Audio lingual language programs

All about language programs, courses, websites and other learning resources
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Serpent
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Posts: 3657
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Location: Moskova
Languages: heritage
Russian (native); Belarusian, Polish

fluent or close: Finnish (certified C1), English; Portuguese, Spanish, German, Italian
learning: Croatian+, Ukrainian; Romanian, Galician; Danish, Swedish; Estonian
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Re: Audio lingual language programs

Postby Serpent » Thu Mar 24, 2016 2:30 pm

PeterMollenburg wrote:How have you found GLOSS Serpent? Effective for intermediate learning?
Yes (technically I've mostly used it as a false beginner). For me it's been very important to have recordings with pleasant voices - I disliked some of those for Indonesian and Croatian. Overall I definitely recommend it highly, and I've actually done a couple of French lessons! (reading only) I think at your current level, as you still feel the need to do formal study, GLOSS is a much better choice than beginner or intermediate textbooks.
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LyricsTraining now has Finnish and Polish :)
Corrections welcome

mente&cervello
White Belt
Posts: 10
Joined: Tue Mar 29, 2016 9:28 pm
Location: East Coast USA
Languages: Native English speaker. Target language Italian; not yet trying to write. Formerly fluent in French (ALM), Spanish (self-taught); employed in German (horrible course fr Brigham Young) but forget it all; Egyptian hieroglyphics (self taught text; forget it all).
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Re: Audio lingual language programs

Postby mente&cervello » Tue Mar 29, 2016 10:04 pm

Hello Speakeasy,
I would be immensely, immensely grateful if you could post any *specifics* about how you ordered the ALM materials. I have been looking for them quite literally for years. I am trying to find Italian, all levels, primarily the student texts. I do not need the audio tracks as much. (I actually doubt they would be play-able after all these years; have you experienced otherwise?)

I actually joined this forum just to contact you to ask you this (though now that I am here, I will drink in the riches). As you noted, "the task of locating copies is complicated by the fact that many vendors have used their own nomenclature for identifying the books and record sets". The one library copy I found has no ISBN number, no Library of Congress Catalog #, and the "author" is variously listed as A-LM materials, "the staff of the MLMDC", the MLA, etc. Searches have led to many lengthy dead ends. I even had techy teens who live online searching for me as a birthday present. This is why I have been looking for years, and why I was so thrilled to see your post.

Once you have your own set, could you please pass on the specific vendors/ titles/ search terms? Again , I am greatly interested in Italian, with Spanish optional.

Why this is of such interest to me: I studied French with this method decades ago. My French teacher was the department head, and the department allowed him only one class per year he could teach with the method and curriculum he thought best:A-LM. I have simultaneously/since studied three other languages, but this is the one I can still speak fluently, even after decades of disuse. I am sure others find other methods suit them better, but this one suits me perfectly.

Regarding the audio recordings: At the time these were made, recording technology was primitive compared to today. We received a little paper disk coated with plastic, which could be played on a record player. It held very few minutes of recording. There were also reel to reel tapes, used only in the language lab, perhaps for one session a semester. In short, it presumed a fluent teacher with the correct accent. I would therefore not expend too much energy searching for the recordings. However, if you had access to a native speaker, perhaps through a Language Exchange, that would work very well.

One caveat for anyone interested in these: these were produced in the 1960s. As language is living, there may have been changes. In Italian, there have been changes in personal pronouns, for example.

Thank you Speakeasy, and to all others sharing their findings.
0 x

Speakeasy
x 7658

Re: Audio lingual language programs

Postby Speakeasy » Wed Mar 30, 2016 4:11 am

What? You Tracked Me Down!!!
I’m nobody and I’m nobody’s son, and so was he. So then, I will refrain from asking you how you tracked me down.

