Guten Abend,
Today the Krampus came to carry us all away. Specifically, actually I was the only one to get carried off, come to think of it.
It began like any other day... we did Meine Woche, and then came the lesson over Krampus. We discussed who the Krampus is and how he differs from and intersects with Saint Nikolaus. Then, in lieu of the traditional and somewhat cliched, "Write Letters to Santa for Presents," we wrote letters to Krampus asking him to please not come and carry us away, because even though we're naughty there are other people in the class who are so much naughtier.
We had to pause for a while to practice the Weihnachtsprogramm, but after that and after lunch, we did a little planned exchange with the 8th graders.
The 8th grade had written letters to St. Nick to persuade him why they were the nicest in their class. We listened to them and then held a vote. Those who lost were carried way by Krampus, played by a student from our own 7th grade class.
We then read our letters about why, ok, we were naughty, but definitely not not the naughtiest, and then the one who was judged to be naughtiest (turned out to be me) got carried away by Krampus.
We wrapped up with "Schnappi das kleine Krokodil," a selection from a student, and then prepared for the Weihnachtsprogramm.
See you in January!
Saturday, December 16, 2017
Saturday, December 2, 2017
2. Dezember '17 - die Eisenzeit beginnt
Grüße alle!
This week we began our presentations over the iron age germanic tribes, kicking off with the Vandals and the Visigoths, two of my personal favorites. We then (finally) transitioned into our comparative cultural-historical unit over Ancient Germania and the Roman Empire. It took a bit, but we managed to grasp precisely why we, in a German school, care about Imperial Rome: all we know about the ancient Germans is what the Romans wrote down, accounts written by Romans about their encounters with said ancient tribes, and understanding the perspectives of primary source givers is essential when using said primary sources.
Frankly I was just proud that 7th graders were able to have even a rudimentary grasp of hermeneutics and use phrases like "primary source."
So we began, and I daresay for years to come they shall remember the fact that Roman public toilets had an unfortunate habit of catching on fire and/or exploding, and that while Imperial Romans probably smelled far better than ancient Germans, that the latter wouldn't be catching any plagues from tainted aquaducts or bath houses.We covered "alltagsleben" or everyday life in both the Empire and Germania today, and next we shall cover comparative religion in the Iron Age, followed by warfare.
We also began using the student-provided videos for listening comprehension exercises. We did "Lass jetzt los," also known as "Let it Go" from Frozen. I will continue vetting the student contributions and playing the ones that are viable and appropriate.
Next week I, unfortunately, have to answer the call of duty for my day job and will be off doing everything but having fun in another state. Frau Bodigor will continue our unit on the past tense, and next week a few more students (who have been informed of this ) will present their tribes.
Mit Vergnügen.
This week we began our presentations over the iron age germanic tribes, kicking off with the Vandals and the Visigoths, two of my personal favorites. We then (finally) transitioned into our comparative cultural-historical unit over Ancient Germania and the Roman Empire. It took a bit, but we managed to grasp precisely why we, in a German school, care about Imperial Rome: all we know about the ancient Germans is what the Romans wrote down, accounts written by Romans about their encounters with said ancient tribes, and understanding the perspectives of primary source givers is essential when using said primary sources.
Frankly I was just proud that 7th graders were able to have even a rudimentary grasp of hermeneutics and use phrases like "primary source."
So we began, and I daresay for years to come they shall remember the fact that Roman public toilets had an unfortunate habit of catching on fire and/or exploding, and that while Imperial Romans probably smelled far better than ancient Germans, that the latter wouldn't be catching any plagues from tainted aquaducts or bath houses.We covered "alltagsleben" or everyday life in both the Empire and Germania today, and next we shall cover comparative religion in the Iron Age, followed by warfare.
We also began using the student-provided videos for listening comprehension exercises. We did "Lass jetzt los," also known as "Let it Go" from Frozen. I will continue vetting the student contributions and playing the ones that are viable and appropriate.
Next week I, unfortunately, have to answer the call of duty for my day job and will be off doing everything but having fun in another state. Frau Bodigor will continue our unit on the past tense, and next week a few more students (who have been informed of this ) will present their tribes.
Mit Vergnügen.
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