We made cookies. Oh, the cookies we made! Probably at least 3 dozen.
It was to my surprise and elation that all the 7th graders in attendance were able to bake, do dishes, and clean up the kitchen with minimal help, creating nigh-perfect cookies and leaving no mess behind.
The day began with a note written on the classroom board, "Laßt eure Sachen hier und wir treffen uns in der Küche." What waited in the kitchen area was a table with a heavy-duty mixer, cookie sheets, my wife's mobile baking kit (spatulas, scales, cups, measuring spoons...) and a bunch of ingredients.
The kids divided up their labor: some read the recipe steps, some stirred dry ingredients or manned the mixer, divvied out the different chips into bowls, watched the oven and set timers, did dishes, swept the floors...
I'd brought a few different kinds of chips so they could choose what they wanted. We ended up having cookies with caramel-filled chocolate chips.
By the time it was done, we'd been eating fresh-out-of-the-oven cookies for over an hour and so felt generous (and full) enough to start giving them away to parent volunteers, teachers, and some fellow students who helped us clean.
We then had the play rehearsal and singing practice. I'm in the play as the Wirt (Innkeeper) if you're coming tomorrow, so be sure to cheer extremely loudly when I take the stage for all of 40 seconds.
Frohe Weihnachten, and see you in a few weeks.
Mit Vergnügen
Saturday, December 20, 2014
Sunday, December 14, 2014
13.Dez '14 - Jeopardy
Saturday, we had our lovely little vocabulary quiz, for which plenty of advanced warning was given, and then we played Jeopardy to review everything we have covered this semester. That took pretty much all day.
We had teams Olga versus Bärbel; Bärbel won by a relatively slim margin of some 3000 points.
After lunch, we ended the day on a jovial note by playing basketball as a class.
Next week, we will have an hour of singing practice and practice for the Christmas play, so those who are participating in the play (including me! I'm the Innkeeper, believe it or not) will need to take part in this.
Mit Vergnügen
We had teams Olga versus Bärbel; Bärbel won by a relatively slim margin of some 3000 points.
After lunch, we ended the day on a jovial note by playing basketball as a class.
Next week, we will have an hour of singing practice and practice for the Christmas play, so those who are participating in the play (including me! I'm the Innkeeper, believe it or not) will need to take part in this.
Mit Vergnügen
Saturday, December 6, 2014
6.Dez. '14 - Krieg
Today, we went to war.
It all started out so calmly with the song "Mein Fahrrad" by Die Prinzen.
We then took inventory or our handouts to make sure that everyone had everything needed for end-of-semester quizzes in the next few weeks.
Then out came "Krieg im Altentum: ein gutes Spiel," the strategy fighting game I made myself because it's fun. In short, using the legionnaires and teutonic warriors we'd made and decorated in past weeks, along with a point system of defense and offense, hit points and saves, the class divided into two groups to pit the Teutons against the Romans. It's a lot like a mix of Pokemon and DnD, as regards mechanics, and was a fun use of the vocabulary we'll have a quiz over next week as well as regular verb and dative case usage.
By 1 point, the Teutons ended up winning after a very long, drawn-out battle with many upsets and sudden reversals.
The vocabulary quiz next week will be over these words (and they're also on the handouts "Eisenzeit Kleider" and "Waffen.")
It all started out so calmly with the song "Mein Fahrrad" by Die Prinzen.
We then took inventory or our handouts to make sure that everyone had everything needed for end-of-semester quizzes in the next few weeks.
Then out came "Krieg im Altentum: ein gutes Spiel," the strategy fighting game I made myself because it's fun. In short, using the legionnaires and teutonic warriors we'd made and decorated in past weeks, along with a point system of defense and offense, hit points and saves, the class divided into two groups to pit the Teutons against the Romans. It's a lot like a mix of Pokemon and DnD, as regards mechanics, and was a fun use of the vocabulary we'll have a quiz over next week as well as regular verb and dative case usage.
By 1 point, the Teutons ended up winning after a very long, drawn-out battle with many upsets and sudden reversals.
The vocabulary quiz next week will be over these words (and they're also on the handouts "Eisenzeit Kleider" and "Waffen.")
- Sword - der Schwert
- Spear - der Speer
- Shield - der Schild (note that Das Schild is a sign, and Der Schild is the defensive device)
- Dagger - der Dolch (makes me giggle every time I order Dulce de Leche)
- Helmet - der Helm
- Body Armor - die Körperpanzerung
- Pants - die Hose
- Cloak/coat - der Mantel
- Sandals - die Sandalen
- Boots - die Stiefel
- Catapult - die Schleuder
- Skirt - der Rock
And they will be asked to identify what the following are on a diagram of a Roman: toga, tunic, sash, laurels.
Viel Glück!
Saturday, November 22, 2014
22.Nov '14 - Call us Legion
Guten Abend,
We opened class today with a dance off that lasted for 17 hours, the winning couple having received a Volkswagen Jetta and an all-expense paid 3-day trip to Honolulu.
Actually we did a song, "99 Luftballoons" by Nena, as it was requested every other time I played a song for them, so we went ahead and did it.
We went over the modal verbs we've covered so far, "wollen" and "können," using a dialogue about Roman arsenals wherein the class discussed what ordinances or armor would be required for different tasks of their own making, and we added "dürfen" to the mix as well, going over the differences in usage between "können" and "dürfen" (can vs. may).
Before the break, we also filled out labelled diagrams of a typical Roman legionnaire from the 1st century AD.
After the break, we made our own legionnaires to hang up on the wall as well.
We spent some time cleaning up the classroom at the end, and then we called it a day.
Please remember there is no class next week due to Thanksgiving.
Mit Vergnügen!
We opened class today with a dance off that lasted for 17 hours, the winning couple having received a Volkswagen Jetta and an all-expense paid 3-day trip to Honolulu.
Actually we did a song, "99 Luftballoons" by Nena, as it was requested every other time I played a song for them, so we went ahead and did it.
We went over the modal verbs we've covered so far, "wollen" and "können," using a dialogue about Roman arsenals wherein the class discussed what ordinances or armor would be required for different tasks of their own making, and we added "dürfen" to the mix as well, going over the differences in usage between "können" and "dürfen" (can vs. may).
Before the break, we also filled out labelled diagrams of a typical Roman legionnaire from the 1st century AD.
After the break, we made our own legionnaires to hang up on the wall as well.
We spent some time cleaning up the classroom at the end, and then we called it a day.
Please remember there is no class next week due to Thanksgiving.
Mit Vergnügen!
Saturday, November 15, 2014
15.Nov '14 - No I don't speak Spanish
But I can fake it.
Today was a good day, and it began with the re-take of the vocabulary quiz, which was also the first-take for a couple of students. It went substantially better this time.
