3. Crowdfunding für eine neue Küche - Crowdfunding for a new kitchen
4. Die alte Trinkerin - The old drunkard
5. Eine Kreuzfahrt und der Millionär - A cruise trip & the millionaire
6. Der G rillabend - The barbecue evening
7. Import & Export - Imports & exports
8. Ein Besuch aus Amerika - A visit from America
9. Der Einsiedler - The hermit
10. Der Schatz im Wald - The treasure in the woods
11. München ist auch eine schöne Stadt - Munich is a beautiful city too
12. Der Schrebergarten - The allotment garden
13. Der Käse stinkt von allen Seiten - The cheese stinks from all sides
14. Der Flüchtling aus Fernost - The refugee from the Far East
15. Eine endgültige Abmahnung - A final warning
16. Studententreffen - Student meeting
17. Aupair in England - Aupair in England
18. Der historische Kunsthändler - The historic art dealer
19. Der Rezesions Club - The review club
20. Ein Michelin Stern ist nicht genug - One Michelin star is not enough
21. Klassische Novelle: Ein Landarzt von Franz Kaffka
22 . Klassische Novelle: Ein Traum von Franz Kaffka
23. Klassisc he N ove lle : D ie gr ie c hisc he Tänze r in v. A . Sc hnit zle r24. Klassisc he N ove lle : Die Wanderung von Stefan Zweit25. Klassische Novelle: Schwere Stunde von Thomas Mann
The Stories and their value as teaching tools
Each story of the collection is reasonably short and split into easily digestible chapters.
Content wise, all the stories are of cultural interest and abundant in terms of language in a way that beginners and intermeditate learners can still easily digest. However, the language, the words and phrases you’ll encounter are useful and practical for everyday German speaking.
You will be exposed to a variety of tenses in each story; a nice blend of future, present, and past tense verbs. As such, you will grow more confident in your abilities to understand German in many different situations without feeling overwhelmed, or confused.
Often books similar to this one contain what is called “parallel text.” This is text alongside the original, in English, that translates the entire story. While it is a popular method of learning due to its ease, it has many downsides. Without fail, new learners focus on the English translation over the German text, simply because it’s less challenging. However, that struggle to understand is an important part of learning and improving your German.
To make the text more comprehensible, harder words are bolded and their definitions are displayed in English at each chapter’s end. As such, you have no reason to leaf through a dictionary mid-story, which is not only tedious, but will distract you from your purpose.
Next, at the end of each chapter are summaries that ensure you don’t miss anything vital in terms of the plot.
The benefits of extensive reading when learning
German as a second language
Reading stories exposes you to natural German as well, which will greatly benefit you in the long run.
Furthermore, reading for pleasure is popularly called “extensive reading”. It’s not like reading a German textbook, which contains short paragraphs, or lines of dialogue, you read in-depth with the goal of understanding each and every, single little word.
Over time, you will build an intuitive understanding of how German functions. This differs from a more theoretical understanding put together via learning rules and conceptual examples: 1. One important aspect of a successful learning process is a feeling of accomplishment, and enjoyment because that will keep you coming back.
2. You learn simply by reading.
3. Read the story from start to finish to thoroughly enjoy it.
4. It’s more important to reach to finish the story without stopping, then to understand each and every word. The simple truth is that you won’t get everything your first time around. This is completely normal.
Short stories for beginners and intermediate level - What learners can expect The first ten short stories are for beginners and intermediate level learners. All the stories are divided into easily digestible chapters with many page breaks, making progress simple, and with each section your read, you’ll feel as if you’ve actually achieved something.
The last ten short stories have slightly more challening vocabulary and phrases, but still, the vocabulary will be introduced to you at a reasonable pace, so you’re not overwhelmed with difficult words all at once. Here, you won’t have to look up every other word, but you can simply enjoy the story and absorb new words simply from the story’s context.
