Guten Tag,
Today began like any other Saturday, with a sunrise and then German school.
Firstly we did our listening comprehension exercise, using a German translation of the classic "What does the Fox Say?" (Wie macht der Fuchs denn) as was found by one of the students as a previous homework exercise (the one where they looked for videos in German). And of course we simply had to view the original afterward!
We then went into a lesson/review (for some) on the Perfect tense, using both my instruction as well as a video by one of my instructional podcasters, Deutsch Für Euch (here) . Up until the pause, we then worked on short little essays over silly or embarassing things we did in the past.
After the break, we began the first of our historical studies for the year, this one being over the ancient germanic tribes of the Iron Age, the first germanic people groups we have record of in what is now Germany and its confines. The class divided up into groups to research the 5 main tribes identified by Imperial Roman historians Tacitus and Pliny (Elder). Next week they will use what they gathered to make presentations over their tribes.
Once the tribal unit is done, we will eventually move on to the later centuries (up to the "sacking" of Rome) and the Holy Roman Empire. My goal in this is to cover how Germany came to become a country (up until the pronouncement of the German Empire) as this sort of in-depth background on Germany is unheard of in most schools.
The homework was simply to finish any incomplete research on their assigned tribe from today.
Mit Vergnügen
Saturday, November 7, 2015
Saturday, October 24, 2015
24.Oktober '15 - Prinzessinschlacht
This morning opened with "Meine Woche," followed by our video and listening comprehension of the day, courtesy of my favorite German podcaster, mirrelativegal.
Most of our time was focused on the princess project, where our groups (though roughly half the class was present, we had enough to continue working) made reasons, and persuasive posters, as to why their Princess of Equestria was the best.
Once completed, we campaigned throughout the other classrooms, going from 6th all the way down through 2nd grade to get votes for each group. It ended up being a tie between Princesses Celestia and Luna.
Next week we are done talking about different adjective forms. I distributed more copies of the handouts from previous weeks in case of absence or forms being lost.
We shall be doing summative assessments to see how well the topic went.
Oh, and costumes are encouraged for next week, Halloween!
Mit Vergnügen
Most of our time was focused on the princess project, where our groups (though roughly half the class was present, we had enough to continue working) made reasons, and persuasive posters, as to why their Princess of Equestria was the best.
Once completed, we campaigned throughout the other classrooms, going from 6th all the way down through 2nd grade to get votes for each group. It ended up being a tie between Princesses Celestia and Luna.
Next week we are done talking about different adjective forms. I distributed more copies of the handouts from previous weeks in case of absence or forms being lost.
We shall be doing summative assessments to see how well the topic went.
Oh, and costumes are encouraged for next week, Halloween!
Mit Vergnügen
Saturday, October 17, 2015
17. Oktober '15 - Kein Vampir
Guten Tag!
Today we had ponies.
We opened up with my week and questions over it, as usual. Then, after we turned in the homework, we went with today's listening and language comprehension exercise, this video
Our topic of learning today was the superlative, how to form adjective statements about the *most* something (biggest, smallest, coolest, best...). Our activity to go with it was part 2 of last week's "Deutsches Sprachraum" activity, where students either alone or in pairs researched which German speaking countries were the highest in different categories, e.g. landmass, population, most native German speakers, national economy, etc. We discussed and played a Kahoot over it as well.
After lunch, which was an exciting pizza lunch, we went into a project that will continue into next week, "The Princess Games: Election 2015." After a presentation over each Princess of Equestria (also from My Little Pony), students were asked to answer independently several questions over which princess, in their opinion, was the highest in various different categories, as well as which was their favorite overall.
Then, the class was divided into 4 political parties, each one representing a princess. Next week, they will consolidate their arguments in favor of each princess, and we will go throughout the younger grade levels to let them hear our arguments and vote, which princess is the school's official favorite.
And now for the homework:
Mit Vergnügen~
Today we had ponies.
