Window Art

Here's a quick activity to do with your lower level students.  All you need are some dry erase markers and windows :)

German 1 is currently doing a weather unit.  First I had students work with their groups to list types of weather common for each season.  I then assigned each group a season and a window - their job was to decorate the window with pictures and descriptions of weather for that season.  I had five groups instead of four, so I had the fifth group instead do "unusual" weather.  I also had groups come up with five different weather expressions for their topic.

Here's how some of them turned out:

"Unusual" Weather

Frühling

Sommer

The students had a lot of fun just because it was something different.  It's an activity I'd like to do again, probably when German 2 does body parts.  I would recommend using brighter colors (no black or brown), just because they're not as visible from a distance.


- Frau Leonard

Interactive Notebooks

I've always wanted to do interactive notebooks, so this year I decided to just go with it after some encouragement/help from a TCi workshop I attended in the summer.  I had an idea of what I wanted to do, but I've learned a lot along the way.

Because this is something new, I decided not to approach this with my German 3/4 classes at all - they've had me for at least two years without notebooks, and I thought it would be too much of a transition to start doing it now.  That left my German 1 and 2 and Latin 1 classes.  Here's how I've approached interactive notebooks so far this year.

Introducing Notebooks to the Class
I introduced students to the notebooks the first week of school.  Each student needed to get two spiral notebooks, preferably ones with 8.5 x 11 inch dimensions.

--> Why two notebooks?  I have them keep one for Grammar-related notes, and the other for vocab notes.  Since the long term goal is for them to keep these notebooks for the (hopefully) four years they'll be taking German, I wanted to guarantee that there'd be enough room for everything they'll need to put in.  There should hopefully even be some room in case they make mistakes.

Make sure you let students know this - that it's a pain, but it's a real investment in their German studies.  They'll be taking these notebooks with them year after year.  At the end of each quarter, they won't have to ask what they can throw out and what they need to keep - keep the notebook, chuck the rest.  At the end of the summer, they won't have to worry about losing their notes - keep the notebook and it's all safe and sound.  If they forget a topic later on, they can refer back to it in their notebook.  Really sell the utility of it to make them more on board.

I also allowed students to get two section notebooks to use instead, though my recommendation is still for two (more pages, easier to reference both the current vocab list and grammar topic at the same time).

My Latin classes only do one notebook - theirs is divided into two sections, one for grammar notes and the other for culture notes.  Since vocab units are approached different for Latin, it didn't make sense for it to have its own section.

--> Why 8.5 x 11 inches?  This is the perfect size for gluing in a piece of paper.  Any smaller and the pages stick out or students need to trim them.


Setting Up Notebooks
I gave students about a week to get their notebooks.  I also recommended they get their own glue - I told them flat out that I have glue sticks for them, but between the 100 kids who will be putting stuff in their notebooks it wasn't going to last the whole school year and I wasn't getting more.  If they want to make sure they still have glue later, they should get their own.  This gives them some buffer time before it's actually necessary.  Now that we're in second quarter, the original glue I had supplied to kids is dwindling - it probably won't last through December.

When we first set up the notebooks, we started by labeling the front covers.  They needed to write:
their name; DEUTSCH (very big); the title "Grammatik und Strukturen" one one notebook and "Vokabeln und Kultur" on the other.  I also encouraged students to decorate the covers - again, this is something that's following them around for at least a year, it should reflect a bit of who they are.

We then set up a table of contents in each.  They put the title "Inhatlsverzeichnis (Table of Contents)" at the top of the first page.  They then put in three columns: Thema (Topic), Seiten (pages), and Noten (Quiz Scores).  This helps students keep track of the topics we've covered, where to find them, and how they did on the unit quiz (which will hopefully help them focus their studying for midterms and finals).

Adding to the Notebook
Each time we put in new notes, we first add it to the Table of Contents.  I keep track of the up-to-date Table of Contents for all of my classes using Google Docs.  The links to these TOCs are available to students on the class website - this way students who are absent can find out what they missed and where it goes.  If you'd like to see an example of the German 1 Table of Contents, click here for the Vocab and click here for the Grammar.

After we've put it in the TOC, we put it on the next available page.  The first time you put notes in, make sure students skip at least two pages after the TOC - they might need the room later on as they progress through German 1-4!  There are a variety of ways to put in the notes.  Here are the most common:

Straight Down: There's nothing on the back of the worksheet, so just glue the back directly to the page.

Foldables: Part of the worksheet is glued down, but part needs to be left un-glued so it can be lifted to show the other reference material.

Side Margin: For pages that have a front and back, students fold along either the left or right margin.  They then just glue the folded margin down, making it possible to see the front and lift it up to view the back.

