The problem with the Teorio Nakamura isn't number lessons nor the word "nigra", it's science fantasy. Science has already been adequately fantasized. By which I mean the science fantasy thing is cliche. Why couldn't they have used nonfiction source material or something? Why did they write the entire thing in secret? Is it because they were embarrassed because they knew the writing was bad?

I used to suggest how to write fiction, and I would have just suggested optioning the basal reader rights to Freefall, but fiction is an art form and there's something wrong with this art form. As in, fiction is outre to the point of being psycho. People single out works such as Neon Genesis Evangelion for being psycho, but actually even Harry Potter, Titan AE and the Disney Princess franchises are unfit for their intended audience and then some. If you're old enough to watch those works, you're old enough to watch Area 88 or something. If you want to make something family friendly, you need to stick with nonfiction, that's for sure.

I have to admit that I grimaced when I saw that it was science fantasy. Several times on the old forum I've had a pop at the seeming obsession with this sort of fiction among Esperanto people (though it probably reflects general popularity rather than specific popularity within Esperanto). I've given up though, because it has become almost ubiquitous and telling people what they ought to read doesn't fly.

I don't find the course quite so bad and I think there is an argument for using fiction in learning because it is easier to structure it to purpose and probably better holds the attention of the learner.

Vestitor:I have to admit that I grimaced when I saw that it was science fantasy. Several times on the old forum I've had a pop at the seeming obsession with this sort of fiction among Esperanto people (though it probably reflects general popularity rather than specific popularity within Esperanto). I've given up though, because it has become almost ubiquitous and telling people what they ought to read doesn't fly.

Maybe the Teorio Nakamura is itself an affectionate parody of science fantasy, but then if it is, what science fantasy is ever a serious work?

Vestitor:I don't find the course quite so bad and I think there is an argument for using fiction in learning because it is easier to structure it to purpose and probably better holds the attention of the learner.

Actually Nia Masaĝejo holds my attention a lot better than the crime drama storyline in Kio Okazas, but neither is actually family-friendly. The guidelines for Lernu call for family-friendliness, and Lernu's own conduct did not meet these guidelines. Perhaps it meets them now, but it would be easier to use non-fiction as a well-written, family-friendly basal reader than to use fiction for this. If I were called upon to write fiction, I could actually write it right now, but in order to do that properly I'd have to take a visit to the local university. I'd need mathematical sociology, microeconomics, criminology - the sociology of institutional deviance and the criminology of State crime in particular because it's a political thriller - and game theory just to write properly in the present day, but to write speculative fiction properly, it would take a visit to a community college-level physics professor at least. I would have to write all out. Then there's making it family friendly. That's a whole new level of all-out right there, and I wouldn't be able to conceive of a story like that, because once you're all-out, you're already all out of all-out. That's a nonsensical thing to say, but it's true.

Lesson: just use non-fiction as your basal readers. It's easier to make that family-friendly, that's for sure.

I can't quite tell if you're taking the mick or partially serious. Nearly every language course I've ever come across has a fictional story as its learning basis. They are, of course, often based in the everyday world. Writing fiction doesn't require any of the over-exaggerated measures you prescribed. Fiction is also not a synonym for fantasy.

The rest of what you wrote just seems to be a word soup; have you ever read the Sokal/Bricmont book: Intellectual Impostures?