Michel Thomas Method

Rose Lee Hayden met Michel Thomas in 1982 as a result of her interest in his innovative method and amazing results, and studied German with him. This was the beginning of a long and exciting collaboration, developing his programme and teaching his 'Second Phase' Spanish students. She now lives outside Rome, where she continues to write, teach, and play jazz piano. Marion O'Dowd grew up in a bilingual home, the daughter of a Viennese lawyer and a Polish-born mother. She studied German at Bristol University and then went on to do an MA in German and Theatre. She has been teaching German and Drama for many years, more recently enthusiastically embracing and incorporating Michel Thomas techniques.

Introduction about origin of "cognates", consonant shifts and examples; Pronunciation element(s) - Expanded or not, according to team agreement; Focussed work on WORD ORDER; Very short recap: Modals send infinitive........................ to the end; Build in Food + Beverages vocab; Time expressions/Manner expressions cause inversion of subject and verb, E.g. Letzten Sommer bin ich..., Nachsten Winter werde ich...; Vocabulary: Seasons and Days - Countries - Activities + places to do them; Reminder: "weil" sends active part of verb....................................to the end; Build in adjectives + their opposites e.g. health related, levels of excitement / d) Conjunction "denn" doesn't! Teach "und", "aber", "oder" (possibly not "sondern" yet) which do not affect Word Order; Simple explanation of the job of "conjunctions" (they act as joining words at "junctions" in a sentence) reinforcing "wenn" and "ob", "dass" and "da" already mentioned. Introducing "wahrend", "nachdem/bevor", "obwohl", "seitdem" and "damit"; Vocabulary: (keine)Zeit, (viel/wenig) Geld, die Moglichkeit, die Gelegenheit; Where best to place "nicht"; Time-Manner-Place rule. Fits with the German tendency to be exact and disciplined!; Emphasis causes Word Order change - typical German habit! e.g. Spinat kann ich nicht leiden!; Vocabulary: Clothing; Use of the Imperative; Extending use of Imperative to cover "du" form and "wir" form, also "Sei...!" E.g. Sag mir,.....! Frag mich nicht....!; Help with Prepositions: zum - zur im - ins - in die; When to use "nach" or "zu" Introducing: auf/hinter/vor/uber/unter/zwischen/neben/an; "Stretching" material; Snappy phrases reintroduced + reinforced; A few idioms e.g. Alles hat seine zwei Seiten! E.g. "Schlagzeilen" - headlines; Dealing with "false friends" especially where they can be humorous: e.g. bekommen (to get, obtain not become) + eventuell finally not eventually); USER GUIDE; Summary and contents of the CD tracks; Glossary of all vocabulary (alphabetical, English-German, German-English), plus "bonus" words that round out categories such as days of the week, months of the year, seasons, family members, numbers and counting, common expressions, etc.