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    Liberté

    (10 reviews)

    Gretchen Angelo, California State University

    Copyright Year:

    Last Update: 2017

    Publisher: Gretchen V. Angelo

    Language: English

    Formats Available

    Conditions of Use

    Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
    CC BY-NC-SA

    Reviews

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    Reviewed by Claire Holman, French/Spanish Lecturer/Early College Faculty Facilitator, University of Southern Maine on 2/20/21

    Positives - - comprehensive, communicative approach - thoughtful cultural information in each unit -- students get a full first-year French course - audio files for oral exercises available from the author when the textbook is adopted. -... read more

    Reviewed by Sudarsan Rangarajan, Professor, University of Alaska Anchorage on 11/27/20, updated 1/10/21

    The book covers all the areas taught in a two-semester first year college French course. There are twelve chapters each composed of three sections: Activities, Grammar and Lab Wroksheet and Review. Each chapter includes French-English vocabulary... read more

    Reviewed by pierrette SANSONE, Visiting Assistant Professor, Earlham College on 12/20/19

    The textbook covers the material needed for students to reach the level of advanced beginners. It includes grammar points that cover the indicative and conditional moods. read more

    Reviewed by Christopher James, Assistant Professor of French, Bridgewater College on 2/14/19

    The book covers the areas and ideas appropriately. However, one weakness of the book is the absence of an index or glossary. Each chapter contains a helpful vocabulary reference sheet, but the book as a whole does not have this. One reason,... read more

    Reviewed by Denzil DeSouza, Senior Manager, The Open University on 6/19/18

    This e-book aims to achieve the intermediate low-mid ACTFL (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages) standard for students. It certainly has achieved this primary objective covering the four pillars of language learning: Speaking,... read more

    Reviewed by Peter Eubanks, Associate Professor of French, James Madison University on 4/11/17

    The text covers all of the usual material addressed in the first two semesters of a university French language course. The grammar coverage is quite comprehensive, and I particularly appreciate the wide array of cultural notes introducing... read more

    Reviewed by Frank Anselmo, Associate Professor, Louisiana State University on 2/8/17

    Gretchen Angelo offers a fine French-language book that is very thorough and precise and without any major or noticeable flaws in the information presented regarding grammar, phonetics, and culture. The only flaw with this work, however, is... read more

    Reviewed by Frédérique Grim, Associate Professor, Colorado State University on 1/7/16

    This textbook is a first-year book that can be easily used over 2 semesters in a program. It covers functions necessary to reach intermediate-low to intermediate-mid proficiency (although this proficiency would probably be not be reached until the... read more

    Reviewed by Robert Sanders, Assoc. Prof. of Spanish (BA French, PhD Spanish, 10 years experience directing a large first year Spanish program), Portland State University on 1/7/16

    Note: Using the “Adopt this book now” link will take you to the most recent edition. A student edition with and without answer key and a teacher’s edition with and without answer key are available. I reviewed the teacher’s edition with answer... read more

    Reviewed by Virginia Pannabecker, Librarian, Virginia Tech on 6/10/15

    First, for anyone interested in this book, click on the 'adopt this book' button to get to the website with the complete version (http://www.lightandmatter.com/french/). The PDF version available for download on the open textbook library site is... read more

    Table of Contents

    • 1 Bonjour! C a va?
    • 2 Ma famille et mes objets personnels
    • 3 Le travail et les loisirs
    • 4 Sorties et voyages
    • 5 Tant de choses a` faire !
    • 6 Les voyages de ma famille
    • 7 Mon corps
    • 8 A table!
    • 9 Le monde hier, aujourd’hui, et
      demain
    • 10 Racontons des histoires
    • 11 Au magasin
    • 12 Changeons le monde!

    Ancillary Material

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    About the Book

    This French book is aimed at a first-year college student. Its features include:

    1. Each chapter is built around communicative strategies. Clearly defined objectives in communi- cation, culture, and grammar are given at the start of each chapter, and summary exercises at the end allow students to measure their mastery of these objectives.
    2. The exercises in the in-class (A) sections are composed mainly of guided practice and extension activities, along with occasional comprehension checks and comprehensible input. Some further activities are indicated in the instructor's marginal notes. The teacher can provide teacher- directed “setting-the-stage” activities, comprehension checks, and further comprehensible input before beginning each section. Many models are provided to the students to give them a secure context in which to practice their vocabulary before they are asked to produce independent language.
    3. The grammar included is explained in a more narrative form and in more detail than is typical for first-year textbooks. The grammar (B) sections should be read by the students outside of class before the communicative activities requiring those grammar points are done in class. By providing more explicit grammatical detail than is usual in a first-year book, the author hopes to stimulate students to reflect on the grammar of their own language as well as of French, helping students to become aware that their study of French is not just about mastery of a new language and culture, but about a more critical view of their own.
    4. The amount of grammar is less than is typically contained in a first-year text. The grammar included has been chosen to meet the needs of the communicative goals of each chapter, and these have been selected based on what a student ranking intermediate-low to -mid on the ACTFL oral proficiency scale should be able to accomplish. The grammatical concepts included in this book focus on those that will be needed for the sentences and questions that a typical low-intermediate speaker can form, and those are emphasized repeatedly.
    5. The book implicitly and explicitly recycles material from previous chapters on a regular basis, so that students can see their learning as a continual progression rather than as a rush from one grammar point to the next.
    6. The book is ideally used in a classroom with internet and projection capabilities; the PDF version of the book contains hyperlinks to video and audio-based activities as well as navigational links to referenced exercises within the text itself.

    About the Contributors

    Author

    Gretchen Angelo teaches French language and literature at California State University, Los Angeles.

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