Deutsch im Blick
The textbook covers all basic concepts of grammar appropriate for the first year. It emphasizes the practice of all four skills: reading, listening, writing, and speaking. The reading passages are almost exclusively short non-fiction texts. With the exception of a few songs, there are no literary texts that students are introduced to.
The textbook is for the most part accurate. I came across some striking translations of German terms. One example: “Wohngemeinschaft” is translated as “Mansard apartment,” which is obviously incorrect. The opening/introductory videos are cute: they feature an American student visiting Würzburg. In some instances, these students mispronounce words. I wonder how effective is for learners to hear (in a textbook) the incorrect and heavily accented pronunciations of German words.
The topics discussed in the book are relevant for students enrolled in US institutions of higher educations. After completing the course, students will be well prepared for a semester-long or year-long study abroad in Germany. They are given appropriate amount of historical and cultural background information. The book avoids discussing current politics, which diminishes the risk that the material will be outdated soon.
The grammar presentation is contextualized in an unnecessarily complicated way. The grammar drills use fairy tale characters and mix up details from individual fairy tales, which adds another level of complication. Students need to review all of these fairy tales in order to follow to complete the grammar drills correctly. I found those exercises confusing. It seems that students need to review all the German names of fairy tale characters before completing even the most basic assignments.
The textbook uses both German and English terminology to explain grammar, but not in the most consistent way. Some times both terms are used, sometimes – just the German ones. This is particularly evident in the Table of contents of each chapter. Some chapters feature the category “Recommended” (under Grammar), some chapters – don’t.
Overall, the textbook is well balanced. All the material is divided in sections of roughly equal length. The chapters are similar in length and structure as well.
The chapters share the same basic organization. They flow well, while at the same time they allow the instructor to be flexible in the selection of assignments and exercises. My preference would be that the grammar is introduced somewhat earlier in the chapters and is practiced in more basic drills.
The website is easy to navigate. All activities open quickly and play well.
The grammar concepts are presented clearly and accurately. My main criticism applies to the following issues: 1) Terminology. The textbook uses the term “conversational past” instead of “Present Perfect” (for Perfekt). This leads to confusions and inconsistencies (see, for example, how passive voice past tense is explained). 2) Sequence and order. This textbook chooses to introduce simple past tense (Impefekt) quite late in the book (Chapter 10), even after subjunctive (Konjunktiv II). This is quite unusual. Students need to be using these forms much earlier. 3) Some chapters are very heavy on grammar (for example Chapter 5), some have a minimal amount of grammar exercises (Chapter 3). 4) It would be helpful if the “Site Index” indicates which grammar topics are covered in which chapters.
This textbook is focusing on topics and themes that are key to understanding German culture.