A French teacher living in Geneva has just published an innovative new book for helping both youngsters and adults overcome the challenges of learning a new language.
Called “This is NOT a normal FRENCH book”, the 56-page paperback has been written and illustrated by Muriel Lauvige, and is based on years of research and insight into language learning and education. Muriel has over 15 years experience of teaching French and working on education projects around the world with organizations such as Alliance Française and the United Nations.
With its own unique blend of text and comic visuals, this highly colorful publication does not fall into the usual category of books for learning French - indeed each page has been carefully designed to make French as easy and fun to learn as possible. It is filled with comic characters and ready-to-use sentences, and contains just 500 of what Muriel's research has led her to conclude are some of the most high frequency words in French.
Each chapter in the book covers a typical situation that people may come across on a daily basis including: ordering at a restaurant, shopping in a market, working in an office, meeting the doctor, making an appointment over the phone, and talking to a neighbour. The chapters are made up mainly of dialogue between two characters using the present tense and a list of vocabulary for each dialogue. There are a couple of teaser chapters on using French for past and future situations.
Asked why she decided to produce the new book, Muriel told knowitlall.ch, “I decided to explore new and creative ways to teach when I was coaching students one-on-one at a beginner level. To be frank, most students came to me to learn because they had been traumatized by grammar books and strict teachers and I was their last attempt at French”.
She added, ““I am strongly convinced that you can have fun learning a language and comic books are the perfect medium for that. Learning French does not need to be a chore!”
The book was recently reviewed by Dr. Katharina Schnitzspahn, a specialist in cognitive and memory development at the University of Geneva, who said: “The combination and repetition of pictures and important words and phrases makes memorizing and understanding the material better… I wish this book would have already existed when I started learning French.”
John-Paul Flintoff, a journalist and writer for the UK’s Sunday Times also commented, “In the book, Muriel does something the renowned linguist Michel Thomas never did - combining the latest insights from neuro linguistics with the great French tradition of illustrated books for adults to make learning French both easy and playful.”
What fun would it be to learn French without hearing the beautiful accents to go along with it? Muriel has not only developed the curriculum and illustrated all the artwork in the book, she has also recorded all the dialogues which come free with the book!
To get a taste for Muriel’s style of teaching, you can sign up for her popular daily emails, entitled “Le Mot du Jour” (aka "The Word of the Day"). From Monday to Friday you will receive a French word of the day, with instruction on how to pronounce the word and example sentences, beautifully illustrated, indicating how to use the word.
Muriel has started a Tumblr blog to keep her followers regularly informed with useful tips about learning French. She also uses Tumblr to set up blogs for her clients, so that they can keep track of all their new vocabulary in one place. Not only do these blogs enable her to share photos and words with her students, but they serve as a very effect online learning diary for them too – just another example of Muriel’s simple but highly innovative ideas for learning French!
Muriel’s book "This is NOT a normal FRENCH book” is the first in a series of books that she is planning to write on different topics related to learning French. The first book is now available on Create Space, Amazon and the Book Edition. Click here for more information.
Muriel Lauvige
French My Way
www.frenchmyway.com
Blog: http://frenchmyway.tumblr.com/
Le Mot du Jour: www.frenchmyway.com/main/lemotdujour/
“This is NOT a normal FRENCH book”
Available on Create Space, Amazon and the Book Edition: http://www.frenchmyway.com/main/book/
