German Reader Level 2.1: A collection of original German-language short stories for the intermediate student

by Gerhard Maroscher, Elizabeth Vest (Illustrator)

Gerhard Maroscher's short story readers are designed to enhance learning of German by starting with simple vocabulary and structures and advancing to higher levels.All of the readers follow the same basic short story introduces new target words which are listed at the beginning of each short story and are repeated throughout the story.Learned vocabulary is repeated in later stories to enhance retention.Within each reader the difficulty builds and each subsequent reader builds upon the previous reader.The level of difficulty and vocabulary seamlessly integrates with each following reader in the series.German Reader 2.1:This reader is intended for German 2 high school students when students are reading with the help of their teacher. It can be used for higher levels when students are reading independently. The vocabulary and level of difficulty at the end of the reader mesh seamlessly with the next reader in the series, the German Reader 3/4.

118 pages, Paperback

Published July 22, 2020

About the author

Gerhard Maroscher was born in Romania during WWII to ethnic German (Transylvanian Saxon) parents. His father was fighting the Russians while his mother tried to save her two sons. As child Gerhard lived in Romania, Hungary, Nazi Germany, Communist East Germany, and West Germany. In 1952 the reunited family emigrated from West Germany to the USA. Gerhard attended public schools and graduated with a Mechanical Engineering degree from The Ohio State University.

Gerhard worked in industry for 34 years after having served in Vietnam. Following his retirement at the age of 59, he began a second career as a high school German teacher. He began to write quirky short stories for his students to encourage reluctant readers. The students and his wife loved the short stories, both encouraging him to publish all four German short story readers.

While teaching and creating his short stories, Gerhard began to consider writing a book about the history of his family: a story of danger, fear, loss, courage, near starvation, perseverance, and miraculous survival. Gerhard had been collecting information for this book for decades. He had listened to his parents talk about their experiences and kept a file of conversations and voice recordings. Combined with the recordings, the documents preserved by his parents, and further research made it possible for him to write this amazing story.

Now that his family’s story is published he stays busy marketing the book, practicing yoga, walking his dog, and teaching German to adults.