Itās the reflex of most wannabe language learners – THE TEXTBOOK.
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In most cases, the textbook is going to collect the dust for a few years before itāll be given to the niece whoās learning French, or sold alongside ugly dishes in a garage sale.
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In some cases, it transforms a once peaceful person into a soldier of French grammar. Not a pretty sight. Especially when their grammar is, at best, shaky.
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Rarely, it works. (And weāll talk about why and how you can make sure that it works for you in a minute).
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But Iām going to be straight with you.
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I donāt like textbooks and I think you should be wary o them. And Iām a language teacher.
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Hereās why.
Textbooks are basing everything on grammar
Yes yes yes, grammar, grammar, grammar.
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Grammar purists and I donāt get along.
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Usually because theyāre huge snobs. And, of course, Iām an angel š
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Letās be nice and concede them something though.
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Grammar is somehow important.
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After all, itās the mechanics of a language.
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But you can totally learn a language without even thinking in terms of grammar rules, or learn list of irregular verbs by heart.
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You will know them. But you wonāt have to stare at them in their grocery list form FOR HOURS to do so.
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I talk about one of the techniques to do so here.
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But I digress.
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The problem is not so much grammar, as it is that your learning will be BASED on grammar.
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And thatās a risky business because grammar is full of exceptions.
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Plus, itās not going to make you the most natural sounding speaker.
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Grammar wonāt teach you spontaneous.
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And to me, communication is mostly spontaneous.
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Unless you want to learn French to become the next Balzac.
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Iāll spare you my Balzac rant. (I promise Iām a nice positive kind of person).
Textbooks are books (duh)
Donāt get me wrong, I looooove books.
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But itās not exactly the same as speaking with a native.
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During my coaching sessions, the most recurrent problem is this. Learners use a lot of materials (can be textbooks, can be apps), but, theyāre not capable to speak to me in French.
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They are working so hard. Yet they have very little results.
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Itās normal. Itās simply because they are not used to speak.
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They read, they listen and they write. But they donāt speak.
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And all their grammar knowledge goes to waste because of it. (And sometimes, their motivation goes out of the window too).
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Such a shame!
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(Luckily itās easy to fix)
Textbooks assume anyone is everybody
Everyone is different.
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Bravo Marie, youāre a genius. šĀ
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What I mean is, everyoneās brains, goals, hopes, dreams, personalities are different.
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If not, we would be called robots, not humans.
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However, a textbook is speaking to you the EXACT same way it does to any other person.
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The information is conveyed EXACTLY the same way to everyone.
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And itās all package to try to appeal to everybody who is learning French.
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But you are not learning French for the same reasons than everyone else, are you?Ā
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OK, some textbooks are specific (usually itās for business). But itās still quite rare.
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You can find plenty of phrase books for travel. But, as far as I know, thereās ZERO textbooks for travellers.
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Thereās a French online course now, but no textbooks.
When are textbooks useful then?
Iām reasonable. Even though I donāt like textbooks, I can see why, in some cases, they might be useful.
When learning a bit of grammar doesnāt hurt. (Only my pride)
If you have been learning French for a while, but that you are stuck on the intermediate plateau, maybe a bit of grammar will help you.
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It will structure your understanding of French sentences and tenses.
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Just make sure the textbook doesnāt become your ONLY source of learning, and that you get tons of practice.
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(Although, I would suggest you to invest in a grammar book rather than a textbook. Like the Bescherelle.)
When you NEED structure
Some of us need structure to learn.
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Iām more the spontaneous, autodidact kind. But I get it.
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When learning something seems impossible, or that the task is daunting, having a clear structure path to follow is easy.
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So a textbook can be a tremplin to language learning.
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Although you could totally create your own structure too.
When you find a textbook that is made for you
My friend Angelās teaching is based on this. He is not creating a textbook for you, but heās crafting a personalised plan based on your goals and interest.
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Heās creating a plan, especially for you. And it works.
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Why? Because everything is created for you.
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Now, itās rare, but it can happen, you could maybe take a look at the different textbooks available on the market, and if you find one that really resonate with you, Iād say itās going to be a good companion to your learning.
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And itās not just in terms of goals, itās also about the teaching method.
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Check out my post on the French textbooks best sellers of Amazon, where I detail some teaching methods.
REMEMBER
Textbooks are not the devil. Yet, theyāre not the ONLY solution to language learning.
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You could decide to learn French with movies for example.
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Thereās plenty of methods that are equally as good.
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The thing I want you to remember from this, is that you are an individual with specific needs (in terms of language learning duh).
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How is it you learn the best usually?
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Because learning a language is NOT a complex intellectual yet mechanical process. Itās pretty EASY.
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Just, you need to be real with yourself.
