Roman Clothing & Paper Dolls

Throughout our main Latin topics where we build vocabulary, learn grammar, and read Latin texts, I frequently bring in different mythological and history topics to help students get a better understanding of the Ancient Romans. Aside from taking notes, I also try to build in something more interactive where students get to interact with the history/culture so it feels more relevant to them. 

One of the recent historical topics we've done is Roman Clothing (you can find my presentation on my TpT account). While we've occasionally done toga parties where we dress up in Roman clothing, recently I started using these paper dolls with students.

Students decorate a femina and vir using the cutouts. While I loved paper dolls as a kid and these drawings are absolutely fantastic, I made a digital version of this activity to avoid cutting out all the pieces. Students can click/drag the items they need onto the people, then I print out a copy that they can decorate. 

And then we tie in Latin! Students write Latin sentences that describe their people. I use this with my 8th grade Latin 1 students, so our sentences stick to present tense, third person, and we use Nominative & Accusative cases. I also give a lot of help with the word order/structures - you'd be able to adjust as needed for your students.

If you're interested in doing these activities with your students, click here for a copy of the digital paper dolls with directions and click here for a copy of the sentence worksheet I give students. 

How do you try to incorporate Roman history into your Latin classes? Do you also tie in Latin writing?

- Magistra Leonard

Themed Cultural Drills

For our level 1 students, my department does daily drills that each focus on a different theme. This is something they started doing last year and I loved the chance it gives me to tie in things that we normally wouldn't get to address because of time constraints. We get a quick look at cultural topics like food and music that can spark student interest so they can investigate further on their own. 

My themes are: 

• Musik Montag: Students listen to a German song and look at the lyrics
• Denkmal Dienstag: Students learn about a monument or building in a German-speaking country
• Mensch Mittwoch: Students learn about a famous German-speaker
• Kunst Donnerstag: Students look at a famous painting
• Essen Freitag (Food Friday): Students learn about a German dish and look at the recipe 

Each day has specific questions related to that topic, as well as links and resources for students to investigate on their own. 

The questions and resources are in English. These are my Level 1 students and I want this to encourage them to investigate the culture vs find the language as a barrier to their interests. My hope is that it will get students engaged based on their own interests and that will get them engaged with the language. I've always noticed that students who have a personal interest in a city, the history, the food are more likely to continue on with the language - they have that travel bug growing inside them that will motivate them :)

I have these as an optional activity for students, something they can do for Euros (I don't think I've written a post about the Euro System I use for participation yet - I'll have to do that next!). This gives students even more freedom to pursue the topics they like while giving them just enough of a nudge to do it. I find some students do all five every week because they want the Euros, and I have others who will only do their preferred topic of music, food, or whatever they like best. 

If you're interested in learning more, click here for a copy of the first week I did (and of course check out Slidesmania for the template I used to create these!) - you'll be able to see my questions and use this as a template if you'd like to use or modify the idea! 

How do you bring culture into the classroom? Do you feel that you do it enough?

- Frau Leonard

Cultural Maker Spaces: Medien in Deutschland

This year our department got the opportunity to revise our 7th Grade Flex curriculum. Instead of doing three 12 week rotations, we transitioned to four 9 week rotations. That means every students gets all three languages. (French, German, Spanish)... BUT we still had 9 weeks leftover at the end of the year to fill.

We decided to create three projects per language on the theme of Cultural Maker Spaces, one of them focusing on Media so that we could use our school's green screen and video/audio gear. While that didn't exactly pan out, we were still able to implement the project via distance learning and have students create some awesome projects while expanding their German vocab and cultural awareness.

Part One: Media Investigation
We started the project with a general look at media in German-speaking countries. I collected different examples of media - weather forecasts, news reports, gameshows, cooking shows, interviews, etc - for students to investigate. Here's the Padlet of the resources I collected for students!

They completed a Media Investigation Sheet to show what types of media they chose to look at, any major differences/similarities between German and American media, and they selected the topic they planned on pursuing for the rest of the project.

Part Two: Choice Board & Planning
Students now considered different media-related topics and decided which one they officially wanted to do for their project. They received a choice board with a variety of examples and decided on one that worked best for them.

