Okay, Foreign Language Experts. What are you using for German?

[FaithManor]

What do you like about it? What are the drawbacks?

 

Ds the 8th grader is ready to start his foreign language studies (He has to do a year of Henle Latin in high school as well) and while I am comfortable helping my children with Spanish, French, and Latin...I DON'T HAVE A CLUE ABOUT GERMAN! The good news is that if I can get him a solid, easy to implement program (not that the work is easy, but just that it isn't going to be difficult to get going with), I can get him some tutoring because we live only 40 minutes from Frankenmuth (the big, now touristy German settlement) and the Lutheran School in town still teaches German and they have one evening church service per month in German plus a number of German dignitaries that visit there. Many of the signs are in English and German and the travel agency even puts out a lot of pamphlets in German. So, I feel like I have some avenues for practicing the language. I just need to know how to get started.

 

I'd be happy to either start at German 1 now or start with a pre-program (just basic vocabulary and pronounciation without grammar and writing) for a semester and then move on to German 1.

 

Thanks a bunch,

 

Faith (Who is really sweating on the foreign language thing because ds #2 - 7th grade - is begging for DANISH! Begging, I mean, nagging me, for Danish because Dh's family history is Danish....good gravy....if I think coming up with a German program is bad, I haven't seen anything yet!!!)

[FaithManor]

Anyone????

[cindergretta]

I grew up in Germany. I know Rosetta Stone is much hated here but it is what we use with our oldest 3. They are doing quite well with it, I don't mind it, and dh has actually learned a little.

 

I am not recommending it at all, simply stating what we are doing/using. :)

 

(Oh, and my 14 y/o dd wants to learn Gaelic!)

[Liza Q]

 

OSU -Oklahoma State University. There are several threads about it, both pro and con. Other choices have also been brought up and if you search German on the High School Board you should find a lot of information.

[hscherger]

Have you checked out Tell Me More? That is what we are leaning towards. Rainbow Resource gave it a great review.

[In The Great White North]

We are using:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Beginning-German-Otto-P-Schinnerer/dp/B001RRUAF0/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1288875510&sr=1-2

 

and

 

http://www.amazon.com/German-Review-Walter-Henry-Nelson/dp/015529590X/ref=sr_1_20?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1288837368&sr=1-20

 

and

 

http://www.amazon.com/German-Verb-Drills-Fourth/dp/0071744711/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1288875338&sr=1-6

 

I can email you our syllabus if you'd like, but it is too hard and we are having to back off. Our schedule didn't allow for as much of an increase for 8th grade as I had hoped for.

 

You'd definitely want to get some tutoring if it's available - there's nothing that helps foreign language acquisition like having someone speak it to you.

 

We have Rosetta Stone. Dd used it last year (7th) for German and Italian, and certainly liked it a lot better. She has pretty good pronunciation. However, at the end of the year, she told me she hadn't learned enough and wanted to study it for real this year. Now she's wishing she was back with Rosetta Stone. I'm wishing there was enough time in the day to do both.

 

We also have the first part of Tell Me More, from a few years ago. I found it to be frustrating, because I couldn't tell from the video what answer they were looking for. Once you get past that issue, it is supposed to have grammar emphasis than Rosetta Stone. I never inflicted it on the dc.

 

Funny, I don't remember signs in German at Frankenmuth - just the little plastic deer on the orange sherbet at "the restaurant!" :D I must have been pretty young.

[Moira in MA]

My dds both use(d) OSU. dd2 who has never recommended anything before told one of her peers about it saying that is a good program. I was impressed -- she's one hard to please customer. I'm pretty tough, too, I recommend it highly.

 

Also when reading the threads about OSU German, you'll see questions about why they include vocabulary about vampires. I didn't get around to replying at the time but this isn't Twilight related; it leads into a cultural segment on the early German film industry.

 

HTH

~Moira

[In The Great White North]

Vampires must be the "in" thing for college German departments. Dartmouth only offers 4 classes a semester: beginning, intermediate, a lit course in German and a lit course in English. One of them is on vampires.

[FaithManor]

Thanks everyone!

 

As for the signs in Frankenmuth, they are a more recent addition. Frankenmuth is ALWAYS adding something but most of these signs are at the businesses....However, I wouldn't want the taxes in that town! Seriously, I have never seen a place more committed to finding ways to throw tax money down the hole. Oh, and I was recently told that some of the German signs may be replaced because they've decided that having the English and German together looks cluttered. It must be nice to have so much money that one can just constantly change one's mind and have things redone!

 

A couple of the restaurants now have their menus in German but you have to ask for them...it's not typically what is brought to the table. Of course, I can't imagine that any of the wait staff knows German so it may be a souvenir type thing. At least he can attend some German speaking church services and get some tutoring.

 

Faith