My Self-Study Books for French and German

Learn French and Learn German series

In my role as Lecturer in French and German in the Faculty of English and Language Studies, as it was called at the time, at the Open University (1995-2008), I was a course writer for all three levels of the French provision. I also created the first programmes for the French Summer Schools in partnership with the University of Caen for 1996 and continued as Director and Tutor on these courses until 2007. In the course of this work I continued to research methods for foreign language learning and applied the fruits of this research to the courses I taught at the Summer Schools and to the course writing I was involved in.

The books below in the series 'Learn French' and in their companion series 'Learn German' are derived from this research and experience. They are aimed in particular at those who are learning French and German at home, partly at least, on their own. I have introduced ideas and methods which I hope will increase the pleasure and motivation of learners of both languages. The titles may not be very 'sexy' but they do what they say on the cover. All are available on Amazon as ebooks and in paperback.

For further information about OU language courses: http://www.open.ac.uk/courses/languages

The aim of this short course is to motivate you to write (nearly) each day a short piece in French by keeping a diary, log or blog of your everyday activities and thoughts. If you do not usually keep a diary and are not sure it's for you, maybe the idea of doing one in another language will be sufficiently unusual to persuade you to make a start.

Some people find keeping a diary therapeutic, others would classify it as a waste of time. Writing (almost) everyday in another language will however have a real practical value, providing you with regular practice in writing and, more importantly thinking, in French.

This should be enough to persuade you that keeping a diary in French is a worthwhile activity. The French expression is 'journal intime' and the clue is in the name – it's private, no need to show it to anyone else!

Above all keeping a record in French of what you do each day should be fun to do and the language tricks and exercises I have provided in my other books in this Learn French series will help to make the activity stress free.

To purchase: How to keep a diary in French

The aim of this short course is to provide you with ideas about how to improve your Fench successfully and enjoyably when working on your own.

Some of the ideas suggested here may not be those you have been taught to accept in the past, but I hope they will stimulate you to think differently about how to learn a language pleasurably and that the ideas will increase your motivation and enjoyment.

That said, language is a means of communication, and so of course it is better to work alongside others. But I hope you will make use of the techniques described in this course to guide any follow up work you do after attending a traditional class.

To purchase: How to improve your French when working on your own

Using similar techniques to those in the French version below, but with specific changes to take account of the different structures of the language, this short skills course will enable learners of German to make the best use of the resources which a German-English dictionary provides.

The course is easily worked through and provides fascinating and creative ideas for enriching and expanding your German vocabulary with no pain! Can that be true? Find out for yourself.

This is a valuable tool for any language learner, providing sound advice on how to avoid classic dictionary pitfalls.

To purchase: How to make the best use of your German-English dictionary

The aim of this short course is to provide you with ideas about how to improve your German successfully and enjoyably when working on your own.

Some of the ideas suggested here may not be those you have been taught to accept in the past, but I hope they will stimulate you to think differently about how to learn a language pleasurably and that the ideas will increase your motivation and enjoyment.

That said, language is a means of communication, and so of course it is better to work alongside others. But I hope you will make use of the techniques described in this course to guide any follow up work you do after attending a traditional class.

To purchase: How to improve your German when working on your own

Using similar techniques to those in the German version above, but with specific changes to take account of the different structures of the language, this short skills course will enable learners of French to make the best use of the resources which a French-English dictionary provides.

The course is easily worked through and provides fascinating and creative ideas for enriching and expanding your French vocabulary with no pain! Can that be true? Find out for yourself.

This is a valuable tool for any language learner, providing sound advice on how to avoid classic dictionary pitfalls.

To purchase: How to make the best use of your French-English Dictionary

In my short course on 'How to Improve your French when working on your own' I concentrated on providing ideas to help you to manipulate language and provided a bank of exercises for you to work with. These you could use to imitate, plagiarise and exploit the piece of writing or article that you had chosen yourself rather than one chosen by someone else.

I also spent some time discussing the sort of material which would motivate you personally in your learning.

Finally I suggested ways in which you could start to assess your own progress. I discussed briefly the difference between traditional marking, which is usually negative, and how positive marking can give you a more useful measure of your progress.

This book will develop this discussion further.

To purchase: How to be more stylish in French