What is the Michel Thomas Method?
The Michel Thomas Method teaches everyday conversational language that will allow you to communicate in a wide variety of situations, empowered by the ability to create your own sentences and use the language instinctively, having absorbed the vocabulary and grammatical structures. These all audio courses were perfected over 25 years by gifted linguist and teacher Michel Thomas, and provide an accelerated method for language learning that is truly revolutionary.
Lessons 1 7, the Beginner course: This course makes no assumption of knowledge of any language other than English and gives the beginner practical and functional use of the spoken language. It is also appropriate for anyone who has studied French before, but has forgotten much of it or does not have confidence in speaking. The Beginner course is designed to take you from complete beginner to intermediate level.
Lessons 8 11, the Intermediate course: This course is for those with an intermediate level foundation in French, or those who have completed lessons 1 7 and want to take their learning to an advanced level and speak French proficiently and easily.
How does it work?
Unlike most language courses that focus around topics or grammar forms, the Michel Thomas Method works by breaking a language down into its component parts, enabling you to reconstruct the language yourself to form your own sentences, to say what you want, when you want. Within the first 10 minutes of the course, you will be generating complete sentences on your own. It is important that you complete the lessons in order. The Method is successful because it builds on the language you learn in each lesson and 'recycles' language taught in earlier lessons, allowing you to build ever more complicated sentences. Because the Method is based on understanding, not memorisation, there is no set limit to the length of time that you should study each lesson. Once you feel you have a good grasp of the language taught in one lesson, you can move on to the next.
In lesson 3 of the French Beginner course, you'll be able to express the present tense, give orders and use negative forms like 'nobody' and 'nothing' with…- 'to wait'; 'to stay'; 'to start'; 'to arrive'; 'to be'- linking word: 'because'- verb endings for 'you', 'I', 'he', 'she': 'you speak', 'you are staying', 'I am staying', 'he, she, my friend is staying', 'it is starting', 'I am arriving', 'he, she is arriving'- questions: 'do you speak…?', 'are you going?', 'where are you going?'- question words: 'at what time?', 'why?', 'who?'- 'everybody': 'everybody is staying'- expressing the present tense- difference between masculine and feminine adjectival forms: 'ready'- giving orders: 'wait!'- 'we' and 'us'; verb endings for 'we' and 'you': 'we are leaving', 'you are starting'"- time expressions: 'tomorrow', 'morning', 'day', 'to spend the whole evening', 'soon', 'today'- 'he, she, it can/can't…'; 'it must…'- polite expressions: 'good day', 'so long'- 'in', 'to' with cities and countries; 'to' and 'at' with places- place expressions: 'here', 'there'- 'he has', 'I have'; 'I have hunger (= I am hungry)'- 'I'm going to…'; 'he's going to…' (with verbs)- 'everybody', 'nobody'; 'everything', 'nothing'- 'well' In the next lesson you'll be able to say what you know and use pronouns like 'her' and 'him' and to say what 'you' and 'we' must and can do.
©2013 Michel Thomas (P)2013 Hodder & Stoughton