We went over the modal verb "Können" and had with it a competition I called "Kochenquatschen" which is basically where each group of students drew 3 food words out of a hat, and they had to come up with a feasible (not necessarily palatable) dish from the results, and run up and write "wir können _____ kochen!" with it. My favorite was when tomatoes, rice, and beer became Spanish Rice with beer sauce. That actually sounds really good. Of course, we also had "roast beef and grapes smoothie" which I'd prefer not to think about.
After lunch, we made Romans, dressed them, and hung them up on the wall to match our set of Teutons. In a future class, we will make legionnaires as well, culminating eventually in our own remake of the Battle of Teutoburg at the end of the year.
The homework is as follows:
Describe a typical Roman citizen (plebeian or patrician) including their appearance and what they are wearing. Include clothing vocabulary from the "Eisenzeit Kleider" handout as well as the proper dative prepositions (e.g. a hat goes "auf" the Kopf but a tunic goes "an" the body).
Mit Vergnügen
Today was a good day, and it began with the re-take of the vocabulary quiz, which was also the first-take for a couple of students. It went substantially better this time.
We went over the modal verb "Können" and had with it a competition I called "Kochenquatschen" which is basically where each group of students drew 3 food words out of a hat, and they had to come up with a feasible (not necessarily palatable) dish from the results, and run up and write "wir können _____ kochen!" with it. My favorite was when tomatoes, rice, and beer became Spanish Rice with beer sauce. That actually sounds really good. Of course, we also had "roast beef and grapes smoothie" which I'd prefer not to think about.
After lunch, we made Romans, dressed them, and hung them up on the wall to match our set of Teutons. In a future class, we will make legionnaires as well, culminating eventually in our own remake of the Battle of Teutoburg at the end of the year.
The homework is as follows:
Describe a typical Roman citizen (plebeian or patrician) including their appearance and what they are wearing. Include clothing vocabulary from the "Eisenzeit Kleider" handout as well as the proper dative prepositions (e.g. a hat goes "auf" the Kopf but a tunic goes "an" the body).
Mit Vergnügen
Saturday, November 8, 2014
8.November '14 - Kleider Machen Leute
If you get the reference in the name of this post, then your German professors must have had the same assigned reading list as mine.
Today started out like any other day Actually, we had a quiz. This quiz did not go as well as I'd hoped; so, since only half the class was in attendance today in any case, I'm allowing for a retake next week. Those present today were sent home with their corrected quiz to use as study material.
Those who were not present today, so for whom next week would be the first time taking the quiz, for the sake of fairness you will have the option of having a second go if you aren't satisfied with how well you do next Saturday.
With that done, we continued with our song of the day, which was "Sie erfasst mein Herz" by Elis--an old favorite.
Our biggest activities were filling out an anatomy chart, learning the vocabulary for the teile of the körper (head, shoulders, knees, toes, eyes, ears, mouth, nose, chest, neck, hair, teeth, fingers, toes). Right after, we had a short lecture and filled out a comparative handout over clothing in Iron Age Germany and Imperial Rome. Then we made our own ancient Germans, complete with clothing, and hung them on the wall. Later we will do the same with Roman legionnaires, as you can still see on display from last year's class.
Cleanup took a while (FEATHERS EVERYWHERE!) and there was also candy.
Remember that the retake of the vocab quiz is next week!
Mit Vergnügen~
Saturday, November 1, 2014
1.November -14 - Tag der Toten!!!!!!!
Frohen Tag der Toten!
I don't think that many people actually celebrate that here, but it's the thought that counts.
Today we started with a song that fit the "Halloween-esque" feeling that's still about the place the day after Hallow's Eve, probably because there's still plenty of candy to eat, everyone's decorations are still up, and no one gets very much sleep that night and so the memories of the evening are still plenty fresh. We did "Das Tier in Mir (Wolfen)" by E Nomine, a lovely tune about a werewolf waxing hungry and talking all about how he wants to grab a bite.
The wolf's share of our time was spent filling out vocabulary sheets over Iron Age weaponry and armor, along with a short lecture over how this weaponry was used, including an overview of Roman military tactics versus Teutonic lack thereof. One student actually knew both the "Testudo" and Phalanx formations of the top of his head. Now that was impressive. No one knew what ballistae were, though. Be content in the knowledge that I am amending your children's lack of education on historical siege weaponry (I blame public schools, leaving out the fun stuff).
Oh yes, and we made weaponry to decorate the class with, e.g. aluminum foil swords and the like.
Post lunch, we went back over the Dative Case, covering in more depth what we touched on last week, including completing a handout over it and playing "Wo ist mein Schuh," a perennial classic wherein we hide each other's shoes throughout the classroom and have to search for them. Once found, we declare the location aloud, "Mein Schuh ist auf dem Kabinett?!" and so on.
To end the day, we cleaned up, took out the trash for the school, and played "Hast du mein Obst?" (another classic) outside for a little bit before heading out.
As a reminder, the homework for this week is studying for the quiz we will have next week. Review sheets were handed out last week.
Mit Vergnügen
I don't think that many people actually celebrate that here, but it's the thought that counts.
Today we started with a song that fit the "Halloween-esque" feeling that's still about the place the day after Hallow's Eve, probably because there's still plenty of candy to eat, everyone's decorations are still up, and no one gets very much sleep that night and so the memories of the evening are still plenty fresh. We did "Das Tier in Mir (Wolfen)" by E Nomine, a lovely tune about a werewolf waxing hungry and talking all about how he wants to grab a bite.
The wolf's share of our time was spent filling out vocabulary sheets over Iron Age weaponry and armor, along with a short lecture over how this weaponry was used, including an overview of Roman military tactics versus Teutonic lack thereof. One student actually knew both the "Testudo" and Phalanx formations of the top of his head. Now that was impressive. No one knew what ballistae were, though. Be content in the knowledge that I am amending your children's lack of education on historical siege weaponry (I blame public schools, leaving out the fun stuff).
Oh yes, and we made weaponry to decorate the class with, e.g. aluminum foil swords and the like.
Post lunch, we went back over the Dative Case, covering in more depth what we touched on last week, including completing a handout over it and playing "Wo ist mein Schuh," a perennial classic wherein we hide each other's shoes throughout the classroom and have to search for them. Once found, we declare the location aloud, "Mein Schuh ist auf dem Kabinett?!" and so on.
To end the day, we cleaned up, took out the trash for the school, and played "Hast du mein Obst?" (another classic) outside for a little bit before heading out.
As a reminder, the homework for this week is studying for the quiz we will have next week. Review sheets were handed out last week.
Mit Vergnügen
Saturday, October 25, 2014
Schatzsuch - 25.Okt. '14
My costume was the best of all today; I dressed as someone who forgot it was Halloween, and golly was it a convincing outfit!
The morning was spent using the previously-given handouts to fill out a review form over the vocabulary and verbs we've been using the past few weeks, for in 2 weeks from now we will have a quiz. And we had donuts, because donuts are superior to candy in every way.
