NERD ALERT!!!!
I am reviewing a textbook. This is an official broadcast into how boring I am but, before you shut it down, hear me out. I am a teacher and this is something of an obligatory post. Plus, it's technically a book that I read and finished this year (albeit not for the first time), so it deserves a fair shake.
I have taught in various capacities for over 20 years. To date, I have been teaching French for my local chapter of the Alliance Française (AF) for 11+ years. During that time, I have taught dozens of classes from at least as many textbooks, beginner through advanced. I have developed curricula, put in hundreds of hours writing lessons, developing presentations, and planning ancillary activities. And I have loved all most of it.
When I began teaching for the AF in 2012, I inherited some really crappy textbooks and zero curriculum whatsoever. It was bad. Without any criteria or measurements of progress, the education department had no direction at all. After reconnecting with my own high school French teacher over a summer tutoring project, I recalled just how good the textbooks that I'd used myself in her classes were. So, I integrated them in our program and our student body increased exponentially.
When it comes to French language manuals, nothing beats the Valettes. A French-born husband and American-born wife duo, Jean-Paul and Rebecca Valette have dominated the scene with their Discovering French Nouveau! textbook series, including Bleu 1, Blanc 2, and Rouge 3. (The increasing skill level books are cleverly named after the colors of the French flag: blue, white, red.)
| Discovering French Nouveau! Bleu 1 (2007 Edition) |
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| Discovering French Nouveau! Blanc 2 (2007 Edition) *My personal favorite of the three!* |
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| Discovering French Nouveau! Rouge 3 (2007 Edition) |
I love these textbooks, their accompanying workbooks, and A/V materials. The Valettes have covered everything, leaving teachers free to teach! Collating lessons and activities no longer requires reinventing the wheel and scouring scattered materials to complete a lesson plan. The Valette package is the "all inclusive resort" of French language learning. The lessons are clear, organized, concise, and include meaningful practice exercises. Plus, there are loads of pictures!!!
Now, before you laugh off this comment about pictures, consider this: any linguist will tell you that one hurdle that language learners encounter is the transition to thinking in the target language. Our brains often involuntarily translate our thoughts into our native tongue. We might not always realize this is happening, but it does. So, instead of seeing a pineapple and immediately thinking ananas, our brain sees the pineapple, thinks pineapple, then ananas. For you visual folks, think of it this way:
Our brain does this:
>>> Pineapple >>> AnanasWhen learning a new language, we want it to do this:
>>> AnanasThe idea is to get our brain to skip the middle step, causing us not only to speak the new language, but to think that way, too. This phenomenon leads to higher proficiency in the target language. It's the same as when we learn to speak as infants. When a child learns a new word, they aren't shown the word in a different pattern of writing. Using the pineapple example, we might show our children a picture of a pineapple, point to it, and say "pineapple". Our child might touch, taste, smell, or see a real pineapple, reinforcing the word pineapple in his/her brain. The brain, in turn, associates the word pineapple with the object itself.
To circle back around to the textbooks, using pictures isn't just about improving the dry, boring textbook aesthetic, although that is certainly an added bonus. Within the Discovering French Nouveau! series, both Bleu 1and Blanc 2 especially use imagery as a focus for introducing new vocabulary. This is magnificent for both retention and word-object association. Sadly, it happens less in the Rouge 3 book; I'm not sure why this is.
Another great advantage to this series of manuals is the incorporation of both reading and cultural activities. Learning a new language isn't just about memorizing vocabulary and grammar rules. To truly learn, one must also experience culture, history, and geography. All three of these textbooks include excellent culture lessons, both embedded within the lessons themselves and as inter-unit readings/activities. In addition to these, there are excerpts from literature, poetry, history, and music from around the Francophone world. All of these readings and activities are presented with increasing complexity to mirror a student's developing skill level.
Unfortunately, the series is no longer in print (the most recent editions being from 2007, pictured above) and neither are the web resources. Still, the content continues to be relevant, and used versions are always available on Amazon. For French language learning, I can offer no better recommendation that Discovering French Nouveau.
FIN
