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Q&A What innovative techniques can make a textbook for learning a foreign language "pop"?

I'll describe two memorable language books: 1) A slim volume printed on WWII thin paper, published I think by the U of Chicago. Each lesson (chapter) presented about a dozen vocabulary items and ...

posted 4y ago by aparente001‭  ·  edited 4y ago by aparente001‭

Answer
#5: Post edited by user avatar aparente001‭ · 2020-01-16T05:52:05Z (over 4 years ago)
  • I'll describe two memorable language books:
  • 1. A slim volume printed on WWII thin paper, published I think by the U of Chicago. Each lesson (chapter) presented about a dozen vocabulary items and a grammar topic. There was a short dialogue and a short narrative, both of which illustrated the grammar topic and used the new vocabulary items. There were fill-in-the-blank exercises to practice the new grammar. The dialogues were independent of each other. They weren't particularly entertaining, but they weren't boring, either. It was possible to use this book independently to get through all of the basic grammar in six months at a comfortable pace. There were no images, no fluff. The book was concise and elegant. The dialogues showed that the authors respected the reader. I felt that this book was everything a language textbook should be.
  • This book left me with the conclusion that the material should be pedagogically sound, and *not annoying*.
  • 2. Somehow I came by a photocopy of some chapters of a French textbook. The drawings looked to be vintage 50's or 60's. The dialogues attempted to be cute and mildly entertaining, and they succeeded. I can give you two examples:
  • a) A vacuum salesman insists on giving a demo of the product he is selling by dumping some dirt on the potential customer's living room carpet. The potential customer kept trying to tell him that (i) she believed in cleaning a carpet by hand (sweeping), and (ii) her electricity was out. The salesman was so hell bent on demonstrating his product that he refused to listen. He ended up having to clean her carpet by hand. The dialogue was well constructed, circling back at the end, and giving you a chuckle.
  • b) A woman regularly asked her spouse to help her move their big elegant furniture hither and thither. Her spouse would always cooperate and help, but only for the sake of her happiness. The narrator called this story "The Waltz of the Furniture." Whenever my spouse and I move furniture around we fondly remember this story.
  • Conclusion: if you want to be entertaining, keep it light; let your humor be gentle humor.
  • And: count yourself lucky that you have any textbooks. I tried to learn Danish but I could not find any textbooks, or a phonetic dictionary.
  • I'll describe two memorable language books:
  • 1) A slim volume printed on WWII thin paper, published I think by the U of Chicago. Each lesson (chapter) presented about a dozen vocabulary items and a grammar topic. There was a short dialogue and a short narrative, both of which illustrated the grammar topic and used the new vocabulary items. There were fill-in-the-blank exercises to practice the new grammar. The dialogues were independent of each other. They weren't particularly entertaining, but they weren't boring, either. It was possible to use this book independently to get through all of the basic grammar in six months at a comfortable pace. There were no images, no fluff. The book was concise and elegant. The dialogues showed that the authors respected the reader. I felt that this book was everything a language textbook should be.
  • This book left me with the conclusion that the material should be pedagogically sound, and *not annoying*.
  • 2) Somehow I came by a photocopy of some chapters of a French textbook. The drawings looked to be vintage 50's or 60's. The dialogues attempted to be cute and mildly entertaining, and they succeeded. I can give you two examples:
  • a) A vacuum salesman insists on giving a demo of the product he is selling by dumping some dirt on the potential customer's living room carpet. The potential customer kept trying to tell him that (i) she believed in cleaning a carpet by hand (sweeping), and (ii) her electricity was out. The salesman was so hell bent on demonstrating his product that he refused to listen. He ended up having to clean her carpet by hand. The dialogue was well constructed, circling back at the end, and giving you a chuckle.
  • b) A woman regularly asked her spouse to help her move their big elegant furniture hither and thither. Her spouse would always cooperate and help, but only for the sake of her happiness. The narrator called this story "The Waltz of the Furniture." Whenever my spouse and I move furniture around we fondly remember this story.
  • Conclusion: if you want to be entertaining, keep it light; let your humor be gentle humor.
  • And: count yourself lucky that you have any textbooks. I tried to learn Danish but I could not find any textbooks, or a phonetic dictionary.
#4: Post edited by user avatar aparente001‭ · 2020-01-16T05:51:27Z (over 4 years ago)
  • I'll describe two memorable language books:
  • 1. A slim volume printed on WWII thin paper, published I think by the U of Chicago. Each lesson (chapter) presented about a dozen vocabulary items and a grammar topic. There was a short dialogue and a short narrative, both of which illustrated the grammar topic and used the new vocabulary items. There were fill-in-the-blank exercises to practice the new grammar. The dialogues were independent of each other. They weren't particularly entertaining, but they weren't boring, either. It was possible to use this book independently to get through all of the basic grammar in six months at a comfortable pace. There were no images, no fluff. The book was concise and elegant. The dialogues showed that the authors respected the reader. I felt that this book was everything a language textbook should be.
  • This book left me with the conclusion that the material should be pedagogically sound, and *not annoying*.
  • 2. Somehow I came by a photocopy of some chapters of a French textbook. The drawings looked to be vintage 50's or 60's. The dialogues attempted to be cute and mildly entertaining, and they succeeded. I can give you two examples:
