3.Dez '16 - The Empire begins

Guten Morgen,

This past Saturday heralded the beginning of both the student-led "Meine Woche" presentations and also our largest historical study unit of the year, the Roman Empire and Iron Age Germania.

The Meine Woche presentations from this week went well, and kudos to those who took one for the team and went first. That's never easy, and they rose to the occasion.

Here is what we have coming up:


December 10th: Samantha, Ethan, Will, Anna U, Abby
December 17th: Peter, Paige, Grace, Anna L

In short, using the past tense, give me at least 5 slides covering your experiences over the week. These may be things you did, things you saw, or things you otherwise experienced. These should be real and not just fantastical fabrications. Saying nonsense in German is easy; speaking about real life is the real challenge. The slides must also include pictures.

A presentation should last at least 5 minutes. Saying a single sentence and then moving on to the next slide is not enough, nor is simply reading the title aloud and moving on. Each slide should be a short story on its own, in other words. Much like I do mine.

Example: A slide that says "Ich habe Pizza gekocht." Should not just be a picture of pizza, you pointing to the title, and then moving on. It should be more like, "Am Freitag habe ich pizza gekocht. Es war sehr lecker! Ich habe Kochen lieber als Bestellen denn Restaurant Pizza ist zu fettig. Mein Pizza hat Pepperoni und viel viel viel Käse. Mutters Pizza hat Zwiebel. Ich hasse Zwiebel..."


Note cards may be used during the presentation if it helps.


Please let me know if this will not work for any reason--we can shuffle around as needed so long as these get done before Christmas.

Our listening comprehension was a new find, "How to mildly annoy your cats" which can be found for your viewing pleasure here.

We later played Perfect FRED. This is basically BINGO, but I couldn't think of 25 regular verbs in the past tense off the top of my head, whereas 16 was doable, so we did FRED (4x4 cards) instead. It's "Perfect" because it was over the perfect tense. The cards had infinitives, and I called out the past participles. Upon achieving a FRED, the students had to use them in a sentence (e.g. "Ich habe gekocht") to prove they had the right spaces.

And finally, we spent a good deal of time talking about Every Day Life in both 1st century Rome and 1st century Germania (what little we know about the former) and comparing the two. We covered diet, housing, and technology. Next time we talk about clothing, economics and religion (e.g. Odin, Thor, Loki vs Jupiter/Zeus, Mercury/Hermes, Pluto/Hades, etc).

Enjoy the snowy day!

Enjoy the Break... and "Deine Woche"

Guten Tag,

This upcoming weekend is our break for Thanksgiving. There will be no class on November 26th. If you show up to school, you will be alone and rather bored.

On Saturday we assigned the "Meine Woche" presentations for the remaining weeks of the school year. In short, instead of me presenting my own week's experiences, it is now the students doing so.

The assignments are as follows: Updated on 11/29

December 3rd: Andrew, Sarah, Emily, 
December 10th: Samantha, Ethan, Will, Anna U, Abby
December 17th: Peter, Paige, Grace, Anna L


If you/your child will not be present on your/their assigned weekend, let me know so I can re-assign dates. Showing up unprepared or simply not giving the presentation is not an option. This is 50% of the averaged "Sprechen" and "Fleiss" grades for this semester.

In short, using the past tense, give me at least 5 slides covering your experiences over the week. These may be things you did, things you saw, or things you otherwise experienced. These should be real and not just fantastical fabrications. Saying nonsense in German is easy; speaking about real life is the real challenge. The slides must also include pictures.

A presentation should last at least 5 minutes. Saying a single sentence and then moving on to the next slide is not enough, nor is simply reading the title aloud and moving on. Each slide should be a short story on its own, in other words. Much like I do mine.

Example: A slide that says "Ich habe Pizza gekocht." Should not just be a picture of pizza, you pointing to the title, and then moving on. It should be more like, "Am Freitag habe ich pizza gekocht. Es war sehr lecker! Ich habe Kochen lieber als Bestellen denn Restaurant Pizza ist zu fettig. Mein Pizza hat Pepperoni und viel viel viel Käse. Mutters Pizza hat Zwiebel. Ich hasse Zwiebel..."

Note cards may be used during the presentation if it helps.

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Over the last 2 class periods, we have gone over the Perfect (also known as "spoken past" or "present perfect") tense and are ready to begin using it in assignments such as the above-listed and onward. I produced a handout that has been given to all who were present one of the last 2 weeks. Anyone who was absent may request a copy, and I will be happy to distribute.

12.Nov - Stammen

Guten Tag,


Our day began as it normally does, with a musical interlude, this time courtesy of Schnappi das kleine Krokodil.

Once we went over Meine Woche, we took a little bit of time to polish up and finish up the tribal presentations. Then, we went forth, for victory! They went rather well, especially considering it involved coordination between students outside of school hours.

Our main lesson for the day was a brief introduction over the perfect (past tense), which we will be again covering in detail in weeks to come.

I have a handout over the perfect that I will be distributing with this week's email to help those who were absent.

Mit Vergnügen~

5.November - Stammen

Guten Tag!

Today was began our history unit. The students spent the majority of class in groups researching their assigned Iron Age germanic tribe.
The groups we covered were the following from the first century AD, their records having been created by Roman historians Pliny (elder) and Tacitus:

• Vandals
• Irminones
• Ingaevones
• Istvaeones

Next week, the groups from today will present to the class about their tribe of choice. 

