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
Saturday, November 1, 2014
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
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