Based on student confusion and questions that came up during our distance learning, I've added an additional part of this phase that I'll include next year. They'll at this point decide on their group members (3-5), their topic, AND what they think their final product might look like. I created this simple planning guide to help them make some of these decisions now so they could focus on that while moving forward.

(If you like this template, please check it out at SlidesMania and take a look at their other templates - they're really awesome and a great way to visually improve any activity!)

Part Three: Vocab Planning
We invested a lot of time in this next phase of the project. They know their topic and what they plan to create, and now they have to build their vocabulary to get them there. I had them brainstorm 15 new German words related to their topic that they thought would be useful. I also recommended they break those 15 words down into 5 nouns, 5 verbs, and 5 adjectives to make sure they'd have the right building blocks to create complete sentences and the type of descriptive details they'd need.

I also tried out a Jamboard to have students work together and help other classes brainstorm vocabulary for the same project topic. Unfortunately we had some issues with the actual Jamboard (we couldn't get the access working for students to add comments), so I had to the same idea but with Google Slides.

Here's a blank copy of the Slide Show. Each topic had its own slide and I tried to post some some images, links, and/or vocabulary phrases to help get them started. Students could post comments with additional resources and vocabulary they found to help support their classmates.

Part Four: Sentence Building
In previous units, we had worked on vocabulary but not a whole lot on the sentence building aspect. They had new words but what were they going to do with them? How were they going to tie it all together?

We did a NearPod lesson where we talked about creating basic sentences - the word order we'd use, the parts of speech we'd need (in direct relation to our vocab planner!), the verb endings, etc - and then practiced with familiar vocabulary. I did NOT do this (though I wish I had!) this time, but I also put in an activity where students write their 15 words on slips of paper and arrange those papers into sentences. This gives them a good visual on how to put things together, to double check that they're using all their words, and blank slips of paper give them the flexibility to add new words they discover they need!

Part Five: Project Time!
Students now had the tools they needed to create projects on their own or in groups. Because we were doing this via distance learning, I had check-ins every other day where students updated me on their progress and asked questions as needed. You can see some examples of student work on this Padlet!

When students submitted their final project, they also had to rate themselves in this rubric. They rated themselves in the Self-Evaluation portion and then I viewed their products and graded them in the Teacher Evaluation. Our scores combined to give them their final grade.

If we were in school doing this as a group project, there would have been a teamwork component to their grade or a separate rubric where they rated their team members. Since 95% of my students did NOT work with a partner, I didn't develop that rubric/rating sheet.

Step Six: Reflection
Their last piece was a Reflection where they considered what they learned and how they did with the project, as well as offering suggestions to me on how to improve it for future classes.

I wish I incorporated more reflection after projects and assessments in general, so it was a top priority to include it for this one! We've spent about four weeks working through the various steps, and it seems a fitting transition to consider their work on this unit before moving onto our next and final one this week.

Please note: I did not create the rubric or reflections from scratch. Our department head found them earlier this school year and I've since modified them for this project. If you know where they were posted please let me know so I can link back to the original!

How do you incorporate projects and student choice into your units? How often do you use choice boards for projects?

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week! ❤️ Hope everyone's having a good end to this chaotic school year!

- Frau Leonard

Ostern in Deutschland

This year as I continue to adjust to my new role as a middle school language teacher, I've been taking a cue from my department members and use holidays and crafts to engage student interest. The latest installment: Ostern!

I started with a bulletin board at the beginning of the month. I included some Easter egg decorations ad well as some facts about German traditions. And of course, all the decorations are "hanging" in an Osterbaum :)

As we got closer to the holiday, I had activities for both my 8th and 7th grade classes. I only did one day worth of activities for the 7th graders on our last day before break. For 8th graders, we did two days.

Eight graders learned about Easter traditions in more detail (using the bulletin board, a Kahoot, and a Deutsche Welle article), and then decorated some Ostereier.

Students then hung up their eggs around the classroom. I did initially give them relatively free reign, but that just lead to lone eggs, which doesn't really convey the whole Osterbaum idea. I ended up moving them to two main locations and in the future I would give students one specific area. My original plan was to have a tree made out of construction paper hanging on the wall outside my room, but I'd recently hung up some student work and didn't have the room. Next year!

