As I do a Beginner German lesson, I am trying to analyze what works for me. I know what doesn't work. The first time I listen to a conversation, I have no success if I don't view the captions in both German and English. I simply am not familiar enough with the pronunciation to understand the German words without having visual support. Also, my hearing is not acute enough to catch the differences in pronunciation. Once I listen to a conversation with the captions, then I can understand that conversation the second time around without the captions. I would not be a good oral/aural learner.
I have noticed the importance of reviewing the vocabulary before listening to the conversation. Familiarity with the new words goes a long way to helping one understand the conversation. I believe that this shows the importance of always previewing vocabulary with our students prior to having them take notes on a topic. The unfamiliar words are what cause much of the difficulty.
I've noticed that for me it is much easier to translate words from L2 to L1. If I cover the L2 words (German) and try to produce them by looking at their English equivalents, I have a much harder time than translating the German words into English.
The receptive stage of language learning is much easier than the "production" stage but that is no surprise to any of us, I'm sure.
Looking forward to sharing experiences tomorrow.
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2 comments:
Hi Maria!
I wonder how your experience would be different if you turned off volume the first time around and briefly looked at transcript/captions (if it's available).
Then you could try to listen without the captions/transcript. Then you wouldn't be doing both listening and reading at once.
Just a thought!
Also, in your final point, did you mean that it's easier for you to think of the English word for the same word you already learned in German?
Hi Maria,
I have also found that when the content is too difficult I tend to want to read and listen. Then, go back and listen without the support. It seems it is always difficult to get students to go back and listen without the support.
Howard
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