I've recently been working on a German text, Die Verwandlung by Kafka, and was delighted to
find what I thought was a really good audio-book version of the
novella. I downloaded the mp3 files from www.vorleser.net and
opened them in the Readdle App on my smartphone to play them (other options are
offered when you try to open the file). I do a 4 mile walk
every two or three days and like to listen to podcasts of an improving nature
so began to listen.
I had the whole, admittedly not very long, narrative in my
head after producing the page by page vocabulary although the narrative was slipping away quickly from my memory. The novella was read by Karen Schulz-Vobach and was well produced with
frequent spooky sound effects and I was struck by several things. I
do find reading complex German sentences challenging and was surprised to find
to what extent hearing the text read meaningfully, with emotion, highlighted
the meaning and brought it back stronger into my consciousness.
My suggestion is that it would be extremely useful to get students to go
back over, via the audiobook, the section/chapter they have just been covering
to help capture it in the mind in a more meaningful way. I think
it's certainly worth trying-it also helps students internalize the musicality
and rhythm of well written language.
I was moved to see what was available online for the French texts I cover on www.alevelfrench.com and found the following some of which are free (the titles out of copyright, though watch the details for your country's precise details).
Boule de suif-Guy de Maupassant- litterature audio site Go to site page
L'avare-Molière-litterature audio site Go to site page Nice and slow but film better.
L'étranger-Camus-read by Michel Lonsdale-there is also a version read by Camus but he doesn't read it that well in my opinion.