We opened up with my week and questions over it, as usual. Then, after we turned in the homework, we went with today's listening and language comprehension exercise, this video
Our topic of learning today was the superlative, how to form adjective statements about the *most* something (biggest, smallest, coolest, best...). Our activity to go with it was part 2 of last week's "Deutsches Sprachraum" activity, where students either alone or in pairs researched which German speaking countries were the highest in different categories, e.g. landmass, population, most native German speakers, national economy, etc. We discussed and played a Kahoot over it as well.
After lunch, which was an exciting pizza lunch, we went into a project that will continue into next week, "The Princess Games: Election 2015." After a presentation over each Princess of Equestria (also from My Little Pony), students were asked to answer independently several questions over which princess, in their opinion, was the highest in various different categories, as well as which was their favorite overall.
Then, the class was divided into 4 political parties, each one representing a princess. Next week, they will consolidate their arguments in favor of each princess, and we will go throughout the younger grade levels to let them hear our arguments and vote, which princess is the school's official favorite.
And now for the homework:
Homework: Find a GERMAN LANGUAGE song, video, or podcast
you want us to cover in class some week. Copy the URL (or bring the CD or
video) and write:
·
How you found it
·
Who it’s by and what it’s about
·
What you think can be learned from it
Mit Vergnügen~
Saturday, October 10, 2015
10.Oktober '15 - Käse Lied
Guten Tag,
Today, we learned about cheese.
First of all, we went over my week, as is our long-standing tradition in this class. Then came the cheese, namely in the form of this video from my favorite Austrian Youtuber, Michael Buchinger.
We used his "Käse Song" as our listening comprehension for the day.
We presented the homework, and the comparisons between students and celebrities were simply priceless.
After our short review over the comparative from last time, we went into groups to make songs/raps/ballades comparing any two things that the groups desired.We had some wonderful highlights, such as the 3 girls who compared kids and adults to the tune of "Happy Birthday."
Lunchtime, the Stammtisch happened, and it was epic.
After the break, we had a research project, wherein partner pairs, using a sheet of questions and prompts, compared 2 German-speaking countries (of their choice, from a list I made) and there was much education everywhere!
The homework:
Today, we learned about cheese.
First of all, we went over my week, as is our long-standing tradition in this class. Then came the cheese, namely in the form of this video from my favorite Austrian Youtuber, Michael Buchinger.
We used his "Käse Song" as our listening comprehension for the day.
We presented the homework, and the comparisons between students and celebrities were simply priceless.
After our short review over the comparative from last time, we went into groups to make songs/raps/ballades comparing any two things that the groups desired.We had some wonderful highlights, such as the 3 girls who compared kids and adults to the tune of "Happy Birthday."
Lunchtime, the Stammtisch happened, and it was epic.
After the break, we had a research project, wherein partner pairs, using a sheet of questions and prompts, compared 2 German-speaking countries (of their choice, from a list I made) and there was much education everywhere!
The homework:
- Make a picture, either of a German-speaking country or of that country's flag
- On the picture, give me 5 facts about that country compared to Germany
- The prettiest will be put on the wall!
Mit Vergnügen
Sunday, October 4, 2015
3.Oktober '15 - Wiedervereiningungstag
Today was the day that we celebrated the reverse-mitosis of Germany!
As you all know, of course we all wore varying degrees of black, red, and gold today, for starters. We also had a lesson a substantial portion of which was devoted to the history of post-war division and reunification of Germany.
What had been planned as a short and sweet primer or reminder on this part of Germany's history ended up being extended into quite a bit of detail once it became apparent that the 7th grade class was unfamiliar with this topic.
So, to begin we watched this video. We then had a detailed discussion and lesson wherein the 8th graders, who were more familiar with the history, greatly assisted in filling out a chart and concept web over the following:
For the remainder of the day, we covered my originally intended topic of comparative adjective formation.