Most of our time over the day was spent doing our scavenger hunt or "Schatzsuch" (treasure search, literally) wherein I gave the students a page of riddles, which they then had to translate and figure out in order to find all the various objects (toy animals) I hid all across the school. This is why the ladies who were laboring away to prepare the club's dinner tonight were asked by a bunch of teenagers if they'd seen a giraffe in the refrigerator.
The winning groups were the two groups of girls, who tied with 9 correct finds, so they won the right not to have to take the garbage out for the next two weeks; the boys came in second by default, so they won't have to take out the garbage the third week after that.
Finally we tied it all together by re-examining the Schatzsuch's answers (like "der Schaf ist unter dem Tisch) as a segue into the dative case, used for spatial location and indirect objects.
The homework for tonight:
Make a riddle about some object currently in the classroom.
Include at least 3 clues, speaking to what it looks like and where it is located.
The morning was spent using the previously-given handouts to fill out a review form over the vocabulary and verbs we've been using the past few weeks, for in 2 weeks from now we will have a quiz. And we had donuts, because donuts are superior to candy in every way.
Most of our time over the day was spent doing our scavenger hunt or "Schatzsuch" (treasure search, literally) wherein I gave the students a page of riddles, which they then had to translate and figure out in order to find all the various objects (toy animals) I hid all across the school. This is why the ladies who were laboring away to prepare the club's dinner tonight were asked by a bunch of teenagers if they'd seen a giraffe in the refrigerator.
The winning groups were the two groups of girls, who tied with 9 correct finds, so they won the right not to have to take the garbage out for the next two weeks; the boys came in second by default, so they won't have to take out the garbage the third week after that.
Finally we tied it all together by re-examining the Schatzsuch's answers (like "der Schaf ist unter dem Tisch) as a segue into the dative case, used for spatial location and indirect objects.
The homework for tonight:
Make a riddle about some object currently in the classroom.
Include at least 3 clues, speaking to what it looks like and where it is located.
Saturday, October 11, 2014
Essen Essen - 11.Okt. '14
Guten Abend,
Today we learned about food. To aid us in this lesson, there was food.
The day began like any other day; I brought in donuts, and we ate them, because life is too short *not* to eat donuts, as any sane person who likes donuts and is still alive would agree. After donuts were had, we started actually doing academic things.
First we did listening comprehension with "Millionär" from Die Prinzen; this song, as well as the group Die Prinzen in general, are something of a rite of passage. Every studier of German I have ever encountered in all levels of academia has been made to listen to Die Prinzen in general and this song in-particular at least once, and so who are we to argue with tradition?
I then gave a lesson on comparative gastronomy in Imperial Rome and Iron Age Germany using a "follow me and fill-in-the-blank" handout; this culminated in a contest to fill out the English for the word bank. That went quickly, so then we moved onto adding onto the regular verbs conjugation list, adding "ihr," and then we had a contest to complete the handout on modal verb wollen.
Lunch happened
There was an elaborate activity revolving around another modal verb, können planned, but everyone was rather worn out so instead we briefly played a game called "Bitte, Sven!" that's basically "Mother May I" but with people taking orders from a viking puppet.
And then we played basketball.
The homework:
Write a short (about 10 lines) dialogue about 2 Romans arguing where to go out to dinner. Each Roman should give reasons, and express preferences (what they want or don't want) regarding different kinds of food. Be ready to perform these next time.
Today we learned about food. To aid us in this lesson, there was food.
The day began like any other day; I brought in donuts, and we ate them, because life is too short *not* to eat donuts, as any sane person who likes donuts and is still alive would agree. After donuts were had, we started actually doing academic things.
First we did listening comprehension with "Millionär" from Die Prinzen; this song, as well as the group Die Prinzen in general, are something of a rite of passage. Every studier of German I have ever encountered in all levels of academia has been made to listen to Die Prinzen in general and this song in-particular at least once, and so who are we to argue with tradition?
I then gave a lesson on comparative gastronomy in Imperial Rome and Iron Age Germany using a "follow me and fill-in-the-blank" handout; this culminated in a contest to fill out the English for the word bank. That went quickly, so then we moved onto adding onto the regular verbs conjugation list, adding "ihr," and then we had a contest to complete the handout on modal verb wollen.
Lunch happened
There was an elaborate activity revolving around another modal verb, können planned, but everyone was rather worn out so instead we briefly played a game called "Bitte, Sven!" that's basically "Mother May I" but with people taking orders from a viking puppet.
And then we played basketball.
The homework:
Write a short (about 10 lines) dialogue about 2 Romans arguing where to go out to dinner. Each Roman should give reasons, and express preferences (what they want or don't want) regarding different kinds of food. Be ready to perform these next time.
Saturday, September 27, 2014
Villas and Forts and Play-Dough OH MY! - 27.Sep 14
Let it never be said that I don't know good art supply stores.
Today, we began our time after the usual introductory activities by voting for which of the houses the students designed (homework) we wanted to go about making.
Once the vote was decided, we did "Der Letzte Tag" by Elis for our listening comprehension exercise, and then devoted the rest of our day to the creation of creative creations.
Before we went to making basic paper designs into actual structures, we viewed some pictures and some research to help us get on the right track. This is a great resource for information on what a 1st century German settlement looked like: http://www.funkenburg-westgreussen.de/
That's the Funkenburg Museum, a restored 1st century fort and open-air museum that sometimes also holds Renaissance festival-esque festivals. Field trip idea? We also looked at some online articles about Roman villas from different regions of Imperial Rome.
The boys made a teutonic fort complete with pike wall, guard towers, a blacksmith and a main stead building. The girls divided into two groups and made two very comfortable-looking villas complete with furnished rooms, gardens, utilities, and floaties in the volcanic hotspring baths. Did you know that hot glue actually *does* stick to modeling clay?
We will continue our regular rotation of activities and lessons now that this activity is complete. It was fun! And I got clay all over my shoes! And that was kind of funny.
I'm going to be in a wedding next week, so I will see you all in two weeks!
~Mit Vergnügen
Today, we began our time after the usual introductory activities by voting for which of the houses the students designed (homework) we wanted to go about making.
Once the vote was decided, we did "Der Letzte Tag" by Elis for our listening comprehension exercise, and then devoted the rest of our day to the creation of creative creations.
Before we went to making basic paper designs into actual structures, we viewed some pictures and some research to help us get on the right track. This is a great resource for information on what a 1st century German settlement looked like: http://www.funkenburg-westgreussen.de/
That's the Funkenburg Museum, a restored 1st century fort and open-air museum that sometimes also holds Renaissance festival-esque festivals. Field trip idea? We also looked at some online articles about Roman villas from different regions of Imperial Rome.
The boys made a teutonic fort complete with pike wall, guard towers, a blacksmith and a main stead building. The girls divided into two groups and made two very comfortable-looking villas complete with furnished rooms, gardens, utilities, and floaties in the volcanic hotspring baths. Did you know that hot glue actually *does* stick to modeling clay?
