Michel Thomas Method French Advanced Review

Rating: 8.5/10
Publisher: Hodder Arnold

This course is a variation on the Michel Thomas Method French Advanced course that I've already reviewed here.

Pros
Complete Advanced course (4 CDs) plus concise review CD
Easy to follow and progress through material without effort.
Great system for easily remembering grammar and structures.
Thomas emphasizes correct pronunciation but with colloquial flavour.
Targeted on speech: Focus on listening, thinking out the answer and proper expression.

Cons
Not extensive vocabulary.
Intermediate rather than actually advanced.
Need another system for learning how to read and write.
(Michel Thomas Method French Vocabulary course reviewed here.)

Conclusion
This review cd is a useful addition to the Advanced course, as it removes all the padding in the earlier course, including student replies, discussion etc, and just has Michel Thomas speaking and answering himself with a slight pause for your practice response. It's a great way to review the course. I probably wouldn't buy this cd if I already had the original Advanced 4 cd set, but it certainly adds some usefulness for people purchasing the set for the first time.

For further comments on the Advanced Course, see my review here.

Instant Immersion French

Rating: 7/10
Publisher: Topics Entertainment

Pros
Good production values
Great French accents with a wide range of material covered for a basic course
Emphasis on immersion by listening to French phrases and then having a go at translation without clues in English.
Short lessons encourage everyday practice

Cons
Pacing is a little slow
Relies heavily on memorisation for progress

Conclusion
The course is quite comprehensive for a beginner course (8 CDs), covering all the basics, as well as other useful topics such as the weather, travel, numbers, shopping, meals, as well as a diverse range of grammar structures, verb conjugations, adjectives and adverbs.

Each section contains new material, followed by specific practice exercises to reinforce the vocubulary. Structure is not a high priority for this course, encouraging you to learn from phrases and develop your own understanding of how the language hangs together through listening.

I like the practice exercises, translating first from French into English and then from English into French. This is important. The accents are great, the production values are excellent and the wide range of material keeps the course fresh and interesting.



Further comments
The pace of speaking is very slow, so it's easy to recognise. They use a range of native French speakers. The accent of the English speakers is very American.

It's a subtle difference, but in this course they give you the French first, followed by the English, encouraging you to translate first, and then have your answer reinforced/corrected afterwards. It's a little easy to slack off, however, and just wait for the English without working on the translation first.

Personally, I prefer a more active learning method, learning structures first, developing confidence in speaking from the first and then pickup vocabulary to create fluency. This course is much more reliant on memorising phrases and learning to offer them when appropriate.

French Conversation from Teach Yourself

with Jean-Claude Arragon

Rating: 7/10
Publisher: Teach Yourself

Pros:
Very clear native French speakers who speak slowly enough to understand all words fairly easily
Gives contextual dialogues, translations, information on structures, some verbal conjugations
Good production values

Cons:
The little tune introducing each section is a bit clichéd.

Conclusion:
This course is targeted at the complete beginner or traveller who wishes to learn a few phrases to use in travelling contexts. It makes use of similar vocabulary to enable you to recognise the same phrase in different contexts. The speakers are fluent native French actors, using a pace that is fairly slow, enabling easy recognition.

Dialogues are based on the following contexts:

• Introductions
• Making a reservation as well as eating/drinking at a restaurant
• Booking and staying at a hotel
• Buying tickets to a theme park
• Travel by train
• Hiring a car
• Going to the Chemist/Drugstore
• Asking directions
• Talking to the police
• Dinner at friend's place
• At a flea market
• Departing

A great course as an introduction to the French language for people who are travelling on holiday to France. The French speakers are very easy to listen to, and the English information and translations are provided by a woman with a clear (distinctly English accented) voice. Not a bad start for someone just wanting a basic taste of the language without too much effort.

You can purchase this course through Audible at the Amazon website

Further Comments:

The dialogues are definitely with travellers in mind, so some of the phrases are similar in order to feel competent in picking up the language quickly. This makes the course easier, but maybe a little disorienting when encountering a wider range of responses than is given in such a short course. This is not a detriment to the course, however, as it is not meant to be exhaustive.

The music introduces each new dialogue, which is useful for orienting your progress skipping through the audio on an iPod or similar. I would have liked a verbal indication of sections (eg. "Dialogue 4 Part 2") however, to enable easy navigation on iPod. This is a minor irritant however.

As a basic course it covers a very useful range of contexts, targeting useful activities that a traveller would easily encounter. Recommended for beginners or travellers who want to tackle the French experience.

Flashcard French by Usborne

These cards are an easy and fun way to introduce children to simple French vocabulary. The 50 cards are brightly illustrated, easily read and have a picture with word on one side, and word alone on the other. Topics covered include animals, vehicles, items around the house, colours and numbers (1-10). I've included the word list below.

