Model EU

In German 4 we do a unit on Globalization as prep for the AP exam (last year, since my German 3 and 4 classes are combined, German 3 gets a taste of this unit as well).  The unit basically goes over what Globalization is, the pros/cons of it, and what it looks like in various forms (focusing on the EU and activism/protest).

Once we've settled into the unit, coming up with our own class definition and discussing Globalization in a general sense, we take a look at the EU.  Believe it or not, some of my students didn't know what the EU even is, so we had to start with that.  I then broke students into groups and had them brainstorm the pros and cons of the EU.

Previously I had found this activity (alas, I no longer know where I got it from - if anyone knows a source I can credit, please email me or leave a comment!).  It has pro/con statements about the EU.  Print them out, cut them up and have the groups sort them as positive or negative statements.  I also made this Power Point to go along with it.

We then do a mock EU.  Depending on class size, I either give each student their own country or have them work with a partner.  You can either randomly assign countries or have a lottery to let students pick.  Also depending on class size, you could make it a mock UN to have more countries involved.  I try to limit it to the EU, though I will also include non-EU member countries from Europe just to get some varying perspectives.

Here's a list of the countries I incorporate.  Obviously with smaller classes, not all of them will be represented:

- Deutschland

- Oesterreich

- die Schweiz

- Belgien

- Luxemburg

- Liechtenstein

- England

- Frankreich

- Italien

- Spanien

- die Tschechische Republik

- Polen

- die Turkei

- Griechenland

Students are given class time to research their country.  I give them this worksheet to complete - it covers basic information about their country (GDP, languages spoken, government system in place, currency, etc.).  The second page covers more specific information that will be discussed at our mock EU.  There are a series of proposed agenda items that they will debate and then vote on - their job is to find out what their country's perspective and vote would be.  In the vote, they will either be FOR or AGAINST the proposal... though they're also allowed to abstain.

Each country has a set number of votes (think of the electoral college).  I based these numbers on the overall populations of these countries combined, and found out how much of that total each country possessed.  I.e. Germany had 17% of the total population, so they get 17 votes.  Though I now notice it only adds up to 98, so I must have rounded down a few times to get even numbers.  

- Deutschland: 17

- Oesterreich:  2

- die Schweiz:  2

- Belgien:  2

- Luxemburg:  1

- Liechtenstein:  1

- England:  11

- Frankreich:  14

- Italien:  10

- Spanien:  10

- die Tschechische Republik:  2

- Polen:  8

- die Turkei:  16

- Griechenland:  2

We sit in a large circle.  I also have students sit with their country's flag displayed for the rest of the class to see.  During the discussion, their job is to speak up for their country, argue against other countries that disagree, and vote at the end of each topic discussion.  Students are also assigned another random student in the class.  They will take notes on how they think this student did during the discussion - basically if they participated, made their opinion clear, and had good points.  I'm part of the discussion only as the moderator - I propose topics for discussion and then keep track of the votes at the end.

I use this rubric to grade their overall performance.

This activity often leads into a discussion on the nature of politics.  Smaller countries complain that their votes were basically meaningless unless they all worked together.  It's really a good jumping off point, especially if you want to pair up with a Social Studies teacher.

I've liked doing this activity with my students because it's not just looking up information about other countries but having to apply it.  They find out more about the EU and often a lot more about their own views on current issues.

- Frau Leonard

Kunstwerke und Schönheit

In my combined German 3/4 AP class we're in the midst of our Beauty and Aesthetics unit.  It's a longer unit that I generally break up into shorter chunks.  Right now, since we're just starting out, we're discussing what is beauty and trying to better understand our own personal concepts of beauty.

To tie in some culture, we usually look at some famous works of art from the German-speaking world.  We look at some pieces to figure out which we like and don't like, coming up with different things we like (some kids like the classic stuff, others like the modern or abstract stuff - it's a great way to know your kids better to find this out!).  Then each student picks a piece of artwork and researches it a bit, finding out about the artist and the work itself.  They then present their findings to their class, additionally explaining why they think that particular painting is beautiful.


I've always enjoyed this part of the unit (Who doesn't want to take a break to look at some art?  There's some great history behind some of these works!), but I felt like this wasn't as memorable for the students as it could be.  So what we did is this year, I teamed up with one of our fabulous art teachers.  In addition to researching their particular work of art, I had students then re-create it using watercolor, oil pastel or colored pencil.  Check out the results!


If you'd like to do an activity like this - and I totally recommend it since it was a lot of fun - here's how to set it up:

• If you'd like the Power Point with the rubric and works of art my students chose from, it's available on TPT - just click here.
• I gave students a copy of the Power Point.  We went through each piece of art briefly and they took notes on which they liked or didn't like.  I then had them pick their top three to research.  Warn them that they will also be painting their own version!
• To make sure I didn't have 26 kids all reproducing der Wanderer or Hase, I limited it to two students per work of art.  I randomized student names.
• I was nice and gave students time in class to research (about 30 minutes, the rest had to be done at home).  I also gave them some information about the work of art as a starting point (author or name of painting, this information is in "notes" section of the Power Point slides).
• Students had three days to actually reproduce their work of art.  The first day was all about the line art - getting that ready so they could jump right into painting the next day.  They then had two days to finish their work with whatever medium they wanted.  The art teacher was there to help guide them through both parts of this process (which was amazing and super helpful since painting is never something I've been particularly good at).  If students needed more time, they could come in after school or take it home.
• If students wanted to do an adaptation of the work, they could... but they would need to address what changes they made and why during their presentation.  For example, some students had paintings that were black and white, so they added color to them.
• I did give students a grade for the actual art work... but it was for completion.  If I had seen them trying in class and they had something to show at the end, they got their 15/15 points.  
• Students presented their information and their own adaptation.  We then discussed which ones we thought were the best reproductions of the original.
• Obviously I hung these up - some of them were amazing!  
• To get the lower levels involved (i.e. to pump them up for when they'll get to do this activity), I had them do a gallery walk and vote on their favorite.  Kids loved seeing what their friends from Deutschklub or what their older siblings were doing!

This was a fun activity, and honestly it was a great "mental break" from the work we've been doing.  It was at the end of first quarter, so it also felt like a reward for students - it's been a hard transition for most of them since we're a combined German 3/4 AP class, which is new for both groups.

- Frau Leonard

P.S.
Here's a freebie activity on Was Kinder über Schönheit denken - works well as a reading and leads into some great discussion points!