When I quit my teaching job more than ten years ago to strike out on my own as an online language teacher, I was met with stares of consternation. Old acquaintances warned me of the perils of pennilessness and urged me to re-enlist in the federal education system. Online learning? Why, that’s just a fad, young…
Articles by André Klein
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Online Teaching
How To Start An Online Book Club
If there ever was a perfect time to start an online book club, this is it. Everyone is looking for inspiration, distraction, anything to feel like life as we know it continues. We finally have the time to tackle books we “always wanted to read”, so no more excuses! Why not read a book together…
News
Battling Corona With Culture: Berlin Philharmonics & Viennese Opera Giving Away Free Access to Livestreams
Ever wanted to visit the Berlin Philharmonic but never found the time or money? Well, now they’re coming to you, free of charge. Due to cancellations of physical events because of the coronavirus, they are now giving away free access to their Digital Concert Hall where you can watch live streams and recordings of concerts….
Games
Boost Your German Vocab With This Quirky Web Game
While sorting through some old files recently (definitely not procrastination but research!) I stumbled over some old notes and re-discovered this quirky little language learning game which is just too good not to share. It’s called Ba Ba Dum, and it’s actually five little games that run directly in your browser, no downloads required. At…
exercises
3 Simple Rules of German Negation: How To Position “Nicht” in A Sentence
German syntax can be quite daunting. There are many moving parts. It can be helpful to split things up into smaller more manageable bits. Earlier today for example a question came up on the newsletter about the correct placement of the so-called Negationspartikel nicht in a sentence. So here are 3 very simple rules (and some exceptions)…
German
New: German Dialogues For Beginners & Intermediates (PDF, MOBI, EPUB)
Over the past few months I’ve been thinking a lot about the power of dialogue. Whether it’s the Socratic dialogues or the Analects of Confucius, both Eastern and Western traditions have been using dialogue as a teaching tool for more than two millennia! Why is that? Plato for example could have just doled out his…
Meet detectives Baumgartner & Momsen and learn German effortlessly with special emphasis on idioms and natural language crammed with humor and suspense.
learn more German
Should German Learners Use Google Translate?
When Wikipedia first became popular I remember my teachers and professors scoffing at it: “A free encyclopedia? On the Internet? Why, that can’t be good! You had better learn to use the library instead, young whippersnapper!” And yet everyone still used it. All the time. Was (or is) it perfect? Of course not. When it…
German
Not Rammstein: German Music Artists Beyond The Teutonic Shtick
When we think of Brazilian music we think of samba, bossa nova, a cool breeze on the beach and the Girl from Ipanema. But what do you think of when you think German music? Do you think of laid-back melodies and velvety vocals? Or more industrial staccato and alveolar trills? Whatever your particular associations may…
German
7 Tools To Help You Write In German
There are many ways to learn German, and they all have their pros and cons. Obviously, I’m a huge fan of learning German with stories. I believe it’s one of the most fun methods of acquiring new vocabulary and making it stick. But if you don’t regularly maintain your treasure trove (we actually call it…
German
NEW: Karneval in Köln Workbook (PDF)
Good news, everyone! Jeff Richards and I completed another workbook for the Dino lernt Deutsch series. This time we’re bringing you another 60+ pages packed with exercises, writing prompts, crossword puzzles and other activities for Karneval in Köln. As with the previous two workbooks for Café in Berlin and Ferien in Frankfurt this comes to you…
German
NEW: Digital in Dresden Audiobook
UPDATE: This title is now also on Audible. The latest audiobook in the Dino lernt Deutsch series (episode 9) is finally here! After wrangling with soundwaves for a few weeks the audiobook is now complete and slowly rolling out to audio venues far and wide. While I’m still waiting for it to make an appearance…