All classes did an Easter egg hunt on the last day before our break. I broke students into groups, each with a color assigned. I bought about $4 worth of plastic eggs from Target to use - I think I ended up with six different colors, eight eggs each. Groups took turns looking for their color eggs around the room, collecting them at their desks.

Each egg had a slip (or a couple slips) of paper inside. For 7th grade, they had spring related vocabulary words - they had to match the vocabulary with pictures; for 8th grade, they had sentence fragments that they had to put together. When a group had found all their eggs and used all their words correctly, they brought up their finished work to trade in for candy.

I color coded student papers so each group a.) knew who was in the group and b.) knew what their color was. I didn't want any issues with students not

When students were done, they helped fill the eggs for the next class. They also got to hide them for the next class, a task which they very much enjoyed! Their only guidelines: the eggs had to be in plain sight, somewhere people could see them without having to touch anything, just by walking around the room (i.e. not under things or inside cabinets). I had my last class of the day hide them for the first class a day ahead of time so no group was left out.

I also like to have a Selfie Station for holidays. I have a holiday-related decoration up on my door window. Students stand inside the room and look outside, then someone outside the room takes their picture - this time students would look like the Osterhase in their pictures.

Note: I will have my materials available via Teachers Pay Teachers within a few days! I know that will be too late for this year, so I wanted to post early enough that anyone with classes later this week could try to incorporate some of these activities. I should also have more pictures up soon! (I also tend to post more pictures on our class Instagram account!)

What holiday celebrations do you bring into the classroom? Do you do anything for Ostern?

- Frau Leonard

First Day Activities

The middle school where I work has three 12 week sessions of 7th grade classes that cycle through the three languages we offer here (French, German, Spanish). Today I just got my last batch of 7th graders for the year, and last week I came up with a new activity that I think is a good one for Day One with students who are unfamiliar with you, the language, and/or your room.

I frequently have had problems with students just not being aware of the resources around them - words that are on posters, where to find markers/scissors/etc, and where the homework is listed. Even after weeks together, some students still weren't aware of everything they had available to them, so I came up with a "Room Investigation" activity.

I looked at my room - the posters, the bulletin boards, the layout, etc - and came up with questions for three categories: German vocab, German culture, and class procedures. Using just the materials visible in the room, they had to answer questions such as "How do you say blue in German?" (I have color posters on one part of the wall) or "What is Oktoberfest?" (there are several Oktoberfest posters) or "Where are the German dictionaries?" (there are a bunch on a bookshelf).

You can see the full worksheet here (and if you'd like a copy, click on "File" and scroll down to "Make a Copy").

This gets students moving around the room (breaking up an otherwise procedure/policy heavy first day) and gets them some fun and also practical words while getting them a better idea of what's around them. Hopefully this will help clear up confusion as well!

- Frau Leonard

Visual Discovery: Part 2

In my last post I talked about using a social studies History Alive technique, Visual Discovery, as a way of introducing culture and history.  In that entry I went over the whole process, which is obviously a little time intensive.  I've been playing around with the idea of an abbreviated version for lower level classes.

Here's an overview of how I hope to incorporate Visual Discovery even in German 1:

1. Preview Question
2. Show an Image, students analyze it with groups
3. Take notes related to the image using a graphic organizer
4. Repeat steps 2-3 for multiple images
5. Processing / Assessment piece

You'll notice that this is almost the same process as the full version.  The difference will be in the level of complexity at each stage, particularly with the processing/assessment piece and with the complexity of the topic.  The previous example dealt with East Germany - a topic that can lead to a lot of discussion and has a lot of gray areas - whereas the example I'm going to discuss today requires less depth to get the point across.

Example Two: German Schools and Classrooms
When I introduce students to vocabulary relating to classroom objects, I usually show them pictures from German classrooms.  It usually surprises students to see that something that's so common place in both cultures can be both so similar and so different.  Because this is a German 1 topic, the visuals are a great way to show cultural differences in a way that still allows for 90% Target Language in class.

Preview Question:

"Was findet man in einem Klassenzimmer?"

Notice that this is a much simpler preview question than for the East Germany lesson.  It's a very straight forward question that all students should be able to come up with an answer for, even if it's just reciting words from their vocab list.  

After coming up with a list as a class, discuss what types of classes you'd usually find these items in (Mathematik vs Biologie).  Then try to narrow down the list to "Was braucht man in einem Klassenzimmer?"