The homework is that each student present was assigned a celebrity figure from a list made by the class, and the assignments for individuals were voted on by the class, such that each person would compare his/her self to the person they had assigned.
For 7th graders, they must compare themselves in at least 5 ways to their celebrity assigned.
For 8th graders, they must compare themselves in at least 10 ways.
Mit Vergnügen~
As you all know, of course we all wore varying degrees of black, red, and gold today, for starters. We also had a lesson a substantial portion of which was devoted to the history of post-war division and reunification of Germany.
What had been planned as a short and sweet primer or reminder on this part of Germany's history ended up being extended into quite a bit of detail once it became apparent that the 7th grade class was unfamiliar with this topic.
So, to begin we watched this video. We then had a detailed discussion and lesson wherein the 8th graders, who were more familiar with the history, greatly assisted in filling out a chart and concept web over the following:
- The reasons behind post-war division of Germany
- How Germany was divided
- The differences in lifestyle between East and West Germany
- How and when the Berlin Wall came up and its effects on Berliner life
For the remainder of the day, we covered my originally intended topic of comparative adjective formation.
The homework is that each student present was assigned a celebrity figure from a list made by the class, and the assignments for individuals were voted on by the class, such that each person would compare his/her self to the person they had assigned.
For 7th graders, they must compare themselves in at least 5 ways to their celebrity assigned.
For 8th graders, they must compare themselves in at least 10 ways.
Mit Vergnügen~
Sunday, September 27, 2015
26.Sep '15 - Kochen mit Sardinen und Nutella
Guten Tag,
Gestern haben wir viel Spaß gehabt! Es wurd gequatscht, geschrieben, gelernt, gesehen, und Deutsch gesprochen. Ich habe's mir gewünscht, es war auch unter uns etwas essen worden, aber leider hat niemand Snacks mitgebracht.
The day began as it tends to, with Herr Walker talking about something. He has an interesting habit of doing that.
This week we introduced the "Mitmachen Tabellen," where students gauge their own participation (with my prompting) in each class period. Whenever someone volunteers to do something, or makes an honest attempt to answer a question, they get to write a point on their sheet; the goal is to get at least 5 points per day. These sheets are taken up every quarter, and based on their score, I determine their "Fleiss" (effort, participation) grade at semester's end.
As is uns gewöhnlich, we started with Meine Woche which is always nice for working up Mitmachen points.
Then, we did our listening comprehension for the day, a satirical "cooking show" by one of my favorite German podcasters called, "Kochen mit Kimberly." This week's recipe (a conglomeration of Twitter follower-suggested ingredients) was "Nutella-Ingwer-Sardinen Suppe" which was exactly what it sounded like.
To review (and wrap up) the lesson from last week over expressing preferences, we did a Kahoot on the topic, whereupon the winner was "Grape Juice." We then reviewed the previous week's content and covered use of gern, lieber, and am liebsten with haben (to refer to objects and people) and verbs (to refer to preferred activities).
After lunch, we paired/trioed up and made and presented dialogues as an in-class assessment and wrap-up of that lesson. This was an easy topic to start the year with and to help me gauge the Sprachkenntnisse of the new 7th graders.
I'm not certain whether we will have a combined 7th and 8th again next year or whether there will be another teacher with a separate class--as soon as I know for sure, I will let you know, because I have been asked several times so far this year.
As this week was a wrap-up, there was no homework assigned.
~Mit Vergnügen
Gestern haben wir viel Spaß gehabt! Es wurd gequatscht, geschrieben, gelernt, gesehen, und Deutsch gesprochen. Ich habe's mir gewünscht, es war auch unter uns etwas essen worden, aber leider hat niemand Snacks mitgebracht.
The day began as it tends to, with Herr Walker talking about something. He has an interesting habit of doing that.
This week we introduced the "Mitmachen Tabellen," where students gauge their own participation (with my prompting) in each class period. Whenever someone volunteers to do something, or makes an honest attempt to answer a question, they get to write a point on their sheet; the goal is to get at least 5 points per day. These sheets are taken up every quarter, and based on their score, I determine their "Fleiss" (effort, participation) grade at semester's end.
