Friday, December 27, 2013

Frohe Weihnachten!

Every year on the last day of school before Winter Break, I take a break from the curriculum to do some Christmas-related activities with my German students.

This year we had the Adventkalender up throughout December, so I tied that in to some of our activities.  In German 1, I divide students into groups and sent them into the hallway to take notes on the information there.  We then came back and played a trivia game and watched Mickeys Weihnachtsgeschichte to finish up class.

With German 2-4, we actually go caroling through the school.  Each year we sing O Tannenbaum.  I ask the other teachers if they wouldn't mind our classes coming by to sing a quick Christmas carol during the day.  Each class had a list of ten or more other teachers to visit all around the school.

When we visit a class, a student introduces his/her class and the song they're about to sing.  This year, again because the Adventkalender has been up, I added something new - trivia questions!  After singing, we asked for two volunteers from the class.  Each volunteer got a different multiple choice question about German Christmas traditions.  If they got the question right, they got a candy cane :)

We spend December practicing the lyrics (usually once or twice a class if we have time).  To make things a little faster (since we have so many classes to visit), we usually only sing the first verse.  German 2 students have a bit of trouble the first time through, but by German 4 they all have it memorized and can't wait to sing!


I hope everyone is having a good winter break!

- Frau Leonard

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