Beginning German?

[Heather K.]

My high schooler is wanting to get a couple years of German under her belt. I can't afford tuition for an online class. Hoping for something mostly book-based, possible supplemented with some online instruction like DuoLingo. Anyone have good book recommendations?

[lllll]

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Edited October 5, 2016 by Cathi

[LAmom]

Following.  I'd love to teach my kids German.  I know a little bit and just need a textbook or something to guide me in what to teach first, etc.  

[lisabees]

This is my new favorite site.  For Spanish, at least, it's been a great audio supplement.

 

Check with your library to see if they provide access to online programs.

[shadah]

Check to see if your library has Pimsleur. It's my favorite. You could also try FSI which is available free online. A bit dated, but very, very thorough. Duolingo is free and would be a start. It's better than Rosetta Stone any day.

I can't think of any good books to learn from. They tend to go too fast. You need to break it down more. German Made Simple looks good. I loved the Schaum's Outline books.

To be honest, if you are going to dyi, go with what is readily available. When you hit a wall, switch it up with something else and keep going. I have found language learning forums and blogs to be very motivating.

[shadah]

This is my new favorite site. For Spanish, at least, it's been a great audio supplement.

 

Check with your library to see if they provide access to online programs.

I didn't know Language Transfer had German. I did it for Greek for a missions trip. I learned alot and retained well. Even more than I did with Pimsleur (which is still my favorite). I'll keep this on my list of resources. Thanks for reminding me.

[need2read]

We just started the German 1 program on the Georgia Virtual Learning website. We are only a couple of days in but so far so good and it's free. It's basically an online textbook.

 

 

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[lisabees]

I didn't know Language Transfer had German. I did it for Greek for a missions trip. I learned alot and retained well. Even more than I did with Pimsleur (which is still my favorite). I'll keep this on my list of resources. Thanks for reminding me.

 

I am using both Pimsleur and Language Transfer.  They have worked very well together.

[....]

I could never find a program we liked.  Do you speak German?  My oldest two are studying German and I ended up just putting their class together myself (I have a minor in German).  I use the Komm Mit series as a spine (they're textbooks - I think McGraw-Hill?).  Every week, I give them 10-20 vocabulary words, an irregular verb conjugation, a grammar rule and passages to translate.  I want to add in a video to watch each week (I was doing that for awhile, but haven't started that up again yet).  I really need to add more listening components to their class.

 

That was the best I could come up with.  It's near-impossible to teach a foreign language at home!  If I can find an outside class somewhere, I'm just going to enroll my kids in it (not encouraging, I know).