PRACTICE IN SPEAKING First-year books, as a rule, contain sufficient material for ordinary class work in oral drill. The lessons in nearly all such books have as their object, however, not only oral drill but also the acquisition of grammatical forms and principles. Only the very experienced teacher should ever undertake to conduct a class without a text-book to guide him. It is not always necessary that the text-book should also be in the hands of the students. Indeed, it is a good idea, provided the teacher is capable of so doing, not to let the class have a book at all for the first few weeks; but in such a case the teacher may well keep in mind the preliminary lessons of the text-book he intends later to give his class. After the student is able to read easily material more or less literary in character, or reading matter that has been put together with a pedagogical purpose but which is more extended in scope than the earlier reading, and has also greater freedom of expression and some pretense to literary style, there comes a time when exercises more largely conversational in purpose become desirable. Good reading material upon which to base conversational work is furnished by such text-books as those listed under "Land und Leute," page 18, books that were made for this very purpose. But the teacher should use care in the selection he makes, for these books are not all of the same grade of difficulty, or equally valuable. Supplementary to all such reading material, and at almost any stage of the student's progress, is the proper use of what is known as "Anschauungs-material." This consists of wall charts depicting scenes of German life, pictures, post cards, lantern slides, and the like. Valuable also is the playing of games and the learning and presentation of short plays. Singing of German songs and recitations strengthen the memory and help the pronunciation, if properly directed. All such devices doubtless help to create that subtle thing we call "German atmosphere," and if entered upon with zeal and enthusiasm, and under careful direction by the teacher, do create interest and draw the student away from the humdrum monotony of daily drill in the text book lessons. When far enough advanced, the student can be set to reading various books on "Land und Leute" and be asked to make reports orally or in writing of what he has read. See list of books below under "Land und Leute," page 18. Suggestions and advice on this subject may be obtained in the Theory and Practice. Allen's Hints on German Conversation, (Ginn & Company, Boston), will be found useful. It costs ten cents. SOME "DON'TS" FOR THE TEACHER Don't do most of the talking yourself. Give the students a chance. Don't confine yourself to questions and the students to answers. Don't expect your class to talk on subjects for which it does not possess a fair command of the necessary vocabulary. Don't make your questions monotonous. Bring variety into your work. Don't let your questions be haphazard. See that there is a logical sequence, a purpose, and an aim. Don't ask questions that can be answered by a simple "yes" or "no." This form of questions will be necessary at the very beginning so that the student may imitate the teacher, by turning a simple question into a declaration form, but should not be used after the first few weeks. Don't kill the initiative and spontaneity of your students by requiring an answer in just such-or-such a form. Don't let your class lapse into English. Keep the students so busy with rapid-fire questioning that they will not have time to think in English. How to question is one of the most difficult matters for the average teacher to learn and some of the class-room work in this particular is disheartening. A study of the Gouin method (see list of books on page 8), comparisons of text-books, and a fair measure of common sense should help the teacher. ILLUSTRATIVE MATERIAL LAND UND LEUTE GENERAL Most of these books are too expensive for the student to buy, but they are valuable books for the school library. Baring-Gould, Germany, Past and Present. 2 vols. London. 1879. Tho not up-to-date, this book contains much that is interesting and valuable. Dawson, Germany and the Germans. 2 vols. London: Chapman & Hull. German Life in Town and Country. New York: Putnam. Collier, Germany and the Germans. New York: Scribner. 1914. King, Three Free Cities. Hamburg, Bremen, Lübeck. Illustrated. E. P. Dutton. Kron, Bilder des Deutschen Lebens und Wesens. Karlsruhe. 1905. Schultz, Deutsches Leben im 14ten und 15ten Jahrhundert. Illustrated. Prag-Leipzig. 1902. 1892. Grueber, Myths of Northern Lands. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co. pany. Stories of Wagner Opera. New York: Dodd, Mead & Com Dickie, In the Kaiser's Capital. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company. Schauffler, Romantic Germany. Illustrated. New York: Century Company. 