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Old BBC Courses Review | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| Elexi Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5354 days ago 938 posts - 1839 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: French, German, Latin | Message 1 of 1 23 March 2014 at 12:15am | IP Logged |
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Over the past few years I have been going through charity shops and ebay amassing LPs
for the BBC courses from the 1960s to 1980s. I have an ageing record player and the wires to covert the LPs to MP3, so these old courses can live again. The old BBC courses are little mentioned here - but for general language learning up to CEFR B1 they are excellent. They generally come with 2 or 3 LPs (sometimes 5 LPs) all in the target language - that makes between one and half to two and quarter hours of very useful comprehensible input. Up until about 1975 the BBC courses contained dramas comparable to the 1970s Linguaphone courses. After about 1975 until the 1980s the BBC changed its tack and produced courses based around interviews with native speakers. Although the LPs are sometimes hard to come by, the booklets (generally A5 in size and about 150-200 pages long) are available on Amazon for next to nothing - 1p plus postage (so £2.81) in most cases. The booklets contain the transcripts, word lists, grammar explanations and exercises. Here is a summary of the courses I have got: German Komm mit! Wir sprechen Deutsch - 3 LPs and a books following a visitor around a German city - its quite old fashioned and the audio is - sentence - gap for repeating - sentence, etc style, but I am sure it would be more useful if the gaps were cut down. A1-2 level. Riesebüro Atlas/Wiedersehen in Ansburg These 2 courses are essentially one course. Riesebüro Atlas has 3 LPs and 3 booklets and Wiedersehen in Ansburg has a book and 2 LPS - so that is a whooping 3 hours and 45 minutes of German comprehensible input. This is a nice course that, whilst a little old fashioned, provides an amusing soap opera set in a travel agency. A1-B1 level. Wie Bitte? This is a 3 LP course that follows the tenants (a journalist, doctor and a pop star pretending to be a student) of an apartment in swinging 60s Hamburg. It develops in record 3 into a crime story. Like Riesebüro Atlas it is an amusing soap opera that provides a good wack of comprehensible input. A1-B1 level. Kontakte This 70s course represents the BBC’s shift to interviews rather than stories. Kontakte has 3 LPs and 3 books that starts with pronunciation exercises and moves on to dialogues (which are a bit like the FSI FAST courses in content). Every lesson has an interview at the appropriate level and a text/monologue ('liesen und verstehen') that is set just above the appropriate level to provide a listening/reading challenge . Wegweiser 2 LPs and 2 books - this course follows Kontakte but is structured around interviews. Kein Problem 2 Lps and 1 books - is a A2-B1 course that follows Wegweiser. Deutsch Direkt Is a 1980s 3 cassette, 1 book course that gets in the low B1 range. Deutsch Plus - is a more glossy late 1980s course that is still available - it is a step down from its predecessors - but the core of the course is the storyline - available on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lk9rS7n-4Q French Starting French - a 1964 course consisting of 4 LPs, 1 book of 40 progressively more complicated dialogues. A1-2 level. Bonjour Francoise - 3 LPs, 3 booklets following the career of a model and her entourage around Paris - Like Komm Mit! the audio is of the sentence - gap for repeating - sentence, etc style. A1-2 level. Répondez s'il vous plaît - 1969 - 3 LPs and 3 booklets - The story in the booklets was a TV series following a detective on holiday in a French village. The LPs are two and a quarter hours of FSI like drill exercises - written by the same person that did the Linguaphone French course - A1-A2 level. Vient de paraître - this course is a series of dialogues that follows the staff of a Paris newspaper. It is a more advanced course than the others (designed for people in their 3rd year of French). It has 2 LPs and a book. I have the first LP but have never seen the second one. Probably A2-B1. Suivez la piste - 2 LPs and a book. This roman policier follows a young couple as they investigate a crime cartel in Paris and Geneva. Suivez la piste was used in the 70s and 80s in language schools and so is quite well known. The audio is available here: http://ruevavin.tumblr.com/page/2. I would class it as A2. Ensemble - this 2 LP, 2 booklet course from the 1970s marks the BBC’s transition to interview based courses. The LPs for Ensemble have interviews and also follow little comedy skits exemplifying the language, including the adventures of Reynard the Fox. Truncated versions of the TV programmes that accompanied it can be found on YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vYH8g0yN1I. I would reckon its A1. Sur le Vif - is a 2 LP, 2 booklet course that follows on from Ensemble. It is structured entirely around interviews which highlight the grammatical points taught. Moves into the A2 range. Allez France - a more complicated (A2-B1) course following on from Sur le Vif structured around interviews - it consisting of 2 LPS and a book. A Vous La France/BBC French Master - A 80s course that is largely based on interviews and learning phrases. This is a beginners course. The French Master course is a self teaching version of A Vous La France that has a lot more English in it and 4 VHS videos. France Extra - is a 3 cassette, 1 book course that carries on from A Vous La France. It contains interviews, pronunciation practice and grammar and speaking drills. Spanish I don’t speak Spanish, so I don’t really have many of the courses. I have picked up these: Zarabanda - This is a 1 book and 2 LP course for beginners. At its core is a soap opera. The soap opera part of the TV series can be found on YouTube here: http://www.youtube.com/user/ccopenhagen1. It is probably A1-2 Tal Como Es - this is the follow on course from Zarabanda - 2 LPs and a book. A2 Espana Viva - This beginners course is still available - although it originates from the 80s and is in the same style - The BBC brought out BBC Spanish Master which was the same thing with self teaching elements and had 4 VHS videos with it. Italian - again I don’t speak Italian so I can’t fully describe the courses. Avventura - early 1970s beginners course consisting of 2 LPs and a book following (as far as I can tell) the exploits of a business man. Italianissimo - This beginners course is still available - it was also released as Italian Master with lots of English tuition to aid self learning. Welsh Welsh For Beginners - 1966. This course is made up of 3 LPs and a pamphlet. I don’t speak Welsh, so can’t really rate it but the LPs are all in Welsh. Dewch I Siard - Lets Speak Welsh - 1970s - This has 2 LPs and 2 booklets and follows Alun and Gwen through Welsh domestic life. Edited by Elexi on 23 March 2014 at 11:34am 12 persons have voted this message useful |
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