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Each Ollendorff lesson is delivered in three parts:

1. Formal grammar and vocabulary with the learning templates for the lesson is introduced in Part A

2. Part B contains practical sentences, in question-answer format, given in French and English

3. Part C is in French only - firstly read slowly,with pauses then reprised at increased tempo.



The lessons on the Fancy French Podcast are based on a textbook that can be downloaded for free from Google Books - Ollendorff's- "New Method of learning to Read, Write and Speak the French Language". This textbook takes the approach of treating French as a series of templates to be coded. Language is treated as an operating system. You simply code the templates, repeat out loud, and hey presto, you'll start to learn French in no time. The method works very well, and Ollendorff met with great success.

Why have I chosen a French textbook that uses the Ollendorff method? Simply because the structure of the text is ideally suited to learning by listening, and learning with an MP3 player. The goal of this method is to give you a high level of fluency, so that you can speak, read and write French with ease.

The exercises repeat the material learned with many slight variations - so you will be learning in a musical way, using the linguistic equivalent of musical scales.