Alles klar? An Integrated Approach to German Language and Culture (2nd Edition) [Hardcover]

Wolff OTTO (Author), Wolff A. von Schmidt (Author), Christine Goulding (Author), Cindy Jorth (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0131825496 | ISBN-13: 978-0131825499 | Publication Date: November 13, 2003 | Edition: 2

Informed by a variety of approaches and techniques, Alles klar? offers a careful balance of communicative activities, cultural information, and contextualized grammar practice using a variety of sources such as realia, authentic texts, and audio-visual materials. KEY TOPICS Throughout this book, Germany is featured as a multicultural and multiracial society in Überall spricht man Deutsch sections. Emphasis has been placed on presenting a true picture of the German-speaking countries and fostering opportunities to explore new and sometimes controversial materials. It gives learners numerous opportunities to practice the four skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. For beginning German speakers.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Alles klar? is an engaging beginning German program that offers a careful balance of communicative activities, cultural information, and contextualized grammar practice. Its integrated approach promotes practice in the four skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing while stimulating real and creative use of the language.

The second edition of the student text incorporates a number of changes based on feedback from users of the first edition as well as on the latest findings in second language acquisition research. The supplements program has been strengthened and expanded in several important ways. Of particular note are the new video, created specifically to supplement the Alles klar? program, and a new Companion Website, offering access to audio materials as well as many vocabulary, grammar, and cultural activities.

For the Instructor:

• Annotated Instructor's Edition (0-13-182646-8)
• Image Resource CD-ROM (0-13-182648-4)
• Instructor's Manual with Testing Program (0-13-182644-1)
• Testing Program on CD (0-13-130492-5)
• Answer Key to Workbook (0-13-130491-7)
• Video on VHS (0-13-130494-1)

For the Student:

• Student Video CD-ROM (0-13-182647-6)
• Companion Website (www.prenhall.com/allesklar)
• In-text Audio CD (0-13-144367-4)
• Workbook/Lab Manual (0-13-182548-8)
• Complete Audio on CD (0-13-130490-9)
• Die deutsche Grammatik klar gemacht (0-13-144366-6)

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Alles klar? is a beginning German program with a focus on communicative competence. Informed by a variety of pedagogical approaches and techniques and supported by carefully integrated supplementary materials, the program is the result of years of market research, development, classroom-testing, and revision. It is designed to stimulate beginners' interest in the German language and culture as well as provide them with the foundational abilities necessary for further study of German. The text's integrated approach provides students with the essentials of basic grammar, practice of the four skills in meaningful and realistic contexts, and a solid understanding of the culture of the German-speaking countries. The flexible format and innovative ancillary package offer, individually and collectively, to instructors and students alike a range of choices to suit individual goals, curricula, interests, and methodological preferences.

Highlights of the Program

Alles klar? and its supporting materials effectively promote the development of communicative competence through their balanced practice of the four communication skills and the pillars that support them: meaning (vocabulary), accuracy (grammar), and cultural understanding.

Vocabulary

Each chapter introduces a range of vocabulary items that are useful to the beginning student. Words for active mastery are presented in meaningful and appropriate contexts, such as dialogues, visuals, and situated activities, and are practiced throughout the chapter and in the text supplements. Pertinent items are regularly recycled. While the Themenwortschatz appears at the end of each chapter, divided into two lists for the student's and instructor's convenience, a list of additional theme-related vocabulary appears in the appendix of the book to afford students the opportunity to develop a personalized vocabulary. The text provides students with a solid lexical foundation.

Grammar

The coverage of grammar is not exhaustive but rather focuses on the structures that are appropriate for beginning students. Thorough grammar explanations and practice are preceded in each chapter by readings or realistic dialogues that allow students to first observe the use of structures in context. Grammar is practiced in a variety of form-oriented and communicative activities and is further reinforced, both orally and in writing, via assignments in the Workbook and Lab Manual and at the Companion Website. Some key elements of grammar are explicitly reviewed in later chapters, for example, verb tenses, cases, and adjective endings. Important structures such as the present perfect tense and word order are also practiced repeatedly throughout the book.

Culture

Cultural information permeates Alles klar?. Each chapter contains several thematically relevant Kulturnotiz boxes that introduce students to the culture and customs of German-speaking countries. While these are in English to make them accessible to beginners, pertinent terms are also given in German. Workbook activities encourage students to compare and contrast aspects of German-speaking culture with their own experiences. The exploration activities available at the Companion Website guide students through authentic online sources, where they can observe the merging of language and culture. In addition, cultural contrasts are more subtly reinforced through the dialogues, reading passages, realia, and photos in each chapter as well as through the video supplement.

Communication Skills

There are more than ample opportunities to practice the four skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. The text progressively develops students' receptive skills by presenting them with input of incrementally increasing difficulty. At the same time, it develops students' productive abilities through a careful progression from guided practice to open-ended communication.