This, For Me, Is A Short Answer
The acquisition phase of my own A-LM saga is drawing to a close. I had already made the decision to open a separate discussion thread, in about a month from now, entitled something like “A-LM Series by Harcourt, Brace & World Center”, with a view to providing a much fuller description of the materials, the method, the editions, the critiques and reviews, as well as my appraisal of the series’ suitability for independent-learners and, finally, based on my own experiences, advice on how and where to find the materials. So then, in reply to your question, I will try to describe what I have been through over the past few weeks and I will update and include these comments in my as-yet-to-be published A-LM tome. Here goes …

My Discovery of A-LM
Up until a couple of weeks ago, I was totally unaware of the existence of the A-LM series. In fact, had it not been for ownerzeff’s original question, I would have continued under the erroneous assumption that all of the available audio-lingual courses had been published by the FSI and DLI who had decided, rather than develop their own Polish and Russian courses, to sponsor the works that were eventually published by Messrs. Schenker, Dawson, et al. Well, you live and learn. I “stumbled upon” one of the A-LM German student textbooks on Amazon while trying to locate some of the audio-lingual materials that had been mentioned in the document ED039791 entitled "Audio-Lingual Drills for Foreign Language Teaching" that I equally stumbled upon on the ERIC website.

My A-LM Collection To Date
I have already received, or anticipate receiving very shortly, the following A-LM materials. Try not to laugh, I get enough of that my from wife!

A-LM French
Textbooks for Levels 1,2,3,4
Practice Record Sets for Levels 1,2

A-LM Spanish
Textbooks for Levels 1,2,3,4
Practice Record Sets for Levels 1,2

A-LM German
Textbooks for Levels 1,2,3,4
Practice Record Sets for Levels 1,2,3

A-LM Russian
Textbook for Level 1
Practice Record Set for Level 1

A-LM Italian
Textbooks for Levels 1,2
Practice Record Sets: none to date

The Practice Record Sets are 7-inch, 33-1/3 rpm LP vinyl records that I believe were meant for classroom or language laboratory use. They are quite durable and playable and the sound quality exceeds that of many magnetic tape recordings from the same period that have not aged as well. In most cases, the textbooks are hardcover. In two cases, they are unit-by-unit pamphlets that had been prepared for inclusion in a three-ring binder. In all cases above, I have copies of the Student textbooks. In a few cases, I have in addition the Instructor’s Manual.

Two Editions!!!
Harcourt, Brace & World Center, Inc. introduced the A-LM series circa 1960 and, as it happens, the first few materials that I ordered and received were of this mouture. Impressed by the quality of the textbooks, I continued ordering more materials … and then … I discovered that a second edition had been issued circa 1970 for, apparently, all languages in the series. You KNOW how I discovered this, now don’t you? Yes, when started receiving Practice Record Sets and Textbooks that were not of the same edition! AND, it was not clear to me what I had ordered and was about to receive. I felt like the “Sorcerer’s Apprentice” who had launched a pretty sharp little number, that had now run amok, and who could not regain control of it. So, I had a glass of wine, said nothing of this to my wife, and started sending Emails to the vendors for clarification and for rectification of my orders. A word to the wise, if you start ordering some of these materials, ask the vendor to confirm which edition they are offering; some indicate it clearly, some do not and, just to complicate things a little, the “big box” online vendors are quite capable of misclassifying their vendors’ items. So, check with the vendor!

What’s Out There?
The list that I provided above is indicative of what I have been able to find to date. With the notable exception of the Russian textbooks, for which the corresponding Practice Record Sets have been difficult to locate, If I found it, I bought it. There are plenty of Student textbooks available for the French, Spanish, Russian, and German courses at Levels One and Two, but locating textbooks for Levels Three and Four has proved to be a serious challenge. With the exception of Russian, the availability of the Practice Record Sets matches, more-or-less, the availability of the textbooks. Tracking down any of the Italian materials has been a real bitch! In my Email communications with the small vendors that offer their wares via the big-box online stores, I learned that (a) there seems to have been a surge in demand for the A-LM materials over the past couple of years, but none of the vendors knew why this was the case, and (b) most of the vendors acquired their A-LM materials, as they do many of their used books, through the purchase of unseen lots or palettes; that is, they buy "pigs in pokes"! Thus, it is difficult for them to estimate how much hidden inventory there is out there and when it will come in. A few offered to add my name to a list for future receipts, but I think that it would be unreasonable to rely on this.