  • a) A vacuum salesman insists on giving a demo of the product he is selling by dumping some dirt on the potential customer's living room carpet. The potential customer kept trying to tell him that (i) she believed in cleaning a carpet by hand (sweeping), and (ii) her electricity was out. The salesman was so hell bent on demonstrating his product that he refused to listen. He ended up having to clean her carpet by hand. The dialogue was well constructed, circling back at the end, and giving you a chuckle.
  • b) A woman regularly asked her spouse to help her move their big elegant furniture hither and thither. Her spouse would always cooperate and help, but only for the sake of her happiness. The narrator called this story "The Waltz of the Furniture." Whenever my spouse and I move furniture around we fondly remember this story.
  • Conclusion: if you want to be entertaining, keep it light; let your humor be gentle humor.
  • And: count yourself lucky that you have any textbooks. I tried to learn Danish but I could not find any textbooks, or a phonetic dictionary.
  • I'll describe two memorable language books:
  • 1. A slim volume printed on WWII thin paper, published I think by the U of Chicago. Each lesson (chapter) presented about a dozen vocabulary items and a grammar topic. There was a short dialogue and a short narrative, both of which illustrated the grammar topic and used the new vocabulary items. There were fill-in-the-blank exercises to practice the new grammar. The dialogues were independent of each other. They weren't particularly entertaining, but they weren't boring, either. It was possible to use this book independently to get through all of the basic grammar in six months at a comfortable pace. There were no images, no fluff. The book was concise and elegant. The dialogues showed that the authors respected the reader. I felt that this book was everything a language textbook should be.
  • This book left me with the conclusion that the material should be pedagogically sound, and *not annoying*.
  • 2. Somehow I came by a photocopy of some chapters of a French textbook. The drawings looked to be vintage 50's or 60's. The dialogues attempted to be cute and mildly entertaining, and they succeeded. I can give you two examples:
  • a) A vacuum salesman insists on giving a demo of the product he is selling by dumping some dirt on the potential customer's living room carpet. The potential customer kept trying to tell him that (i) she believed in cleaning a carpet by hand (sweeping), and (ii) her electricity was out. The salesman was so hell bent on demonstrating his product that he refused to listen. He ended up having to clean her carpet by hand. The dialogue was well constructed, circling back at the end, and giving you a chuckle.
  • b) A woman regularly asked her spouse to help her move their big elegant furniture hither and thither. Her spouse would always cooperate and help, but only for the sake of her happiness. The narrator called this story "The Waltz of the Furniture." Whenever my spouse and I move furniture around we fondly remember this story.
  • Conclusion: if you want to be entertaining, keep it light; let your humor be gentle humor.
  • And: count yourself lucky that you have any textbooks. I tried to learn Danish but I could not find any textbooks, or a phonetic dictionary.
#3: Post edited by user avatar aparente001‭ · 2020-01-16T05:51:10Z (over 4 years ago)
  • I'll describe two memorable language books:
  • 1. A slim volume printed on WWII thin paper, published I think by the U of Chicago. Each lesson (chapter) presented about a dozen vocabulary items and a grammar topic. There was a short dialogue and a short narrative, both of which illustrated the grammar topic and used the new vocabulary items. There were fill-in-the-blank exercises to practice the new grammar. The dialogues were independent of each other. They weren't particularly entertaining, but they weren't boring, either. It was possible to use this book independently to get through all of the basic grammar in six months at a comfortable pace. There were no images, no fluff. The book was concise and elegant. The dialogues showed that the authors respected the reader. I felt that this book was everything a language textbook should be.
  • This book left me with the conclusion that the material should be pedagogically sound, and *not annoying*.
  • 2. Somehow I came by a photocopy of some chapters of a French textbook. The drawings looked to be vintage 50's or 60's. The dialogues attempted to be cute and mildly entertaining, and they succeeded. I can give you two examples:
  • a) A vacuum salesman insists on giving a demo of the product he is selling by dumping some dirt on the potential customer's living room carpet. The potential customer kept trying to tell him that (i) she believed in cleaning a carpet by hand (sweeping), and (ii) her electricity was out. The salesman was so hell bent on demonstrating his product that he refused to listen. He ended up having to clean her carpet by hand. The dialogue was well constructed, circling back at the end, and giving you a chuckle.
  • b) A woman regularly asked her spouse to help her move their big elegant furniture hither and thither. Her spouse would always cooperate and help, but only for the sake of her happiness. The narrator called this story "The Waltz of the Furniture." Whenever my spouse and I move furniture around we fondly remember this story.
  • Conclusion: if you want to be entertaining, keep it light; let your humor be gentle humor.
  • And: count yourself lucky that you have any textbooks. I tried to learn Danish but I could not find any textbooks, or a phonetic dictionary.
  • I'll describe two memorable language books:
  • 1. A slim volume printed on WWII thin paper, published I think by the U of Chicago. Each lesson (chapter) presented about a dozen vocabulary items and a grammar topic. There was a short dialogue and a short narrative, both of which illustrated the grammar topic and used the new vocabulary items. There were fill-in-the-blank exercises to practice the new grammar. The dialogues were independent of each other. They weren't particularly entertaining, but they weren't boring, either. It was possible to use this book independently to get through all of the basic grammar in six months at a comfortable pace. There were no images, no fluff. The book was concise and elegant. The dialogues showed that the authors respected the reader. I felt that this book was everything a language textbook should be.