Image Analysis:

The images you choose are still an important part of the lesson.  Instead of picking the action or dramatic shots that worked well with the East Germany lesson, the goal is to find images that illustrate the main cultural points you want to discuss.  

Remember, with each image you'll be following three steps: 

1. Gather Evidence (1-2 words)
2. Interpret evidence (full sentence, "I think... because...)
3. Speculate (motivations - this ties back into the preview question)

Here's an example of one of the images I've chosen for this lesson:

Remember to pose questions for each stage.  Sample questions might be...

Gathering Evidence:

1. How many people are in the picture?
2. Describe the people you see (age, gender, clothing).
3. What objects do you see (we'll have already discussed Schulranzen in this lesson)?

Interpreting Evidence:

1. When do you think this picture was taken (season, time of day)?
2. Discuss how you think the children feel (happy, sad, nervous, etc).
3. Who is the woman?

Making Hypotheses from Evidence:
(Identify the objects as Schultüten first)

1. What do you think is inside the Schultüten?
2. Why do you think the students have Schultüten?

If you're looking for examples of how to structure your questions in each level of analysis, click here.

I already mentioned this in the earlier post, but please note: As students give their answers - and this is for ALL stages - students need to reference what exactly in the picture helped them make the inference.  If you emphasize this process with your lower levels, by the time they get to German 3/4 and do something like the East Germany lesson, they'll be ready to take on the challenge of analyzing those images effectively.

Because this process can be time-consuming, even at this level, you may not want to do the image analysis for each "main image."  It may make more sense to do it for some of them, but for others you might want to jump right into the note taking.


Taking Notes:
For this lesson, there are 11 different aspects of German schools I want to discuss with my students.  I picked 11 main images - one for each topic - and then other images to support the main one.  I plan to go through the image analysis (as described above) for the main images, then use the supporting images as part of the notes process.

Here's how it would look for the Schultüten section:

If you'd like the entire Power Point (includes both the "main images" and the supporting ones), click here.

As students are going through the process of analyzing images and then learning about the cultural differences, they complete a graphic organizer.  The one I created for this topic is very straightforward.  I included the topic, the "main image," and left room for note-taking.

If you're interested in the notes worksheet to go along with the Power Point, click here.

Processing/Assessment:

The point of the Processing is to serve as a form of either formative or summative assessment.  It doesn't have to be a standard "quiz" or "test" - in fact it can often replace that part of your unit.  Notes are completely allowed.

For this lesson, there are two main Processing pieces I plan to use.  The first is a basic exit ticket - students will just need to answer the question with one detail they learned about.  This is an easy way to end the lesson and give them time to think.

The next day in class, I plan on having students work in groups to create a Venn Diagram comparing American and German schools.

Obviously this example is for a different activity, but I like the idea!

Then as the final assessment piece, I'll have students respond to ONE of the following prompts:

Option 1: Letter Home   You're living as a foreign exchange student in Germany.  Write a letter home to your friends/family about the school you're visiting.  Include details about where you're staying and the specific ways your host school is different (or similar) to your school.

Option 2: Classroom Re-Design  There's a foreign exchange student coming from Germany.  You've been asked to help them feel more at home by re-designing one of the classrooms in your school to look more like a German classroom.  Draw a before and after picture of the classroom.  Be sure to include five captions that detail specific changes you made and why.

The idea of using Visual Discovery to introduce culture has gotten me really pumped for the school year - I hope it'll be a way to engage students in the Target Language while getting them to think critically about the world around them.

- Frau Leonard

Visual Discovery: Using Social Studies to Teach Culture

At the beginning of the summer, I attended a TCi Workshop that showed teachers strategies for teaching Social Studies.  While obviously not a social studies teacher, there is some overlap between our content areas, especially when we discuss history and culture.  One of the ones I really like is Visual Discovery.

