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Introduction: |
You learn by listening and speaking and this story will give you plenty of chance to do just that.
Imagine it was a 'soap' on German TV, but where all the speech is subtitled in German and translated into English.
Just to make sure, all the words and phrases are listed ready for you to sharpen your understanding.
The tasks are designed to hone your language-learning skills so that you can move forward independently and make good use of any other resources you come across!
In a Nutshell:
- The plot unfolds in twelve episodes, each with a number of scenes based on everyday situations;
- The 'mine' of resources includes scripts and translations to give practice and ready feed-back;
- You focus on 'key' words and phrases;
- Customs and culture notes provide background information;
- There's advice on ways to learn, plus clues if you get stuck;
- Grammar notes help you adapt the language for your own real-life purposes;
- Word puzzles offer a lighthearted approach to learning.
- The course is geared towards competence-based qualifications and there's advice on working towards assessment.
- A feedback form lets you tell us how you found the course and ask for advice!
Prerequisites for working with the material?
An interest in German! We like to think you could plunge straight in with no knowledge of German and still make some headway. However it's much better if you already have Level 1 competence (eg: GCSE Grade C).
Good luck !
This listening and speaking course prepares you for real-life use of German in a range of typical situations. The material supports around 80 hours of learning activity.
Your goal is to be able to understand spoken German and to speak German yourself.
You will be working with sets of phrases which can help you to talk about:
- Content - what subject matter is being talked about.
- Concepts - general ideas such as time, space etc
- Functions - the purposes for which language is put to use.
By studying the printed words of the spoken material, you will also learn about the grammatical structure of phrases, which in turn helps you to adapt phrases for your own purposes.
Use this course to learn at your own pace, at a time and place to suit you. Consider scheduling regular time-slots for learning and practice.
We've suggested a particular sequence of tasks to help you build your receptive skills before producing language yourself. However what works best for you may be quite different - why not ring the changes!
Pause for reflection - review your approach from time to time. Where and when do you do your learning and what are your favourite methods and resources? Why? Is your present strategy based mainly on habit - is it working well enough for you and what else could you try?
Using the culture notes
The culture notes are intended as a rough guide only, to raise awareness of possible issues.
Customs can vary from region to region - why not collect (and review) your own observations and examples of cultural behaviour? Keep these on a computer disc so that they are easy to update.
More things to try:
- join an evening course for access to a tutor and to other learners - or go to a library and try out a variety of resources;
- buy a medium-sized bilingual dictionary and a grammar book and leaf through them often;
- keep a pocket notebook with phrases to learn each day;
- tune in daily to German on radio or TV, to get used to the sounds of German; join a conversation group or go on a long weekend to Germany
The course is geared towards the Foreign Languages for Industry (FLIC) and the Foreign Languages at Work (FLAW) examinations of the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry Examination Board (LCCIEB). Give yourself credit!
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