How I Located The Items In My Collection
I am a 69-year-old nerd. I know it, my wife knows it, our cat knows it … but I am NOT a computer geek! All of my searching has been done by creating numerous, varied, simple, manually-typed searches of the Internet and by visually scanning hundreds upon hundreds of pages of results. When I stumbled upon my first A-LM textbook, I immediately noticed that the big-box vendor had NOT identified as “A-LM German Level One”, which I found rather curious. So I started conducting direct searches of the Amazon, AbeBooks, Alibris, EBay collections and expanded it to more generalized Google searches. In doing so, I discovered that many vendors had used their own nomenclature for identifying the books and record sets. This comment applies equally to the big-box online stores, to the smaller bookstores, and to individuals who offer their personal items for sale on EBay and on online Want-Ad websites. I would say that up to two thirds of the items that I eventually located were listed in a manner such that a “reasonable” search criterion would not have generated matches (don’t expect Google to generate a match for "A-LM Spanish" when it comes across a listing for "A&M Spanish"). However, as you probably already know, nerds are known for their perseverance (OCD) and I just kept typing variants of the title, the publisher, the term audio-lingual, the name of the team that authored the series, the individual contributors, and so on. In addition to a general Google search, I conducted this typing exercise on the individual American, Canadian, UK, French, German, Spanish, Italian, and general European websites of all of the big-box online stores. It came as something of a surprise to me that many items were either not cross-listed at all or had been listed under different names on the different big-box regional websites … type, type, type. I do not think that I could possibly recall all of the name variants that I used to locate the materials in my collection. However, in many cases, I saved the LINKS to the specific items that I found most interesting. In some cases, there was only one item listed and, since I ended up purchasing it, the corresponding link is no longer valid. As a special favour to you -- and to anyone else is interested in purchasing some A-LM materials -- I have appended below the LINKS that I saved (and there are many links that I did not save) … copy-paste, copy-paste, copy-paste … NOTE: As this copy-paste activity will take a little time, and as something could go temporarily wrong during the process, I will PUBLISH this post, reopen it to add a few links in the EDIT mode, save it once again, and continue the process until I have added all of the links.

A-LM French Books
http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?isbn=9780153820601
http://www.amazon.com/A-LM-French-Excercise-Book-Level/dp/0153820608
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/0153820608/ref=dp_olp_all_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=all
http://www.alibris.com/A-Lm-French-Level-One/book/-15382025?matches=9
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B000KU80S4/ref=dp_olp_used_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=used
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00110FNZK/ref=dp_olp_used_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=used
http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?sts=t&tn=A-LM+FRENCH+LEVEL+ONE
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B000EHWC1O/ref=dp_olp_used_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=used
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B006KL9LTE/ref=dp_olp_used_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=used
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B000LD53T4/ref=dp_olp_used_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=used
http://www.alibris.com/A-Lm-French-Level-Two/book/-15382120?matches=8
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0153821175/ref=dp_olp_all_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=all
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B000KUA1RW/ref=dp_olp_used_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=used
http://www.alibris.com/A-Lm-French-Level-Three/book/-15382145?matches=4
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B0014TSP8K/ref=dp_olp_all_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=all
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B0014TSP8K/ref=dp_olp_all_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=all
http://www.ebay.com/itm/A-L-M-FRENCH-LEVEL-THREE-LEARNING-BOOK-/262002927368?hash=item3d00976708:g:-lsAAOSwHnFVy9pp
http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?kn=AUDIO-LINGUAL&sortby=17&sts=t&tn=A-LM+FRENCH&x=0&y=0
http://used-textbooks-online.com/world-languages/1959-world-languages-french.html
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B019NRAM76/ref=dp_olp_used_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=used
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0153821701/ref=dp_olp_all_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=all
http://www.alibris.com/A-Lm-French-Level-Four/book/-15382170?matches=4
http://www.abebooks.com/ALM-French-Level-Four-Staff-Modern/16625406067/bd