Straight Down with Side Margin: You might have some notes that include one page front/back and the front of another page.  Glue the bottom page straight on, then fold the margin of the front page so that all three sheets are visible.

Two Page Spread: Sometimes it's just better to put the notes in across two pages.  Whether it's two pages front/back next to each other, or two single-sided pages, this is the way to go for some topics.

Written Notes: Crazy as it may sound, sometimes students will be writing the notes in themselves.  I also occasionally combine hand-written notes (usually in the form of brainstorming before we start a new topic) with some printed notes. You might need to guide them through this (at least give them a title for the page).

It's really important that you emphasize the page numbers - there's no point in keeping things and creating a Table of Contents if you can't find anything.  The pages are there to make it easier for them to find what they need later on.

Pro-Tip: Keep your own copy of the notebooks.  This is a good reference for students who are absent (even if the note sheets are blank, they can see where things go) and it helps you visualize where you want the various worksheets to go.  It's also a great visual reference for students if you add the notes to the notebook at the same time as them, or at least have it to show them how it should look.


Color Coding Sheets
I read a suggestion somewhere for interactive notebooks that the pages should be colored.  When I started doing this at the beginning of the year, but it definitely makes sense and I've switched to it now.  It's visually easier for students to find their notes within the spiral notebooks.

I used to give color-coded packets to students that contained all the notes and practice worksheets for a unit.  To an extent I still do, but obviously the notes are now given separately.  I pick a color for the notes and then have all supplementary homework, classwork, practice activities, etc. in the same color.  It helps students identify the correct pages in their notebooks to go along with the activities we're doing.


Simplify Notes
I've actually made note worksheets a lot simpler for students - there aren't as many examples or exercises, and I'm tending to use a bigger font.  I want their notebooks to be something they can take out to quickly refer to whatever it is they need.


Grading Notebooks
Every few weeks I do a notebook check.  I collect all the notebooks (EITHER the grammar OR the vocab one - not both at the same time) and do a quick check to make sure students are keeping up with the material.  I don't do anything super-extensive...  I pre-pick three of the things we've added since the notebook check, then go through to see if students have it.

I check for neatness (pretty self explanatory) and organization.  For the organization, I make sure they have everything filled in that they need to, it's in the right spot, and the page number is clearly labeled.  Here's a look at the rubric I use (click here for a digital version):

Even with larger classes, the rubric makes it easy to go through.  Students either have it or they don't.  It's either complete or it's not.  The first couple checks need to include looking at the Table of Contents, just to make sure they've set it up correctly.

So far I'm really happy with how the notebooks are going.  Although a bit more work for me (grading them and helping students set them up), I find that overall students have fewer organizational issues.  When students need help with something, I can reference different notebooks and sections.  I would definitely recommend it!

- Frau Leonard

Eine Modenschau: End of Year Fashion Show

It's probably pretty standard to have a "fashion show" project when doing a unit on clothes.  When I took French in Middle School, we put on a big one in the main atrium of the school.  There were probably a hundred students who came to view our fashion show (I assume the other language classes since I don't really remember) and we spent a lot of time on it.  To this day it's the only project that stands out when I think about my French classes throughout Middle and High School and even College.  

Prior to this year, I'd never done this project with my students.  I've thought about it before, we'd done similar "fashion show" activities that involved designing outfits but never an actual fashion show where the students dressed up.  For whatever reason, I decided this year would be the year to try it out.  

My German 1 class this past school year was a little on the weaker side and because we only saw each other every other day, I'd had to cut out a lot of activities I usually do simply due to time constraints.  I wanted to give them something fun at the end of the year to reward them for their progress (although weak as a class, they made some big improvements toward the end of the year).  

I wasn't sure how it would go.  When my French class did this project, we were a group of mostly girls.  With my German classes, they tend to be mostly guys.  In the lower level the genders are a little more even, but I was still worried the male students wouldn't find this project appealing.  I was pleasantly surprised how into this they got.  Even students who had had a lackluster performance all year were interested in the project.  When I did my usual end of the year survey to get feedback, most of the class was very positive about the project and wished they'd done more, similar projects.

We planned and carried this project out over four 90 minute class periods.  However, we never spent a whole class period on the project, so I think it could be done over the course of a week (5-6 days) with a shorter class period.  Here's the overall process:

Day One: Planning
I introduced the project to my students.  We were already in our clothing unit and had learned how to express like/dislike using the verb gefallen.  Before talking about the project itself, we looked at some pictures from fashion shoes.  We discussed what the models were wearing and if we liked the outfits.  This was a great segue into them doing their own fashion show.  I only gave them a general overview of the project at this point - that they'd be working in groups and each group would put on an actual fashion show during class.  More details would come as we went through the project.

