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.
Sunday, November 19, 2017
18. Nov '17 - Ich werde älter
Today was my birthday, and we celebrated by eating far too much sugar before starting the school day. It was glorious.
We started with a glorious account of "Meine Woche," in which everyone got to learn about dinosaurs since I spent last weekend at the Field Museum.
Our listening comprehension was "How to Be Vegetarier," an educational video by the glorious podcaster Mirrelativegal. It contained such tips as, "Esse kein Fleisch," "Kaufe kein Fleisch," "Koch kein Fleisch," and "vergiss dass du wirklich Fleisch essen will!" and a talking salami.
We went further into the Perfect or so-called "Spoken Past" tense and were interrupted by something glorious. The 8th graders dragged us away into a scavenger hunt throughout the school, the ending of which was to find my birthday presents, apparently. It was glorious.
About the Tribes Project. We will have time to finish (AND PRESENT) next class period. I went ahead and divided the pairs up into single workers to finish the content as well since I've been made aware that partner work outside of class hours is not going to work with this class' circumstances and schedules, which is ok: I remember middle school. It was chaotic and full of more activities and responsibilities than I thought imaginable at the time, so I completely understand the limitations of working outside of german school.
I will be sending out a reminder of the assignment and the assigned tribes as well as the expectations today.
Mit Vergnügen
We started with a glorious account of "Meine Woche," in which everyone got to learn about dinosaurs since I spent last weekend at the Field Museum.
Our listening comprehension was "How to Be Vegetarier," an educational video by the glorious podcaster Mirrelativegal. It contained such tips as, "Esse kein Fleisch," "Kaufe kein Fleisch," "Koch kein Fleisch," and "vergiss dass du wirklich Fleisch essen will!" and a talking salami.
We went further into the Perfect or so-called "Spoken Past" tense and were interrupted by something glorious. The 8th graders dragged us away into a scavenger hunt throughout the school, the ending of which was to find my birthday presents, apparently. It was glorious.
About the Tribes Project. We will have time to finish (AND PRESENT) next class period. I went ahead and divided the pairs up into single workers to finish the content as well since I've been made aware that partner work outside of class hours is not going to work with this class' circumstances and schedules, which is ok: I remember middle school. It was chaotic and full of more activities and responsibilities than I thought imaginable at the time, so I completely understand the limitations of working outside of german school.
I will be sending out a reminder of the assignment and the assigned tribes as well as the expectations today.
Mit Vergnügen
Saturday, November 11, 2017
11. Nov '17 - in the Club
Today was the first day since the last time we had class that we had class.
We began with a perennial classic song, "Familie bis ins Mark" from My Little Pony: die Freundschaft ist Magie. It's a magical song about the Apple Family and all the ties that bind them together as a family. We laughed, we cried, we did some serious soul searching as these cartoon ponies regaled us with their euphoric siren song.
For Meine Woche, I relayed the various locales I visited and stories I heard the weekend of my absence, when I was taking 'haunted history, fact and folklore' tours throughout Wisconsin.
Our lesson was an introduction to the perfect tense, commonly known as just "the past" or "the spoken past," depending on whom you ask. This will continue for a few weeks before we transition into the simple past/the preterit. I sent home a handout with each student in lieu of handwritten notes, since this topic is one of the more complex ones we cover.
We were going to present the Ancient Tribes work that the students did last week, but it seems some groups were not prepared or had simply left things at home, so this must be done next week or bust.
Class ended wth an interesting take on a Round Robin Story, one of those where each person writes a sentence (timed) and then passes it on to the next person. Our characters were ponies named Snuggles, Wuggles, Huggles, Buggles, and Steve.
Until next time.
Mit Vergnügen
We began with a perennial classic song, "Familie bis ins Mark" from My Little Pony: die Freundschaft ist Magie. It's a magical song about the Apple Family and all the ties that bind them together as a family. We laughed, we cried, we did some serious soul searching as these cartoon ponies regaled us with their euphoric siren song.
For Meine Woche, I relayed the various locales I visited and stories I heard the weekend of my absence, when I was taking 'haunted history, fact and folklore' tours throughout Wisconsin.
