After reading a post by Chung, I got interested in the concept of an ideal textbook structure. Here are some examples of different structures I've seen in text books that worked well for me: Thai for Beginners - vocabulary, dialogues, sentences, grammar, test, writing system, writing test. Penguin Russian - key expressions, grammar with sample sentences and exercises, vocabulary, text and or dialogues and comprehension exercises. I found this course to be really helpful, even though it had no audio. I guess I'm getting so used to using multiple sources for everything lots of shortcomings are forgivable. Japanese for everyone - dialogues, vocabulary, dialogue comprehension exercises, grammar with sample sentences, exercises, text with reading comprehension exercises and audio with listening comprehension exercises. I didn't use the audio for this text, as it's no longer available. Grammaire du Français - key phrases and pictures, grammar points/tables, exercises. This is more of a grammar than a textbook; the lessons are very short and effective. I think this proves that many different combinations will work for me, but I have preferences. I like the grammar to be presented logically and systematically, so I think the lessons should be structured to facilitate that first and foremost. If the lessons are big enough, they can also be organized by thematic vocabulary topics, for example, but that's not as important to me. Here's the order I prefer: 1) Dialogue that's long enough to illustrate the lesson's grammar 2) Vocabulary list containing all the new vocabulary for the lesson 3) Grammar with sample sentences and exercises after each main point Ideally, I'd like audio for all of this too. How do you like your textbook structured?
That's not a good idea though. The more similar two words are (in terms of form, meaning and grammatical category), the easier they get confused. I had a huge problem with opening and closing windows and doors in the SaySomethingInWelsh course, as they were introduced basically simultaneously. open: agor close: cae door: drws window: ffenest Now drws is clearly related to English "door" and ffenest is clearly related to French "fenêtre", and yet I got to the point where I was saying "agor y ffenest" when I should have been saying "cae'r drws" because all these things kept co-occurring and got mixed up in my head. I was consciously aware of my own mistakes, because I knew the rules explicitly, but my automatic recall was messed up.
It's nowhere near perfect, but I like the setup of my Tagalog textbook (although, to be honest, right now my interest is waning. I still like the textbook, it's my own personal motivation that needs an adrenaline shot.) Each of 24 chapters has: - vocabulary (with accompanying audio) - written dialogue (would be nice with audio, but I practice reading them with my tutors) - oral exercises (again, I do these with my tutors) - grammar explanation - audio dialogue (no transcription! This isn't ideal. But I do find that doing the transcriptions myself is a good learning experience) - variety of challenging exercises with answer key: editing, translating, grammar, writing - another written text, another audio text, and a dictation exercise with answer key The book is made for classroom use (with an accompanying workbook for independent work at home), which is obvious from the lack of translations and audio for some of the dialogues. It doesn't really matter, since I have access to native speakers both in my home and via Skype, but it would be difficult to do completely on your own. I find it much more comprehensive than the Teach Yourself Guide that I'm using in tandem (which has 2-3 dialogues per lesson, along with audio, transcriptions and translations; very scant grammar explanations; and too-easy written exercises).
For me it would be mp3-files and ebook 1 with parallel text and ebook 2 with parallel text and explaining, vocabulary, grammar, drills, whatever..... Ever tried to read a pdf file on a small mobile screen? Ok, so I'm more interested in format then in content.
In the modern age of audio courses, I like them like that as well. But if there is no explicit vocabulary list like Assimil, then I don't mind if the lessons are short enough since I can make my own list or extract the words into Anki. I like sample sentences a lot to illustrate grammar, and a series of them illustrating a concept in various tenses/moods/cases/etc. is all the better, although generally I have to make that myself. BTW BD, I would have thought this would be your perfect textbook, especially since you live in Asia.