A-LM French Record Sets
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Vintage-A-LM-French-Level-One-33-1-3-RPM-Practice-Record-Set-MISSING-UNIT-14-/351666749962?hash=item51e0f8c20a
http://www.amazon.com/FRENCH-PRACTICE-RECORDS-HARCOURT-PRESSING/dp/B00DXXEYH6/ref=sr_1_197?ie=UTF8&qid=1456981618&sr=8-197&keywords=Practice+Record+Set
http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?sortby=17&sts=t&tn=Practice+Record+Set+French&x=38&y=14
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/FRENCH-PRACTICE-14x7-box-set-HARCOURT-BRACE-Instructional-Language-NEAR-MINT-/381536962183?hash=item58d5600687
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B001B34SPI/ref=dp_olp_used_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=used
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Harcourt-Brace-World-French-Level-one-7-33rpm-Language-Course-Box-Set-/171885311372?hash=item280529b58c:g:m2YAAOSwHnFVxQHE
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/556968678890362209/
http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=1128200978&searchurl=x%3D38%26y%3D14%26sts%3Dt%26sortby%3D17%26tn%3DPractice%2520Record%2520Set%2520French
http://used-textbooks-online.com/world-languages/1958-world-languages-french.html
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0153821310/ref=dp_olp_all_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=all
http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?isbn=9780153821318&n=100121503&cm_sp=mbc-_-9780153821318-_-used
http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-A-LM-FRENCH-LEVEL-THREE-PRACTICE-RECORD-SET-LINGUAL-RECORDS-/401060666580?hash=item5d61141cd4

A-LM German Books
http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?an=Winkler%2C+George&sts=t&tn=A-LM+German
http://www.ebay.com/itm/A-LM-German-Level-One-Teachers-Edition-red-hardback-1961-excellent-bargain-/121911292804?hash=item1c627ab384:g:pdwAAOSwG-1Wu28S
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0153838558/ref=dp_olp_all_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=all
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B000QHHP7I/ref=dp_olp_used_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=used
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B001NNYS60/ref=dp_olp_used_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=used
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B0015QE7DE/ref=dp_olp_used_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=used
http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?an=Winkler%2C+George&kn=AUDIO-LINGUAL&sortby=17&sts=t&tn=GERMAN&x=51&y=17
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B0012778LO/ref=dp_olp_used_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=used
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B003P11GV8/ref=dp_olp_used_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=used
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00GDJM492/ref=dp_olp_all_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=all
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0153839503/ref=dp_olp_all_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=all
http://used-textbooks-online.com/search?orderby=position&orderway=desc&search_query=a-lm+german
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00GDK8T72/ref=dp_olp_used_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=used
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/0153839708/ref=dp_olp_all_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=all
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0153839708/ref=dp_olp_all_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=all
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0153839708/ref=dp_olp_all_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=all
http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?sortby=17&sts=t&tn=A-LM+GERMAN&x=0&y=0

A-LM German Record Sets
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B000OP20GI/ref=dp_olp_used_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=used
http://www.theavocadopit.com/?page=shop/flypage&product_id=21145
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00I6XSLDQ/ref=dp_olp_used_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=used
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0153838906/ref=dp_olp_used_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=used
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B001F4FF1O/ref=dp_olp_used_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=used

A-LM Italian Books
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00HAS7SD2/ref=dp_olp_used_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=used
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B000EFNZKS/ref=dp_olp_all_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=all

A-LM Italian Record Sets
None found to date.

