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This
page describes our full size Basic series of courses, which are
60 and 74 cassettes in length for French and Spanish, respectively.
(To
check out the texts for our course, just send a blank Email to
our autoresponder at french-info@tlwh.com
You will automatically receive an Email response telling you where
to go to view the texts.
AOL users who can't send a blank Email, put "French"
in the subject and body of the message.
Important!
When you send a blank Email to our autoresponder, the information
you need to view the texts will be immediately sent to you. This
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intervention takes place, so please DO NOT include any correspondence
in your message because we won't see it! Please address all comments,
questions and other types of correspondence to: info@tlwh.com
We
don’t believe that a foreign language course should cost you as
much as a trip overseas, and for this reason we offer you our
ultra-comprehensive, affordable Basic series of courses
that will not only have you up and running in no time, but will
continue to teach you long after those other overpriced courses
give out.
In the past, we offered our visitors the opportunity to view/download
the texts for our French and Spanish courses without first providing
a little information on how our courses work. This generated some
confusion and lots of questions from people who were interested
in our course, so.... To avoid any confusion. we ask you
to please read this page in its entirety before viewing the texts!
FRENCH
Our Basic French course consists of 85 lessons that are covered
on 60 hour-long audio-cassettes. Each lesson begins with a dialogue
between two French speakers, in which the new vocabulary words
and the pertinent grammar points for that lesson are introduced.
An English translation of the dialogue is provided in the text
so that the student knows exactly what is being said at all times.
During the first reading, the dialog is read at normal conversational
speed. In the second reading, pauses are provided after each line
for the student to repeat after the speaker.
The dialog is then repeated, but with only one speaker saying
his lines, pausing so that the student can fill in the other half
of the conversation. The roles are then reversed, with the student
filling in for the other side of the dialogue conversation. The
purpose of this dialog exercise is to ensure that the student
is completely familiar with the material to e covered in the lesson.
Finally, the most important section of the lesson. The words and
grammar that were learned and memorized in the dialog section
are now manipulated into various sentences, passages and questions,
requiring participation on the part of the student. This portion
of the lesson is extremely important because it enhances the student's
ability to make free mental associations among the words and grammar
being learned.
Every
fifth lesson (lessons 20, 25, 30, etc..) are review lessons.
These review lessons are a sort of linguistic free for all, in
which all of the vocabulary words and grammar points covered in
the previous four lessons are blended together and presented to
the student in many different combinations and manipulations.
By experiencing these different constructions and manipulations
of the language, the student develops a better grasp- both consciously
and subconsciously- of how the French language works and the different
ways that everything can me made to fit together. These exercises
in independent manipulation of the language enable the student
to effortlessly and instantaneously combine everything that he
or she has learned up to that point in the course, and in any
way desired. This develops the student's ability to express what’s
on his mind, and plays an incredibly large part in being able
to understand what’s being said back to him during a French conversation!
When learning a foreign language, it's of utmost importance
that the student develops the ability to think independently,
without relying on memorized phrases.
One
downfall of many other French courses is that they DO NOT operate
like this. Instead, they concentrate on teaching the student phrases
and sayings that will supposedly enable the student to function
in a French environment. The problems arise when it's time for
the student to think for himself.
Even
though each lesson contains around 30 minutes of audio, the texts
contain some exercises and reading passages that aren’t on tape.
This is because this course is normally used in a classroom environment
and some exercises are designed to be done orally between student
and instructor. When we were preparing these texts for the ‘net,
we had the choice of deleting these un-taped portions, or leaving
the texts unabridged and including everything. We decided to go
ahead and leave the texts intact, and include both the taped and
untaped portions of the text, since many students benefit from
reading the language they’re learning. All the material
in a particular lesson that isn’t on tape still relates closely
to what has been covered in the taped portion.
SPANISH
Differing
somewhat from our French course, the 74 cassettes in this course
are divided into 18 PHONOLOGY units and 54 LESSONS.
The student
should complete the PHONOLOGY section of the course first. This
section concentrates on the sounds used in Spanish and how to
correctly pronounce them. This is an incredibly important part
of the course! Don’t skip it! It may seem like a hassle to spend
time working on pronunciation, but learning proper pronunciation
is an integral part of learning another language. You have a great
opportunity to really learn Spanish with this course- don't end
up like one of those gringos who sound like they're speaking Spanish
for the first time! Each of the 18 PHONOLOGY units is accompanied
by its own written text and a corresponding PHONOLOGY section
on the tape.
After
the Phonology section comes the part of the 54-lesson course that
gets into the actual "nuts and bolts" of Spanish grammar
and vocabulary. Each of the 54 lessons is composed of two distinct
parts- a TEXT section and a WORKBOOK section.
The TEXT
part of each lesson is accompanied by the DIALOGUE and
DIALOG INTERROGATION portions of the audio cassettes. The
DIALOG section of each new lesson introduces new grammar points
and vocabulary words for the lesson. This is where all of the
new material for each chapter is "showcased." In the DIALOG INTERROGATION
section, the material that was covered in the dialog is dissected
and manipulated in various ways to improve upon the student's
ability to freely use the material that is being learned. This
very successful technique is also employed in the French Basic
course.
The WORKBOOK
part of each lesson is composed of the written workbook for that
lesson and its accompanying LISTENING COMPREHENSION audio
cassette portion.
Finally,
in the VOCABULARY PRACTICE section, the lesson's vocabulary
words are presented in various sentences for the student to listen
to and repeat. This section is designed to further reinforce the
vocabulary through its repetitive use and frequency.
You've
never encountered a language course that works like The Language
Warehouse Basic courses, and it's no wonder. It seems that so
many companies are concentrating on efforts to buffalo the consumer
into buying language courses with claims of "magical,"
"revolutionary" and "new" teaching methods.
They promise to teach you a language on a few cassettes and little
or no text. They will claim to teach you a language "like
a child learns" (they may even "tap into the power of
your subconscious mind" and play music in the background-
you're guaranteed to learn many times faster!) We prefer to leave
the "snake oil" out of the equation, though, and offer you something
that works- a gem of a course at a down-to-earth price.
Just do your part by following the cassettes and paying attention
to what's going on, and you’re going to learn the language. No
secret techniques, background music, kitchen appliances or other
special equipment required!
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