I let students form their own groups of 4-5.  I did have to move a couple students around just to make sure the numbers worked out.  For this first day of planning, students had to do the basics for setting up the fashion show: who was emcee, who were the models, what was each model wearing?  There were some vocabulary requirements (needed twelve different articles of clothing, needed to look up new clothing-related words that weren't on our vocab list, etc) to help guide them, but really the sky was the limit.  I did, however, say that they should focus on clothing they already have at home - this was not an excuse to go shopping, this did not require new clothes or anything like that.  I emphasized that they should work with what they have.  

Day One Planning Sheet

As groups worked, I circulated to give them feedback.  The planning sheet helped keep them focused and listed all of the requirements for this stage of the project, but they still needed some guidance.  

At the end of class I collected the planning sheet from each group.  Since there are vocab and outfit requirements, I went through and made sure each group met them.  If they didn't, I highlighted areas for them to work on or finish.  


Day Two: Planning
Students get back their planning sheet from day one and get an opportunity to make any changes they need to.  Groups then moved on to the next planning sheet.

Day Two Planning Sheet

The next phase of planning is writing their script.  Although the emcee will be the person reading out the script during the fashion show, the entire group needs to work together to prepare it.  Students need to figure out the order for the fashion show (who's first) and write a short blurb about each outfit.  From the previous day, they already know what each student is wearing - that's the first part of the description.  The next step is to add detail.  I ask them to describe the colors and to use an adjective to describe each person's overall look (modisch, elegant, etc. - a list is included on the back of the planning sheet).  

They also need to think about the details that could really set their presentation apart from the other groups.  I told them to think about choreography (are there any waves or dance moves involved?) and music.  If they planned on having music as part of their fashion show (something I made completely optional), they needed to provide both the music and the speakers/method of playing it.  I also required them to submit the songs to me first so I could make sure they were appropriate.

At the end of class, I collected both planning sheets.  I made sure necessary changes were made to the day one sheet (if necessary) and went over the day two planning sheet.  I didn't make substantial changes - just spelling and gave help regarding more difficult grammar concepts.  If they made mistakes with concepts we already knew, I would highlight it instead of correcting it.  


Day Three: Practice Run
Students first had time to go over their planning sheets from the previous two class periods.  If they had questions or needed changes, this was the time to do it.  

I then gave students time to do practice runs of their entire fashion show.  The actual fashion show was going to be in the school atrium, so this was the first time students went to this space.  I explained where the audience would be sitting, where they would be starting from, where the emcee would stand, etc.  It was their job to figure out any choreography they planned on doing and to go through the entire script and performance, just to make sure everyone new what they were supposed to be doing.  It was a large enough space that two groups could use the stairs at the same time, while other groups planned.

Note: Although we did a practice run, I would maybe suggest giving more practice time.  

At the end of class, I re-collected the planning sheets (to make sure they didn't lose anything!).  The whole time you should be emphasizing the final date of the fashion show - do a final reminder that they MUST have their planned outfits NEXT CLASS!


Day Four: Fashion Show!I gave groups a few minutes to prep.  Some students needed to go change and the emcees needed time to go over the script.  I didn't make them memorize it - it didn't seem fair to have one group member do so much more work than the others during the actual fashion show.

I let groups volunteer to go first.  Emcees were given a toy microphone prop I have, just to make it a little more "authentic."  While other groups were presenting, the other students had a peer rating sheet to fill out.  It basically just asked for their opinion of the other groups - were they creative, which outfit was best, etc.  

Here's how it turned out:



Although I liked the idea of using the school atrium as the location for the project (a big space to make the project seem just as big), logistically it didn't work out as well as I wanted.  The space made it too hard to hear what the presenters were saying.  Next year I'll probably find a different space - a hallway, re-arrange my classroom, or maybe the auditorium if it's free.

The kids really did have a lot of fun - it makes me want to incorporate more group projects like this next year!

If you're interested in the worksheets I used, they're available for free on TPT - just click here!

- Frau Leonard

Dirndl und Lederhosen: Traditional German Clothing

Our last vocabulary topic in German 1 is a clothing unit.  We look at a variety of vocabulary words, practice describing outfits, use the verb gefallen, practice shopping, and basically just practice describing things we already have and do in America.

I had some extra time this week so I put together something I felt was missing - a little bit of German culture!

