Looking for audio-rich programs w/ drills (Language Programs, Books & Tapes) Language Learning Forum

Looking for audio-rich programs w/ drills
Tags: Drill/exercise \| Audio-lingual
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Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes

Grenix
Triglot
Newbie
China
Joined 4174 days ago
7 posts - 12 votes
Speaks: Cantonese, Mandarin*, English
Studies: German

Message 1 of 8

24 June 2013 at 9:10am | IP Logged

I'm currently trying to learn German following a method that emphasizes on acquiring/mastering the sounds and grammatical structures of a language first, which is an improvement to the old audio-lingual method that I devised myself after reading dozens of academic literature on language learning and language acquisition. And I'm now at the point where I need some good materials to put the method into practice and to test my theories out.

So, here is what a desirable course/program to go along with my method would be like:

Audio-rich, the richer the better. Preferably, the conversations are carried out in a casual everyday conversational style and at a speed that roughly the same as a real-life native speaker would speak at.

A well-paced, step by step, systematic and comprehensive coverage of (almost) all the grammatical structures used in everyday language use. A good example would be a typical audio-lingual kind of textbook, that usually goes from beginner, to intermediate and finally to the advanced level, in a three-book series format.

Tons of carefully designed drills on pronounciation and grammar.

Detailed grammatical, cultural, reading and writing instructions/explainations are NOT REQUIRED. As a matter of fact, I prefer the materials not to have those at all.

NO specific requirements on coverage of topics. Again, this stage of the method is all about sounds and structures. For example, DLI courses are military orientated, but it doesn't matter too much to me, as long as they have tapes to go along with the instructions. That being said, of course, it would be very desirable that the topics are as close to everyday use as possible.

Just to make myself clearer, a perfect example that meets almost all of the above requirements is a series of textbooks called "English 900" by the publisher Mcmillan. You can read it here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/24188008/New-English-900-Book-1

Also, my sister is tutoring my nephew to study English using the same method under my advice, so aside from German, I also need recommendations on English materials that meet the same requirements.

Thank you!

1 person has voted this message useful

PeteP
Newbie
United States
Joined 5039 days ago
27 posts - 48 votes
Speaks: English*
Studies: Romanian

Message 2 of 8

24 June 2013 at 10:15pm | IP Logged

You probably need several complementary courses to get all of those features. Deutsche
Welle would be a good place to start looking.

By the way, DLI has a lot of non-military content. The "ordinary" language is covered
and in quite a bit of detail. You will get conversations about buying groceries, but it
will be a sergeant meeting a captain in the grocery store :-)
4 persons have voted this message useful

I'm With Stupid
Senior Member
Vietnam
Joined 4175 days ago
165 posts - 349 votes

Speaks: English*
Studies: German, Vietnamese

Message 3 of 8

25 June 2013 at 6:39am | IP Logged

Does this not sound like Pimsleur to anyone else?
2 persons have voted this message useful

Grenix
Triglot
Newbie
China
Joined 4174 days ago
7 posts - 12 votes
Speaks: Cantonese, Mandarin*, English
Studies: German

Message 4 of 8

25 June 2013 at 12:34pm | IP Logged

PeteP wrote:

You probably need several complementary courses to get all of those features. Deutsche Welle would be a good place to start looking.

By the way, DLI has a lot of non-military content. The "ordinary" language is covered
and in quite a bit of detail. You will get conversations about buying groceries, but it will be a sergeant meeting a captain in the grocery store :-)

Thanks for the reply, PeteP! Kudos to whoever designed that site. I mean they categorized the courses in so many helpful ways, and that "course finder" is such a timesaver.

Great site, an absolute gem! Thanks again!

I'm With Stupid wrote:

Does this not sound like Pimsleur to anyone else?

The method was inspired, by a large extent, by the audio-lingual method and programs like Pimsleur. So there's really no surprise here that Pimsleur sounds like a good match for it, but the method goes beyond what Pimsleur can offer, it's just too short and covers too little. :)

Edited by Grenix on 25 June 2013 at 12:35pm
1 person has voted this message useful

Cavesa
Triglot
Senior Member
Czech Republic
Joined 5011 days ago
3277 posts - 6779 votes

Speaks: Czech*, French^C2, English^C1
Studies: Spanish, German, Italian

Message 5 of 8

25 June 2013 at 3:49pm | IP Logged

The FSI course does fulfill some of your requirements.
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Grenix
Triglot
Newbie
China
Joined 4174 days ago
7 posts - 12 votes
Speaks: Cantonese, Mandarin*, English
Studies: German

Message 6 of 8

26 June 2013 at 3:59pm | IP Logged

Yeah, I'm definitely gonna use FSI. And thanks for the reply!

BTW I'm with Stupid and Cavesa, since you guys are learning German too, could you please tell what materials you guys have been using?
1 person has voted this message useful

Volte
Tetraglot
Senior Member
Switzerland
Joined 6441 days ago
4474 posts - 6726 votes

Speaks: English*, Esperanto, German, Italian
Studies: French, Finnish, Mandarin, Japanese

Message 7 of 8

26 June 2013 at 7:16pm | IP Logged

If it's "all about the sounds and structures", have you considered Listening-Reading? Get a parallel text and audiobook in your target language. Nothing else gives you as much comprehensible exposure with so little extraneous overhead; it's the peak of audio-rich material.

You'll want to supplement it with a book/course on pronunciation, and perhaps another with grammar drills if you really do want to drill.

The downside? You need to be able to cope with a lot of uncertainty - for the first 3 hours, if you're a total beginner and it's a language unlike any you know, you'll be lucky to know what paragraph you're listening to. And material is not presented in a graded fashion, though you'll start to acquire it in one. And it's best done intensively: if you have only an hour a day, use something else.

Edit: for German, I recommend the 'Inkheart' (Tintenherz) trilogy. The English and German match closely, and the German audiobook is very well done.

Edited by Volte on 26 June 2013 at 7:18pm
4 persons have voted this message useful

Grenix
Triglot
Newbie
China
Joined 4174 days ago
7 posts - 12 votes
Speaks: Cantonese, Mandarin*, English
Studies: German

Message 8 of 8

27 June 2013 at 3:15am | IP Logged

Thanks for the reply, Volte!

I just learned about the LR method yesterday after reading that pinned thread in this forum , and thought it might be a useful resource to aid my learning. And here you mentioned it too. so I'm very intrigued now. I'm definitely gonna look into it and see if it fits my needs.

And thanks for recommending Inkheart, I'll look into that too.

1 person has voted this message useful

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