Our lesson was an introduction to the perfect tense, commonly known as just "the past" or "the spoken past," depending on whom you ask. This will continue for a few weeks before we transition into the simple past/the preterit. I sent home a handout with each student in lieu of handwritten notes, since this topic is one of the more complex ones we cover.
We were going to present the Ancient Tribes work that the students did last week, but it seems some groups were not prepared or had simply left things at home, so this must be done next week or bust.
Class ended wth an interesting take on a Round Robin Story, one of those where each person writes a sentence (timed) and then passes it on to the next person. Our characters were ponies named Snuggles, Wuggles, Huggles, Buggles, and Steve.
Until next time.
Mit Vergnügen
Sunday, October 22, 2017
21. Okt '17 - Haunted Bathrooms
Guten Tag,
Our day started out as usual with 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 mystery tuna.
Listening comprehension was "10 Tipps für faule Menschen" by Mirrellativegal. "Tipps damit ihr noch fauler werden könnt!"
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)
We did two activities with this, both of which went far more smoothly and quickly than I had anticipated. We held a class election for who was the Klügste, Schönste, Sportlischste, and the class was surprisingly in complete agreement on that. So yeah. That lasted about 5 minutes. Then we did a comparative-superlative rap, complete with beatboxing and some mild dance moves, whereupon we barged into the 8th grade room and rapped at them about how much cooler of a class we are than them. This was the first class ever to actually successfully RAP so that was nice.
Mit Vergnügen
Our day started out as usual with 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 mystery tuna.
Listening comprehension was "10 Tipps für faule Menschen" by Mirrellativegal. "Tipps damit ihr noch fauler werden könnt!"
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)
We did two activities with this, both of which went far more smoothly and quickly than I had anticipated. We held a class election for who was the Klügste, Schönste, Sportlischste, and the class was surprisingly in complete agreement on that. So yeah. That lasted about 5 minutes. Then we did a comparative-superlative rap, complete with beatboxing and some mild dance moves, whereupon we barged into the 8th grade room and rapped at them about how much cooler of a class we are than them. This was the first class ever to actually successfully RAP so that was nice.
Mit Vergnügen
Saturday, October 14, 2017
14.Okt '17 - Deutsches Sprachraum Part 1
Today began like any other day, with lots and lots of rain. It's rainy.
This lent a dramatic effect to pretty much everything I said, so it was rather welcome.
"Guten Morgen, Klasse!" *Thunder crash*
It was amazing.
We did "Meine Woche" as always, which mostly consisted of my complaining about how long it takes to rake leaves, and then used a seasonal classic, "Kein Vampir bleibt mehr hier" from My Little Pony for our listening exercise. This is apparently so memorable of a song that the 8th grade class next door, hearing what we were doing, begged Frau Bodigor to play it as well.
After a review of the comparatives, we went into a group research assignment. In partners, students compared two German speaking countries.
This took the rest of class.
For those not present, the assignment was as follows:
Pick any two from this list of countries to compare. Look up information about your chosen two countries to answer the questions below:
This lent a dramatic effect to pretty much everything I said, so it was rather welcome.
"Guten Morgen, Klasse!" *Thunder crash*
It was amazing.
We did "Meine Woche" as always, which mostly consisted of my complaining about how long it takes to rake leaves, and then used a seasonal classic, "Kein Vampir bleibt mehr hier" from My Little Pony for our listening exercise. This is apparently so memorable of a song that the 8th grade class next door, hearing what we were doing, begged Frau Bodigor to play it as well.
After a review of the comparatives, we went into a group research assignment. In partners, students compared two German speaking countries.
This took the rest of class.
For those not present, the assignment was as follows:
Pick any two from this list of countries to compare. Look up information about your chosen two countries to answer the questions below:
Deutschland
Österreich
die Schweiz
Belgien
Liechtenstein
Luxemburg
Slowakei
Brasilien
- Was sind die 2 Länder, die ihr vergleicht?
- Ist Deutsch die Hauptsprache oder eine Amtssprache?
- Welche andere Sprachen sprechen Leute in diesen Länder?
