DLI Headstart Courses: Usefulness

[Speakeasy]

The following discussion began under the "Learning 2 Languages" discussion thread. With the view of separating the discussion of the DLI Headstart courses, I have opened a separate topic. As far as I am concerned, while the following discussion focused on the "old" (Headstart1) courses, should anyone wish to offer comments on the "new" (Headstart2) courses, they are free to do so.

… using all the freebies out there (hint: the DLI Headstart courses for French and Spanish (3 variants based on geography) are superior alternatives to the respective full courses by Pimsleur for those languages), although you've already shelled out for some learning material already…

… Secondly, I concur with you that DLI Headstart courses are surely preferable to Pimsleur all-audio courses…

… The old DLI Headstart courses vary in quality and useability. The ones for French, Italian and Spanish are quite good in my view since they're not so heavy on military topics yet (over)loaded with exercises designed to teach military personnel the basics of a language when off-duty. In the Italian Headstart course, I'm right now working on the unit about shopping and have already learned some basic phrases and vocabulary relevant for buying shoes and groceries. The one for German is not quite as good for us civilians in my view since it spends more time teaching phrases and vocabulary while on duty (e.g. "How far is it to the rifle range?", "The supply point is 5 km north of headquarters"). The one for Norwegian has a lot less material and fewer exercises - a bit disappointing, actually.

Chung, I agree with much of what you have to say concerning the old DLI Headstart courses. Nevertheless, I would add a few qualifying comments, First, in my view, it is not so much the quality that varies between the DLI Headstart courses as it is the scope and depth-of-coverage of the target language. Now then, although I completed a few of the DLI Headstart courses a number of years ago, as it happens, over the past couple of weeks, as an exercise, I completely redid both the Spanish and German courses. My appreciation …

I found that the DLI Spanish Headstart courses (both for Spain and for the Americas) were well-conceived but rather narrowly-focused “survival” language courses. The modules begin with a situational dialogue which takes place in a civilian context. The accompanying exercises explore and expand upon the basic vocabulary and grammatical structure deployed in the dialogues. The audio recordings include valuable comments on common usage and on a few cultural aspects of language all the while avoiding what-would-be unnecessary digressions on specific points of grammar. The vast majority of the elements of vocabulary are common to any other civilian-oriented, introductory language case. The military vocabulary is pretty much limited to that of ranks and the names of a few installations.

"The one for German is not quite as good for us civilians ..." I disagree. While much that I wrote above applies more-or-less as well to the DLI German Headstart course, I found the latter to be broader in scope than the DLI Spanish Headstart courses; it is much more of a true “familiarisation” course. In addition, I found that the accompanying exercises provided the student with many more opportunities both to practice the basic elements of vocabulary and the basic structure of the language. The first module, which introduces the student to the pronunciation of German, is both unique in its approach and surprisingly effective, more so than the common approach of simply saying that the German “a” should be pronounced as in the English “father.” The modules on Numbers, Dates, Time, and Currencies were exceptionally-well done; the student is presented with more exercise material than he will encounter in most other introductory language courses. The same goes for the modules on Shopping and the like. As to the military vocabulary, as for the DLI Spanish courses, it is for the most part limited to that of ranks and the names a few installations. Of the ten modules which make up the course only one is devoted to communications in a military context. "How far is it to the rifle range?" Although some students might not see the utility of some of the vocabulary used in this module, I would point out that it contains both more numerous and better-conceived examples on asking for and understanding directions than I have ever encountered in the rather large collection of German courses which make up a substantial part of in my private collection. In my view, the DLI German Headstart course and its sequel, the DLI German Gateway course, are a “must” for anyone having just completed the Michel Thomas or Pimsleur I, II programmes (sniff, sniff!)

EDITED:
Tinkering

[PeterMollenburg]

I completed the DLI Headstart for Belgium course perhaps around a year ago.

I strongly disagree that the course is better than Pimsleur. I don’t see the need to compare. They are different and can both serve very useful, yet different purposes. Pimsleur on commutes for training one’s ear in the beginning and shadowing the very clearly spoken audio for example. Headstart for.... also as a beginning course but with texts and exercises for reinforcement via the written word.

I feel that there are many more (but not necessarily free) beginning courses out there, such as the Hugo in 3 Months, Colloquial or Assimil courses in particular that do a much better job than the headstart courses in that they contain much more content (grammatical explanations, exercises, vocabulary). Perhaps before attempting one of these such courses, a DLI Headstart course could serve as in introduction to the language prior to a more meatier beginner’s course or two.

I must add that my judgement of the Headstart course was clouded by the fact I undertook this course while a at a high intermediate level in French, so it personally felt like a waste of time.

[Speakeasy]

DLI Headstart versus Pimsleur?
@PeterMollenburg, I agree that it is very difficult to compare the DLI Headstart courses to the Pimsleur courses, their approaches to language-teaching are so different from one another, where would one even begin?

Delivery of the DLI Headstart Courses
Continuing my initial post, in one of the DLI German Gateway course modules, one of the mock participants to a dialogue states that U.S. Military personnel and their spouses could enrol in a 40-hour-long presentation of the DLI German Headstart course which was delivered in the U.S. Military Base Education Center over the period of one week. Now, as it happens, I have a complete copy of the VHS video lectures which were prepared in the mid-1970's to accompany the DLI German Headstart course. Given that I had been working under the assumption that the DLI Headstart courses were designed for self-instruction, a matter which I continue to find plausible, I had always wondered how the video lectures were distributed to so many potential students. It seems that the answer to my question would be that (a) they were likely presented in the classroom setting that I just described, and (b) they were probably available for short-term loan from the Base Education Center. In passing, if I understand correctly, James29 has a copy of the VHS video lectures which were prepared for one of the DLI Spanish Headstart courses.