Early years and primary teachers have a unique opportunity to apply their strong teaching practices, classroom management and understanding of childhood literacy development to teaching a language. This paper reports on a project from Independent Schools Queensland to increase language programs in schools by retraining classroom teachers.…

The article presents and discusses materials for a cultural lesson about Green Germany. An introductory mini-unit frames the over-all student learning objective: students should be able to respond to the questions "Where are we?" and "Where are we going?" with regard to the natural environment. Three different units then help…

Describes a summer intensive advanced German language program at the University of Texas at Arlington that has been conducted since 1975. Discusses course organization, teaching methods, class activities, testing, and the success of the program in terms of increasingly higher achievement ratings. (MES)

At Concordia College's Institute of German Studies (Minnesota), an immersion program, a 1-month course entitled "German in the Business World" concentrates on development of written and oral communication skills needed in firms dealing with German-speakers. As part of its emphasis on banking, insurance, and business, the course includes…

Over 2 semesters, 15 first-year German students used a real-time networking program on the Macintosh in computer-assisted class discussion. Students interact directly with each other rather than interacting mainly with the teacher. Data (number of turns/entries, sentence types) are appended. (Contains 25 references.) (JP)

Guidelines for teaching German in the elementary school are presented. The program is designed to develop the skills of careful listening and accurate pronunciation and to provide pleasurable learning experiences through dialogues, songs, and games. German is contrasted with English to relate the language experience to other aspects of the…

Describes a thematic, communication-oriented approach developed by the foreign language department at the University of Maryland Baltimore County to the first-year and intermediate sequences in French, German, and Spanish. Design of the syllabus, instructional materials, and teaching techniques are discussed. (Author/CB)

The University of Rhode Island's International Engineering Program leads to two degrees: a B.A. in German and a B.S. in engineering. A major problem in program development was lack of appropriate instructional materials and recommended methodology for technical German courses. An instructional unit on the diesel motor illustrates how materials…

A college second language program compared the effectiveness of traditional second language instruction and a communicative approach in second year French, German, and Spanish courses. The communicative classes used only authentic materials, thematically organized and prepared for classroom use by the instructors. Similar topics were addressed in…

An experimental first-year college German course offered at the University of Texas at Austin emphasized communication, with a complementary de-emphasis on morphologically correct forms in spoken or written production. A modification of the Total Physical Response method was used to orient the students, and at four weeks the emphasis was shifted…

The progress of three groups of university students enrolled in a first-year German course was evaluated after one completed academic year. The achievements of two control groups, a day and an evening class taught by conventional methods, were compared with those of an experimental group taught using suggestopedic methods. Additionally, for the…

In response both to interests within the foreign language teaching profession and to a new Texas law mandating oral proficiency standards for foreign language teachers, Tarrant County Junior College developed a number of curriculum changes in French, German, Spanish, and English for Speakers of Other Languages. The primary first-year emphasis and…

A program of studies, instructional resources, and suggestions for activities and materials are presented for use by teachers in an elementary school foreign language program. The program provides supplemental elementary-level instruction for children in such languages as French, German, and Spanish. The program is primarily oral and stresses…

A collection of papers concerning college language instruction and exploring issues related to promoting communicative skills and cross-cultural understanding includes the following titles: (1) "Languages at College: The Student and the Curriculum," by W. M. Rivers; (2) "Dimensions of Communicative Proficiency," by A. Ramirez; (3) "Communicative…

The report details a project at the University of Iowa to introduce significant cultural materials into French and German second language courses through multimedia instruction. Project accomplishments include: development of cultural fluency objectives for intermediate-level language programs; development of multimedia interactions for teaching…