Using Geography and a Story‐Based Approach in the Beginning German Classroom

Abstract

In order to more fully integrate content into the beginning language classroom, creative approaches are needed to make language learning meaningful and authentic. The purpose of this article is to present how geography can be integrated into the beginning German classroom by using a storybased approach. In order to fully understand the examples that are offered here, a review of the based approach is appropriate. Perhaps one of the first people to suggest using a complete as the basis for teaching a beginning foreign language was Georgi Lozanov through his Suggestopedia method. In this approach instructors present their students with a long about a protagonist from the learners' country of origin. The main character travels to a country in which the target language is the native language. The is a sequence of dialogues that are always about the protagonist's experiences in the target culture. The last dialogue includes the main character returning home after a very successful stay in the target culture. The protagonist of the always speaks the target language well and serves as a good role model for students learning L2. The sequencing of the dialogues range from the longest one first (approximately 20 pages) that serves as an introduction to the and characters to the shortest one (approximately 10 pages) focused on the main character's departure for home. According to Shrum und Glisan, when using dialogues it is important that the dialogues are episodically organized. Oiler maintains that the episodic sequencing of stories assists understanding and retention. The continuous flow of a provides learners with an array of mental images that assists them in assigning meaning and functions to the language they hear (Shrum and Glisan). Words have meaning when used in connection with one another, and learners, therefore, need to experience whole contextualized language that emphasizes meaning-making and sense-making before focusing on form (Long). The story-based approach achieves this aim through the emphasis on natural discourse and supports the learner's comprehension of meaningful and longer items of discourse from the out-set of the lesson. After experiencing the whole, learners are better able to work with the parts (Shrum and Glisan; AdairHauck and Donato; Adair-Hauck and Cumo-Johanssen). According to Shrum and Glisan, the story-based approach invites learners to comprehend and experience the functions and purposes of language through integrated discourse, in the form of a story (152). Adair-Hauck and Cumo-Johanssen maintain that whole-language instruction avoids reducing language to verb conjugations, discrete grammar points, isolated linguistic items, and/or word lists. In the story-based approach, students work with a whole text (e.g. a story, poem, or song), receive guidance in understanding the main ideas, explore these ideas through communication with others, and then focus on specific details and/or linguistic elements. In Suggestopedia, Lozanov propagated a three-step approach to working with every dialogue. First, the topic is introduced through warm-up exercises that also function as a review of previously taught material. Then the instructor presents the dialogue during two different readings accompanied by Baroque music. The last step is the activation phase of vocabulary and grammar points found in the dialogue that accomplish the four goals of the story-based approach noted above. The last step in the Suggestopedic