Recommended French Text Resources

• Course books
• Skills books
• Reference books
• Business resources – course books

Course books (for beginners unless otherwise stated)

• Accelerated Learning French (U.K. video edition) – Student’s book, Video cassette, Video manual, Study guide, Word cards & Games

Accelerated Learning French (U.S. audio edition) – Study guide, Audio cassettes & Transcripts

Arranged in 2 box files, the materials of these 2 courses are a bit difficult to find your way around because they share the same name. The student’s book is divided into 12 “acts” with a strong story-line, and the supplementary materials include word cards, a video (see Recommended French Audio-Visual Resources) and the Name Game, a misnamed introduction to French/English vocabulary similarities.

Basically an audio course, the 15 “study” and 15 “memory” audio cassettes are accompanied by 2 transcript booklets. Read the study guides and introductions in English to both carefully before starting.

• Allô France 1 – Student’s book & Workbook

  Attractively-presented with good grammatical summaries and imaginative exercises. Originally intended for younger learners. In French.

• Bienvenue en France 1 – Student’s book, Workbook + key, Teacher’s book, Audio cassettes & Video cassettes

  Use in conjunction with the video cassettes. This course has a strong story-line, attractive presentation, grammar explanations in French only but a lot of visual humour in the video episodes. See “Audio-Visual Resources“.

• Cartes sur Table – Student’s book & Audio cassettes

  Grammatically dense with few explanations. Difficult to use without the help of a teacher. In French.

• Faisons le Point – Student’s book

  An advanced course in reading/writing. In English.

• Le Français à Grande Vitesse – Student’s book, Teacher’s book & Audio cassettes

  Intended as a business course but good dialogues, exercises, pronunciation practice, cultural notes and authentic documents throughout make it suitable for general learners. In French with a glossary in English.

• French Elementary – Student’s file & Audio cassettes

  A resource file for a distance learning course containing dialogues with phonetic transcriptions. photos, poems etc. In English.

• The French Experience – Student’s book + key & Audio cassettes

  BBC course for adults with full grammar explanations and extensive notes on French culture. In English.

• French in Action – Student’s book, Workbook + key, Study guide, Instructor’s guide, Audio cassettes & Laser discs

  Use in conjunction with the laser discs/audio cassettes and refer to the study guide – in English. The size of the book and the different parts of the course make it a bit difficult to find your way around at first., but keep trying. See "Audio-Visual Resources"

• Getting by in French – Student’s book, Audio cassettes

  Small paperback-size course for US travellers to France. 5 short units dealing with everyday situations. In English.

• Le Nouveau Sans Frontières 1 (English version) – Student’s book, Workbook + key, Workbook + key & Audio cassettes

  Traditional Alliance Française course with strong grammatical focus and cultural notes. Use with the audio cassettes, especially at the beginning In French without a glossary.

• Le Nouveau Sans Frontières 2 – Student’s book, Workbook + key & Audio cassettes

• Le Nouveau Sans Frontières 3 – Student’s book, Workbook + key & Audio cassettes

• Le Nouveau Sans Frontières 4 – Student’s book, Workbook + key & Audio cassettes

• Linguaphone French Course – Coursebook, Student handbook, Chinese transcripts, Written execrcises, Spoken execrises & Audio cassettes

  The coursebook contains 30 units of dialogues in French with vocabulary exercises, while the handbook explains each unit with grammar and vocabulary notes in English and the Chinese transcripts contain complete translations of every dialogue. Very traditional and thorough coverage, recommended for beginners who are looking for an understanding of written French only.

• Linguaphone Intermediate French Course – Coursebooks, Vocabulary book, Supplementary exercises & Audio cassettes

  Traditional layout – 60 short units of reading comprehension passages follwed by grammar and vocabulary notes in French. The vocabulary book provides a glossary in English for each unit but the text is only "lightened" by a few black-and-white photographs. Recommended for intermediate learners of written French only.

• Linguaphone French Video – Student’s book, Video cassettes & Video User Guide

  Use in conjunction with the video/audio cassettes. New vocabulary is pre-taught and the course prepares the learner for each new situation in English. See "Recommended French Audio-Visual Resources" Unlike the above 2 courses this can help you learn spoken French too.

• Sans Frontières 1 – Student’s book, Workbook + key (English version)

  Older version of "le Nouveau Sans Frontières".

• Sans Frontières 2 – Student’s book

• Tricolore 1 – Student’s book & Audio cassette

  A secondary school course with simple grammar explanations in English and notes on French culture.

Skills books (for beginners unless otherwise stated)

Reference books

• French Grammar

  Pocket-sized grammar book including verb tables for beginners. In English.

• French Usage

  Vocabulary arranged by topics with translations and explanations. Recommended as a bridge between a dictionary and grammar book. In English.

• French Verb Drills

  Systematic review and explanations of regular/irregular verbs with translation exercises by verb and by tense. Highly recommended. In English.

• French Verb Tables

  Pocket-sized alphabetical listing of irregular verbs with examples. In English.

• Harper Collins Robert French Dictionary

  Bilingual French-English and English-French dictionary with irregular verb tables.

• Le Petit Larousse Illustré

  Monolingual illustrated French dictionary and encyclopedia.

• Using French

  Handbook of grammar, vocabulary and register.for advanced learners. In English.

Business resources – Course books (intermediate level and above)

• French Means Business – Student’s book, Video cassettes, Audio cassettes, Transcripts & Video Guide

  BBC course for intermediate level adults with full grammar explanations, glossary and extensive notes on French corporate culture. The video cassettes contain 5 separate case studies as well as 10 teaching episodes focussing on social interaction in business contexts. In English. Highly recommended.

• Objectif Entreprise – Student’s book, Workbook, Teacher’s book & Audio cassettes

  Intermediate level sequel to "Le Français à Grande Vitesse", the target of this course is more specifically learners of business French. Same presentation with authentic dialogues, documents and exercises. In French.

• Rendez-vous avec Lyon – Entrée en Matière – Student’s book, Video cassette & Audio cassettes

  3 part business French course for advanced learners with English glossary and exercises as well as detailed corporate language and culture notes. In French.

• Rendez-vous avec Lyon – Lyon Loisirs – Student’s book & Video cassettes

• Rendez-vous avec Lyon – Lyon se définit – Student’s book & Video cassettes