The idea behind Visual Discovery is that it shows powerful images, helps students learn to decode them, and then uses them to teach whatever concepts you're focusing on.  Here's the overall flow of a Visual Discovery lesson:

1. Preview Question to get students thinking
2. Show an Image, students analyze it with groups
3. Take notes related to the image using a graphic organizer
4. Repeat steps 2-3 for multiple images
5. Students perform an Act-It-Out
6. Processing / Assessment piece

For the moment, I'm going to go through an example I've developed that uses this method.  Keep in mind, I'm hardly an expert.  I attended a workshop and this is how I plan on modifying this teaching method for my classroom.  Also, you might note that my examples contain a lot of English at the moment.  I'll be presenting this same information at a county professional development meeting later this month - to make it more accessible to teachers of other languages, it's currently in English.  I won't be switching them to German until later.

Example One: Life in East Germany

If we get time in German 4 (i.e. after the AP exam), we sometimes do a brief unit on Good-Bye Lenin.  It's a fun movie and gives us a lot of things to talk about.  I first like to talk about life in East Germany in general, then move on to reunification and Ostalgie.  I plan on incorporating this lesson as the opening to a Good-Bye Lenin unit.  The goal of Visual Discovery in this case would be to give students an insight to what life was like in East Germany.  It talks mostly about oppression and lack of opportunities - to me it seems easier to talk about the better aspects when we move on to Ostalgie.

Preview Question:

"What would motivate you to move to another state or country?"

Students start by individually considering this question and coming up with reasons.  There aren't any right or wrong answers to this question, it's a matter of opinion and, more importantly, it will lead into the lesson.  

After students have answered the question, have them share out answers.  As they share their answers, write them on the board in one of two columns - "pull factors" (i.e. positive reasons to leave) and "push factors" (negative reasons).  Here's an example of what students might come up with:

Image Analysis:

Obviously an important part of this process is the images you pick.  Pick strong images that have some sort of action going on.  With each image, you go through the following steps to analyze them effectively:

1. Gather Evidence (1-2 words)
2. Interpret evidence (full sentence, "I think... because...)
3. Speculate (motivations - this ties back into the preview question)

Part of the process is building up student ability to decipher complex images.  While they might want to jump ahead to the interpret or speculate parts of analysis, they MUST start at the bottom.  Our presenter at the workshop used a "Detective" analogy: before you can indicate who the murder suspect is, you need to find clues that will then lead you to a conclusion.

Here's the image we'll be using during this example:

To help students along this process, you'll want to pose questions to them at each stage.  Here are example questions for each of the three stages described above:

Gathering Evidence:
1. What are the people wearing?
2. What objects do the people have?
3. What are the people doing?
4. What are the ages and genders of the people depicted?

Interpreting Evidence:
1.Where was this photograph taken?
2.What is the time period?
3.Who is the man?
4.Do you think he’s trying to flee East or West Germany?

Making Hypotheses from Evidence:
1. What do you think the consequences of this man trying to flee might be?
2. Why would this man want to flee East Germany?

You would go over student answers to these questions after each stage.  For example, give students the four Gathering Evidence questions, give them time to discuss them with a partner or small group, then as a class discuss what they determined.

As they give their answers - and this is for ALL stages - students need to reference what exactly in the picture helped them make the inference.  For example, if I answer the question, "What is the time period?" I could make a guess like, "I think it's in the 1950's because the picture is in black and white and based on the clothes worn by the people in the background."

Keep in mind that students bring different levels of background knowledge.  For the same question, I might say, "I think it's in the late 1950's or early 1960's because the Berlin Wall was built in 1961 - clearly it hasn't been built yet since all that stood in this man's way was some barbed wire."

Here are some examples of question words to use in each level of analysis, click here.

Taking Notes:
After analyzing whatever image you choose, students will take notes using a graphic organizer.  The notes could be in the form of a lecture, a Power Point, a movie, their textbook...  It doesn't matter how you choose to convey the notes, as long as they tie into the picture and lesson.

I think with this particular image, I would only tell students that this image depicts the escape from East Germany by Conrad Schumann, then have them research the rest.  I would only use this process for *this* particular image in the lesson and only with my upper level students.

I've chosen a very basic format for the notes on this topic.  I have the images I hope to analyze with space to the right for notes.

Typically you would alternate back and forth between image analysis and notes.  This is obviously a time consuming process, especially as students do it for the first time.  It could take several class periods if you stick rigidly to this process.  Depending on your own time constraints, you may want to pick a 3-4 of the strongest images to discuss and analyze as a class and use the rest as an impetus for notes.

