I've been asked to help a young unemployed man with his French and basic maths. He is Swiss, native French speaker. Do any of you know of books for adults (no Ticino Tom, not those)... with simple vocabulary and structures? I've always taught French/German/English to non native speakers. Thanks.

Did you think about comics? They provide concise dialogue in word balloons, and there is a huge range to look for the right thing. If your pupil regards comics as childish, then it would be a no-go. But there is such a variety including mature themes (Persepolis), current movie tie-ins (Battle Angel Alita), dystopian politics (V for Vendetta), a good spooky story (Coraline) etc.

In what language?

Tom

I wouldn't go the graphic novel route peronally... structures are not simple.

If looking for English language books, Julia Donaldson, the children's author of The Gruffalo etc, is outstandingly takented at writing simple structures with wonderful stories and vocab that just stretches understanding.

I second that, and especially in the French language, there is a genuine comic culture and there are a lot of excellent and high quality comics covering a broad range of styles and topics being published all the time. Only a small part of them ever get translated (and of those that do, many translations are rubbish). So for improving one's French skills, comics are perfect.

One hitch though is that, especially for the more high end and mature comics, there are an awful lot of cultural refernces in there (especially French ones), and somebody who hasn't read much in their life will probably struggle to understand them. So I would avoid the really high end stuff and go for something more light hearted, maybe from the young adults section.

French I presume since that’s what she’s teaching him.

There are simplified books of classics. We had to read them at school. Go to a library or a large bookstore and see what they have. I have never liked them so can't help you much. Otherwise try to find out if there is something he is passionate about. Then try to find a book in that area. Might be easier to get him hooked.
Also what about a crime novel? They are usually not that hard to follow. There is a lot of Swiss crime novels (at least in German). Maybd you can find a local one in French as well. I find it interesting to read a story that is located in say Zurich because then you know the places etc mentionned. This might motivate hin as well.

Rather than adult books, go for well written teenage/children books. I enjoyed A Series of Unfortunate Events, and to a lesser extent, the Artermis Fowl books. The Narnia books and the Hobbit are pretty good.

I know a guy who started learning Danish by reading books of fairy tales. Never be too proud!

If you put ‘easy reader books in French’ on amazon UK there are some good options available.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb...ch&ajr=0&ajr=0

I'm a little confused. He's a native French speaker but never learned how to read? But he's Swiss and presumably has been through the school system. Yet he's capable of understanding the plots of adult books. Trying to read between the lines, he's got an unaddressed learning disability of some sort but is of average or above intelligence?

Based on those assumptions, a few suggestions.

1. Le Petit Nicolas - not targeted at adults but the stories are entertaining for adults. Advantages: stories are a few pages long and always end with a fun little twist; written in spoken French (no “fus”ing around). Disadvantages: Somewhat dated slang at times, can be cheesy in large doses.

2. Exercices de Style (Queneau) - The same brief moments described over and over from different perspectives and in different styles. Most versions are just a few paragraphs so there's plenty of white space on the page, which makes it less daunting. I wouldn't recommend doing every single one but most are easy to understand.

3. Au Bonheur des Ogres (Pennac) - Written in a very conversational and witty tone. And in present tense IIRC. It's about a guy who's working as a scapegoat in a department store (he gets yelled at whenever something goes wrong, to appease the clients) and becomes the suspect after a series of bombs are set off in the store. There would of course be some difficult (multisyllabic) words but I think it's suitable for a native speaker who doesn't read well - assuming average intelligence.