A-LM Russian Books
http://www.amazon.com/A-LM-RUSSIAN-LEVEL-ONE/dp/B000VJUEA6
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B000EVQZ54/ref=dp_olp_used_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=used
http://www.amazon.com/Russian-Modern-Language-Materials-Development/dp/B0017HYPFQ/ref=sr_1_15?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1457011440&sr=1-15&refinements=p_27%3AModern+Language+Materials+Development+Center
http://www.abebooks.com/book-search/title/a-lm-russian/
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/A-Lm-Russian-Level-Two-Second-Edition-second-edition-/221590852927
http://www.alibris.com/A-Lm-Russian-Level-Two-Second-Edition-Second-Edition/book/-15387190?matches=7
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0153871903/ref=dp_olp_all_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=all
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B019NRAVGS/ref=dp_olp_all_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=all
http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?isbn=&an=modern%20language%20materials%20development%20center&tn=a-l%20audio-lingual%20russian%20level%20four&n=100121503&cm_sp=mbc-_-ats-_-used
http://www.amazon.com/-L-Audio-Lingual-Materials-Russian-Level/dp/B0010011D4/ref=sr_1_14?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1457011343&sr=1-14
http://www.alibris.com/A-Lm-Russian-Level-Two-Second-Edition-Second-Edition/book/-15387190?matches=7
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B000GBWX3K/ref=dp_olp_new_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=new

A-LM Russian Record Sets
Only one found to date, which I purchased.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Russian-Level-One-Practice-Record-Set-14-Records-33-1-3-RPM-/222041148953
http://www.shopgoodwill.com/auctions/A-LM-Russian-Level-One-Practice-Record-Set-of-14-13599227.html

A-LM Spanish Books
http://www.amazon.com/A-LM-Spanish-Exercise-Book-Level/dp/0153887443
http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?sortby=17&sts=t&tn=a-lm+spanish+level+one&x=86&y=13
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00HAS43QW/ref=dp_olp_used_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=used
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B0018C4Q4K/ref=dp_olp_used_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=used
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B01359GYZW/ref=dp_olp_used_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=used
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B000WB06HY/ref=dp_olp_used_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=used
http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?kn=a-lm+spanish+level+TWO&sortby=17&tn=A-LM+SPANISH&x=63&y=8
http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?sortby=17&sts=t&tn=a-lm+spanish+level+two&x=64&y=19
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B000NOUWF6/ref=dp_olp_used_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=used
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0153887605/ref=dp_olp_all_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=all
http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?kn=a-lm+spanish+level+THREE&sortby=17&tn=A-LM+SPANISH&x=63&y=8
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0153887605/ref=dp_olp_all_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=all
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/015388780X/ref=dp_olp_used_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=used
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B000OEK2OQ/ref=dp_olp_used_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=used

A-LM Spanish Record Sets
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B000NDMOM6/ref=dp_olp_used_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=used
http://www.amazon.com/Practice-Spanish-Longplay-microgroove-fidelity/dp/B000HCMYL4/ref=sr_1_34?ie=UTF8&qid=1456980911&sr=8-34&keywords=practice+record+set
http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?sortby=17&sts=t&tn=Practice+Record+Set+spanish&x=0&y=0
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B000NCWE4U/ref=dp_olp_used_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=used
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Spanish-Level-One-VINTAGE-Practice-Record-Set-14-Records-33-1-3-RPM-/161996465426?hash=item25b7bde512
http://www.ebay.com/itm/VTG-1961-ALM-HARCOURT-BRACE-WORLD-SPANISH-LEVEL-ONE-33-1-3-RPM-RECORD-SET-/161909916950?hash=item25b2954516:g:EJ4AAOSwwE5WZFsO
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Vintage-Collection-of-14-Small-Records-Spanish-Level-1-HARCOURT-Practice-Set-/182041482888?hash=item2a62849688
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00A2VRJLK/ref=dp_olp_used_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=used
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Harcourt-1969-Spanish-Record-Set-A-B-Level-One-/182030968055?hash=item2a61e424f7
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B000XK9Q8Y/ref=dp_olp_used_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=used
http://www.amazon.com/Spanish-Level-One-Practice-Record/dp/B000XK9Q8Y/ref=sr_1_38?ie=UTF8&qid=1456980946&sr=8-38&keywords=practice+record+set
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B000XK9Q8Y/ref=dp_olp_used_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=used
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B002RWHBL0/ref=dp_olp_used_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=used
http://www.ebay.com/itm/VTG-1962-ALM-HARCOURT-BRACE-WORLD-SPANISH-LEVEL-Two-33-1-3-RPM-RECORD-SET-/272157898705?hash=item3f5ddff7d1:g:yWIAAOSwoBtW22jo
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B000RQC1H2/ref=dp_olp_used_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=used
http://used-textbooks-online.com/world-languages/2547-world-languages-spanish.html

