Short French Stories for Beginners: Le Pendentif

W W John: At first I've read this book with doubt. Can this book really help the learners, especially those who once studied French when they were the university students ?

However, when you proceed reading the book with care and patience, you'll be able to get back what you'd learnt.

As for myself, I've founded out that after finishing reading the whole book, I can speak and write better because there are some words and phrases that are so simple to remember.

The magic is that the learners should be patient in reading and studying.

Some learners have treated reading this book like reading newspapers : very casual reading and jumping around.

Overall, the major strategies are to read the book with the right attitude and patience. Repetition is another key to success.

United States on Aug 27, 2022

Larissa Sposito Lazaro: O livro propõe uma abordagem de aprendizado na prática, com a leitura de três histórias/ contos que são leves, mas interessantes. O vocabulário com tradução em inglês está presente a cada parágrafo e torna bem clara a leitura, no entanto, é necessário uma boa fluência em inglês para entender as traduções. Há também um bom dicionário no final do livro com as principais palavras. Achei muito útil e bacana para quem já tem uma boa noção de francês e quer praticar ou se aprofundar, não recomendaria para quem está começando do zero.

Brazil on Feb 24, 2022

Elsbeth: Ih wollte eigentlich die audio CD zum ebook haben. Habe die Buchversion bekommen. Offensichtlich habe ich falsch geklickt. Vielleicht kann man die CD nur über Audible Abo kaufen, keine Ahnung.
Da das Buch sehr dünn ist, und auch schön gemacht ist, werde ich es behalten obwohl ich das Buch schon als ebook besitze.
Jetzt bleibt noch die Frage, wie bekome ich die Audio CD?

Germany on Sep 09, 2021

Neil: Read this with my daughter (13yo) (well the first few pages) and its great, shows you some words that you may not have come across before and you can mostly work out, although we do have that search engine translate standing by when we cant figure it out.
i originally bought her one of her favourite books in french hoping this would spark her interests more but it was way too difficult, this book allows her to feel like she's reading a real french book and gives her confidence.
But, as with anything, you have to practice, you can just fly through it and hope to be able to read and speak french.
:)

United Kingdom on Feb 08, 2021

Alex5: Extra. Un récit pour les tout débutants. Histoire cohérente avec un minimum de vocabulaire. Très utile pour proposer aux élèves une première lecture en français.

France on Dec 07, 2019

Mats: El libro tiene pocos relatos (3-4) en comparación de otros materiales disponibles en kindle. Algunos de ellos son profusos en detalles, ocasionando pérdida de interés en el relato en sí. El vocabulario que se emplea no es adecuado para el nivel inicial para el que se ostenta.

Mexico on Aug 10, 2018

AC: I have been using a popular free website to review and build on my extremely rusty high school French. I'm still very much a beginner, but I'm getting bored with the useless and bizarre random sentences presented in the practice drills. ("I drink when he eats." "She has a sock.") I needed more interesting material and some practice listening to spoken French. Material intended for French speakers is far too advanced for me right now.

Another student mentioned the books by Sylvie Lainé. I decided to buy the Kindle and the Audible versions. As recommended in the introduction, I listen to a few sentences, then read the Kindle version. By using two tabs in my browser, it's easy to flip back and forth between the two.

I just finished the first of the three stories in this book. Given the constraints of limited vocabulary and extreme simplicity of style, Ms. Lanié has done an excellent job of creating reading material suitable for advanced beginners. The plot and characters are not as finely drawn as they would be in a collection of stories for advanced readers, but I still got a clear sense of the main character's personality, and the story captures the atmosphere of a...

United States on May 30, 2017

Ashton K.: I loved the stories in this book! They were amusing and kept you interested. After reading several positive reviews for this book I thought I would give it a try. I had taken several French classes in high school and college but am pretty rusty! After several years of not reading or speaking French, I decided to revisit the language. This seemed like an easy way to get back into French. The vocabulary words at the end of each paragraph and at the end of the book were extremely helpful. It saved me A LOT of time looking words up that I couldn’t remember. I think some of the grammar would be a little difficult for someone brand new to French. A little knowledge of French grammar made for an easier read. A quick English explanation of the book layout might help at the very beginning because it does dive right into the story. My favorite part of the book was the audio download at the end. After reading and translating the story, I really enjoyed having it read and following along in the book. This helped to solidify pronunciation of words I had trouble reading.

United States on Nov 02, 2015

Jason Liu: I'm a beginner of french, who's been desperate to pick more reading materials to sharpen the reading skills. So I found this book. It's good read for someone like me as a starter. The book contains three short stories. Good ones. I like their simplicity. Definitely helps to a thirsty learner. I especially appreciate the simply constructed sentences and the repeated use of new words.

I gave the book three star though because I feel that as a book it's a bit overvalued. I wonder why I didn't pick up some similar readings online for free to serve the same purpose.

I imagine this book can be used in classrooms for some more structured learning. For a self learner and freestyle beginner like me, it's just one of those reading materials I'd be happy to tread through and there's nothing more special.

United States on Mar 29, 2015

J. Mendes: Having just completed the Pimsleur level 1 audio course and four lessons with a french instructor, I was looking for something to read. Everything I looked at was too difficult for me then I found this. Fantastic! It was just what I needed. It took me about an hour to read and I felt a real sense of accomplishment afterwards. I loved that I could try a free sample on my kindle before buying it. This allowed me to check what level it was before I bought it. In fact, I downloaded samples of several other books before deciding to buy this one. If you really are a complete beginner, this is the story for you. Having the new vocabulary after each paragraph also made reading the book much easier, I only had to consult my dictionary a few times. I plan to get the next two books in the series after I have read this a few more times and mastered all the new vocabulary.

United States on Aug 03, 2013