Guten Tag!
This Saturday was interesting. We had a new student come into the class today, and I hear tell that we will have another one coming.
We began the day with Meine Woche as usual, and went into one of my favorite songs, "Ich habe 'nen Traum" (I've Got a Dream, from Tangled).
After this, we had the Halloween Umzug which was, as usual, adorable.
The majority of our day was spent finishing out das Prinzessin Spiel. In pairs and one solo act, we made posters and campaign speeches, then went from class to class trying to win votes for who is the best pony princess of Equestria.
Surprisingly, greatly surprisingly, the winner was Princess of the Sun, Celestia. She never wins. It seems those boys were the most persuasive in their speeches.
Next week shall see a new grammar unit as well as the beginning of our historical-cultural studies.
Mit Vergnügen~
Sunday, October 28, 2018
Saturday, October 20, 2018
20.Oktober ' 18 - Prinzessinnen und Fußball
Guten Tag!
Today began like any other day, at approximately 10:30.
We opened with Meine Woche, the highlights of this past week, and then we listened to a perennial classic, "Schnappi das kleine Krokodil." I'm proud to say we sang along, or rather, screamed along with the chorus. I'm fairly certain we were heard as far away as O'Hare.
Then came the surprise! A pop quiz over comparative adjectives. This was open-notes because I cannot emphasize enough the importance of not only taking notes, but taking good ones. This skill transfers throughout academia and, frankly, even into the business world. I will always reward good note taking.
This went fairly well. The errors were fairly minor, and had more to do with the overall grasp of syntax than with what we were actually testing over. Interestingly, forgetting to put a verb (any verb) into a sentence is a common one.
After the break, we went into a presentation that will tie into an activity next week, "Das Prinzessinspiel." Basically we learned all about the four Alicorn Princesses of Equestria (My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic) and their glorious magical powers. Next week we will hold a campaign and election to decide on who is the best princess of them all. This will end our unit on superlatives.
We ended the class with a game of soccer outside, where I learned that 10 minutes playing against a bunch of 11 and 12 year old boys is exhausting.
Mit Vergnügen
Today began like any other day, at approximately 10:30.
We opened with Meine Woche, the highlights of this past week, and then we listened to a perennial classic, "Schnappi das kleine Krokodil." I'm proud to say we sang along, or rather, screamed along with the chorus. I'm fairly certain we were heard as far away as O'Hare.
Then came the surprise! A pop quiz over comparative adjectives. This was open-notes because I cannot emphasize enough the importance of not only taking notes, but taking good ones. This skill transfers throughout academia and, frankly, even into the business world. I will always reward good note taking.
This went fairly well. The errors were fairly minor, and had more to do with the overall grasp of syntax than with what we were actually testing over. Interestingly, forgetting to put a verb (any verb) into a sentence is a common one.
After the break, we went into a presentation that will tie into an activity next week, "Das Prinzessinspiel." Basically we learned all about the four Alicorn Princesses of Equestria (My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic) and their glorious magical powers. Next week we will hold a campaign and election to decide on who is the best princess of them all. This will end our unit on superlatives.
We ended the class with a game of soccer outside, where I learned that 10 minutes playing against a bunch of 11 and 12 year old boys is exhausting.
Mit Vergnügen
Saturday, October 13, 2018
13. Okt '18 - Raum und Zeit
Guten Tag!
Today we started off late as most students didn't arrive until nearly 10:30. Then we went into "Meine Woche," as always and did our song of the day "Der Käse Song" by Michael Buchinger, an Austrian youtuber.
We quickly reviewed how to form superlative adjectives, did a Kahoot competition over this for possession of the various fun objects I have around the room (swords, helmets, etc) and then went into our project. This was "Deutsches Sprachraum 2," wherein they researched such questions as which German speaking country is the largest, most populated, richest, etc to practice formulating sentences with superlative statements.
Then we had a fire drill.
We had one more competition to see who would have possession of their choice of objects next class as well.
Mit Vergnügen
Today we started off late as most students didn't arrive until nearly 10:30. Then we went into "Meine Woche," as always and did our song of the day "Der Käse Song" by Michael Buchinger, an Austrian youtuber.