We will continue our regular rotation of activities and lessons now that this activity is complete. It was fun! And I got clay all over my shoes! And that was kind of funny.
I'm going to be in a wedding next week, so I will see you all in two weeks!
~Mit Vergnügen
Saturday, September 20, 2014
Häuser und Mäuser - 20.Sep.14
Grüße an euch alle,
Today we spent the entire time eating ice cream and watching movies.
Then I woke up.
Today we actually spent the entire time in class doing German-related things, much to everyone's surprise.
We did the morning intro of "Wie ist das Wetter?" and "Wie Geht's?" and "Wer seid ihr/wer bin ich?" as explained in the previous entry, and our song for the day for the listening comprehension portion was "Ein Elefant für dich" by Wir Sind Helden, an adorable pop band that I've come to like and hope your kids will too.
It's a challenge to find German music that meets all of these criteria, you see:
Today we spent the entire time eating ice cream and watching movies.
Then I woke up.
Today we actually spent the entire time in class doing German-related things, much to everyone's surprise.
We did the morning intro of "Wie ist das Wetter?" and "Wie Geht's?" and "Wer seid ihr/wer bin ich?" as explained in the previous entry, and our song for the day for the listening comprehension portion was "Ein Elefant für dich" by Wir Sind Helden, an adorable pop band that I've come to like and hope your kids will too.
It's a challenge to find German music that meets all of these criteria, you see:
- Child-appropriate
- Comprehensible to someone who isn't at near-native level of fluency
- Able to be found online without "this song not available in your country"
Using the house and rooms vocabulary sheet we filled out last week, we broke into groups and designed and labelled our own houses, which shall be decorated and made pretty and then hung up in the future.
We then transitioned into the culture lesson, talking about the different features and amenities available in Iron Age German versus Imperial Roman homes, and how and why they were what they were.
The regular verbs unit continued with the verb forming rules for er/sie/es, and then we went into modal verbs with Wollen and translated verses from "Ich Will" (last week's song).
The day ended with a game that's often hit-or-miss depending on the class; it went rather well this time. It's called, "Wo bin ich?" and it involves *carefully* leading around a classmate, who has a bag over their head, and then stopping them in a random room of the school and asking them, "Wo bist du?" and they have to guess, "Ich bin in... *name of a room*"
And now, for the homework assignment:
we divided up among the students who shall do Roman style houses and who shall do old Germanic.
Accordingly, do the following:
Design (illustrate, label, color) one of the two styles of houses: a Roman Patrician Villa (rich house) or a Germanic stead (farm house/hut)
- Label all rooms
- Label any furniture or equipment
- Make it *feasible* even if not entirely realistic, e.g. no iron age water slides or ice cream makers
Mit Vergnügen
Saturday, September 13, 2014
Der erste Schultag! - 13.Sep.14
Grüzi an euch wieder! Es freut mich euch alle wiederzusehen, oder zumindest eure Kinder wiederzusehen, denn ich sehe euch weniger als ich sie sehe.
In any case, welcome back! I'm glad I didn't manage to scare all of you off back in the 5.Klasse and that you decided to stay long enough for them all to experience the 7.Klasse with me.
This year, we are endeavoring to be organized. As your kids may have informed you, our typical day will go a bit like this:
Greetings - we have a little intro routine where we ask "Wie ist das Wetter heute?" and discuss that with motions, e.g. "Kalt!" (we all shiver) "Warm!" (bask) "Es schneit" (jazz hands) and so on; following is "Wie geht's uns?" whereupon everyone turns to their neighbor and asks how they're doing (hint: the answer is apparently *always* "müde") and then I ask "Wer bin ich?" to which they yell, "Herr Walker!" and finally, "Wer seid ihr?" responded to with "DIE SIEBTE KLASSE!" as loud as their adolescent lungs can belt it.
We have a new teacher next door, you see, so we have to show her the ropes by being as disruptive as we can at all times.
Listening Comprehension - daily, we will have an exercise where we listen to a song and try to fill in the blanks on a lyric sheet
Vocabulary - we will go through units or cycles of vocabulary, adding onto our list each week.
Cultural Study - our historical-cultural unit this year is "Iron Age Germany," believe it or not; it went remarkably well last year so it stuck. We will be focusing on the interactions between what was then "Magna Germania" and the Roman Empire in the first century AD and how that time period formed the Germany we know today.
Verbs - we have begun with regular verbs and modal verbs
Grammar - though we didn't manage to pull it off today, daily the goal is to talk about the finer points, such as cases and syntax.
Clean-Up - the last 10 minutes are time to clean the room and take out the garbage. Traditionally, if we play any competitive games, whichever group does not win takes out the garbage, whereas the others stay and clean the room. Today it was board races over regular verb endings, so the girls, team "Awesomes," ended up taking out the garbage.
To keep track of all this, they will need certain supplies.
I have requested the kids inform you that everyone needs a 3-ring binder for their notes and handouts. This should have various divided tabs for the following things:
The homework for this week is to come prepared with all of this next week.
Mit Vergnügen
In any case, welcome back! I'm glad I didn't manage to scare all of you off back in the 5.Klasse and that you decided to stay long enough for them all to experience the 7.Klasse with me.
This year, we are endeavoring to be organized. As your kids may have informed you, our typical day will go a bit like this:
Greetings - we have a little intro routine where we ask "Wie ist das Wetter heute?" and discuss that with motions, e.g. "Kalt!" (we all shiver) "Warm!" (bask) "Es schneit" (jazz hands) and so on; following is "Wie geht's uns?" whereupon everyone turns to their neighbor and asks how they're doing (hint: the answer is apparently *always* "müde") and then I ask "Wer bin ich?" to which they yell, "Herr Walker!" and finally, "Wer seid ihr?" responded to with "DIE SIEBTE KLASSE!" as loud as their adolescent lungs can belt it.
We have a new teacher next door, you see, so we have to show her the ropes by being as disruptive as we can at all times.
Listening Comprehension - daily, we will have an exercise where we listen to a song and try to fill in the blanks on a lyric sheet
Vocabulary - we will go through units or cycles of vocabulary, adding onto our list each week.
Cultural Study - our historical-cultural unit this year is "Iron Age Germany," believe it or not; it went remarkably well last year so it stuck. We will be focusing on the interactions between what was then "Magna Germania" and the Roman Empire in the first century AD and how that time period formed the Germany we know today.
Verbs - we have begun with regular verbs and modal verbs
Grammar - though we didn't manage to pull it off today, daily the goal is to talk about the finer points, such as cases and syntax.
Clean-Up - the last 10 minutes are time to clean the room and take out the garbage. Traditionally, if we play any competitive games, whichever group does not win takes out the garbage, whereas the others stay and clean the room. Today it was board races over regular verb endings, so the girls, team "Awesomes," ended up taking out the garbage.
