Reflets: Niveau 1 Livre de L'Eleve [French]

When I ordered this book I thought it was something entirely different, I think I should Have realized by the word "exercices" in the title that it was the exercise book NOT the regular book. It is in great condition. Pretty much brand new. It took a little longer than I expected to arrive, but oh well. It ended up being the wrong book anyways. :(

If you are really looking to learn French, not playing around or just being able to speak. It makes a French out of you. Thanks Mr.Capelle

This book was my first introduction to learning French, and now I'm using it as a basis for teaching my own French courses. I appreciate the style and set up. Each section starts with a dialogue giving students a chance to see real conversations and scenerios. Then the lesson proceeds by breaking down the dialogue and explaining the new bits of the language it just introduced. For example, it'll use one short exchange like how to express gratitude to expand on all the ways of expressing gratitude. It will introduce new verbs in the dialogue (like connaitre or mettre) and then go into a detailed and expanded explanation of the usage of that verb. Compared to other books I've learned from and taught from, I find this to be the most practical and realistic. However, it's definitely a book that requires a teacher. It would be somewhat difficult to follow as a student with no former French experience.

This multimeida course (book, videos, CDs, and exercise book) offers an interesting introduction to French that will appeal to older children and adults. The course is entirely modern and deals with contemporary situations, largely urban in nature. The text is full of photographs (all in color) that include scenes from the accompanying video tapes. The focus is on a trio of 20-somethings and their daily lives at their work places. It's an interesting course with interesting exercises that are relevant to modern life. A weakness is that the presentation of points of grammar often leaves the student with a lot of questions that require a teacher to answer. This isn't a self-study course except maybe for someone who is highly motivated. For a class of teenagers and older students it is very good.