ISBN 1-872365-35-3

'German File'

The book is printed on 100% recycled paper, costs £14.95 and is available on approval. A 10% discount is available to subscribers who will be sent the next edition on approval. For teachers who would prefer to buy a set, 15 or more copies are available for £4.99 each. Postage and packing is free.

 

Whilst not aimed at the geography market German File could well prove a useful resource, especially if Germany is one of the countries your school has chosen for study at Key Stage 3.

The book is fully photocopiable resource book of facts about Germany presented in accessible charts, tables, and graphs together with questions in the target language. This might provide the opportunity for some cross curricular work. Students could translate material, and answer some of the questions during German lessons, then discuss some of the issues raised and analyse the geographical content during geography lessons.

Whilst not all the statistics in German File would be relevant to geography the following certainly would be:

  • Facts about the Country
  • Population of states and cities
  • Distribution of population
  • Other nationalities living in and around Germany
  • Asylum seekers in Germany and elsewhere
  • Facts about the states (a real gold mine this with geographical, demographic and economic data about every German state)
  • Germany's trade and trading partners
  • Germany's and the world's largest firms
  • Sectors of employment
  • Unemployment in Germany and elsewhere
  • Germany's earning power and that of other nations
  • Germany and Europe's ageing population
  • Birthrates in Germany and Europe
  • Energy consumption and production in Germany and in other countries
  • Green farming in and around Germany.

Given this information the book would certainly prove valuable as a teacher resource from which to gather up to date information. If you do study Germany at Key Stage 3 then it would be useful to purchase this book, (especially if you can share the cost with the German department).

My thanks to Chas White at Carel Press for providing a review copy of German File.

(Reviewed February 20th 1998)