Miscellaneous Lists
http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?kn=Harcourt%2C+Brace+%26+World+Center&sortby=17&sts=t&tn=A-LM&x=87&y=10
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Audio+Lingual+Materials
http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?sts=t&tn=AUDIO+LINGUAL+MATERIALS
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1?ie=UTF8&text=Modern+Language+Materials+Development+Center&search-alias=books&field-author=Modern+Language+Materials+Development+Center&sort=relevancerank
http://www.petpeoplesplace.com/petstore/Practice-Record-Set-French-Level-1_201147411020.html
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=spanish%20level%20two%20hifi%20records&afsrc=1&rmvSB=true

That, For Me, Has Been A Short Answer
Members of this forum who pause to scan my posts would recognize that, for me, this has been a short answer. Ciao for now!

Speakeasy
PS: To those of you whom, including my wife, I have made as-yet-unfilled commitments and who happen to read the above post, please forgive my tardiness. I shall return to my other obligations henceforth and complete them all in good order.

EDITED: As noted above, I edited this post numerous times so as to add the LINKS and, as always, to correct a few typographical errors.
Last edited by Speakeasy on Wed Mar 30, 2016 12:16 pm, edited 11 times in total.
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PeterMollenburg
Black Belt - 3rd Dan
Posts: 3229
Joined: Wed Jul 22, 2015 11:54 am
Location: Australia
Languages: English (N), French (B2-certified), Dutch (High A2?), Spanish (~A1), German (long-forgotten 99%), Norwegian (false starts in 2020 & 2021)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=18080
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Re: Audio lingual language programs

Postby PeterMollenburg » Wed Mar 30, 2016 4:33 am

Speakeasy,

I've certainly learned of late that you are the go-to-guy when one is wondering whether such and such course exists, what it's really like (rating/approach/usefulness) and how to go about finding it. You've already helped me immensely locating some seemingly introuvable items out there floating about on random feathers in the wind and I can't thank you enough. Dank je heel veel duizende keer :)

Peace up,
PM
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Speakeasy
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Re: Audio lingual language programs

Postby Speakeasy » Wed Mar 30, 2016 4:58 am

PeterMollenburg wrote:Speakeasy, you are the go-to-guy when one is wondering whether such and such course exists...

Mon cher ami,
Bien que j’aime mériter votre estime, permettez-moi de vous dire que ne vous vous trompez tristement de personne. Ils existent des personnes anonymes possédant des pouvoirs encore plus inestimables. M’inclure parmi eux équivaut leur faire injure !

GOOGLE TRANSLATE (YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR?)
Although I love deserve your respect, let me tell you that you did wrong sadly person. They exist anonymous people with even more priceless powers. I include among them is tantamount to insult them!
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mente&cervello
White Belt
Posts: 10
Joined: Tue Mar 29, 2016 9:28 pm
Location: East Coast USA
Languages: Native English speaker. Target language Italian; not yet trying to write. Formerly fluent in French (ALM), Spanish (self-taught); employed in German (horrible course fr Brigham Young) but forget it all; Egyptian hieroglyphics (self taught text; forget it all).
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Re: Audio lingual language programs

Postby mente&cervello » Thu Mar 31, 2016 5:19 am

Gentilissimo Speakeasy,

Le ringrazio molto per il suo aiuto! Senza Lei, la mia ricerca avrebbe continuato per sempre. Ma grazie a Lei, ho appena comprato Livello Due. (Altri livelli? Anque Lei no ha trovato niente. )

Very kind Speakeasy, I thank you so much for your help. Without you, my Quest might have gone on forever. But thanks to you, I just bought Level II. (The other levels? Even you haven't found anything.) The results of my prior searches actually would have pleased many on this board: 'We don't have Italian II. You may instead be interested in: Greek IV."

Is there anything you'd like me to keep an eye open for, on your behalf?

