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FSI French Drills: What Am I Missing?

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24 messages over 3 pages: 1 2 3  Next >>
Footnoted
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United States
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Studies: French

 
 Message 1 of 24
22 August 2011 at 6:45am | IP Logged 
I've started FSI French which I plan to do alongside New French with Ease. I must be missing something with respect to the proper way to do the FSI drills, at least with Unit 1. Is there more to it than parroting back what one hears on the audio and sees in the text? I know there are different types of drills ("Lexical", "Practice") but I don't see where any effort is required other than repeating what is spoken and written (and understanding the meaning).     
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TerryW
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 Message 2 of 24
22 August 2011 at 9:10am | IP Logged 
Footnoted wrote:
Is there more to it than parroting back what one hears on the audio and sees in the text?

Why, yes there is. Maybe you're not "answering" in the (pretty short) time space they give you, but instead you're waiting for them to say the answer and then you repeat it?

If they give the first drill phrase as:

"I went to the party." then they say "They." You're supposed to say the sentence "They went to the party," which means you now have to conjugate "went" for They (vs. I in the 1st phrase).

Then, if they say "Store." you're supposed to say "They went to the store," which means you're going to have to know the definite article for store, Le or La, as well as the conjugation for "They went" from the previous sentence.
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Hampie
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 Message 3 of 24
22 August 2011 at 10:03am | IP Logged 
First there’s usually something like this, the underlines signify what word that be replaced.
Example sentence: Je suis le cheval.
then you will hear a word and they will expect you to put it in the place of the underlined word and change the
sentence so that it agrees with the new word, i.e.:
you hear ‹Il› and they expect ‹Il est le cheval›
you year ‹tu› they expect ‹Tu es le cheval›
you hear ‹ils pluriel› and they expel ‹Ils sont le chevaux›
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Footnoted
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Studies: French

 
 Message 4 of 24
22 August 2011 at 12:48pm | IP Logged 
Here is how Lexical A-13 starts:
1. C'est un bon restaurant.
2. C'est un bon livre.
3. C'est un bon cafe'.
4. C'est un bon souvenir.
etc.
In other words there's nothing to change. Is this because it's such an early lesson? Also, are you not supposed to look at the text while doing the drills, since the answers are right there?

Edited by Footnoted on 22 August 2011 at 12:48pm

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kanewai
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justpaste.it/kanewai
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 Message 5 of 24
22 August 2011 at 1:06pm | IP Logged 
But, if you have the audio then you should hear the instructor say the underlined word first (e.g. "bon livre", not the full sentence).

You do have the full recordings, yeah? The ones on the FSI Language site?


Edited by kanewai on 22 August 2011 at 1:10pm

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Footnoted
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United States
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Studies: French

 
 Message 6 of 24
22 August 2011 at 2:43pm | IP Logged 
I do have the full recordings and yes that is what they say. Are you not supposed to look at the text while listening to the recordings? Also are you supposed to write your reponses too, especially since the responses are often sounded the same as the initial statement even though the spelling may change, this being French?

Edited by Footnoted on 22 August 2011 at 2:48pm

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DavidW
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 Message 7 of 24
22 August 2011 at 3:04pm | IP Logged 
For the French course, in the first half of the drills in every section, you are more or
less just repeating, I think they are called 'practice drills,' to get you used to the
structures. The later drills in each section will then require you to manipulate the
forms you have been practicing. It's worth reading the introduction and instructions,
there's some good advice there.

Edited by DavidW on 22 August 2011 at 3:05pm

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misslanguages
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France
fluent-language.blog
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 Message 8 of 24
22 August 2011 at 3:07pm | IP Logged 
If you feel like the FSI course is too easy, try Livemocha or Rosetta Stone instead. You can also skip the easier lessons.


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