You can use the cards to test yourself or the kids, place them around the house for reminders or just play games with them.

This series is also available in English, Spanish and Irish.

You can purchase Flashcard French from Usborne from Amazon here.





Word List

• apple
• bed
• bee
• bike
• bird
• blue
• boat
• boy
• bread
• car
• carrot
• cat
• chair
• cheese
• chocolate
• clock
• cow
• dog
• doll
• duck
• glower
• girl
• green
• house
• ice cream
• mouse
• orange
• pencil
• plane
• rabbit
• red
• shoes
• table
• teddy bear
• tomato
• tractor
• tree
• T-shirt
• yellow
• one
• two
• three
• four
• five
• six
• seven
• eight
• nine
• ten

First French Flashcards by Usborne

From the series Usborne Farmyard Tales, this pack of 50 flashcards is a great way to introduce learners to basic vocabulary that you would find on a property. Some of them are just fun, and kids in the city would certainly enjoy learning them, too. Most are animals, but also vegetables and some other parts of the house, vehicles and structures (see list below).

The illustrations are bright and the animals are very cute. Cards are a useful size, too, to enable them to be used by small hands, or stuck on the wall for memorisation. One side has the French word in a large size, with just a white background, and the illustrated side has the French word and a small version in English. 

You can purchase First French Flashcards (Farmyard Tales) (French Edition) from Amazon.



selection from pack of cards:

• window
• egg
• door
• hat
• basket
• leaf
• umbrella
• carrot
• orange
• tomato
• pear
• apple
• banana
• house
• cabbages
• goat
• cow
• frog
• donkey
• horse
• butterfly
• dog
• cat
• sheep
• rabbit
• mouse
• hen
• goose
• tree
• shed
• barn
• scarecrow
• trailer
• wheelbarrow
• pig
• snowman
• grapes
• snail
• gate
• feather
• tent
• tractor

Michel Thomas Method French Language Builder

Rating: 9/10
Publisher: Hodder Education

Pros:
Michel Thomas is easy to listen to
Builds on his method of building language naturally without lists or rote memorisation
Offers a great range of useful everyday phrases with alternatives

Cons:
A bit more memorisation is needed.
Audio level is a little low for use in noisy public locations (I turned up the volume on my iPod to maximum and still had difficulty hearing it when I was travelling on public transport).

Conclusion
This course adds another element to what was missing from the previous Michel Thomas language courses. It was always going to be a bit of a chore to build further language dexterity, but like the vocabulary courses this course is relatively easy to engage with. The teacher is very clear, and the content is built in a way that is quite light and you find yourself progressing rapidly. It is important to engage with the audio like the previous Michel Thomas courses, pausing and speaking aloud clearly to answer the question before the teacher does, and here he doesn't pause between question and answer. It is very useful to have it on an iPod or similar, so the pause button is readily accessible. This is another highly recommended course from Michel Thomas.


Have you tried French Language Builder from Michel Thomas Method? What did you think?

You can purchase French Language Builder from Amazon here:
Michel Thomas French Language Builder (Michel Thomas Series)

If you prefer Barnes and Noble, follow this link instead:












Further comments
It is important to engage with the audio like the previous Michel Thomas courses, pausing and speaking aloud clearly to answer the question before it is given to you. This encourages you to take the time to think about the answer, answer correctly, and then have your answer reinforced by the audio answer. This is essential to the Michel Thomas method, and makes progression really easy. This is a fairly dense course, moving through a lot of material fairly quickly, but as he builds on each section progressively, the course is easy to follow. I really enjoyed this course. There are 2 CDs in this Language Builder course. It is definitely needed in the Michel Thomas method, and along with the Michel Thomas Method Vocabulary Course offer a truly comprehensive package of language learning. I'm attracted to the style of education, too, as it is relatively painless to follow and progress.

I'd highly recommend this Language Builder course on top of the core language learning units.

Other Recent Articles:
Michel Thomas Method French Vocabulary Builder
Hugo Advanced French
Teach Yourself French 1
Les aventures de Tintin: Les Cigares du pharoan
Speak in a Week French for you

Coffee Break French adds a brand new season!

News:

Coffee Break French, the podcast series produced by Radio Lingua Network and reviewed here is broadcasting a further series of lessons. This 3rd season is aimed at Intermediate to Advanced listeners and started broadcasting from October this year.

Best Language Learning will be listening to this new season in the next couple of weeks and will review the season at the first opportunity soon after. I rated the first 2 seasons as 9 out of 10, so hopefully we can enjoy some more high quality french lessons from Mark and the team.

Look out for the review...

Other recent articles:

Michel Thomas Method French Vocabulary Course
HUGO Advanced French
Teach Yourself French 1
Les aventures de Tintin: Les Cigares du pharoan