1909. Bartley, The Rhine from its Sources to the Sea. Philadelphia: J. C. Winton Company. 2 vols. Illustrated. Müller-Bohn, Des Deutschen Vaterland. 2 vols. Stuttgart. 1913. Sedgewick, Home Life in Germany. Illustrated. New York: The Macmillan Co. 1908. Land und Leute, Monographien zur Erdkunde. Profusely illustrated. (Thüringen, Tirol, Oberbayern, Harz, Rhein, Schwarzwald, Nordseeküste, Ostseeküste, Berlin, Dresden, etc.) Each set about $1.20. Vellhagen und Klassing, Volksbücher. A series similar to the Land und Leute, but very cheap and of course not so good. Each Volksbuch, about $0.15. Degener, Wer ist's. Leipzig. The German "Who's Who." To this list may be added such American text-books as the following: Bacon, Im Vaterland. Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Vorwärts. Boston: Allyn & Bacon. 1915. Holzwarth, Gruss aus Deutschland. New York: Henry Holt & Com pany. Mosher, Willkommen in Deutschland. D. C. Heath & Company. Allen, German Life. New York: Henry Holt & Company. ILLUSTRATED AND OF HISTORICAL INTEREST Das Kaiserbuch. Acht Jahrhunderte deutscher Geschichte. Muckenberg. Berlin: Die eiserne Zeit vor Hundert Jahren. 1813-15. Leipzig: Siwinna. Germania, Zwei Jahrtausende deutsches Lebens. Union Verlagsgesellschaft. Berlin: Stuttgart. STORY AND LEGEND Walhall, Götterwelt der Germanen. Berlin: Oldenburg. Urvaterhort, Heldensagen der Germanen. Berlin: Oldenburg. Jensen, Der Schwarzwald. Leipzig: Amelangs Verlag. 1901. POSTCARDS, PHOTOGRAPHS, PICTURES Write for catalogs and make inquiries of the following firms. Most of them have post cards from five cents up, also prints and more expensive pictures. Berlin Photographic Company, 305 Madison Ave., New York. American agents for the Berlin Photographische Gesellschaft. Jones-Keyser Company, 142-146 West 24th St., New York. American agents for the Neue Photographische Gesellschaft, Berlin. Atkinson, Mentzer & Company, 318 West Washington St., Chicago. American agents for B. G. Teubner of Leipzig. Send fifteen cents for a list of "Künstlersteinzeichnungen," a large series of reproductions of paintings. These are excellent for school decorations. The Art Institute of Chicago publishes a number of colored prints and post cards of masterpieces of art. Georg. D. W. Callwey, Munich, Germany, has a fine series of "Meisterbilder" that cost about ten cents each. WALL PICTURES, CHARTS, FOR CONVERSATION DRILL These can be obtained through such firms as G. E. Stechert, New York, and Atkinson, Mentzer & Company, Chicago. Hoetzels Anschauungsbilder. Large wall chromolithographs, some twenty in number. They cost about $1.50 each. The subjects are Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter, The Farm, The Mountain, The Forest, The City, The Home, The Harbor, and a number of cities, such as Paris, London, Vienna, Berlin. Some of these charts are published in book size for home study by the student. They are folded into pamphlets containing vocabulary and conversation drill on each picture. Such a pamphlet costs about fifteen cents. Hirts Anschauungsbilder. A series similar to the above, consisting of some eight pictures: Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter, Mountains, Forest, City, Harbor. These can be had in book size, the whole series together for about twenty cents. Hey-Spekter Märchen Bilder. Made by Perthes, Gotha. Very artistic. Good for school decoration. Each $0.60. Lehmanns Kulturhistorische Bilder. These are small pictures, about 24 by 30 inches. They number about twenty-five and are mostly on medieval subjects. In colors and very artistic. The catalogs of the following firms are especially helpful: B. G. Meinhold Söhne, Dresden. B. G. Teubner, Leipzig. F. E. Wachsmuth, Leipzig. R. Voigtländer, Leipzig. MISCELLANEOUS Catalogs of various German firms can be secured and articles desired can be bought direct or through: G. E. Stechert & Company, New York. A. J. Nystrom & Company, Chicago. Write for catalogs to K. F. Koehler, Leipzig (Bibliotheca Pädogogea, Verzeichnis der bewährtesten Lehrmittel). F. Volkmar, Leipzig. Dr. Oscar Schneider, Leipzig. B. G. Teubner, Leipzig. Simon Schropp'sche Landkarten-Handlung, Berlin. Send twenty-five cents to the National German-American Teachers' Seminary, Milwaukee, Wis., for list of recommended illustrative material. MAPS AND CHARTS Inquiries can be made and maps ordered through Rand, McNally & Company, Chicago and New York, and A. J. Nystrom & Company; Chicago. Excellent map-makers are the following: GEOGRAPHICAL MAPS Richard Kiepert, Berlin. Justus Perthes, Gotha. Richard Andree, Bielefeld und Leipzig: Velhagen und Klassing. HISTORICAL MAPS Kühnert, Spruner-Bretschneider, and Ed. Gaebler are especially recommended. MAPS FOR WILHELM TELL Vogt and by Rein. MAPS FOR JUNGFRAU VON ORLEANS Teetz. |