- Welches Land ist größer? (Land)
- Welches Land hat mehr Deutschsprecher?
- Welches Land ist reicher? (GDP, GNP, average income)
- In welchem Land sind Leute klüger? (Education level, average IQ)
- Welches Land hat besseres Essen? Warum? (opinion)
- Was ist etwas interessant über jedes Land? (opinion)
- Welches Land ist dein Lieblingsland und warum? (opinion)
The homework is to choose a German song (with video), podcast, or video for us to use at the beginning of class time. It should be between 2 and 5 minutes, school-appropriate, and you must explain auf Deutsch why you chose this one. Give me at least 3 reasons why.
Mit Vergnügen
Saturday, October 7, 2017
7. Oktober '17 - Comparatively Good
Guten Abend,
Today's class began as it usually does, with words.
To be more specific, we began with "Meine Woche," wherein I regaled the students with tales of this past weekend that I spent in Cape Cod for a wedding, and all the loveliness that entailed despite the fact that it rained the entire time and the ceremony was on the beach.
Our listening comprehension was a perennial classic, "Der Käse Song" from my favorite Austrian YouTuber, Michael Buchinger. The old timers in the audience will quickly realize it's a parody of a song from 1990. I'll leave it at that to let it be an age test for you. Hint: "that's where it is!"
Our lesson was beginning a unit on comparatives and superlatives, today being a deeper dive into "Comparatives" after Frau Bodigor (re)introduced the topic last week. While this topic is "new" to the school year, I know that everyone in the class has indeed learned about this in previous school years, a conclusion which was further reinforced by the relative ease with which they picked up the lesson and ran with it, so really this unit is more of a review and reinforcing of prior knowledge before we move on to more complicated things.
We talked about how to form comparative adjectives,which I have broken down into a few general steps (bearing in mind there are plenty of irregulars out there):
For "More"
Today's class began as it usually does, with words.
To be more specific, we began with "Meine Woche," wherein I regaled the students with tales of this past weekend that I spent in Cape Cod for a wedding, and all the loveliness that entailed despite the fact that it rained the entire time and the ceremony was on the beach.
Our listening comprehension was a perennial classic, "Der Käse Song" from my favorite Austrian YouTuber, Michael Buchinger. The old timers in the audience will quickly realize it's a parody of a song from 1990. I'll leave it at that to let it be an age test for you. Hint: "that's where it is!"
Our lesson was beginning a unit on comparatives and superlatives, today being a deeper dive into "Comparatives" after Frau Bodigor (re)introduced the topic last week. While this topic is "new" to the school year, I know that everyone in the class has indeed learned about this in previous school years, a conclusion which was further reinforced by the relative ease with which they picked up the lesson and ran with it, so really this unit is more of a review and reinforcing of prior knowledge before we move on to more complicated things.
We talked about how to form comparative adjectives,which I have broken down into a few general steps (bearing in mind there are plenty of irregulars out there):
For "More"
- Take a normal adjective and add an -er to the end
- If the adjective has one vowel (like "stark" or "groß") then add an umlaut
- use "als" to mean "than" in a comparative phrase
Ich bin groß becomes Ich bin größer als (I'm big... I'm bigger than...)
For "Less"
- nicht so {adjective} wie
Ich bin groß... Ich bin nicht so groß wie... (I'm big... I'm not as big as...)
For examples, each student was semi-randomly assigned a celebrity/iconic character to whom they would compare themselves in six ways. My favorites were "Ich bin nicht so reich wie Taylor Swift" and "Ich habe bessere Haare als Elvis."
After the break, we had arguments. Students broke up into pairs, chose a category in which they would declare their favorite thing (e.g. a food, music, a movie, a tv show, etc.) and then argue out loud about which one was better and why. This became oddly poetic and semi-surreal at times, especially with the two girls who chose category "Waffen" and argued about the virtues of "Words" versus "the bow and arrow." I feel like I should've written that down.
Next week, we begin the foray into our historical-cultural unit for the year. Please bring a wi-fi capable device that would make for easy reading and research, such as a tablet.
Mit Vergnügen
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