To keep track of all this, they will need certain supplies.
I have requested the kids inform you that everyone needs a 3-ring binder for their notes and handouts. This should have various divided tabs for the following things:
- Vocabulary
- Songs
- Notes
- Verbs and Grammar
- Graded Papers
The homework for this week is to come prepared with all of this next week.
Mit Vergnügen
Thursday, August 14, 2014
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
Saturday, May 10, 2014
10.Mai '14 - (Re)Making History
We made our film!
Despite tripping and falling on each other, nearly breaking a paper sword or two, and several takes needing to be redone because of giggling, we made it!
As mentioned two weeks ago, the students put together a short play depicting their interpretation of the "Night Before Teutoburg" or as I like to call it, "Hermanns Abendmahl: Der Verrat vor der Schlacht" or something like that.
I'm told the recording should be available by next (and final) class this upcoming Saturday. I'll gladly post a link here once I have the file and figure out how to do so.
Afterward, we exhausted ourselves by playing "Herr Fuchs" outside until lunch, had a little donut party, and then participated somewhat in practicing for the Mother's Day program.
I'll see you all next week! And for those that won't be present, thanks for a memorable year.
Despite tripping and falling on each other, nearly breaking a paper sword or two, and several takes needing to be redone because of giggling, we made it!
As mentioned two weeks ago, the students put together a short play depicting their interpretation of the "Night Before Teutoburg" or as I like to call it, "Hermanns Abendmahl: Der Verrat vor der Schlacht" or something like that.
I'm told the recording should be available by next (and final) class this upcoming Saturday. I'll gladly post a link here once I have the file and figure out how to do so.
Afterward, we exhausted ourselves by playing "Herr Fuchs" outside until lunch, had a little donut party, and then participated somewhat in practicing for the Mother's Day program.
I'll see you all next week! And for those that won't be present, thanks for a memorable year.
Sunday, April 27, 2014
26. April '14 - Lights, Camera, Action
Our summative project for the year is making a movie.
No, seriously.
Putting together all the various grammatical bits with the cultural theme of Teutoburg, the students are putting together a short play, about 10-15 minutes long ideally, portraying the final evening before the Roman legions of Magna Germania, under provincial governor Varus, took a shortcut back over the Rhine as suggested by the German tribal chieftan Arminius, only for it to end with the combined forces of all the local tribes decimating all 3 legions. This is also known as, "The reason German isn't a Latinate language."
The scene in question is basically Arminius and his entourage convincing Varus and his Generals to take his advice, despite the fact that some other tribal bigwigs, like Arminius' rival Segestes, were practically yelling in Varus' ear that the whole thing was an obvious trap.
We spent yesterday developing an outline of the script and dividing up the various roles. So far, it looks like it'll be fun, if not particularly historically accurate (I had to help translate, "Come at me bro!"). Next week will be spent finishing up the script and practicing so that we can record the play on 10 May.
The homework is to finish translating any lines originally written in English. Also, if your kids could bring either white sheets (for togas) or fuzzy towels/bathrobes (for bear-skin robes) the next two weeks to serve as costumes, that'd be much appreciated.
Mit Vergnügen
No, seriously.
Putting together all the various grammatical bits with the cultural theme of Teutoburg, the students are putting together a short play, about 10-15 minutes long ideally, portraying the final evening before the Roman legions of Magna Germania, under provincial governor Varus, took a shortcut back over the Rhine as suggested by the German tribal chieftan Arminius, only for it to end with the combined forces of all the local tribes decimating all 3 legions. This is also known as, "The reason German isn't a Latinate language."
The scene in question is basically Arminius and his entourage convincing Varus and his Generals to take his advice, despite the fact that some other tribal bigwigs, like Arminius' rival Segestes, were practically yelling in Varus' ear that the whole thing was an obvious trap.
We spent yesterday developing an outline of the script and dividing up the various roles. So far, it looks like it'll be fun, if not particularly historically accurate (I had to help translate, "Come at me bro!"). Next week will be spent finishing up the script and practicing so that we can record the play on 10 May.
The homework is to finish translating any lines originally written in English. Also, if your kids could bring either white sheets (for togas) or fuzzy towels/bathrobes (for bear-skin robes) the next two weeks to serve as costumes, that'd be much appreciated.
Mit Vergnügen
Saturday, April 12, 2014
12.April '14 - KRIEG
Guten Abend,
Today we fought a terrible battle, and much fun was had by all.
Playing off last week whereupon we built Legionnaires, this week we made our own Teutonic warriors and made both of the above groups engage in combat.
We reviewed and added onto our vocabulary regarding parts of the body, and armor, weaponry and clothing of the 1st century AD in Roman - occupied Germania, as well as martial details, and then divided into two groups: one for Deutscher, one for Römer. Using a point system assigned to different actions, and with "hitpoints" assigned to each warrior or legionnaire that the class had made, based on their equipment and armor, we held battle on the board.
Each team called out an action (which had to be correctly said for it to count--conjugated, arranged, and using the right cases) against certain targets (hence the body part vocabulary last week) and those targets lost hit points accordingly.
The first round, 3 Romans against 6 Germans, the Germans won. Second round, 3 Romans +1 German Auxiliary versus 5 Germans was a wash.
A typical fight looked like this:
Team Rome: "Julius schlägt Sven in das Bein mit dem Schild"
Me: "-3 für Sven. Er hat nur noch 3 HP."
Team Germania: "Sven zerhaut Julius in den Kopf!"
Me: "-4 für Julius. Er hat nur noch 6 HP."
And so on...
It was basically Pokemon with historically-decorated figurines. Since they knew we were going to battle with our figures from the outset, the amount of practicality that went into their design was extraordinary, e.g. "better give him a shield so he gets +1 HP" and so on.
Now that we have had our battle, the classroom walls are adorned with the figures, should you wish to see them. They are quite lovely.
There is no school next week--It's Osterfeier.
Mit Vergnügen
Today we fought a terrible battle, and much fun was had by all.
Playing off last week whereupon we built Legionnaires, this week we made our own Teutonic warriors and made both of the above groups engage in combat.
We reviewed and added onto our vocabulary regarding parts of the body, and armor, weaponry and clothing of the 1st century AD in Roman - occupied Germania, as well as martial details, and then divided into two groups: one for Deutscher, one for Römer. Using a point system assigned to different actions, and with "hitpoints" assigned to each warrior or legionnaire that the class had made, based on their equipment and armor, we held battle on the board.
Each team called out an action (which had to be correctly said for it to count--conjugated, arranged, and using the right cases) against certain targets (hence the body part vocabulary last week) and those targets lost hit points accordingly.
The first round, 3 Romans against 6 Germans, the Germans won. Second round, 3 Romans +1 German Auxiliary versus 5 Germans was a wash.
