Vis-à-vis: Beginning French, Fourth Edition [Hardcover]

Evelyne Amon (Author), Judith Muyskens (Author), Alice C. Omaggio Hadley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 30, 2007 | ISBN-10: 0073535427 | ISBN-13: 978-0073535425 | Edition: 4

The fourth edition of Vis-à-vis continues the excitement of the innovative third edition with an expanded emphasis on the Francophone world in both the print and media supplements. In the textbook, the new Blog section (which appears in the middle of each chapter) features contemporary language and French and Francophone culture presented in the personal blogs of four characters with different Francophone backgrounds, followed by commentaries by French-speakers from all over the world. Blogs, which are online personal journals, have become hugely popular around the world, and particularly in France where there are approximately three million blogs in existence today. Our new Video Program, filmed specifically for this fourth edition of Vis-à-vis, builds on the stories of each character while serving to support and expand upon the linguistic and cultural content of the chapter as a whole. The Bienvenue dans le monde francophone feature that recurs after every four chapters in the textbook has been broadened to include Louisiana, Morocco, Switzerland, and Tahiti. Minor changes have been made to the scope and sequence. The overall goal of the revision remains the same as that of the third edition: to promote a balanced four-skills approach to learning French through a wide variety of listening, speaking, reading, and writing activities, while introducing students to the richness and diversity of the Francophone world. A beautiful new contemporary design gives Vis-à-vis an appealing look, inspired by real-life personal blogs that are unique and visually stunning.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Evelyne Amon studied at the Université de Paris-Sorbonne. She holds a DEA in modern literature, a Diplôme de didactique des langues in French as a second language, and a CAPES in modern literature. She has taught French language and literature at the secondary and college levels, and for many years has led a training seminar in Switzerland for professors on advances in methodology and pedagogy. Lately, she has conducted several training sessions in teaching French as a second language for teachers at the French Institute Alliance Française (FIAF) in New York. As an author, she has written many reference volumes, textbooks, and academic studies for French publishers such as Larousse, Hatier, Magnard, and Bordas, and she is currently working on a project for Hachette. She is the author of the McGraw-Hill French reader C’est la vie! and has written for successive editions of Vis-à-vis. She lives in Paris and New York.

Judith A. Muyskens, Ph.D., Ohio State University, is Provost and Professor of French at Nebraska Wesleyan University. She was recently a Professor of Humanities at Colby-Sawyer College, New Hampshire, where she served as Vice President for Advancement. She continues to teach French language courses when time allows, especially first- and second-year language classes. For many years, she taught courses in methodology and French language and culture and supervised teaching assistants at the University of Cincinnati. She has contributed to various professional publications, including the Modern Language Journal, Foreign Language Annals, and the ACTFL Foreign Language Education Series. She is a coauthor of several other French textbooks, including Rendez-vous: An Invitation to French and À vous d’écrire.

Alice C. Omaggio Hadley, Ph.D., Ohio State University, is a Professor Emerita of French at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is a coauthor of the French text Rendez-vous: An Invitation to French and is the author of a language teaching methods text, Teaching Language in Context. Her publications have appeared in various professional journals, and she has given numerous workshops throughout the country.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 600 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages; 4 edition (January 30, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0073535427
• ISBN-13: 978-0073535425
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #99,510 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #48 in Books > Education & Reference > Dictionaries & Thesauruses > Foreign Language > French
  • #80 in Books > Education & Reference > Dictionaries & Thesauruses > Science

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars C'est bon, April 7, 2006

By 

Donna Di Giacomo (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Vis-a-vis: Beginning French (Student Edition) (Hardcover)

The setup of this textbook is pretty standard for college-level language books. An added bonus would be that the page numbers are spelled out in French next to the numerals (giving the student extra practice on pronouncing numbers).

The language used in the text is clear and simple and, if the student is really determined to learn French, they can do it with this text (or, at the very least, get a working knowledge of the language). You can also get glimpses of French culture from the snippets throughout the book.

The accompanying workbook/lab manual is very helpful in strengthening your knowledge and usage of French through extra exercises and is a must have with this textbook.

Very good course. - Donna Di Giacomo

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great French Textbook-, April 8, 2007

By 

Marianopolita2005 - See all my reviews

This review is from: Vis-a-vis: Beginning French (Student Edition + Listening Comprehension Audio Cassette) (Audio Cassette)

Vis-a-vis is a thorough and well-organized beginner's French textbook that can be used for classroom studies or a personal refresher course type of textbook for those who wish to brush up on the essentials of French grammar. It covers grammatical concepts that must be introduced and mastered at the beginner's level in order to move on to Intermediate French. What I also find very beneficial are the linguistic tips throughout the book and special grammar nuances that are emphasized that usually pose difficulty such as prepositions, le partitif, false cognates, il y a (il y a = there is/are which is never pluralized). This textbook will definitely be helpful to those who are studying beginner's French in the classroom and those who are refreshing their knowledge on a personal level (low, intermediate or high beginner) and have a solid grammar background in English or French.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a great tool for learning, April 14, 2008

By 

Amanda Fisk (Campbell, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Vis-à-vis: Beginning French, Fourth Edition (Hardcover)

This set of textbook and workbook is a great tool to help you learn the French language. I find the book easy to follow. It has many great examples and exercises with lots of extra tid-bits and plenty of cultural info. I think this book is much better than the one I used in highschool.
I have used this set for my 1st year of college French.