It started earlier in the year when my AP kids did a reading from the Cornelsen AP workbook (which I highly recommend) that talked about Dirndl.  The boys had no clue what a Dirndl was (and as boys, I guess I wouldn't expect them to...), which made the reading more challenging for them.  I decided that deutsche Tracht was something I should incorporate into the clothing unit we do in German 1.

When I went through making this activity, I wanted something that gave a general overview, had some fun details, but wasn't too detailed or overwhelming for students.  We basically talked a little bit about everything, learning some words like Lederhosen, Bundhosen, Edelweisshut, Dirndl and Tracht.  I then gave students a cultural quiz - seven true/false statements that we then discussed one by one.

After that, we watched the following video about Dirndl:


There is a German version available as well (alas, I didn't find the German version until after we had watched the English one), so you can decide which version to use based on your class' abilities.

Next class, we'll talk more about Lederhosen and the Edelweisshut.  Deutsche Welle has a video (similar to the Dirndl one above, though with less of a focus on fashion) on Lederhosen that I plan on showing.


And just like the previous video, there's a German version as well.

Previously when we've had a World Language Fair, my Honor Society students had a craft table where they showed people how to make an Edelweisshut out of construction paper.  We'll be making these hats next class based on this craft page.  I will say that you will need to find the longest/biggest construction paper possible - for teenagers it'll be a tight fit once it's done.

If you're interested in a copy of the materials I used, they're available for FREE on TPT - just click here!

- Frau Leonard

Schnipp-Schnapp: Future Tense Practice

One of our final units during German 1 is the Future Tense with werden.  A common theme that comes up with the future tense is fortune telling.  

My mentor teacher actually had a project for her French III class where they would film videos involving going to a fortune teller and having their fortunes come true (very cute project).  The project works really well with le futur simple, mostly because the students have more vocabulary to work with.  My German 1 students obviously are at a more basic level, and doing a project like that would probably be more frustrating than worthwhile.

I've done horoscopes in the past, but honestly one of my favorite fortune telling activities is cootie-catchers.  

You've probably seen these things if you've spent a lot of time in an elementary or middle school.  You might even remember making them yourself.  Basically, it's a foldable that has fortunes hidden on the inside.  

To prep for this activity, I have students write down eight interesting sentences in the future tense, all starting with "du wirst..."  I give them some suggestions by writing verbs like toeten, heiraten, stehlen, kaufen, and finden on the board.  After students have had time to come up with their own, I ask for examples to write on the board.  Students love sharing their ideas - plus it gives a little extra inspiration or help to students who struggle to come up with eight on their own.  Here are some of the sentences my students came up with this year:

- Du wirst die Mona Lisa stehlen.

- Du wirst 100 Babys haben.

- Du wirst in Schloss Neuschwanstein wohnen.

- Du wirst einen Frosch heiraten.

- Du wirst einen Drachen finden.

- Du wirst im Vulkanausbruch schwimmen.

- Du wirst meinen Hund essen.

Next I tell them to hold on to their list as we make the foldable.  If you've never made one or have forgotten, there are plenty of online tutorials and videos, even templates.  The only thing you need to make sure you have is square sheets of paper - rectangles won't work!

Once students have made their cootie-catcher (or das Schnipp-Schnapp as they're called in German), they get to set it up.  On the outside, I have students put different animals.  I usually stick to basic animals like Katze, Hund, Vogel and Fisch (really easy to draw and shorter words are better).  The students tend to use more exotic animals when they can - the animal alphabet on my wall helps them find some alternatives.

Outer most layer: Animals!

Next we open it up and put numbers on the inside.  1-8 works the best.

Second layer: Numbers!

Then on the very inside, students put the eight different fortunes they've come up with.

Inner most layer: Fortunes!

Once they've set up everything, it's time to play!  This is usually easier to demonstrate the first time through (especially for students who haven't used a cootie-catcher before).  Ask for a volunteer.  Have this student pick one of your animals.  Spell out the animal out loud, alternating between the two opens as you go.  Now the student picks one of your numbers - do the same thing as you count up to that number.  The student gets to pick one more number.  Open up your Schnipp Schnapp and reveal what their future is!  

After showing students how to play, students get a chance to find out their fortunes from other students.  I ask students to play with five other kids in the class.  For each student, they have to write down the fortune they get from them (ex: Joey sagt, ich werde ins Kino gehen) and the fortune they gave them (ex: Joey wird in Deutschland wohnen).  Throughout this activity, students are using all of the singular forms of werden - great practice!

This activity is actually a lot of fun.  It's a bit of nostalgia for some of the students (mostly the girls) and fun to learn for students who have never made one before.  It's more interactive than just doing horoscopes but not as complicated as the fortune telling video.  AND it's easy to add on to - I usually assign students to take it home and play with 10 family members or friends.  They just have to write down the name of whoever they played with and the fortune they got.

