The texts used to illustrate readability factors in Part I were also intended to illustrate how to read a range of texts in a variety of ways.  One or more of those texts may indeed be applicable to a spiraled curriculum in which age-appropriate readings and tasks are undertaken in light of long term curricular objectives for grades K-16.

     Thus the computer texts may apply for students who may want to specialize in business German in a local technical college.  Students of literature will find the "personals" columns useful predictors of the vocabulary and relationship focus of romance novels such as Die Leiden des jungen Werther or comedy romances such as the movie Männer.  To illustrate how the Standards apply to spiraling objectives in Part 2, we have chosen a literary work, Draußen vor der Tür.

     This radio play by Wolfgang Borchert is considered a classic of German literature and is on the reading lists for majors and graduate students in most colleges and universities.  Unlike many older "classics," however, its context and word choice are chillingly modern and familiar.  Borchert's returned veteran has severe problems adjusting to everyday life.  His questions ("what was I fighting for?," "who is responsible for the deaths of or injuries to people under my command?") represent a familiar trope to American students whose parents recall Viet Nam, or for those students aware of the aftermath problems encountered by veterans of the recent Gulf War.  The vocabulary of the veteran's questions and the answers he receives refers to specific people (the superior officer, the wife, their family) and places.

     The situation of a war returnee has points of connection to the experience of many age groups.  Even students in Grade 4, too young to read a text or grasp the historic and personal ramifications of this situation, can focus on the idea of difference represented in the returning soldier's dress, gas mask, and his awkward behavior.  A returning veteran does not fit in.  He does not look and act like the others.  If Grade 4 teachers know that this play will be read by their students in later grades, they can give their students pre-reading exercises that explore the issue of readjustment -- exercises that will prepare for later work in the curriculum.  Grade 4 teachers can introduce social readjustment in age-appropriate ways, with reference to the Power Rangers or Disney cartoon films, leaving it to teachers in later grades to tie general expressions of powerlessness to the specifics of German history and culture when they have their students read excerpts of the play.  Unless reared in our inner cities, most American ten-year-olds understand war only at the level of cartoon reality, but war experiences are crucial to many communities in both Germany and the US.

     This play, therefore, can profitably be read in many different ways, for many different reader groups.  Even young readers can "read" one conversation between two people (one excerpt from the dialogues); older readers (Grade 8) can progress through reading a whole scene for its social reference; and older readers still (Grade 12) can learn about a significant moment in German social and political history through it.  While all of the play definitely does not suit any particular audience, sections could work in many different settings.  Ideally, then, the teacher of early-grade L2 learners would pick excerpts from a text that middle-school, secondary and post-secondary teachers could reuse later in the foreign-language curriculum.  Such a choice will also facilitate long-term development of Standards goals.

     Moreover, a text that can be used for younger readerships in excerpts (not one written only for that younger readership) is also very easily used very early in an L2 curriculum for students who only begin the foreign language later (e.g. Grade 8 or 9, rather than Grade 4) -- it is a necessary approach to building the cultural skills that the Grade 12 language learner will need for college work, again with the goal of an age-appropriate engagement with the foreign language cultures and its communities.

Part 2 Introduction and Table of Contents
Unit 4 Introduction