Once you settle in with your treasures, if you would like to hear more about how it was used in my long-ago class, I'd be happy to tell you. I have heard ALM slammed as teaching you to "parrot". Instead, I learned to conjugate by ear (though we had daily dicteʼes and I could spell quite accurately) and could hold grammatically complex, correct, conversations, after many French-free years. But the dreaded conjugations weren't tough, because I had the reference sound of the conjugations in my ear. Thus, it was easy, years after not speaking French, to correctly say, off the cuff, "If I'd known you were coming, I would have arrived earlier", etc.

I have been so focused on finding these books because Italian is the one language I deeply care about, but never had the opportunity to study formally. (All my grandparents were born there, and I'm in the middle of applying for dual citizenship. But my grandparents (1) arrived at a time when you had to prove you were a good American by losing your old language, and (2) They were told it was better that your children never hear an Italianate word, rather than subject them to that low-life Sicilian or Neapolitan of yours. Linguists now consider them to be separate languages; I can attest that they are mutually unintelligible. )

I have often regretted my facility in other languages to the exclusion of Italian, and especially wished I could "trade them in" for similar facility in Italian. Then I started thinking about the ALM course... and the quest was born.

In general, I find it much, much harder to locate materials in Italian, or even subtitles, than for other European languages. BBC even stopped keeping their Italian page live, and it is no longer a "school language" in Britain. Italy didn't get quite as extreme in the Colonial depredations, I guess.

Seriously, this means a great deal to me. If you ever come across any of the other levels in Italian, would you try to let me know (not sure how it works on this board yet), or send up a flare, or even buy it on my behalf and I'll not only pay you back with interest immediately, I'll have someone pick it up from anyplace in your fair city convenient to you.

By the way-- it exemplifies the best use of the internet that it led me to your post and your help--the only person who has had a valid lead on these books. So none of this "nessuno, figlio di nessuno" malarkey, please.

Lastly: I knew a woman who had taken just a few weeks of Russian via ALM. Years later, only these target sentences remained: a fragment about putting cherry jam in your tea, and, in toto: "When the weather gets warmer, I will surely run away from the children's home".

Le augura molte felice ore di studio,
mente&cervello
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mente&cervello
White Belt
Posts: 10
Joined: Tue Mar 29, 2016 9:28 pm
Location: East Coast USA
Languages: Native English speaker. Target language Italian; not yet trying to write. Formerly fluent in French (ALM), Spanish (self-taught); employed in German (horrible course fr Brigham Young) but forget it all; Egyptian hieroglyphics (self taught text; forget it all).
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Re: Audio lingual language programs

Postby mente&cervello » Thu Mar 31, 2016 5:27 am

P. S. Speakeasy, you implicitly wondered how I'd "tracked [you] down". I have been doing searches for Audio-Lingual Method for a while, mostly just coming across academic analyses of competing methodology and many duds. One search led me to your post as a would-be user of the method, not an "archaeologist" of the method. I joined the forum, wrote you, and was delighted to get an answer so quickly. Molto semplice. Grazie ancora.
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PeterMollenburg
Black Belt - 3rd Dan
Posts: 3229
Joined: Wed Jul 22, 2015 11:54 am
Location: Australia
Languages: English (N), French (B2-certified), Dutch (High A2?), Spanish (~A1), German (long-forgotten 99%), Norwegian (false starts in 2020 & 2021)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 15&t=18080
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Re: Audio lingual language programs

Postby PeterMollenburg » Thu Mar 31, 2016 7:55 am

...interesting...

I've just been taking a look at some of these A-LM French books and noticed that Pierre Capretz (from French in Action) was co-author of A-LM French level 3 2nd ed. .... just an interesting side note I thought.

Edit:
I now seem to be leaning towards getting my hands on these materials... i've somehow managed to add the French versions to my amazon wish list... really don't know how that happened! Although I would really love to get my hands on this 'gear' I'm quite hesitant with regards to the records. I know the quality is better from what Speakeasy has stated than many cassettes which don't seem to last too well over time, but the idea of records annoys me somewhat. A) I have no record player, and B) they are just too cumbersome in today's world and C) can I be bothered getting them digitized?

