You reach a door. On it is written “5”. The door appears not to be locked.
Do you want to
a) open door
b) go back
So you chose to open the door? Good choice, because today there’s a really really awesome language learning tool behind it. Well, I think it’s super awesome because… well… most of you know me as this incredibly attractive, distinguished, well bred man with perfect abs teaching German on the radio. And that’s all true, BUT it wasn’t always like that. As a teenager, I was actually a bit of a nerd. Because I reeeaaally loved role playing games. No, not what you think.
I mean pen and paper role playing games in a fantasy world. If you don’t know how that works… it’s basically World of Warcraft on tranquilizers, run on the most complex computer to date: our brain :).
Seriously, you meet up with friends, everyone has a hero with features and skills and weapons and stuff and one of you guys is basically leading you through an interactive fantasy story.
In fact… here’s a snippet of a recording of such a session , so can get an idea in case you don’t know this stuff :).
“You get to a river. What do you do?”
“I use my staff to check how deep it is.”
“You put your staff all the way in but it is not long enough.”
“Hihihi… his staff is too short… hihihi.”
“As you’re trying to pull it out, it is suddenly pulled in very strongly. Do a strength test +3 to keep holding it.”
“… *rolls 20 sided die*… 6. My strength is 8, hooray.”
“Nu uhhhh… you forgot you still have -2 strength because of that diarrhea. The staff is pulled out of your hand.”
“Oh come on, dude… .”
“I don’t think mages use the word dude.”
“My huntress was standing next to the mage. I’ll try to grab his staff.”
“Fine, do an agility+4 combined with a dexterity +6.”
“+6 ?!?! Wait, why is grabbing this staff more difficult than fingeri….”
And so on and so on :). So much fun.
But you might be wondering what this has to do with learning German. Well, bear with me.
You see, there were these interactive book with the same system. Like, you’d read a couple of paragraphs and then the book would give you a choice and refer you to a certain page to continue reading. So you’d basically read a novel but you’d also have some influence on how the story progresses.
Certainly not for everyone, but I found these pretty fun.
And now what I told you such a book, actually exists specifically for German learners?? Well… it does.
OMG… #nerdgasm
And to make it even better: it can be read online.
And to make it even more better: it comes with little quizzes, a vocabulary section and audio for the unknown words.
And to make it even more betterer:
it is free!!!
The author, André Klein, has written quite a few novels for language learners so he knows the “genre” and when I came across this interactive book I just had to share it because I REALLY love the idea. I’m sure, it’s not for everyone and you do need to be at least B1 to enjoy it but yeah… it might turn out your new most favorite tool so check it out. That’s really all I can say :).
Here’s a little Youtube-video about the project:
And here’s the direct link:
Aschkalon –
Interactive Fantasy Adventure for intermediate German learners
How about you? Do you know pen and paper role playing and these books? How do you like the idea of combining that with learning German?
Did you try out the book? And how did you like it?
I’m really curious for your feedback.
Einen schönen Tag euch und bis morgen :).
wpDiscuz
