Deutschlernen

[noobieteacher]

I promised to teach my daughter GCSE German. I speak it fluently, but never really learned the language formally, but I have A levels in German and French.

Any advice on how to do this, preferably within two years? How many hour a week would we need to set aside? Should I just buy the books and plough through them?

[Needmoresleep]

Think about a summer camp at the Goethe institut. They are fab. Normally three weeks and held in boarding schools or similar in different parts of the country and in some beautiful locations.

Only quite narrow age ranges are accepted on each course, eg 14-15 yos. You get a really nice bunch of purposeful kids from all over the world. Lessons in the morning, activities in the afternoons. Its a nice way for a child to gain some independence and maturity as well as pick up some German and gain some understanding of the largest country in the EU.

[luxemburgerli]

How about buying a basic workbook and starting that, and at the same time getting some films and watching in German with English subtitles?

Maybe also get her favourite books (or at least ones she knows) in German. I have some of the Harry Potters in German, and it was very useful when learning because I didn't have to look up every second word, knowing the story already.

[noobieteacher]

needmore I can't navigate the Goethe website very well, I will call them later and see what they suggest - a summer camp sounds perfect, if a bit sudden as Summer is kind of here already. We are going there on holiday but I need a more structured approach to learning for her. I'm sure she would love the opportunity to be away from me independent for 3 weeks.

lux I think she would have great fun reading Potter in German.

[Caitycat]

Can she speak any German yet? If not I think she will need a bit of time before she's ready to read books (even if she is familiar with them). I would get the GCSE textbook of one of the recognised school courses (Echo, Logo, Zickzack neu etc) and work through it to ensure she covers everything that is part of the exam. They are generally preety dull and no decent teacher uses them in isolation but they will give useful material.

Exam board websites will have past papers, vocab and grammar lists so have a look there for info.

You will also need to think about the logistics of the exams. She will have to do controlled speaking and writing assessments which are administered (and in the case of speaking also marked) by the centre so you need to contact her school sooner rather than later to ask for assistance / advice.

[noobieteacher]

Thanks Caity, the school have said they would register her for the AQA exam, but we are running behind by a year so might need to do it in 2015. I have downloaded the vocab lists and worked out that memorising a certain number of nouns per week alongside the grammar it is achievable.

She is used to hearing the language and understands the intonation and phonetics.

The part we will struggle with will be the grammar, all of which I know, but very little of which I would be able to teach or explain! I'm hoping that comes with the books.

[Caitycat]

I would recommend practice in German grammar by Alan Jones, it covers all the grammar needed for gcse and a bit beyond, gives really clear explanations and well structured exercises to practise it. It's all there in one place rather than you pulling it out from the textbook.

[Needmoresleep]

[http://www.goethe.de/ins/de/spr/kuj/kur/deu/deindex.htm]

Many if not most of their courses will be full for this summer, but you could email them [email protected] and see if they have anything suitable.

Cliche, I know, but they are phenomenally well organised.