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James Henry Worman: Erstes Deutsches Buch |
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This First German Book is intended for beginners wishing to learn the spoken language of Germany. The special aim is to supply all that must be taught the pupil in order to enable him to understand and use the German. It is not a treatise on the language. There is just enough of grammar to suffice the need of the pupil.
The peculiar features of its method are Pestalozzian in character. It
Method of this
book.
differs, however, radically from all other methods teaching a foreign language without the help of the learner’s vernacular.
1. The language is taught by direct appeal to illustrations of the objects mentioned. The student is not allowed to guess what is said. He speaks from the first hour understandingly and accurately.
2. Made up of a series of conversations, such as might naturally occur, the lessons convey much practical information and uninterruptedly engage the observing as well as the thinking faculties of the learner’s mind.
3. Everything is taught by contrast and association, to avoid overtaxing the memory at the expense of the reason.
4. Throughout the course grammar is taught both analytically and synthetically. In the text the essentials only are given. The foot-notes,[1] however, contain a large amount of information, and their contents should be carefully noted by teacher and pupil, as they are needful for the student’s progress in reading.[2]
5. The Rules are introduced after the Examples; the purpose being to employ first the lower or sense faculties of the mind. Theory follows practice. The laws of the language are as it were the learner’s own deductions from the examples. The concrete, therefore, always precedes here the abstract.
6. Paradigms are used to enable the pupil to see the relation of the part to the whole.[3] It is easy to confuse the learner by giving him one person or one case at a time. This pernicious practice is discarded. Books that beget unsystematic habits of thought are worse than worthless.
7. Heavy type is given to the variable inflections of nouns, verbs, etc., because it strikes the eyes and helps (the pupil to note the changes of these German words. The beginning is made
- ↑ [*] The Second German Book continues these references in order to point out to the learner the peculiarities of the German language.
- ↑ [†] Worman’s Elementary Reader can be used to advantage after the first ten lessons of this book. The notes of this Reader analyze completely the early selections.
- ↑ [‡] The paradigms stand at the head of the lesson because they are to be committed to memory, to insure more successful work in the lessons at class.
James Henry Worman: Erstes Deutsches Buch. A. S. Barnes & Co., New York [u. a.] 1880, Seite NN. Digitale Volltext-Ausgabe bei Wikisource, URL: https://de.wikisource.org/w/index.php?title=Seite:Erstes_Deutsches_Buch.djvu/12&oldid=- (Version vom 26.1.2024)