  • This book left me with the conclusion that the material should be pedagogically sound, and *not annoying*.
  • 2. Somehow I came by a photocopy of some chapters of a French textbook. The drawings looked to be vintage 50's or 60's. The dialogues attempted to be cute and mildly entertaining, and they succeeded. I can give you two examples:
  • a) A vacuum salesman insists on giving a demo of the product he is selling by dumping some dirt on the potential customer's living room carpet. The potential customer kept trying to tell him that (i) she believed in cleaning a carpet by hand (sweeping), and (ii) her electricity was out. The salesman was so hell bent on demonstrating his product that he refused to listen. He ended up having to clean her carpet by hand. The dialogue was well constructed, circling back at the end, and giving you a chuckle.
  • b) A woman regularly asked her spouse to help her move their big elegant furniture hither and thither. Her spouse would always cooperate and help, but only for the sake of her happiness. The narrator called this story "The Waltz of the Furniture." Whenever my spouse and I move furniture around we fondly remember this story.
  • Conclusion: if you want to be entertaining, keep it light; let your humor be gentle humor.
  • And: count yourself lucky that you have any textbooks. I tried to learn Danish but I could not find any textbooks, or a phonetic dictionary.
#2: Post edited by user avatar aparente001‭ · 2020-01-16T05:50:47Z (over 4 years ago)
  • I'll describe two memorable language books:
  • 1. A slim volume printed on WWII thin paper, published I think by the U of Chicago. Each lesson (chapter) presented about a dozen vocabulary items and a grammar topic. There was a short dialogue and a short narrative, both of which illustrated the grammar topic and used the new vocabulary items. There were fill-in-the-blank exercises to practice the new grammar. The dialogues were independent of each other. They weren't particularly entertaining, but they weren't boring, either. It was possible to use this book independently to get through all of the basic grammar in six months at a comfortable pace. There were no images, no fluff. The book was concise and elegant. The dialogues showed that the authors respected the reader. I felt that this book was everything a language textbook should be.
  • This book left me with the conclusion that the material should be pedagogically sound, and *not annoying*.
  • 2. Somehow I came by a photocopy of some chapters of a French textbook. The drawings looked to be vintage 50's or 60's. The dialogues attempted to be cute and mildly entertaining, and they succeeded. I can give you two examples:
  • a) A vacuum salesman insists on giving a demo of the product he is selling by dumping some dirt on the potential customer's living room carpet. The potential customer kept trying to tell him that (i) she believed in cleaning a carpet by hand (sweeping), and (ii) her electricity was out. The salesman was so hell bent on demonstrating his product that he refused to listen. He ended up having to clean her carpet by hand. The dialogue was well constructed, circling back at the end, and giving you a chuckle.
  • b) A woman regularly asked her spouse to help her move their big elegant furniture hither and thither. Her spouse would always cooperate and help, but only for the sake of her happiness. The narrator called this story "The Waltz of the Furniture." Whenever my spouse and I move furniture around we fondly remember this story.
  • Conclusion: if you want to be entertaining, keep it light; let your humor be gentle humor.
  • I'll describe two memorable language books:
  • 1. A slim volume printed on WWII thin paper, published I think by the U of Chicago. Each lesson (chapter) presented about a dozen vocabulary items and a grammar topic. There was a short dialogue and a short narrative, both of which illustrated the grammar topic and used the new vocabulary items. There were fill-in-the-blank exercises to practice the new grammar. The dialogues were independent of each other. They weren't particularly entertaining, but they weren't boring, either. It was possible to use this book independently to get through all of the basic grammar in six months at a comfortable pace. There were no images, no fluff. The book was concise and elegant. The dialogues showed that the authors respected the reader. I felt that this book was everything a language textbook should be.
  • This book left me with the conclusion that the material should be pedagogically sound, and *not annoying*.
  • 2. Somehow I came by a photocopy of some chapters of a French textbook. The drawings looked to be vintage 50's or 60's. The dialogues attempted to be cute and mildly entertaining, and they succeeded. I can give you two examples:
  • a) A vacuum salesman insists on giving a demo of the product he is selling by dumping some dirt on the potential customer's living room carpet. The potential customer kept trying to tell him that (i) she believed in cleaning a carpet by hand (sweeping), and (ii) her electricity was out. The salesman was so hell bent on demonstrating his product that he refused to listen. He ended up having to clean her carpet by hand. The dialogue was well constructed, circling back at the end, and giving you a chuckle.
  • b) A woman regularly asked her spouse to help her move their big elegant furniture hither and thither. Her spouse would always cooperate and help, but only for the sake of her happiness. The narrator called this story "The Waltz of the Furniture." Whenever my spouse and I move furniture around we fondly remember this story.
  • Conclusion: if you want to be entertaining, keep it light; let your humor be gentle humor.
  • And: count yourself lucky that you have any textbooks. I tried to learn Danish but I could not find any textbooks, or a phonetic dictionary.
#1: Initial revision by user avatar aparente001‭ · 2020-01-16T05:49:58Z (over 4 years ago) 
I'll describe two memorable language books:

1. A slim volume printed on WWII thin paper, published I think by the U of Chicago.  Each lesson (chapter) presented about a dozen vocabulary items and a grammar topic.  There was a short dialogue and a short narrative, both of which illustrated the grammar topic and used the new vocabulary items.  There were fill-in-the-blank exercises to practice the new grammar.  The dialogues were independent of each other.  They weren't particularly entertaining, but they weren't boring, either.  It was possible to use this book independently to get through all of the basic grammar in six months at a comfortable pace.  There were no images, no fluff.  The book was concise and elegant.  The dialogues showed that the authors respected the reader.  I felt that this book was everything a language textbook should be.

This book left me with the conclusion that the material should be pedagogically sound, and *not annoying*.

2. Somehow I came by a photocopy of some chapters of a French textbook.  The drawings looked to be vintage 50's or 60's.  The dialogues attempted to be cute and mildly entertaining, and they succeeded.  I can give you two examples:

a) A vacuum salesman insists on giving a demo of the product he is selling by dumping some dirt on the potential customer's living room carpet.  The potential customer kept trying to tell him that (i) she believed in cleaning a carpet by hand (sweeping), and (ii) her electricity was out.  The salesman was so hell bent on demonstrating his product that he refused to listen.  He ended up having to clean her carpet by hand.  The dialogue was well constructed, circling back at the end, and giving you a chuckle.

b) A woman regularly asked her spouse to help her move their big elegant furniture hither and thither.  Her spouse would always cooperate and help, but only for the sake of her happiness.  The narrator called this story "The Waltz of the Furniture."  Whenever my spouse and I move furniture around we fondly remember this story.

Conclusion: if you want to be entertaining, keep it light; let your humor be gentle humor.