As is uns gewöhnlich, we started with Meine Woche which is always nice for working up Mitmachen points.
Then, we did our listening comprehension for the day, a satirical "cooking show" by one of my favorite German podcasters called, "Kochen mit Kimberly." This week's recipe (a conglomeration of Twitter follower-suggested ingredients) was "Nutella-Ingwer-Sardinen Suppe" which was exactly what it sounded like.
To review (and wrap up) the lesson from last week over expressing preferences, we did a Kahoot on the topic, whereupon the winner was "Grape Juice." We then reviewed the previous week's content and covered use of gern, lieber, and am liebsten with haben (to refer to objects and people) and verbs (to refer to preferred activities).
After lunch, we paired/trioed up and made and presented dialogues as an in-class assessment and wrap-up of that lesson. This was an easy topic to start the year with and to help me gauge the Sprachkenntnisse of the new 7th graders.
I'm not certain whether we will have a combined 7th and 8th again next year or whether there will be another teacher with a separate class--as soon as I know for sure, I will let you know, because I have been asked several times so far this year.
As this week was a wrap-up, there was no homework assigned.
~Mit Vergnügen
Saturday, September 19, 2015
19.September '15 - Vorstellen und Obst werfen
Welcome to another exciting episode of the Chicago Donauschwaben!
Today's class period began with an acquaintance building activity, as is the grand tradition of academia on the first day and a mainstay of teachers who must learn the names of a dozen people as quickly as they can. There was dialogue, a sparkling ball that no one (myself included) was particularly good at catching, and just enough laughter to start the day off right.
Both as another acquaintance builder and as a lead-in to our lesson, the students all filled out short questionnaires over their likes/preferences auf Deutsch and then went around asking for one another's likes/preferences and logging them down, which we then shared as a class.
We then engaged in what I hope to make a tradition, "Meine Woche" wherein I conduct a presentation auf Deutsch summarizing the highlights of my week, including plentiful pretty pictures and anectdotes, and the kids answer questions back to me about what they believe they heard.
After a short break, we watched a video in response to which the students were tasked with answering comprehension questions, including learning from context such vocabulary as "Freizeit" and the grammar point, the use of "gern" "lieber" and "am liebsten."
After lunch, we spoke about the grammar a bit, including taking notes and doing examples.
From this, each student made their own questions, and we went once more around the room asking one another about likes and preferences.
And now, the moment we've all been waiting for..... The Homework!
Today's class period began with an acquaintance building activity, as is the grand tradition of academia on the first day and a mainstay of teachers who must learn the names of a dozen people as quickly as they can. There was dialogue, a sparkling ball that no one (myself included) was particularly good at catching, and just enough laughter to start the day off right.
Both as another acquaintance builder and as a lead-in to our lesson, the students all filled out short questionnaires over their likes/preferences auf Deutsch and then went around asking for one another's likes/preferences and logging them down, which we then shared as a class.
We then engaged in what I hope to make a tradition, "Meine Woche" wherein I conduct a presentation auf Deutsch summarizing the highlights of my week, including plentiful pretty pictures and anectdotes, and the kids answer questions back to me about what they believe they heard.
After a short break, we watched a video in response to which the students were tasked with answering comprehension questions, including learning from context such vocabulary as "Freizeit" and the grammar point, the use of "gern" "lieber" and "am liebsten."
After lunch, we spoke about the grammar a bit, including taking notes and doing examples.
From this, each student made their own questions, and we went once more around the room asking one another about likes and preferences.
And now, the moment we've all been waiting for..... The Homework!
- 5 written full sentences auf Deutsch
- Something you like to do
- Your favorite thing to do
- What you like to eat
- Your favorite thing to eat
- Something nice about Sean der Schaf (class mascot)
Mit Vergnügen~
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