Are these materials worthwhile without the audio?

2nd Edit:
Also I've noticed that A-LM French 1 has a version in which the cover has "Exercise book" written on it. I doubt this is another type of book, and simply some extra writing on that particular print of the book. Any clarification there anyone (Speakeasy?). Thanks in advance.

Another edit:
The record sets appear to have only been made in one edition in the 60's (I'm checking in relation to French). Thus I assume the 2nd edition books don't have sufficient changes for the audio not to correspond to the newer (2nd ed) books.

Final edit:
This is beginning to look too hard. If you're in the U.S. you're in a better position as many more sellers ship only within the US. As for the records in French it seems difficult to find anything beyond the first level. So for now, I'll put this procrastination collection of materials aside and get back to learning...
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Speakeasy
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Re: Audio lingual language programs

Postby Speakeasy » Thu Mar 31, 2016 11:56 am

Saluto, mente&cervello!

Thank you for your follow-up post which, as PeterMollenburg remarked, I found quite interesting. I'll try to be brief (usual for me):

As to the A-LM materials, if you ever come across any of the items that are missing from my own collection, I would be pleased to learn how you acquired them. You might wish to know that I have the intention of digitizing all of the audio recordings in my collection. By the way, I have just sent you a Private Message concerning the A-LM Italian Level One student pamphlets.

With respect to your Italian studies, and without wishing to be drawn into a lengthy discussion of materials, I would just like to draw your attention to the FSI Italian FAST course. While the audio-lingual method is not employed for this course, it is quite extensive and it includes numerous exercises and audio recordings. I suspect that many people overlook this course because they erroneously associate it with (a) the FSI Italian Programmatic course, which was an absolute disaster, and (b) the other FSI FAST courses, all of which are rather cursory. In the event that you are not already aware, you can download it from the FSI-Language-Courses website. Here is the LINK: https://fsi-languages.yojik.eu/
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Speakeasy
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Re: Audio lingual language programs

Postby Speakeasy » Thu Mar 31, 2016 12:45 pm

Salut, PeterMollenburg!

Thank you for comments on the A-LM series as well as your other observations. I'll try to be brief...

As I remarked in my reply to mente&cervello's initial post, above, I have the intention of opening a separate discussion thread of the A-LM materials, with a view to providing a much fuller description of the materials, the method, the editions, the critiques and reviews, as well as my appraisal of the series’ suitability for independent-learners and, finally, based on my own experiences, advice on how and where to find the materials. In my view, apart from any other considerations, you can afford to await my full report before deciding to purchase anything.

Over the past couple of months, I have acquired a large collection of older language-learning materials (some of them rather unwisely so) and am now faced with the rather imposing and lengthy project of digitizing all of the accompanying audio cassettes and vinyl records. Doing so will permit me to play them on other devices and to split the audio files into smaller segments. Still, I have got a lot of work ahead of me!

As to the more general matter of international orders, whether from the U.S., or elsewhere, it seems to me that the reluctance of some smaller booksellers to offer this service is often due to a few factors. First, they could simply be quite successfully occupied with serving a more local or regional market and have neither the need nor the desire to expand their commercial operations. Second, they may have had a few bad experiences in the past and, given the low profit margins in return for what-they-see as a lot of hassle, they choose to refuse all orders beyond their borders. Third, they might be inclined to accept international orders but have simply coded their items for "domestic" shipment out of habit. Fourth, they find that the standard reimbursement for shipping charges that they receive from the big-box online bookstores does not cover their actual costs. In all these cases, if I am particularly interested in acquiring an item, I simply make use of the "contact the vendor" function of the big-box online bookstores. I request that the vendor code their item for "international" shipment and I offer to cover their additional costs. Only on the rarest of occasions have I found that the vendors were unwilling to work with me. However, as I am sure you are aware, international shipping rates have increased sharply over the past year; so, be prepared to pay the piper!

Was this brief (rhetorical question)?
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