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Elexi Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5567 days ago 938 posts - 1840 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, German, Latin | Message 12 of 15 03 October 2011 at 12:14am | IP Logged | ||
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Then I would go for the Living Language Ultimate Beginner-Immediate course - that covers grammar
explicitly - it is more cogent than the Teach Yourself series and is less grammar focused than Hugo (which hasn't changed since the 1970s, save being updated for the Euro, etc.). The LL 3 book series you mention is less cogent in overall presentation than the Ultimate series. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| palfrey Senior Member Canada Joined 5275 days ago 81 posts - 180 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, French | Message 13 of 15 03 October 2011 at 4:59pm | IP Logged | ||
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You could, of course, do what Solfrid Cristin's family did to her when she was a teenager: Ship the boy off to France for several months. Your son may hate you, but he'll probably learn some French :)
(Actually, I'm not being entirely flippant here. If you can afford it, and if he really is keen to learn French, now may be the time to do this sort of thing.) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Jeffers Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4911 days ago 2151 posts - 3960 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German | Message 14 of 15 03 October 2011 at 7:42pm | IP Logged | ||
I would love to, but it ain't happenin. He does spend some time with his trilingual cousin in Belgium. But his cousin prefers to use English. We are planning a few small trips just to keep up the encouragement (he enjoys using what little he can, for instance when ordering drinks). So, back to the topic: any further suggestions as to the relative merits of these 3 courses? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Cainntear Pentaglot Senior Member Scotland linguafrankly.blogsp Joined 6013 days ago 4399 posts - 7687 votes Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh | Message 15 of 15 03 October 2011 at 11:36pm | IP Logged | ||
I'll repeat myself, because it looks like I didn't make myself clear. Teach Yourself Complete is not a follow-on to Teach Yourself Beginner's. If you do both books, you will retread a lot of the same ground. "Not even in GCSE yet" -- so high school? Don't underestimate him. Remember that effective learning is fun, because it's sheer, unadulterated mental stimulation. Slow learning is less stimulating, so less fun. Doing a slow book, then starting from scratch with another... that sounds dull.... 1 person has voted this message useful |
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