A typical fight looked like this:
Team Rome: "Julius schlägt Sven in das Bein mit dem Schild"
Me: "-3 für Sven. Er hat nur noch 3 HP."
Team Germania: "Sven zerhaut Julius in den Kopf!"
Me: "-4 für Julius. Er hat nur noch 6 HP."
And so on...
It was basically Pokemon with historically-decorated figurines. Since they knew we were going to battle with our figures from the outset, the amount of practicality that went into their design was extraordinary, e.g. "better give him a shield so he gets +1 HP" and so on.
Now that we have had our battle, the classroom walls are adorned with the figures, should you wish to see them. They are quite lovely.
There is no school next week--It's Osterfeier.
Mit Vergnügen
Saturday, April 5, 2014
5.April - Gut und Gerüstet
Guten Tag!
It's been a while, what with trips out of the country followed soon after by two consecutive weekends off for Spring Break! Welcome back to German school.
Today we learned vocabulary for the parts of the body, and also Imperial Roman armor. Not kidding. We used both sets of vocabulary to fill in diagrams of a person and a legionnaire, and then we used paper people cut-outs along with tons of felt, pipe cleaner, glitter, balsa wood, posterboard, glue, tape, and acrylic markers to decorate the cutouts like legionnaires. We now have legionnaires hanging on the wall, complete with gladii (swords), spathae (spears) and shields. Come around and see them sometime!
As the year draws to a close, I intend to explore some of the more obscure and interesting angles of our historical theme, so you can expect the arts and crafts to continue.
The homework is quite simple:
In 5 sentences or more, write a short argument auf Deutsch about which you think was the better legionary weapon: the sword or the spear, and why. Think about it in the context of Teutoburg and how/why the Roman's lost that battle to the Germanic tribes.
It's been a while, what with trips out of the country followed soon after by two consecutive weekends off for Spring Break! Welcome back to German school.
Today we learned vocabulary for the parts of the body, and also Imperial Roman armor. Not kidding. We used both sets of vocabulary to fill in diagrams of a person and a legionnaire, and then we used paper people cut-outs along with tons of felt, pipe cleaner, glitter, balsa wood, posterboard, glue, tape, and acrylic markers to decorate the cutouts like legionnaires. We now have legionnaires hanging on the wall, complete with gladii (swords), spathae (spears) and shields. Come around and see them sometime!
As the year draws to a close, I intend to explore some of the more obscure and interesting angles of our historical theme, so you can expect the arts and crafts to continue.
The homework is quite simple:
In 5 sentences or more, write a short argument auf Deutsch about which you think was the better legionary weapon: the sword or the spear, and why. Think about it in the context of Teutoburg and how/why the Roman's lost that battle to the Germanic tribes.
Saturday, March 8, 2014
8.März - Höfflichkeit
Hallo liebe Leute!
I came back from France to hear that everything went smashingly with the sub in my absence, so that was good to hear. Thanks to all in attendance that day for leaving my colleague Jack with an excellent impression of our school.
Today we had a surprisingly small class of 3 until the last half hour, but we made the best of it. I showed us some videos on 1.) strange laws on the books still in Germany (for fun) and 2.) politeness and etiquette for eating out or dining with friends, as part of what I plan to be a little unit on similarities and differences between customs here and customs there.
After discussing what's polite and what isn't, we did skits where one student was the epitome of ünhöfflichkeit at dinner, and the other was the pulling-out-their-own-hair polite one trying to keep their friend under control.
For the last few minutes of class, we played an oldy/goody game, Herr Fuchs.
Hausaufgabe
-In at least 10 sentences, write me a little story wherein you have a friend over for dinner who acts like an absolute Schweinhund! What does he/she do wrong? This should be from a German perspective.
Mit Vergnügen~
I came back from France to hear that everything went smashingly with the sub in my absence, so that was good to hear. Thanks to all in attendance that day for leaving my colleague Jack with an excellent impression of our school.
Today we had a surprisingly small class of 3 until the last half hour, but we made the best of it. I showed us some videos on 1.) strange laws on the books still in Germany (for fun) and 2.) politeness and etiquette for eating out or dining with friends, as part of what I plan to be a little unit on similarities and differences between customs here and customs there.
After discussing what's polite and what isn't, we did skits where one student was the epitome of ünhöfflichkeit at dinner, and the other was the pulling-out-their-own-hair polite one trying to keep their friend under control.
For the last few minutes of class, we played an oldy/goody game, Herr Fuchs.
Hausaufgabe
-In at least 10 sentences, write me a little story wherein you have a friend over for dinner who acts like an absolute Schweinhund! What does he/she do wrong? This should be from a German perspective.
Mit Vergnügen~
Saturday, February 22, 2014
22.Februar - Teutoburgerschlacht
Guten Tag,
Today we finished our vast mural of the Battle of Teutoburg Forest and hung it up on the wall (it takes up the entire back wall) for all to see.
We also played, "Wo Warst Du?" the "lead your classmates around blindly" game that everyone enjoys and helps us practice both the past tense and the dative case.
I will be gone for the week--I'll be in France--and there will be a sub on Saturday.
The homework is as follows:
Choose a German song
Today we finished our vast mural of the Battle of Teutoburg Forest and hung it up on the wall (it takes up the entire back wall) for all to see.
We also played, "Wo Warst Du?" the "lead your classmates around blindly" game that everyone enjoys and helps us practice both the past tense and the dative case.
I will be gone for the week--I'll be in France--and there will be a sub on Saturday.
The homework is as follows:
Choose a German song
- Either online or from a CD, find a German-language song that you like. Something that describes you or that you simply enjoy
- Bring the song itself (or write down the weblink or the name of it on YouTube) so that it can be played for the class next week
- To open class, each student will present their songs.
- Provide a lyric sheet, and be prepared to verbally give a short summary of the song (in a few sentences, the main idea of what it's about and why you like this song).
Mit Vergnügen!
Sunday, February 16, 2014
15.Februar '14 - Crouching Legions, Hidden Candy
Cryptic title, isn't it?
We began the day with a bit of psychological puzzling, namely we took turns hiding candy around the room, and then the rest of the class had to guess where they all were. Any piece that could not be found in the allotted time period of 1 minute became property of the one who hid it. Some especially ingenious hiding places were in the CD player, behind a poster, between the whiteboard and the wall, behind the door... Suffice to say, it was interesting.
After a brief review of the past tense, we did round-robin storytelling, the thing where you pass around a piece of paper and everyone gets a set amount of time either to write a sentence on it or to finish one that came before them, culminating in one (in)coherent story. We did this a few times, and hilarity ensued.
Things took a turn for the surreal when a seemingly innocuous activity brought to my attention the existence of A GIGANTIC REAM OF PAPER WITH A GRASSLAND BACKGROUND in the supply closet. This brought us a moment inspired by one of my favorite cartoons, and I declared to the class, "Kids, I know what we're going to do today!" We began, and will continue in coming weeks, illustrating the Battle of Teutoburg in mural-form, to be hung all along the back wall of the classroom.
