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I have had the responsibility of teaching nine foreign exchange students
Danish at Vejen Gymnasium (upper secondary school) this year. Two students
come Chile, one from Costa Rica, one from Canada, two from Australia, one
From Slovakia, one from Hungary and one from Germany.
Up to our autumn holiday (week 42) we had one lesson per day and after the
holiday we have had three lessons per week. There is not much educational
material designed for this type of group. I have used some somewhat outdated
books and texts which obviously were intended for immigrants and refugees
combined with texts and exercises that I made myself.
When we got the opportunity to use 'Danish for Ducklings' in February,
it was a great relief to me. Finally a material that was designed for this
group of young people. The material is very good. The book seems a little
bulky and heavy but the pages are very well-arranged, and you quickly get
to know the structure of the book and become able to find the information
that you need. Many drawings and photos support the text in a fine way.
The video sections are somewhat theatrical, and my students laughed a lot
at the rather formal manner. However, we agreed that it probably has to
be that way when pronunciation is brought into focus. There are several
advantages with the video sequences: the pronunciation is very clear and
distinct so that it is easy to imitate.
Both men and women appear as well as old and young ones. In other words:
one does not get tired of the role models.
We have not used the cassette tapes from the system. The students did not
even bother to bring the tapes with them hope for extra exercises, which
is probably due to the fact that they were not beginners when we got the
system.
The CD-ROMs have quite clearly been the largest success. It does absolutely not take any special knowledge to install them; anyone can do that. The exercises are very varied, and there are new types of exercises which are very incentive, e.g. the many exercises with word order, which is often difficult for foreigners. My students often worked in pairs dealing with the CD-ROMs. They helped each other and had fun making small contests. Unfortunately none of them had a computer that could handle CD-ROMs so they could not use them at home.
It is a new initiative this year that we do proper teaching of Danish for our foreign exchange students, and it is a question whether we can continue, as it is not really within our field (it is offered by 'Ungdomsskolen' - a sort of youth night school). All teachers at 'gymnasiums' know the problem in August (or perhaps February), when there are one or two foreigners that can only say 'goddag' (hello) and Œmange tak¹ (thank you very much). What can one do? One has a bad conscience, but no possibility of offering special arrangements, as we have to include all the aspects of our curriculum. The solution could be to ask the exchange students to go to the computer room to play with 'Danish for Ducklings'.
Unfortunately my exchange students were not beginners any longer when we got the material. They understood most of what was said in Danish and could express what they wanted; although there were some mistakes. Thus their motivation was not as good as in the beginning of the process and they knew that they had to stop their course within less than two months.
Naturally the problem with using 'Danish for Ducklings' in lessons with for instance 9 students is that the teacher has to be very active as some students may be watching video tape no.6 and others no.10, while the rest may be working with computers elsewhere in the school. It is necessary to have at least one video tape recorder -preferably more, and some computers that can handle CD-ROMs. It is definitely possible to use the system for class teaching, and it is very good for differentiation but it takes motivated students and a detailed planning.
I will recommend that the grammar section is made in the other main languages as well as English (like the glossary). The English-speaking students got much out of the grammar section, while the others had problems. Even though one speaks other languages, it is not normally words and expressions like Œinverted word order¹ (omvendt ordstilling) or 'conjunctions etc. starting subordinate clauses' (bisætningsindleder) that are at the forefront of one¹s vocabulary of foreign languages. I suggest that the grammar section in various languages could become a special supplement to the system, which could be ordered according to one's needs.
The material is highly suitable for what it is designed for: independent study and individual exercises for beginners. It is incredibly important to get a good start dealing with language teaching, and for that reason it is nice to have a thoroughly prepared and motivating material, which I will strongly recommend my school to buy.
Elisabeth Ostergaard
Vejen Gymnasium and HF
Petersmindevej 3
6600 Vejen
Denmark
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