Albert Valdman
Published: 2009
Total Pages: 0
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For courses in Introductory French.Building on the success of earlier editions and anchored in the most current innovations in language instruction, the Fourth Edition of Chez nous offers a richly nuanced focus on the Francophone world through a highly integrative and process-oriented approach to the development of language skills that emphasizes the "Five C's" and is consistent with the National Standards. The Fourth Edition Chez nous is a complete elementary French program designed for use at colleges and universities, over two or three terms or semesters. Using a careful progression from skill-developing to skill-using activities and a sophisticated treatment of Francophone culture, the text and its full complement of supplementary materials help students develop listening, reading, speaking, and writing skills as well as insights into other cultures by exposing them to authentic, contemporary French and encouraging them to express themselves on a variety of topics. NEW TO THIS EDITION: Substantive new content. Language use and cultural realities are constantly changing, and this is reflected in Chez nous, 4/e. Vocabulary presentations (Points de depart) related to the topics of education, health, media, technology, and ecology have been revised, along with their corresponding art. Some new topics have been added to allow students to discuss important topics such as civic responsibility and multiculturalism. Correspondingly, nearly one third of the cultural notes (Vie et culture) are new or revised to include additional topics (such as volunteerism) or updated information, offering a more contemporary and nuanced picture of France and the Francophone world. More than a third of the skill building activities (Lisons, ecoutons, Observons, Parlons, ecrivons) are new or revised for this fourth edition, introducing new texts, video clips, and authentic tasks. In particular, half of the readings are significantly revised or new, including new literary selections and journalistic prose texts. The themes of the Venez chez nous ! cultural lessons have been broadened in Chapitres3 and 4, to reflect the overall chapter focus. Chapitre 3 now emphasizes study and work in francophone countries, while Chapitre 4 treats aspects of daily routine across the francophone world. Further refinement of the cyclical scope and sequence. Users' feedback has led to additional modification of the scope and sequence for enhanced linguistic effectiveness and flexibility in the classroom. The chapter treating food and its related grammatical content has been moved to the first half of the book (Chapitre 5); this allows for earlier treatment of useful vocabulary and structural features such as the partitive. The treatment of direct and indirect object pronouns has been extended over two chapters (Chapitres 6, 7), for ease in acquisition; personal pronouns are then reviewed in the final chapter (Chapitre 12), where their most frequent combinations are presented and practiced. Increased attention to the development of learner strategies. Revised ecrivons activities target explicit writing strategies, and a four-step process now encourages students to draft and revise their writing, focusing first on content and then on form. A new feature, Fiche pratique, outlines practical strategies to help students learn specific lesson content (for example, showing them ways to organize the new material, how to interact with native speakers using new content or structures, or how to test themselves). New comprehension based activities, or in-put activities, within many of the practice sections for the Formes et fonctions allow students to make an initial form-meaning link as they learn new grammatical structures. The most current research on language learning emphasizes in-put activities as a key step in language acquisition. Increased opportunity for individualized learning and practice With MyFrenchLab, a new, nationally hosted online learning system, students and instructors have available a wide range of language-learning tools and resources. The learning experience is personalized through readiness checks and grammar tutorials, and students progress via individualized practice with recording capabilities. Incorporating the Student Activities Manual (SAM) and other types of practice, students can complete their assignments online, while instructors tailor assignments and grade and monitor student progress in new ways, such as providing spoken comments and detailed markups of student writing. New activities incorporating film and music videos found on video sharing sites are now a feature of the Instructor's Resource Manual. Step-by-step classroom treatments offer many options for integrating music and film into the program. Chez nous, 4/e incorporates a few of the most widely accepted elements of the Orthographic Reform of 1990. Notably, changes related to the use of the accent grave have been implemented, affecting some verb conjugations in the future and conditional (for verbs like preferer) as well as the spelling of individual lexical items, such as cremerie and evenement. Also, all numbers are now written with connecting hyphens, eliminating ambiguity and simplifying the learner's task (i.e. cinq-mille-deux-cent-soixante-et-onze). Chapter openers now provide an overview of expected learner outcomes. At the end of each chapter, a new self-assessment checklist encourages students to take stock of what they have learned to do. New design and art increase the user-friendliness of Chez nous, 4/e. More abundant photos offer a richer depiction of the francophone world and combine with updated line art to enhance the contemporary focus and visual appeal of the book.