If you would like the complete Power Point with the images I chose for this unit, please click here.  I also have the graphic organizer available here.  Please note that both merely contain the images - they do not have the actual notes that I would use.  Since this is a work in progress, I'm still trying to find the best way to give the notes (lecture vs video vs textbook).

Act-It-Out:
In this stage of the lesson, students will perform a short skit based on the images to demonstrate what they learned.  There are a variety of ways to do Act-It-Outs, but I'm only going to talk about the two that I think best fit into this lesson.

Talking Statues Act-It-Out: You would first pick one of the images from the presentation - one that has several people.  For the sake of this explanation, I'll use the Conrad Schumann image from above.  Pick students who will represent each of the people in the photo.  For this picture, you would need a few students to stand in the background, Conrad Schumann, and the person filming the incident.

These students would come up to the front of the classroom and "freeze" themselves in the same position as the person in the photograph that they represent.  For example, the Conrad Schumann student would pretend to jump and the photographer student would pretend to have a camera up.  The students who are in the Act-It-Out should image what their character is thinking and feeling at this moment.  When students are ready, you will walk over to them one by one and tap them on the shoulder.  Then - and only then - can they "come to life" to reveal what they're thinking or feeling.  When done, they go back to their "frozen" position.  Their answers don't need to be long - a few sentences would suffice.

Group Presentation Act-It-Out: This is a great format if you want to include primary sources.  Students would be divided into groups of 3-5 and each group would be given a different reading.  The reading should be the personal account of someone.  They will answer a series of questions that will sketch out the details of this person's life, particularly in relation to the overall topic.  Their answers should be based on their reading, but you could also ask them questions that would require students to speculate about that person.

For this particular lesson, I have found accounts from people who lived in East Germany.  Because I need English examples at the moment, I will be using this reading.  Each group will be assigned a different person, and then required to answer the following questions:

• What is your name?

• What is your nationality?  Where are you from?

• How old were you when the wall fell?

• What was your profession or area of study?

• What struggles did you face during your career because you lived in East Germany?

• Did you want to leave or escape East Germany?

• How did you feel when the wall finally fell?

Once groups have answered all the questions, one person from that group will come up front to represent the person they read about.  As the teacher, you will interview them by asking them *some* of the questions.  This process gives students detailed information about their reading, but still gives them the perspectives from the other readings as well.

Processing/Assessment:

The last stage is to do some sort of cumulative activity.  Don't think of it as a test - it's more of a way for students to process and show you what they've learned from the lesson.  It's also important to give them some choices in how they complete this task.  

For the processing activity, I have decided to incorporate this article: 8 Creative Ways People Went Over the Berlin Wall.  It's not necessary to include an additional reading at this point - you can use exclusively the information covered by the images, notes and primary sources you've already discussed.  And again, this article is in English.

Option 1: Letter Home  Write a letter home from the perspective of someone who escaped East Germany (pick anyone from the article above except Conrad Schumann).  Include details of your escape, why you left, and how life has been for you on the other side of the wall.  Keep in mind that this is a letter to friends/family you have left behind.  

Option 2: Sensory Figure  Create a sensory figure from the perspective of an East German soldier guarding the wall.  Draw and label different things he would see on both sides of the wall with six captions.  Make sure to include at least one of the escape attempts mentioned in the article above (except Conrad Schumann). 

That's the overall process of doing a Visual Discovery lesson.  It can be a long process, so it's not something you should consider doing each unit.  My next blog entry will give an example of how I plan on incorporating an abbreviated version of this for cultural topics that I want to discuss.

- Frau Leonard

German Names for Students

The school year is still quickly approaching, and one of the big things that comes up every year is student names.  Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of tricks for learning names (I'm terribly - it takes me at least a week to get all the new names, and even then I still make a few mistakes until the end of month one).  What I do want to talk briefly about is German names for students in class.

A lot of teachers give their kids a list of names in German (or French or Spanish or whatever the target language may be) at the beginning of the school year.  Each kid picks a name, and for the rest of the school year (or possibly for the rest of their German-speaking career) that's their name in class.

I know why we do it - the kids have fun while getting some exposure to the target language culture.  BUT... I'd rather talk about the reasons why I DON'T have my kids pick German names for themselves.  So let me just give this entry a quick name change and we'll keep going...

