Page:Adapting and Writing Language Lessons.pdf/386

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
Sources of Microtexts
CHAPTER 7

its fat is on top. If you then remove this fat, what remains is milk which is called skim milk. There is a machine which removes fat from the milk by means of separation. The milk that is left behind, we call 'separated,' or 'fat-free' milk.]

One advantage in texts taken from such sources is that students know that they are working with something which was intended as communication among speakers of the language, and which therefore carries an unquestionable authenticity. Another advantage is that these sources can be used even by a teacher whose personal command of the target language is limited. Such teachers are less common in the seldom-taught languages, where most teaching is done by native speakers. They are much more common in the frequently taught languages: French in the united states, English in Korea, etc. But any teacher who is able to make questions, simple paraphrases, and other routine manipulations of a text can work as effectively with this sort of microtext as he can with a reading selection in the printed textbook. Such a teacher of German can find in the following entry in a one-volume encyclopedia (Der VolksBrockhaus, 1938) the basis for discussing chess problems with a class:

Schachspiel [ist ein] aus Indien stammendes altes Brettspiel zwischen zwei Spielern , gespielt auf dem Damebrett, mit 16 weissen, 16 schwarzen Figuren: je 1 König, 1 Dame, 2 Türme, 2 Läufer, 2 Springer, 8 Bauern. Das Ziel ist, den König des Gegners matt zu setzen.

[Chess is an old board game, which originated in India, between two players, played on a chessboard

369