Don't forget - this activity is easily done with any language!  French, German, Spanish, Latin, it doesn't matter.  As long as the future tense is involved, you can tie it in :)

If you're interested in this activity and the worksheets, they're available on TPT - just click here (it's the free preview activity!).

- Frau Leonard

Wiener Konditoreis: Authentic Reading

A colleague of mine several years ago had lived in Austria - during my first year teaching German, she gave me this old menu she happened to have.  It was from an Eiscafé in Vienna.  Nothing too fancy - just eight menu items in a small pamphlet style menu.

The great thing was that it went along perfectly with the Deutsch Aktuell, Kapitel 6B.  This unit adds to the earlier vocab list on food by giving different drinks and types of ice cream.  It's relatively easy to find online menus or pictures of menus, but here was a real one straight from Europe for students to see!

I made a bunch of color copies and laminated them to give it more of a menu-like feel (and makes it more durable - I made them six years ago and still use them each year).  It's authentic but more than comprehensible enough for German 1 students.  They love that they have something they can actually read all of!

If you'd like the full menu and questions I use, it's available on TPT - just click here!

- Frau Leonard

Embedded Reading: Der Briefträger kommt

Recently I've been looking into embedded reading as a way to increase student literacy in German.  After reading up on it a bit, I decided to modify a short reading I use at the beginning of German 2 as we transition into the school year.

The original story is called "Der Briefträger kommt."  I have no idea where it's from - another German teacher gave me a copy of it years ago.  Based on the copy I have, it's from "Deutsch macht Spass," but other than that I'm not sure of its origin.  It's a short reading that contained mostly dialogue.  It had a lot of vocabulary that was familiar to students, was in the present tense, and had verb exercises that went along with it, which was primarily why I used it at the beginning of German 2 as a review.

I took the original story and modified it.  I actually ended up creating the reading Top Down - I wrote the third, more detailed version first (based heavily on the original I had), then worked backwards to get the other two versions.  I also added pictures and changed the exercises that go along with the story.

Here's a look at how the stories differ in detail and length:

First reading: 112 words, 1 page

Second Reading: 220 words, 1 1/2 pages

Third Reading: 304 words, 2 pages

I came up with four activities to go along with the reading.  The first looks at comprehension, the second and third get the students to expand on the details of the story, and the fourth gets them to create their own version in comic form.

I had never thought this reading was very difficult for students, but the past few years they had found it very difficult to both understand and do the exercises.  I don't know if it's because we do it right after summer break or what, but I found that this year the students understood the story much better and were much more involved in the extension activities.  With the changes I've made, I feel I could use this later this year with my German 1 students with no problems.

If you're interested in this activity, it's available for free on my TPT account!  Let me know how it goes!

- Frau Leonard

Greetings and Introductions

I'm not sure if anyone else has this problem, but I've noticed that year after year my German 1 students don't do a great job with our first unit - Greetings and Introductions.  They do alright, but they struggle with the spelling, the endings, what the words mean, basically the whole thing.

Part of it is probably that students are dealing with their first real exposure to German.  They're getting used to the sounds and words, and some of them may even be knew to language learning in general.  I see this as an adjustment unit where students need time to get used to me and the class.  There's usually a huge jump not only in students scores, but also in comfort level after the first unit.

Even so, every year I try to add more and different kinds of practice to help students get through this little adjustment period.  Last year I made dialogue cards to help students get some more structured practice.  I can't always be there to give feedback when we're doing in class practice, so I thought these would be helpful.  They work with a partner, and the partner has the correct phrases in front of them to help make changes if they say something wrong.

Sample dialogue card

This year I came up with another activity to help students build up from the point where they sort of know the phrases to being able to use the dialogue cards above.  I had them make a foldable in class.  They have all of the main questions on the outside, then lift up and check how to answer the questions on the inside.  Hopefully this is something they can refer to and that they can use to practice at home.

I had them practice with their group members, just introducing themselves.  I then came up with these identity cards so they could get more practice.

After doing this activity today, the kids did seem more comfortable with the phrases.  Unfortunately I won't see them again until Wednesday, but I'm hopeful they'll be a little stronger with them.  And when Quiz time comes next Monday, I hope they'll do well :)

If you're interested in this activity and cards, they're available together on my TpT account - click here for just the activity above, and click here if you're interested in my entire Greetings and Introductions Bundle (includes this activity and the dialogue cards mentioned above).

If you have any activities you like to use during this unit that you think are really helpful, let me know!  I'm always looking for more ways to help students practice :)

- Frau Leonard