That's Not My Name

I've never had my students pick German (or French or Latin) names for themselves.  Occasionally the kids ask me why they don't get to do that when they got to in Middle School or maybe the Spanish kids get to.  Here, in no particular order are a few reasons to consider NOT giving out German names to your students this year.

School Community
I want to know who my students are.  I want to know their names (first and last), their strengths and weaknesses, likes and dislikes, but I also want to know who they are outside of my classroom.  So when I want to talk to the NHS sponsor about Mark or to the field hockey coach about Lacey, I get funny looks when I refer to Mark as "Wolfgang" or Lacey as "Hildegard."   

I don't know how many times I've overheard the Spanish teachers talking to each other about a student that they've all had.  One teacher will refer to the student by his/her given name.  At least one other teacher will have no idea who this student is, even if they taught him/her the previous year.  It's only after a confused minute when they finally say "Ohhhh.... You mean Pedro!" that the conversation can actually continue.

When other teachers are talking about all the good/terrible things Alex is doing... I want to actually know who Alex is without having to translate between his "German" and "American" names.

Learning Names is Hard
You can completely avoid the previous problem by making sure you learn both the German name your student picks for class and their given name (and yes, I've met quite a few teachers who only learn the name the students use in their classrooms).

I probably get around sixty new names to learn each year.  Some teachers get more, some fewer.  I have a hard enough time learning the sixty students I actually get assigned between first names, last names, middle names (if that's the name students prefer) and/or nick names.  I don't know how long it would take me to learn three names for each student instead of two.

From a strictly practical point of view, it's a lot of time.

That's Not My Name
And you're not the only ones who need to learn these new in class names.  If I'm friends with Amy, all of a sudden I have to remember to start calling her Anja in class.  Which is not nearly so complicated as it is for me to learn that my new name, for fifty minutes a day, is Elfriede instead of Jackie.

I took French in Middle and High School.  Every year in Middle School, we did this.  We got French names for the purposes of French class.  You could change it from one year to the next, but once you picked one, that was yours for the year.  I'll admit it, it was fun to pick out a new name.  And then the school year started, and it became much less fun.

My name is Ashley.  By the time I had picked my French name of Anne-Marie, I had had about twelve years of being called Ashley and only Ashley.  You call Ashley, I'll look in your direction.  If you call Leonard, chances are I'll look in your direction.  If you call Anne-Marie, there is about no chance I'll look.  Even in the context of French class, where I knew I had picked this name for myself, it was difficult for my teacher to get my attention.  I have memories of times I was working on some assignment in class, knew the teacher was trying to get someone's attention, and it wasn't until someone sitting near me said, "I think she's talking to you," that I realized what was going on.

Some kids are better at this than others.  They'll adjust no problem.  But there's enough of them who will have trouble that to me it seems more of a hindrance than a cultural bonus.

Go to Germany
I also think there's the issue of the real world.  When I go to Germany, I don't get to change my name to something German to fit in.  My name is Ashley.  It's still Ashley, regardless of whether I'm in America, France, Germany, South Africa, China or Australia.  Granted, they might pronounce it funny, but it's still the same name.

I want my students to be aware of this and focus on the pronunciation difference.  I have students who have names that are legitimately close to German names, and I'll use the German versions to call on students.  Johnny becomes Johann, Jake is now Jakob, and Michael, Christian, Caroline and Susanne all get a pronunciation change.

If students don't have a name that's easily changed into a German version - and this, admittedly, happens a lot - the student may ask why their name hasn't been changed.  I usually just tell them that unfortunately German doesn't have a similar name, but I also pronounce their name as a German person would just so they can see the difference.  Again, I'm an Ashley with siblings named Michael, Matthew and Andrea - there's no German version for my name but definitely ones for them.  I let the kids know I'm in the same boat and talk about the experiences I've had with my name when I'm in Germany.

Other Ways to Get Names
I want to still introduce my students to German names... but I think there are other ways to do it.  Every time I create exercises for my students, I throw in German names.  When they do skits or dialogues, they give themselves (temporary) German names.  It comes up in readings and videos, when we do writing assignments.  There are ample opportunities to expose your students to German names without the downsides of assigning the names to students.