We quickly reviewed how to form superlative adjectives, did a Kahoot competition over this for possession of the various fun objects I have around the room (swords, helmets, etc) and then went into our project. This was "Deutsches Sprachraum 2," wherein they researched such questions as which German speaking country is the largest, most populated, richest, etc to practice formulating sentences with superlative statements.
Then we had a fire drill.
We had one more competition to see who would have possession of their choice of objects next class as well.
Mit Vergnügen
Saturday, October 6, 2018
6.Oktober '18 - Kein Vampir
Guten Tag!
Today we began with Meine Woche, whereupon I regaled the class with such lovely details as "I decorated my house for Halloween" and we went off on tangents only mildly related to the topic at hand.
Our listening for the day was "Kein Vampir bleibt mehr hier" from My Little Pony, the German version of the famous "Stop the Bats" song.
We reviewed comparative adjectives, and added superlative adjectives to the mix as well. We played two different Kahoots over this, and then completed with an exercise I call "Deutsches Sprachraum," wherein using their devices to do research, the children compared two different German-speaking countries of their choice with a preset group of questions.
Those who did not finish have to complete this for homework--it's very simple research.
Mit Vergnügen
Today we began with Meine Woche, whereupon I regaled the class with such lovely details as "I decorated my house for Halloween" and we went off on tangents only mildly related to the topic at hand.
Our listening for the day was "Kein Vampir bleibt mehr hier" from My Little Pony, the German version of the famous "Stop the Bats" song.
We reviewed comparative adjectives, and added superlative adjectives to the mix as well. We played two different Kahoots over this, and then completed with an exercise I call "Deutsches Sprachraum," wherein using their devices to do research, the children compared two different German-speaking countries of their choice with a preset group of questions.
Those who did not finish have to complete this for homework--it's very simple research.
Mit Vergnügen
Sunday, September 30, 2018
29. September '18 - Of Presidents and Poodles
Guten Tag alle!
Our class began with the smell of roasting pig wafting all throughout the school, and it was amazing. That aside, we started with "Dinge die Junge an Mädchen lieben," an "advice" video from Mirellativegal and Michael Buchinger. The conclusion: be cheese. Always be cheese.
Then we ran through Meine Woche.
We reviewed the preferences and favorites that we did in previous weeks with a short activity, wherein each student described themselves by their likes and dislikes, and the others had to guess who it was referring to afterward. That went by very quickly. Surprisingly quickly. Apparently "I like baseball" is particularly distinctive and unique of an aspect?
What we learned today was comparative adjectives, how to turn an adjective into "more" or "less" of something (e.g. big to bigger, small to smaller).
We compared ourselves to one another and to various celebrities as an exercise in this.
To wrap up the day, since there was apparently an abundance of both sleep deprivation and hyper wiggle-waggle energy in the class, we went outside and played frisbee for a good 15 minutes. This is where we learned another important lesson: we are all absolutely terrible at frisbee.
Mit Vergnügen
Our class began with the smell of roasting pig wafting all throughout the school, and it was amazing. That aside, we started with "Dinge die Junge an Mädchen lieben," an "advice" video from Mirellativegal and Michael Buchinger. The conclusion: be cheese. Always be cheese.
Then we ran through Meine Woche.
We reviewed the preferences and favorites that we did in previous weeks with a short activity, wherein each student described themselves by their likes and dislikes, and the others had to guess who it was referring to afterward. That went by very quickly. Surprisingly quickly. Apparently "I like baseball" is particularly distinctive and unique of an aspect?
What we learned today was comparative adjectives, how to turn an adjective into "more" or "less" of something (e.g. big to bigger, small to smaller).
We compared ourselves to one another and to various celebrities as an exercise in this.
To wrap up the day, since there was apparently an abundance of both sleep deprivation and hyper wiggle-waggle energy in the class, we went outside and played frisbee for a good 15 minutes. This is where we learned another important lesson: we are all absolutely terrible at frisbee.
Mit Vergnügen
Monday, September 24, 2018
22. September '18 - Hast du ihn gern?
Guten Abend!
This past Saturday was an interesting one.
