RainbowSprinkles Posted August 19, 2011 Share Posted August 19, 2011 My dd is very motivated to learn. She is in 4th grade and an excellent reader. However, I think since it's a different language I need to start at the beginning with the letter sounds and work our way up from there. If you have taught a child to read in German, what resources have you used? Any books you can recommend? I plan on placing an order at amazon.de this Oct. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted August 19, 2011 Share Posted August 19, 2011 I have taught both my children to read German shortly after they had learned to read English in school. Once a child has understood that letters make sounds and that sounds blend into words, the transition to another language which the child already speaks is easy. All I had to do was explain that certain letters made different sounds in German, and then practice a bit. I did not use any specific materials, but normal children's books. As I said: this works if the kid already speaks German, and if the teaching parent speaks German - is that the case in your family? I have no expertise in teaching German as a foreign language to a child who is not verbally fluent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RainbowSprinkles Posted August 19, 2011 Author Share Posted August 19, 2011 I am fluent in German and we are working on getting her fluent. So I guess I need to hold off for a little bit? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted August 19, 2011 Share Posted August 19, 2011 I am fluent in German and we are working on getting her fluent. So I guess I need to hold off for a little bit? Depends on how well she speaks. If she has enough vocabulary to understand WHAT she reads, you could start. Obviously, any child's vocabulary will continue to grow, even a native speaker's - so they never know "all" the words when they begin to read. I would just make sure to select reading material where she knows the majority of the words and would understand the story if you read it TO her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RainbowSprinkles Posted August 19, 2011 Author Share Posted August 19, 2011 (edited) Depends on how well she speaks. If she has enough vocabulary to understand WHAT she reads, you could start. Obviously, any child's vocabulary will continue to grow, even a native speaker's - so they never know "all" the words when they begin to read. I would just make sure to select reading material where she knows the majority of the words and would understand the story if you read it TO her. Thank you. I really appreciate your advice. You would think that I would be able to teach my dc German since that's where I was raised and went to school in Germany, but it turns out to actually be very difficult for me.. Or maybe I'm just making it more difficult than it needs to be. :) Edited August 19, 2011 by RainbowSprinkles missed words Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted August 19, 2011 Share Posted August 19, 2011 Thank you. I really appreciate your advice. You would think that I would be able to teach my dc German since that's where I was raised and went to school in Germany, but it turns out to actually be very difficult for me.. Or maybe I'm just making it more difficult than it needs to be. :) Are you talking to them in German only? We mostly do, even though they mostly answer back in English. We always used lots of audio CDs which helped their vocabulary immensely. It is an uphill battle in an English speaking environment - but sooo worth it. We went through phases where they refused to speak ANY German, or where they refused to read any. Just now, finally, DS is reading a German book without me having to force him to - he has been able to, but found it hard and slow. But now, with Tintentod, I have finally found something that interests him enough so he voluntarily reads. Yeah! When teaching reading, I found the kids picked up easily on the different pronounciation of the vowels (a, e) and had no trouble with silent h after long vowel. What took some practice were the umlauts, sch, ch and v making an "f"-sound in words like verboten, viel. If you want to teach them spelling: the best resources I found were books for German elementary students for practice at home - so not school books, but remedial self-study books for 3./4th and 5./6th grades. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matryoshka Posted August 20, 2011 Share Posted August 20, 2011 I am fluent in German and we are working on getting her fluent. So I guess I need to hold off for a little bit? My kids learned to read in German well before they were fluent. They were in 1st grade - they just learned the phonograms in German and were good to go. They could read fluently even if they didn't understand all the words - German's so much more phonetic than English. :tongue_smilie: Their Sat. School used Klett's Kunterbunt Fibel - but honestly that would be babyish for a 9yo. The Kunterbunt Fibel had a great phonogram chart I think you can buy separately, but I don't even think you'd need that. If your dd can read phonetically in English, really all you need to do is tell her that certain letters/letter combinations are pronounced differently in German and how, and she could probably read German almost instantaneously. Reading comprehension is a different issue. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RainbowSprinkles Posted August 22, 2011 Author Share Posted August 22, 2011 Would you mind telling me some more about Kunterbunt? :) I was just looking at it on amazon.de and there aren't any reviews or sample pages... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matryoshka Posted August 22, 2011 Share Posted August 22, 2011 Would you mind telling me some more about Kunterbunt? :) I was just looking at it on amazon.de and there aren't any reviews or sample pages... You can look at detailed samples at klett.de . I still think it would be too easy for a 9yo who can already read in any language... :) It's mostly about learning letter/sound/phoneme correspondence. This is very easy for a kid who already gets it in one language - you don't need a whole curriculum to teach a variation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RainbowSprinkles Posted August 22, 2011 Author Share Posted August 22, 2011 You can look at detailed samples at klett.de . I still think it would be too easy for a 9yo who can already read in any language... :) It's mostly about learning letter/sound/phoneme correspondence. This is very easy for a kid who already gets it in one language - you don't need a whole curriculum to teach a variation. Ok, thanks. It might work for my 1st grader though who is still learning to read in English. :) Does this come with a cd that has the sounds on it or do you know of any cd like this? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matryoshka Posted August 22, 2011 Share Posted August 22, 2011 Ok, thanks. It might work for my 1st grader though who is still learning to read in English. :) Does this come with a cd that has the sounds on it or do you know of any cd like this? Thanks! I don't see one for the current version, but there does seem to be one for the previous version, which is actually the one my dd used. They still seem to be for sale here at Bisherige Ausgabe. You can also see the Anlautsposter there, and that version also has nice little beginning readers (Lese-minis) that match up with the program. My dd liked those. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robbin Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 Consider looking at mini luek via google.de. We bought the control board and several easy books after an Austrain montesori teacher recomended them to us. She uses them to teach Turkish students German. Good -luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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