You can check out the German Names: Mädchen oder Junge? Power Point I do with my German 1 students at the beginning of the year.


Hopefully I've given you some food for thought :)  Let me know what you think - do you let the kids pick German names?  How does it work out for you?

- Frau Leonard

Ice-Breakers for Day One

In my last post I mentioned I'd have other Ice-Breakers for Day One, so here I am with some activities for each level of German!

GERMAN ONE

• Deutsch I: Find Someone Who...  This is a basic find someone who activity that's (almost) all in English.  Students look for other students who already know a little bit about German culture and language.  

• Deutsch I: Survival Vocabulary  Maybe not as much fun as the other activities, but this is a list of words and phrases that are important to surviving in an immersion classroom.  Have students try to figure out what the words mean first, then go over as a class.  I usually have a 

• Cognate Activities   Another way to build student confidence early on is with cognate activities.  You do need to remember to warn students, though, that not every German word is a cognate and it won't all be this easy.
  
  The activities linked above are really useful.  I wish I could take credit for them, but to be honest I have no idea where I got them from.  If anyone recognizes them, please let me know so I can give credit where credit is due!
  
  I have other cognate activities available on my TeachersPayTeachers site - please take a look at German Cognate Cards and German Cognates: A Pre-Quiz.

• Wer bist du?  This is a homework assignment I give out each year.  Students have to create their own personal page with their name and at least five pictures that represent them.  They can draw their pictures, use actual photos, take pictures from magazines, or use their computer - it doesn't matter.  This is a great way to begin associating each student with what makes them them.  Students love to make their personal pages and like seeing what other students put on theirs.  Definitely have them share these with their classmates and put them on the wall!
  
  Examples:

    

GERMAN TWO AND UP

• Classroom Expressions  Similar the Survival Vocab worksheet above, this has a list of phrases that will be important throughout the school year.  This list is much more thorough and can be used by any class above level one (in fact, by the end of level one a lot of these phrases will be familiar to students already).  The list is broken down into two lists - what students need to be able to say and what the teacher will say to them.  There's even room at the bottom in case students have other phrases they want to add.
  
  This list is based off of a list I received from my mentor teacher way back when.  I'm not sure if his was the original or if it came from somewhere else first.

• Partner Interviews  Here are a couple of partner interview activities.  These get students both listening and speaking in German and on a topic they know a lot about (namely, themselves!).  The first interview activity in the file is one I have my German 2 students do, while the second is for German 3.  Note that for Level 2, the questions are already there and they can just focus on the answers.  For Level 3, they will have to generate both the question and the answer.

• Culture Review  Quick "quiz" for students to try and complete.  All the questions relate to German speaking-countries, but mostly Germany.  This is a nice little review for German 2.
  
  Also check out my German Trivia Cards if you're looking for a similar type of activity for upper level classes.

• Find Someone Who...  Unlike the version above for Level 1, these two are entirely in German.  The first one is a bit more basic in vocabulary, while the second one is slightly more complex.  Both use primarily the present tense, but the second one does have some more difficult grammar forms (past tense).  Typically I use the first one with German 2 and the second with German 3.  Unfortunately my German 4 classes are usually so small that activities like this don't really work.
  
  Both of these boards are, I think, based off of ones I received from other teachers.  I've changed them over the years based on which boxes are almost always left blank.

• Scattergories: Vocabulary Review  This is a review game I do with my students based on the board game Scattergories.  Students are given a list of themes.  A letter is randomly drawn (or you can pick it).  Students then have to come up with a German word that starts with that letter for each of the themes on the list.  After a few minutes, students compare words.  They get a point if they wrote a word that no one else has.  No points if multiple people wrote the same word.  I really like doing this game because you can adjust it to any themes you've covered in previous levels and it can be quick - an end of class review or a beginning of class opener.

• Most Used Words  About.com hast a list of the Top 30 Spoken Words and the Top 100 Written Words in German.  With upper levels, I like to have them guess the top 20 from each list, just to see what they think the most common words are.  It's a fun (and often frustrating) game for the students and a quick way to review very core vocabulary words.  Also a great discussion for the differences between spoken vs written language.

Hope you enjoy these activities and get the chance to try them out!  Let me know how they go or if you have any recommendations.

- Frau Leonard