• Listening opportunities are provided through the many Gesprache that are not only printed in the book but recorded as well. These Gesprache both reflect and model authentic language usage. For each one, annotations in the Annotated Instructor's Edition provide suggestions for listening comprehension activities. Additional listening practice is also offered in the Lab Manual.
• Speaking is practiced extensively in Alles klar?, in the numerous communicative activities that are intended for pair and group work and in the culminating Zu zweit (information gap activities) and Situationen. In addition, there are many speaking and pronunciation exercises in the Lab Manual.
• Reading opportunities abound in the Lesestucke that appear in most chapters. In later chapters, many of these are authentic texts. There are short stories, poems, and a large number of realia. The Workbook also contains reading passages and accompanying exercises for each Kapitel.
• Writing skills are reinforced in the Zusammenfassung section that concludes each chapter. They are further practiced extensively in the accompanying Workbook, which includes a wide range of both guided and open-ended activities.

The features of the Alles klar? program are designed to put beginners on the road to communicative competence, because it promotes their ability to understand and communicate meaning effectively, accurately, and in a culturally appropriate manner. The integrated approach gives students the ability to use the language creatively while also helping them understand the cultural contexts and underlying grammatical structures necessary for proficiency.

Changes for the Second Edition

This second edition presents significant changes from the earlier one. The new edition reflects the latest findings in second language acquisition research and incorporates the thoughtful feedback of first-edition users. The extensive use of realia, the clear and concise grammar explanations, and the communicative activities remain; indeed, they have been significantly improved and updated.

What has changed from the earlier edition will be readily apparent to anyone comparing them. The book has been reduced from fifteen Kapitel to twelve, making the book more manageable in an academic year. The emphasis on German as a "global" language has been replaced with a much richer picture of German speaking culture as a backdrop for students' language learning. More photographs have been included to provide students with additional visual input and a four-color design has been adopted to heighten the book's visual appeal. Pertinent words and phrases associated with new technologies, for example, das Handy, der MP3-Spieler, im Internet surfen, have also been included.

The communicative and grammar activities that were more clearly separated in the first edition have now been substantially integrated, thus providing an additional opportunity to enhance and improve students' proficiency. A very few grammar topics have also disappeared (e.g., sich lassen + infinitive), namely those which seemed more appropriate for the intermediate or advanced level of language learning. What has remained, however, is a thorough presentation of the basic grammar that is offered.

Much more cultural information is available in this edition, as are more activities that promote meaningful communication. The progression from rote to creative activities in the language is now clearer. More activities have been contextualized as well. In addition, the ancillary materials have been substantially improved. Both the text audio and complete audio program are available on CD and online. The testing program and the instructor's resource manual are also now available on CD. There is a video on both VHS and CD that contains didacticized clips related to the themes of each chapter, and an Image Resource CD offers all the line-art images from the textbook itself. Furthermore, the Companion Website is now available through Prentice Hall's homepage (www.prenhall.com/allesklar).

Pedagogy and Chapter Organization

Alles klar? contains twelve Kapitel, each based on themes that encourage communication and develop insight into German language and culture. These themes are both practical and informative; they include topics such as housing, health, and physical fitness, making plans, using the telephone, the media, and interpersonal relationships in everyday life. In keeping with the overall goal of constant use of German, the direction lines for activities that are given in English in Kapitel I-4, are found in both German and English in Kapitel 5-8, and in German alone in Kapitel 9-12.

Each Kapitel is divided into a series of Schritte that contain conversations, readings, realia, and other language samples. All Kapitel maintain the following consistent structure:

• Photo. The title page of each chapter provides an advance organizer by setting the stage visually for the themes that will follow.



• Lernziele. Objectives are divided into functional goals, structural goals, and a summary of the cultural material presented in the chapter.



• Na, los! Each chapter opens with a series of lively vocabulary presentations, promptly reinforced by brief activities that prepare the student for immediate communication. Some activities in this section serve as a vehicle for previewing structures lexically prior to their formal grammatical presentation. Others re-enter vocabulary, grammar, and culture from preceding chapters. Occasionally there are new grammar points introduced in this Na, los! section. In the early chapters, this section often includes a rhyme, a tongue twister or other text that focuses on a particular sound or aspect of German pronunciation...

Product Details

• Hardcover: 512 pages
• Publisher: Prentice Hall; 2 edition (November 13, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0131825496
• ISBN-13: 978-0131825499
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 8.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #296,291 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Book!, December 3, 2009

By 

B. Hefzi (Saudi Arabia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Alles klar? An Integrated Approach to German Language and Culture (2nd Edition) (Hardcover)

Everything from grammar and vocabulary to culture is well explained in this book, it is full of images and exercises which help students understand the language and start thinking in German. I had the honor of being taught by two of the authors, who happen to be brilliant professors, and since they have experience teaching German, they understand the difficulties students face when studying the language, which I think has been taken into consideration in this book. So I strongly recommend "Alles Klar?" to anyone learning German or teaching it to university or high school students. It builds a great foundation for the German language and culture. I learnt so much from it!