a question for teachers and learners of French

[mint]

Is anyone familiar with the Café Crème books?

Are they any good?

[YCCMB]

Got a bookshelf full of teaching books for French. Never heard of these. Generally not a huge fan of Hachette books. I AM a huge fan of CLE editions textbooks. Don't think I've ever found a duff one.

[NormanH]

There is an example here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MuANSGW_Wo&html5=1

[mint]

Many thanks for your posts, Betty and Norman.

I am looking for a new French class, feeling I have outgrown my previous one.  A former fellow student has joined a class using these books and she is rather hoping I'd come to her class too.

I will need to establish from her what level of the books they are using.  She assures me that there is "a lot" of grammar. 

I'm going to arrange to lunch with her and I shall ask her to bring her book along[geek].  Having left 2 classes after feeling they are no longer suitable and having had to leave one because of a house move, I don't want to commit to a new class if I don't like the books they are choosing!

I find it embarrassing to start a class and then have to think up an excuse to leave because it doesn't live up to expectation[:$]

[Mac]

Our french teacher uses them. Usually for grammar and pronunciation through reading. We do a lot of just talking in between the bouts of grammar though to lighten things a bit. They seem to me to be designed for youngsters- this based on subject matter. I would say mainly 14-18 age group.

[mint]

Mac, I am truly pleased to hear from someone with actual experience of the books.

Hmmm..........I'm not so keen on the experiences, interests of the young.  I do have some books for college students, university undergrads and do not find them exactly inspiring.

If I wasn't so idle, I could probably go through a lot of the grammar myself but I'd get bored.  Same reason why I don't like individual lessons, I get tired of hearing only my own voice and that of the teacher, however good and dedicated.

I love the buzz and excitement of a class, the friendly rivalry, the frantic searching of the brain to see who could come up quickest with the best, most appropriate answer!  I suppose what I am looking for is stimulation.............I'm always interested in learning more French but, doing it in the structure of a classroom, is where I get my motivation.

[Judith]

One of the courses I studied here used them .. personally I didn't like them.  They were aimed at young people, even maybe teenagers and 20 year olds, and I found none of the subjects particularly relevant to me ... being retired at the time.

Also, personally, I didn't like they way they presented the information ... and felt I was both more advanced grammatically, but it, once again, did not help me much to speak the language, always my bugbear - and I also couldn't very well understand the listening exercises, mainly because everyone else got it before I did, so it wasn't repeated very much, so I learnt very little that way.

This though is just my personal opinion, somewhat influenced by my needs and my way of learning, which these books just did not suit.

[mint]

Ah, Judith, you have strengthened my opinion that this class won't do it for me!

At my first class after moving to France, I had a teacher who, right from the beginning, got us reading books, albeit in simplified form, children's books and some abridged versions of well-known classics.

Then, when I moved house and went to another class, there was a lot of grammar taught but the teaching was a bit "old fashioned" and "traditional" so I requested reading of short stories, books, poems, etc.  Then, the class got interesting and new people joining soon became very at home and involved.

Then, as has happened to me before, some people came who should never be accepted in that class because their level of knowledge just wasn't up to what the rest of us were doing.  I stuck it for a while but soon got so bored that I stopped doing the homework and began to resent spending time there when I could be doing any number of other things.

I stopped class altogether towards the end of last year and now I am looking for a class again.  I never have problems speaking[:-))], and seldom have a problem making myself understood.  Had a bit of a job understanding the people here to begin with because they speak quite differently from our previous area.

Now, I am walking 3 times a week with all-French groups and gym, also all-French and, best of all, I am with 3 or 4 retired school teachers who all love to teach me grammar and vocabulary on our walks.

However, for me, nothing replaces the stimulation and excitement of a good class.