Bonjour and welcome to French Multimedia. This is a set of French lessons that cover materials introduced in high school and college level courses, though anyone can use it to learn and practice French. It is broken down into four programs. Each program contains 5 lessons that present vocabulary, verb conjugations/practical applications, reading and listening comprehension, and a pronunciation guide.
A basic lesson is as follows.
`Vocabulary: vocabulary is presented by breaking down words as nouns, verbs, adjectives, prepositions, etc. The vocabulary will be used in the exercises throughout the lesson. To help you learn the vocabulary, there are two types of exercises: matching and fill in the blanks. For matching, you will be given French words in one column and asked to match them with the correct English word in another column. The fill-in-the-blanks exercises will present the vocabulary word in a sentence (in French) and you will be able to select the correct vocabulary word from a multiple choice list. Don't worry! An English translation of the sentence will appear directly under the sentence with the word you need to select in parenthesis.
`Verb `conjugations/practical `applications: in this section, you will be taught a lesson using video instruction. The instruction will include different verb tenses and a practical application of the things presented so that you can use them. After you have watched the video presentation, there will be a variety of exercises that will allow you to practice what you have learned. The exercises are in the fill-in-the-blank from multiple choice format. And yes, English translation are again provided. These exercises will most often ask for you to give the correct form of the verbs you have learned in the current lesson.
`Reading `comprehension: in this section you will be able to read a short paragraph made up of words and sentences you have already seen in the lesson. After you have read the paragraph, you will be asked a few questions about what you have read. The questions are in English as are the answers.
`Listening `comprehension: this section is similar to the reading comprehension, only instead of reading the paragraph, you will press a button to hear it in French. After listening to the paragraph, you will be asked a few questions. Again, the questions and answers are in English.
`Pronunciation `guide: a pronunciation guide has been provided to help you learn the correct pronunciation of French words. You can refer to the guide whenever you would like to. The guide presents the sounds that are different from our sounds in English, but will help you to learn the new sounds by giving suggestions of similar sounds in English. In addition, you will be able to click on any vocabulary word and hear it pronounced in French.
As is often the case in learning a new language or in reviewing a language that you have learned before and need to review now, there is much to be gained by repeating an exercise or studying vocabulary more than once. After all, isn't this how we learned our first language?