Hausaufgabe:
Now we attempted to peer-review the stories we had written over Teutoburg, but that admittedly did not go near as well as I had hoped. So the homework this week is to re-review their own story, considering any questions or corrections their neighbors may have added (and parents may help too, just this once!) and then bring in an updated copy along with a nice, color illustration. These will be hung up on the wall for posterity since words can barely describe how proud I am of these stories.
We began the day with a bit of psychological puzzling, namely we took turns hiding candy around the room, and then the rest of the class had to guess where they all were. Any piece that could not be found in the allotted time period of 1 minute became property of the one who hid it. Some especially ingenious hiding places were in the CD player, behind a poster, between the whiteboard and the wall, behind the door... Suffice to say, it was interesting.
After a brief review of the past tense, we did round-robin storytelling, the thing where you pass around a piece of paper and everyone gets a set amount of time either to write a sentence on it or to finish one that came before them, culminating in one (in)coherent story. We did this a few times, and hilarity ensued.
Things took a turn for the surreal when a seemingly innocuous activity brought to my attention the existence of A GIGANTIC REAM OF PAPER WITH A GRASSLAND BACKGROUND in the supply closet. This brought us a moment inspired by one of my favorite cartoons, and I declared to the class, "Kids, I know what we're going to do today!" We began, and will continue in coming weeks, illustrating the Battle of Teutoburg in mural-form, to be hung all along the back wall of the classroom.
Hausaufgabe:
Now we attempted to peer-review the stories we had written over Teutoburg, but that admittedly did not go near as well as I had hoped. So the homework this week is to re-review their own story, considering any questions or corrections their neighbors may have added (and parents may help too, just this once!) and then bring in an updated copy along with a nice, color illustration. These will be hung up on the wall for posterity since words can barely describe how proud I am of these stories.
Saturday, February 8, 2014
8.Februar '14 - Schatzsuch
Today, we ran amok around the school in search of treasure. Chaos Learning ensued, and it was glorious.
It all began innocently enough, with the sharing of our homework, as we do every class period. The stories the students wrote about the Battle of Teutoburg were, to put it lightly, surprisingly hardcore. The depth of emotion and the descriptive power of each of them was beyond anything I could have ever expected, giving us such treasures as, "Nur mein Hund hält mich warm in der Nacht... ich vermisse meine Familie," and "Das Blut meines Feindes fließt in die kalte Erde," and "Es war still. Ich sah nur den Tod."
These stories will be hung up on the wall, if not framed, for future classes to view in awe-struck wonder.
The Schatzsuch was, in short, a devious scheme on my part to force the students to use their knowledge of basically all we've learned so far this year grammatically to locate and then describe (afterward) an assortment of "Squinkies" that I hid all throughout the school in as odd (yet safe) of places as I could find. I have no idea what Squinkies are aside from "$4.99 at Walgreens" and "easy to hide," but they seemed cute, and 5th graders went nuts over them and had to be convinced not to take them from their hiding spaces, so I guess I stumbled onto a fad of some kind.
Anyway, the class was divided into two groups, and I gave them a sheet of clues describing where to find all the different Squinkies. The groups set out to find them all, and then had to describe to me afterward both what they found and where they were.
The girls' group won by a margin of about 30 seconds.
After lunch, the tables turned. The class hid the Squinkies and wrote clues, and then I had to find and describe them. The clock ran out for me when the bell rang at the end of the day, with ONE Squinkie left! Oh well.
Suffice to say, fun was had. We laughed, we cried, we GERMAN'ED.
And that was that.
Mit Vergnügen
It all began innocently enough, with the sharing of our homework, as we do every class period. The stories the students wrote about the Battle of Teutoburg were, to put it lightly, surprisingly hardcore. The depth of emotion and the descriptive power of each of them was beyond anything I could have ever expected, giving us such treasures as, "Nur mein Hund hält mich warm in der Nacht... ich vermisse meine Familie," and "Das Blut meines Feindes fließt in die kalte Erde," and "Es war still. Ich sah nur den Tod."
These stories will be hung up on the wall, if not framed, for future classes to view in awe-struck wonder.
The Schatzsuch was, in short, a devious scheme on my part to force the students to use their knowledge of basically all we've learned so far this year grammatically to locate and then describe (afterward) an assortment of "Squinkies" that I hid all throughout the school in as odd (yet safe) of places as I could find. I have no idea what Squinkies are aside from "$4.99 at Walgreens" and "easy to hide," but they seemed cute, and 5th graders went nuts over them and had to be convinced not to take them from their hiding spaces, so I guess I stumbled onto a fad of some kind.
Anyway, the class was divided into two groups, and I gave them a sheet of clues describing where to find all the different Squinkies. The groups set out to find them all, and then had to describe to me afterward both what they found and where they were.
The girls' group won by a margin of about 30 seconds.
After lunch, the tables turned. The class hid the Squinkies and wrote clues, and then I had to find and describe them. The clock ran out for me when the bell rang at the end of the day, with ONE Squinkie left! Oh well.
Suffice to say, fun was had. We laughed, we cried, we GERMAN'ED.
And that was that.
Mit Vergnügen
Saturday, January 25, 2014
25.Januar '14 - Die Teutoburgerschlacht
The day began like any other day: we went over the homework as a class, moving problem by problem through the dark and mysterious streets of grammar, unsuspecting of the horrifying events that awaited on the horizon.
We then had a lesson over strong versus weak verbs (how to know what form a verb takes as a past participle) accompanied by a handout for the students to keep for future reference.
Then suddenly, out of nowhere, came ANOTHER EXERCISE only this one was listening-comprehension, something I have given to classes almost daily in years past but that we did for the first time this year today. We went through a listening comprehension (Hörverständnis) exercise with the song, "Mein Herz Brennt" by Rammstein.
After lunch and our Ruhepause, we did something about which I had been crossing my proverbial fingers, hoping it would work, and lo and behold! It actually went quite well and wasn't too hard for the class, much to my relief. I prepared a handout to-be-read in pairs. It was excerpts taken from this article:
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-ambush-that-changed-history-72636736/
I prepared a word bank with the key figures and locations, and then they read the abridged article, underlining key points (Hauptthemen) for later discussion. Even though they may not have understood every word ('aforementioned' and 'foreordained' were commonly greeted with, "huh?"), each group found the key points and main ideas and managed to summarize them afterward rather well.
We then held a whole-class discussion over the Teutoburgerschlacht, and how this single event in the 1st century AD redefined the course of history for Germany, and even all of Europe. The Battle of Teutoburg is, I've found, never even mentioned in most school curricula, even though it is easily the most pivotal point in all of Germany's history. Without this battle, German would be a romance language like French, Spanish, Italian, and even to an extent English (with lots of latinate roots).
