German Recommendations?

[patchfire]

I have little to zero skill with foreign language, but I've made a deal with a good friend (who is excellent in languages and majored in German!): I'll do the research to find good materials, and she'll teach all our kids. Hooray!

What kind of materials should I be looking at? I've seen Das Neue Deutschmobil & Pingpong Neu both mentioned in several places. Ideally, she'd like to structure it towards our oldest children and just simplify it for the youngers (versus have multiple programs for the different ages). The oldest kids are middle-school level. What would work best? Could the kids share the textbook for any of these and just have their own workbook? Are we crazy to think of using the same materials for early middle school & elementary level kids both?

TIA!

[WendyK]

We have Das Neue Deutschmobil 1. We tried it a year ago with our then 7 year old. It was too difficult. My husband speaks only German to our children so I'm thinking for someone with no exposure it would be too hard for a younger kid. I think the age range for that is 11 - 14. I have no experience with the other book you mentioned. Either way we weren't crazy about the book and I'm not sure if we will even try it again.

Unfortunately, we have searched high and low and have never found anything that we like. I tried contacting a couple of German schools in the U.S. to ask what they use. Many of these schools start out only in German for the first several years. So they don't use books for second language learners. The books they do use are very difficult to get here (without paying an arm and a leg).

We have a few workbooks we found at various stores in Germany (kind of like those workbooks you can get at Walmart or Sam's Club).

I hope someone else chimes in with some suggestions.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

Tamburin (http://www.amazon.de/Tamburin-Rechtschreibung-Lehrbuch-Deutsch-Kinder/dp/3190015775/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1291939768&sr=1-1)is a series for younger kids that we bought when we were in Germany. One of the differences between something like Tamburin and Das Neue Deutschmobil and Deutsch Aktiv is the how text heavy they are. The older the student, the more they expect they can learn by reading. For younger students there will be more singing and programmed dialogues.

There is a Lehrbuch, CDs with the songs and other audio, and a workbook.

Other titles that look interesting are Spielerisch Deutsh lernen (http://www.amazon.de/Spielerisch-Deutsch-Wortschatz-Grammatik-Lernstufe/dp/319019470X/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_b)
and maybe Kirkus (http://www.amazon.de/Kikus-Zweitsprache-Fremdsprache-Kikus-Methode-Leitfaden/dp/3193114316/ref=pd_sim_b_8)

We've ordered directly from Amazon.de in the past, and didn't think the shipping was too horrible with a big order. I also did an order with Continental Books (http://www.continentalbook.com/)recently and was pleased with there service. I did a phone in order and their German rep got on the phone with me with copies of the books to help me decide which I needed. (They also included catalogs in the box, so they might be able to send you some catalogs from Germany publishers to consider.)

I might spend the first several months on speaking and playing without introducing much written. Then you can introduce written work and see if you need to split the kids up.

[Steven]

I just wanted to reiterate what Sebastian noted: ordering materials from Amazon Germany (www.amazon.de) is very practical. There is a flat fee for shipping (14 euro, I believe), regardless of the size of your order. In addition, the 7 per cent value added tax is not charged (this price is included in the Amazon list price, but comes off the charge on orders that are exported.) With this low shipping charge and the refund of the VAT, having Amazon ship direct to the U.S. is a pretty good buy. Plus, you can find a lot of materials on sale.

One on line resource that we do like are the Tom films. This is a series of cartoons where the thought balloons of the speakers show pictures of what is being spoken. The basic story is always the same: Tom is trying to get a strawberry marmalade and honey sandwich. The stories are very amusing, especially for younger children. Every week, three episodes are available for viewing. Here is the link: http://www.kindernetz.de/tom/filme/-/id=40422/1lnyqli/index.html

[WendyK]

I have ordered from Amazon.de without any problems. The only problem is they don't always have what we are looking for.

[Moira in MA]

One on line resource that we do like are the Tom films. This is a series of cartoons where the thought balloons of the speakers show pictures of what is being spoken. The basic story is always the same: Tom is trying to get a strawberry marmalade and honey sandwich. The stories are very amusing, especially for younger children. Every week, three episodes are available for viewing. Here is the link: http://www.kindernetz.de/tom/filme/-/id=40422/1lnyqli/index.html

Oh these are fun. Thanks.

btw dd heard me listening and googled "Erdbeermarmeladebrot mit Honig" and got right to Tom.

~Moira

[LittleIzumi]

I just wanted to reiterate what Sebastian noted: ordering materials from Amazon Germany (www.amazon.de (http://www.amazon.de)) is very practical. There is a flat fee for shipping (14 euro, I believe), regardless of the size of your order. In addition, the 7 per cent value added tax is not charged (this price is included in the Amazon list price, but comes off the charge on orders that are exported.) With this low shipping charge and the refund of the VAT, having Amazon ship direct to the U.S. is a pretty good buy. Plus, you can find a lot of materials on sale.

One on line resource that we do like are the Tom films. This is a series of cartoons where the thought balloons of the speakers show pictures of what is being spoken. The basic story is always the same: Tom is trying to get a strawberry marmalade and honey sandwich. The stories are very amusing, especially for younger children. Every week, three episodes are available for viewing. Here is the link: http://www.kindernetz.de/tom/filme/-/id=40422/1lnyqli/index.html

Dd LOVES these films now. Thanks!!!

[cathmom]

Those Tom films are cute! We just watched one!

[Joan in Geneva]

I just wanted to reiterate what Sebastian noted: ordering materials from Amazon Germany (www.amazon.de) is very practical. There is a flat fee for shipping (14 euro, I believe), regardless of the size of your order.

......

One on line resource that we do like are the Tom films. This is a series of cartoons where the thought balloons of the speakers show pictures of what is being spoken. The basic story is always the same: Tom is trying to get a strawberry marmalade and honey sandwich. The stories are very amusing, especially for younger children. Every week, three episodes are available for viewing. Here is the link: http://www.kindernetz.de/tom/filme/-/id=40422/1lnyqli/index.html


Here in Switzerland we don't pay any postage for the Amazon.de.

Also, even my 20 yo is watching these Tom films for his German for fun now. They are on YouTube too. Thanks for the suggestion.

Joan