We began as per usual, with an introduction into my week, "Meine Woche," with its accompanying question and answer session, followed by our listening comprehension exercise. This week it was "Das Letzte Streichholtz" by "Oomph!", a different take on the story of Cinderella.
We reviewed what we had learned last week about how to express preferences with haben and gern, lieber or am liebsten, and added the verbs "lieben" and "hassen" for their own slightly different, idiomatic meanings.
After practicing with this for a while, and after the break, we attempted an old classic game that I used to use with the lower grades, "Hast du mich gern?" The objective of which is to make your neighbor laugh by stating "Ich habe dich gern! Hast du mich gern?" and awaiting their answer. Non answers, failure to say "Nein," or laughing meant the askee lost, and the asker proceeded onward through the circle until someone managed to answer correctly without laughing.
It was chaotic. And fun.
We ended class with each student describing, in their own words and own unprompted opinions, what they thought Steve (the class pony) liked and disliked.
Mit Vergnügen~
This past Saturday was an interesting one.
We began as per usual, with an introduction into my week, "Meine Woche," with its accompanying question and answer session, followed by our listening comprehension exercise. This week it was "Das Letzte Streichholtz" by "Oomph!", a different take on the story of Cinderella.
We reviewed what we had learned last week about how to express preferences with haben and gern, lieber or am liebsten, and added the verbs "lieben" and "hassen" for their own slightly different, idiomatic meanings.
After practicing with this for a while, and after the break, we attempted an old classic game that I used to use with the lower grades, "Hast du mich gern?" The objective of which is to make your neighbor laugh by stating "Ich habe dich gern! Hast du mich gern?" and awaiting their answer. Non answers, failure to say "Nein," or laughing meant the askee lost, and the asker proceeded onward through the circle until someone managed to answer correctly without laughing.
It was chaotic. And fun.
We ended class with each student describing, in their own words and own unprompted opinions, what they thought Steve (the class pony) liked and disliked.
Mit Vergnügen~
Sunday, September 16, 2018
15. September '18 - Erster Schultag
Guten Abend!
The school year has begun. Please view this space weekly for updates on what we have gone over, as well as assignments, homework, and of course jokes about ponies.
The day opened with what is traditionally for the school year our first listening comprehension exercise, "Kochen Mit Kimberly," from my favorite German podcaster, Mirellativegal. We then went into a quick presentation whereupon I introduced myself to the class.
We then went over class expectations, the run of the room, and then started learning.
Our topic for the day was preferences. We talked about gern, lieber, and am liebsten, and how they are used (paired with "haben") to express like, preference, and favorite. This was then compared to "Lieblings" which can be affixed to a noun to make a favorite as well.
"Ich habe Snickers am liebsten" and "Snickers ist mein Lieblingscandy" being functionally the same, though the second one is category-specific.
We went around and did questionnaires with one another, asking about preferences and favorites, as practice.
After the break, we played kahoot over this topic, and also did some probing exercises to give me a better feel for the class' proficiency levels.
I don't assign homework if it can be avoided. Today was no exception.
That was our first week.
Mit Vergnügen!
The school year has begun. Please view this space weekly for updates on what we have gone over, as well as assignments, homework, and of course jokes about ponies.
The day opened with what is traditionally for the school year our first listening comprehension exercise, "Kochen Mit Kimberly," from my favorite German podcaster, Mirellativegal. We then went into a quick presentation whereupon I introduced myself to the class.
We then went over class expectations, the run of the room, and then started learning.
Our topic for the day was preferences. We talked about gern, lieber, and am liebsten, and how they are used (paired with "haben") to express like, preference, and favorite. This was then compared to "Lieblings" which can be affixed to a noun to make a favorite as well.
"Ich habe Snickers am liebsten" and "Snickers ist mein Lieblingscandy" being functionally the same, though the second one is category-specific.
We went around and did questionnaires with one another, asking about preferences and favorites, as practice.
After the break, we played kahoot over this topic, and also did some probing exercises to give me a better feel for the class' proficiency levels.
I don't assign homework if it can be avoided. Today was no exception.
That was our first week.
Mit Vergnügen!
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