Michel Thomas Advanced Course: French (Michel Thomas Series)

I'm not sure that the word 'advanced' is really justified, but the course is certainly very good at teaching the tenses of French verbs and their use. Nor do I agree with what the adverts say about it being 'painless' - it's certainly hard work, and I found that after 20 minutes I was ready for a break.

I'm fascinated by the way in which M. Thomas teaches the spoken language first, and the written language second; when I learnt French, it was the other way around.

Given the teaching method and the fact that there are students in the recording, who, of course, make mistakes, there's the question of how many times you'd want to listen to the CDs. On the other hand, if you listen to them a few times, doing what is recommended and answering all the questions, you get, in effect, at least 10-20 hours of one-on-one tuition - much more intense tuition than you'd ever get by enrolling for 10-20 hours of classes. This seems to me to make it remarkably good value.

So, I agree with the other reviewers, and strongly recommend this course. It's odd how what is, basically, a very old fashioned teaching method should work so brilliantly. There's a message here for our educators, possibly.......?


brilliant and enjoyable   July 13, 2005
 43 out of 43 found this review helpful

The 8 hour course "basic" course was excellent - this was even better. I have nothing but admiration for the way in which it is put across. After a few hours to end up with 20 odd tenses in relative ease takes some doing. You will find yourself smiling to yourself at how you are able to cover so much ground. Of course you need to listen again and again to get it to stick - no problem.