French in Action: The Capretz Method Workbook, Part 1 (French in Action)

Rating:
Summary: The closest thing to being in France
Review: Although I have been studying French since High School, the Capretz method features something that no high school or college course can supply - interesting French conversations.

I find the program not only to be challenging, but very entertaining. Because there is actually a story going on, I don't mind watching the videos or listening to the tapes. Unlike other popular methods on the market, Capretz uses dialog which is usefull to the student.

In addition to being fun, the tapes also stress repetion and drill after drill. The tapes also depict French as it is actually spken today. For example, all the speakers say jsui instead of je suis.

I find this the best mathod on the market. The only problem is that if you can't get the video segment off the television then the program is going to cost you some big bucks!!

Rating:
Summary: Great to use with TV show
Review: I bought this book because I started watching the TV show on PBS. When I found out there was a book that went with it I was thrilled. I took French in High School and wanted to brush up. It was too hard keeping track of the show without this book but together they make a great combination.

Rating:
Summary: Best French course
Review: I have tried several self teaching french course books, audio tapes, etc. None of them comes close to French in Action. My french language skills have jumped several levels after I started studying this course. After having finished about half of this course, I was able to get by quite well in French during a recent trip to France. This course teaches you French and France, its culture and its people like no other.

Although all the video tapes, audio tapes, workbooks seems like a very expensive deal, there are ways to do it cheaply. The video section is broadcast year round on PBS channels, as well as available online at the learner website. I skipped the audio tapes since most of the excercises in the workbooks can be done without audio tapes and furthermore if you watch each video several times you have already understood the conversation. Then all that is needed is the textbook and the two workbooks. It can take a long time to complete the 52 lessons, but language learning is a long process. French in Action does make it very enjoyable.

I don't think this is a beginner level course, though. Its probably useful to do some other basic course for a couple of months before starting on this one.

Rating:
Summary: Not a good resource
Review: I have used this book in a college level French class. It was a very big waste of my time and money. I was totally unprepared to continue on in French, and I had a professor to whom I could pose questions. It is confussing, frustrating and poorly organized. If you think using this book is a replacement for taking a class to learn French, you are misled. I would only recommend this system to people who at one time knew French and want to stimulate old knowledge. For first time learners, this is a bad resource.

Rating:
Summary: Not appropriate for Middle School Students
Review: I've tried a number of different language course in a number of different languages over the years, but this is far and away the best. It's an immersion course, which means the videos and the audio-tapes are completely in French. It helps at the start if you've done a little French before, but even if you haven't, the extra effort in the early sections pays off handsomely. The videos are an essential part of the whole package, though they seem to be fairly widely available on public TV. (Here in Australia, ABC TV shows them nationwide, continuously, as part of the Open Learning programme). I strongly recommend buying them if you can, otherwise you are going to have to tape all 52 programmes off-air - you need to watch them over and over for maximum benefit. Each episode consists of 10 minutes of the story (a charming and quirky American boy meets French girl in Paris soap opera)and twenty minutes of explanation by Professor Capretz, an equally charming and quirky instructor. The whole is interlaced with hundreds of brief extracts from French film and TV. You watch the video several times, then work through the audio tapes to improve your own speaking, pronunciation and comprehension, read the text, then do the exercises. It might sound repetitive (all language learning is), but the story does hold your interest right to the end. I did it as a two year course with Open Learning in Australia, through the University of New England, and was sorry when it ended. This is a good way to do it, but it will work fine for a self-learning course. It's fairly costly, with textbook, workbooks, study guide and audiotapes, not to mention the videos, but you won't find a better course for learning to speak French or understand it from radio, film or TV. The reading side has been strengthened in the second edition, but to get to be a fluent reader you will need extra reading outside the course.

One of my teachers ( a French national) criticised the course for cultural bias (a little upperclass and American) and he has a point, but for a rapid and enjoyable path to fluency, this course can't be beaten.

Rating:
Summary: The best language course in the world
Review: I've tried a number of different language course in a number of different languages over the years, but this is far and away the best. It's an immersion course, which means the videos and the audio-tapes are completely in French. It helps at the start if you've done a little French before, but even if you haven't, the extra effort in the early sections pays off handsomely. The videos are an essential part of the whole package, though they seem to be fairly widely available on public TV. (Here in Australia, ABC TV shows them nationwide, continuously, as part of the Open Learning programme). I strongly recommend buying them if you can, otherwise you are going to have to tape all 52 programmes off-air - you need to watch them over and over for maximum benefit. Each episode consists of 10 minutes of the story (a charming and quirky American boy meets French girl in Paris soap opera)and twenty minutes of explanation by Professor Capretz, an equally charming and quirky instructor. The whole is interlaced with hundreds of brief extracts from French film and TV. You watch the video several times, then work through the audio tapes to improve your own speaking, pronunciation and comprehension, read the text, then do the exercises. It might sound repetitive (all language learning is), but the story does hold your interest right to the end. I did it as a two year course with Open Learning in Australia, through the University of New England, and was sorry when it ended. This is a good way to do it, but it will work fine for a self-learning course. It's fairly costly, with textbook, workbooks, study guide and audiotapes, not to mention the videos, but you won't find a better course for learning to speak French or understand it from radio, film or TV. The reading side has been strengthened in the second edition, but to get to be a fluent reader you will need extra reading outside the course.

One of my teachers ( a French national) criticised the course for cultural bias (a little upperclass and American) and he has a point, but for a rapid and enjoyable path to fluency, this course can't be beaten.

Rating:
Summary: A superlative approach to learning French
Review: One reviewer mentions that this course is inappropriate for middle school students. Absolutely correct. This a sophisticated college level course that demands much of the student. But if handled systematically, it is the closest thing to immersion in a French speaking culture obtainable in the many courses offered and that is the key to its success. The PBS film clips are the best known segment of the course, but in fact they are the least essential. The tapes [or CDs] and workbook, in conjunction with the text, are the very heart of the course. Children learn language through repetition and this is what the tapes provide on a mature and challanging level. The emphasis is on speaking and common language usage [colloquial speech]. As Robert - one of the protagonists in the video - observes, there are people who take university degrees in a language in America and yet are unable to ask simple directions when they arrive in the culture they studied. This course - text, workbook and especially audiotapes [or CD's] provides a speaking as well as a writing comprehension of the French language. Most college level courses only provide the written segment.

Rating:
Summary: A must get for serious French Learners
Review: This along with the video cassettes are an absolutely invaluable resource for anyone serious about learning French. It is total immersion without having to go to France, and crafted in a way that is not intimidating. It is a very endearing little story about two attractive young people in Paris, and is capable of enthralling even the beginner into the story in such a way that One cannot take this course without wanting to go through it all the way to the very end (Its actually sad when it ends) not becuase of a tragedy but because of the bonding with the characters that is established throughout their fun-filled odyssey through Paris. The result, an absolutely revolutionary concept of learning the language that has not been matched since its inception!

Rating:
Summary: Comprehensive and SO Useful
Review: Used in combination with the audio materials, this course promises so much more than the usual (colors, numbers, basic greetings, etc.), and places a strong emphasis on pronunciation and idioms. You finish with a useful knowlege of French--the kind people actually speak. Comprehension is difficult at first because the speakers talk at a normal pace without overemphasizing the words, but it is this technique that leaves one able to know what people are saying without having them slow down.