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XIII. Elementary and Intermediate German Grammar (Adult) Brinitzer, Michaela, and Verena Damm. Grammatik sehen: Arbeitsbuch für Deutschals Fremdsprache. Ismaning: Hueber, 1999. Paper, 120 pp. euro 14,95. «www.hueber.de»
The title of this workbook might draw one in or make one wonder: How do the authors suggest one "see grammar" ? They use drawings of stick figures to illustrate concepts such as action verbs, prepositions, and brief scenes; their goal is to lessen the "befremdende Abstraktheit" of instruction in grammar and to offer a new access that does not touch upon "eher negative erlebte Schulerfahrungen" (4) . The authors suggest the book provides three to four lessons for twenty class meetings (5). Thus it can be the primary text for a course, although instructors in the U.S. would most likely benefit from using selected activities from this book as supplements to their instruction.
The target audience of students is clearly identified in the foreword: "street speakers," i.e., adults and youth who live and/or work in a Germanspeaking environment, who have a large working vocabulary, but who do not have a command of standard grammar. Somewhat troubling is that the authors also assume...