This book is an elementary book intended to cover all the work of the first half year. It is a grammar and a reader combined.
The aim of the authors is to put in the hands of the beginner, from the very first lesson, natural, practical, and interesting French. The story about which this book is built is Hector Malot's Sans Famille. On this story the grammar, conversation, and composition are based.
Each lesson, with the exception of the Reading and Review Lessons, contains:
| I. | A study of words. |
| II. | Reading (a chapter of the story). |
| III. | Conversation. |
| IV. | Grammar. |
| V. | Composition (based on the Reading). |
The book is divided into sixty lessons. Under ordinary conditions one lesson may be given as a daily assignment. Since there are, however, an average of ninety recitations in the half-year term, this will allow a division of the more difficult lessons into two parts.
The "Étude de mots" at the beginning of each lesson is not intended to cover all the new words in the lesson. This little vocabulary only emphasizes important words and should be used for drills in sentence-building.
Each chapter of the story may easily be made the subject of extended conversation; the five questions are only suggestions. The division of the story into short chapters offers excellent opportunities for oral reproduction. It is expected that at the beginning the student will find constructions that he will not thoroughly understand. This must necessarily be so where the aim is to present, from the very start, a connected text. These difficulties will gradually disappear as the work progresses.
The "Grammaire" covers the most essential points in elementary French. These points are developed entirely in the French language, by means of model sentences, brief statements of grammatical principles, or helpful comments on noun or verb paradigms. Drills are offered in the Compositions and Review Lessons.
The "Leçon Supplémentaire" on the construction of interrogative sentences does not include a text, and may therefore be introduced sooner if the teacher deems it advisable.