Vis-A-Vis: Beginning French

Rating:
Summary: A great textbook for classroom use
Review: Salut! I used this book for two semesters worth of beginning French class at a university, and must say that if used with the proper teaching skills, students can certainly excell quickly in learning this fantastic language. There is a cassette tape included that helps develop troublesome accents for newbies to French, and after reviewing the book once again after having taken the class about a year ago, I have even more appreciation for both the book and the language it instructs. It contains conjugations in all forms, great lessons, eye-pleasing references, problem issues with different words, and a great gradual learning process to keep the interest of students first learning this beautiful language. I would certainly recommend any French teacher or professor to examine a copy and quite soon I think they will agree with me. This book is great!

Rating:
Summary: A great textbook for classroom use
Review: Salut! I used this book for two semesters worth of beginning French class at a university, and must say that if used with the proper teaching skills, students can certainly excell quickly in learning this fantastic language. There is a cassette tape included that helps develop troublesome accents for newbies to French, and after reviewing the book once again after having taken the class about a year ago, I have even more appreciation for both the book and the language it instructs. It contains conjugations in all forms, great lessons, eye-pleasing references, problem issues with different words, and a great gradual learning process to keep the interest of students first learning this beautiful language. I would certainly recommend any French teacher or professor to examine a copy and quite soon I think they will agree with me. This book is great!

Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: This book is one that has helped me develop my comprehension of the french language. The workbook and cassette helped me to develop my speech and accent.

Rating:
Summary: Learning French
Review: Vis a Vis is the language book I used for my first year of college French. The instructor I had for French class only used the text for vocabulary and some of the verb charts. He also made us memorize some of the postcards in this book, much to the chagrin of many in class. His favorite method of instruction was having the class translate endless numbers of sentences, a process I thought was pretty effective in learning French grammar. I relied on the book to review examples of the sentences from class. I rarely used the exercises in the book, although the ones I did use seemed to be pretty effective learning aids. I still believe the best way to learn a language is total immersion in that language and culture (to learn French, live in France). Since it isn't easy to live in Europe without a job or lots of money, most of us have to rely on books like Vis a Vis. The book is similar to the one I used for Spanish in high school: lots of pictures and French text that explain French culture. I recommend auxiliary texts such as 501 French verbs and a LaRousse dictionary along with this book, or any other introductory French language book. The verb tables in the back of Vis a Vis are inadequate for truly learning the gist of verb conjugation. French is tough, and to learn it you will need all the help you can get.

Rating:
Summary: <<Vis-`a-Vis>> - A sensible partner in understanding French
Review: Vis-`a-vis uses many different approaches in its introductionof French that are both coulourful and multi-disciplined. Theseapproaches include video and audio tape, web pages, many angles ofapproach within the text and (so I have read) a CD ROM. I find myselfstudying, willingly, and accessing the information readily. I do wishtheir web page had more basic exercises and I am having troublefinding their CD ROM. However, the book is very fun, encouraging meto explore and absorb as much as I can. At 44, I am an older studentthan the rest of my class, but I feel the book is helping me keep upwith the lessons very well. GregRobin Smith (University ofWashington).

Rating:
Summary: excellent CD ROm to accompany book
Review: We used this book for our beginning French classes at Stanford continuing studies. The one flaw with the book is that the grammar is kind of all over the place so it's hard to use as a reference. However, the book has a lot of good information and is very fun to use and read. The CD ROM is absolutely fantastic!! You follow the day to day lives of four French student/actors. They speak clearly and there's text to accompany the video scenes. The CD ROM made studying very fun. I'm trying to find something like this at the advanced level. Please email me if you have suggestions!

Rating:
Summary: excellent CD ROm to accompany book
Review: We used this book for our beginning French classes at Stanford continuing studies. The one flaw with the book is that the grammar is kind of all over the place so it's hard to use as a reference. However, the book has a lot of good information and is very fun to use and read. The CD ROM is absolutely fantastic!! You follow the day to day lives of four French student/actors. They speak clearly and there's text to accompany the video scenes. The CD ROM made studying very fun. I'm trying to find something like this at the advanced level. Please email me if you have suggestions!