Also, the students got to learn such concepts as "guerilla warfare" and "cultural assimilation."
And now, the homework:
Next week, we shall do further exercises on the worksheet that was turned in today. This week, the homework is to write a one-page long 1st person account of the Teutoburgerschlacht. Students take the role of a witness to the event, either a Roman legionnaire or a Teutonic skirmisher under Arminius. They should, using the 1st-person (ich) past tense, recount:
We then had a lesson over strong versus weak verbs (how to know what form a verb takes as a past participle) accompanied by a handout for the students to keep for future reference.
Then suddenly, out of nowhere, came ANOTHER EXERCISE only this one was listening-comprehension, something I have given to classes almost daily in years past but that we did for the first time this year today. We went through a listening comprehension (Hörverständnis) exercise with the song, "Mein Herz Brennt" by Rammstein.
After lunch and our Ruhepause, we did something about which I had been crossing my proverbial fingers, hoping it would work, and lo and behold! It actually went quite well and wasn't too hard for the class, much to my relief. I prepared a handout to-be-read in pairs. It was excerpts taken from this article:
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-ambush-that-changed-history-72636736/
I prepared a word bank with the key figures and locations, and then they read the abridged article, underlining key points (Hauptthemen) for later discussion. Even though they may not have understood every word ('aforementioned' and 'foreordained' were commonly greeted with, "huh?"), each group found the key points and main ideas and managed to summarize them afterward rather well.
We then held a whole-class discussion over the Teutoburgerschlacht, and how this single event in the 1st century AD redefined the course of history for Germany, and even all of Europe. The Battle of Teutoburg is, I've found, never even mentioned in most school curricula, even though it is easily the most pivotal point in all of Germany's history. Without this battle, German would be a romance language like French, Spanish, Italian, and even to an extent English (with lots of latinate roots).
Also, the students got to learn such concepts as "guerilla warfare" and "cultural assimilation."
And now, the homework:
Next week, we shall do further exercises on the worksheet that was turned in today. This week, the homework is to write a one-page long 1st person account of the Teutoburgerschlacht. Students take the role of a witness to the event, either a Roman legionnaire or a Teutonic skirmisher under Arminius. They should, using the 1st-person (ich) past tense, recount:
- What they saw
- What they thought during the event
- What they did
- In short, what happened around them
I will accept a minimum of 20 sentences, but it may be more, up to a whole page (please not much longer! I have to read these!)
Also, I sent the Zeugnisse (report cards) home today. Please have those brought back, signed, next weekend.
Also, I sent the Zeugnisse (report cards) home today. Please have those brought back, signed, next weekend.
~Mit Vergnügen
Sunday, January 19, 2014
18.Januar - Storytime
Guten Tag!
Saturday began with our presenting the homework assignments, rhymes describing ourselves, which were then shuffled, given to me, and I read them aloud for the class to get which was about whom.
Our main lesson for the day was adding on to last week's introduction to the simple past of haben and sein. We have now become acquainted with the past tense (present perfect) formed with the helping verbs haben and sein. The guiding principle we're going on is that transitive verbs tend to use haben in the past, and intransitive tend to use sein, e.g. werfen (throw) uses haben since it takes an object, whereas fliegen (fly) uses sein since it does not take an object.
And so began storytime! As an activity, in pairs, the students wrote short stories around a word bank I gave them with character names, verbs, and objects that needed to be incorporated.
After lunch, we sat around a circle doing "popcorn" style reading of rhymes and riddles and nonsense words for fun and pronunciation practice.
Aaaaaaand now the homework.
Please navigate to this page, whereupon there is a veeeeeery large worksheet. I only want them to do part B. PART B. It will take hours if they do the whole thing. JUST PART B. It is only 15 questions, the object of which is to choose the right helping verb, haben or sein, for each sentence.
http://www.nthuleen.com/teach/grammar/perfekt1.html
Mit Vergnügen
Saturday began with our presenting the homework assignments, rhymes describing ourselves, which were then shuffled, given to me, and I read them aloud for the class to get which was about whom.
Our main lesson for the day was adding on to last week's introduction to the simple past of haben and sein. We have now become acquainted with the past tense (present perfect) formed with the helping verbs haben and sein. The guiding principle we're going on is that transitive verbs tend to use haben in the past, and intransitive tend to use sein, e.g. werfen (throw) uses haben since it takes an object, whereas fliegen (fly) uses sein since it does not take an object.
And so began storytime! As an activity, in pairs, the students wrote short stories around a word bank I gave them with character names, verbs, and objects that needed to be incorporated.
After lunch, we sat around a circle doing "popcorn" style reading of rhymes and riddles and nonsense words for fun and pronunciation practice.
Aaaaaaand now the homework.
Please navigate to this page, whereupon there is a veeeeeery large worksheet. I only want them to do part B. PART B. It will take hours if they do the whole thing. JUST PART B. It is only 15 questions, the object of which is to choose the right helping verb, haben or sein, for each sentence.
http://www.nthuleen.com/teach/grammar/perfekt1.html
Mit Vergnügen
Saturday, January 11, 2014
11.Jan '14 - Rappenkrieg
"Herr Walker, where do you come up with such random things?"
That was about the reaction I was expecting to the introductory activity of "compose a rhyming couplet."
Today, we spent most of our time locked in the most time honored of all forms of combat, rap battles. Two groups developed a rhyming rap of a minimal 15 lines long, and then rehearsed their performance, including beat boxing and dancing. We then took it "to the streets" and let the harshest of audiences (the 1st grade class) be the judges as to which group was better.
We also had an introduction to the simple past today with a lesson on hatten (from haben) and waren (from sein). This was followed by a game that relied mostly on observational skills and/or paranoia called, "Ich war's nicht" where an individual with their eyes closed had to guess who in the classroom kept running up and poking them.
The second rap battle didn't go as well, probably because it took too much concentration for so late in the day, but it was worth a try.
The homework for today:
That was about the reaction I was expecting to the introductory activity of "compose a rhyming couplet."
Today, we spent most of our time locked in the most time honored of all forms of combat, rap battles. Two groups developed a rhyming rap of a minimal 15 lines long, and then rehearsed their performance, including beat boxing and dancing. We then took it "to the streets" and let the harshest of audiences (the 1st grade class) be the judges as to which group was better.
We also had an introduction to the simple past today with a lesson on hatten (from haben) and waren (from sein). This was followed by a game that relied mostly on observational skills and/or paranoia called, "Ich war's nicht" where an individual with their eyes closed had to guess who in the classroom kept running up and poking them.
The second rap battle didn't go as well, probably because it took too much concentration for so late in the day, but it was worth a try.
The homework for today:
- Compose a poem of at least 3 lines (auf Deutsch!) which rhyme
- The topic is describing yourself. These will be mixed up next class period and then read aloud, and the class must guess whom each poem describes.
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