Those not present today should, as solo work, cover the remaining tribe we didn't use, the Bastarnae. 

Questions to answer include (auf Deutsch): 

• Where does the name of the tribe come from and who wrote their history?
• What (modern day) countries did they live in during the first century AD? Where did they expand to afterward?
• What modern languages (if any) come from this group?
• Did they have any sub tribes? What are they called?
• What is one thing you find interesting about them? 

We also did one of my favorite songs, selected by a student: "Ich habe 'nen Traum" from Tangled, and went over Meine Woche. 

Mit Vergnügen

30.Okt - The Princess Games

It happened. The Princess Games 2016 have come and gone!

Our winner was (as always), Princess Luna, Princess of the Night, Co-Sovereign of Canterlot Castle.

Class began with each group putting the finishing touches on their campaign presentations from last week, and then we went from class to class.

After the speeches were made and presentations given, the breakdown from across the school (including Frau Rill and the parents who were volunteering this week) was as follows:

• Luna: 5 classes
• Twilight Sparkle: 2 classes
• Celestia: 0 classes

As usual, it went overwhelmingly in Luna's favor. Maybe we should look into term limits for Pony Princesses, going forward.

We then did "Meine Woche" and the first of our student-provided listening comprehension exercises, "Lass jetzt Los" (Let it Go, from Frozen). And of course, it was stuck in everyone's head for the next 17 years as a result. 

Finally, we did our quiz over comparatives and superlatives. I am giving those who were absent the option to either

A) do the quiz at home with parental supervision (I'll email you a PDF copy)

B) do it the next time they attend German school.

Please let me know your preference. 

Next week, we begin a new unit. Please bring mobile devices capable of wifi for research. These may be phones, tablets, or laptops. 

Mit Vergnügen~

22.Okt '16 - PrinzessInnen Spiel

Guten Tag,

Today we talked about princesses.

We began with two Kahoot games, reviewing both all that we learned about the different German-speaking countries in the world and also the comparatives and superlatives that we spent the last 4 weeks going over.

There will be a quiz over comparative and superlative adjectives next week, wrapping up the unit.

We also watched one of my favorite videos, 10 Tipps für faule Menschen.

Our big activity, after a review of superlatives, was the Princess Games, whereupon we talked (in superlative, descriptive language) about each of the 4 pony princesses from My Little Pony: Twilight Sparkle, Cadence, Luna, and Celestia and what makes each of them special.

Then we were randomly divided up into groups with the task of campaigning for "best princess." Each group is making a poster and a list of reasons why their princess is the best. Next week, we will go classroom to classroom to campaign, and the winning pony will be Prettiest Pony Princess Prancing in the Paddock.

Group members should be finishing their assigned tasks for the Princess Games as well as preparing for next week's quiz.

Those not present should prepare for next week's quiz. Those not present next week; I will share the questions here after the quiz has been taken in class.


Mit Vergnügen

15.Okt - Sprachraum 2.Teil, Geister, Schweine

Guten Tag,

Today was a great deal like other Saturdays. We had a significant number of absences, so thank you to those who alerted me to this beforehand! It saved a small part of the rainforest as I didn't print extra copies that would've been unnecessary.

Also, a big stack of graded papers was given back today. If your child came home with no papers at all, then be suspicious.

Our song for the day was "Sei ein Mann" from the German dub of Disney's Mulan, a perennial classic (just wait until we do Frozen).

We did Meine Woche, which had an interesting story about a "haunted bathroom," that I'm sure your kids will share, as well as the saga of the missing tape.

Our lesson was over the Superlative, continuing off the Comparative that we had been covering over the last few weeks.

We discussed how superlative statements are, in essence, "the most something of all," e.g. "the biggest," "the strongest," "the prettiest," "the smallest."

Much like with comparatives, an adjective with only one main vowel is given an umlaut (ö, ä, ü).
For superlatives, also add an -ste at the end unless the adjective ends in s, z or ß
So we have, for instance:
größte (groß with an ¨, -te at the end since it already has an ß)
stärkste (stark with an ¨, and -ste at the end)
kleinste (klein with an -ste at the end)

A superlative noun (e.g. "The Prettiest," "The Strongest") is just the superlative adjective with the appropriate article and ending.
Der Beste (the best of all)
Der Kleinste (the smallest of all)

Alternatively, to say something is the most ____, use the phrase am ____sten.
"Ich bin am kleinsten" (I'm the smallest)
"Du bist am doofsten" (you're the dumbest)

Lastly, superlatives can simply be used like any other adjective, stuck in front of a word.
"Ich bin der schönste Pony in der Park" (I am the prettiest pony in the park)
"Sie ist die reichste Prinzessin in dem Land" (she is the richest princess in the land)


To use this, we did part two of "Deutsches Sprachraum" and researched how each German speaking country stands out from the rest (e.g. the richest, the biggest, etc).

We also held an election, with winners in the 3 categories: Verrückste, Schönste, Klügste
Among the winners, we then held a runoff for the title of Klassenprinzessin. The winner was (literally) showered with votes.

For those who were absent, do the following and turn it in the next time you are in class:
Write out (to be read aloud in class) 10 ways in which you are the most SOMETHING of everyone in the class. 

• Adjectives may each be used only once. 
• Use all 3 methods of superlative formation that I wrote earlier (as nouns, am__sten, as adjectives)

Mit Vergnügen