Product Review: Schultüte

PRODUCT REVIEW: Schultüten Kit (Teacher's Discovery)

Product Description: A fun, cultural project for your students the first day of German class! Students love the treats and have fun learning, too. You provide the goodies and treats.Cost: $26.95 for set of 12

To celebrate the start of a new school year, our first German Club meeting was putting together Schultüten.  I bought some goodies from Teacher's Discovery (bookmarks, stickers, pencils, etc.) as well as two of their Schultüten kits.  Each kit contained 12 Schultüten, as well as tissue paper, glue and tape.  The Schultüten had two sides - one that was already colored in (see above) and another that students could color in and decorate.  

It was an easy activity to prep for the first meeting when we don't have new officers yet.  

Practicality: 3.5/5
It's easier than making Schultüten from construction paper.  I wish they came pre-cut or at least had perforated edges.  We needed scissors and a decent amount of time to cut them out.  The little tabs that you used to keep the Schultüte together were hard to cut out and needed to be heavily taped to hold it together.  

Decoration was easy - most of the students decided to use the pre-colored, but a few took the time to personalize and color in the other side. 

Accuracy: 5/5
The phrases on the Schultüten were cute.  Loved that they included the tissue paper to give them a more authentic look :)  I do wish they were bigger though...

Fun: 4.5/5
Students had fun putting together and decorating their Schultüten.  It did take some time to cut out and put together.  There wasn't as much personalization as I would have wanted: students could pick colors and could decorate one side, but most of the students ended up decorating theirs with the stickers I gave out (something not included in the kit).

Overall: 13 / 15 (87%)
I would definitely recommend this product if you have a small number of students - it can get costly to buy them for larger groups.  I told my students that I would provide the school-related goodies but they would have to bring in candy to share.  I think this is the best way to displace some of the pressure on you to fill an entire Schultüte for each student.

- Frau Leonard

Product Review: Buzzers

PRODUCT REVIEW: Set of Four Buzzers (Teacher's Discovery)
Product Description: These buzzers make your lessons exciting games. The set contains four colored buttons, each with their own individual sound. The yellow light buzzes, the red sounds like a siren, the green has a laser sound and the blue sounds the charge! Three inches in diameter. Ages three and up. Requires two AAA batteries per unit (not included).
Cost: $24.99 for a set of four, $69.99 for a set of twelve

I wanted to get a set of buzzers for games like jeopardy, but looking at the cost of some of them (like Eggspert), it wasn't something that was feasible.  I noticed this set as I was browsing Teacher's Discovery.  Although four isn't an ideal number of buzzers, the price was right so I figured I'd go for it and got the set of four

I just got them in the mail yesterday and tried them out today with my students.  I gotta say - I really like them.  They're super-easy for students to use (they literally just have to push down).  They're fun because of the different noises.  I can't wait to use them again.

Practicality: 4/5
Not something you could use every day.  Great for review activities or games where timing is important (it's so frustrating trying to figure out who raised their hand first - the different sounds make it so easy).  BUT they're not very big and come in a box that makes storage super easy.

There's also the issue of having only four.  For smaller classes, this isn't a problem, but for my large class of 33 these buzzers wouldn't really work.  

Two other things to keep in mind: 
- There's no off switch.  Put the batteries in and they're always ready to go.  Makes it easy to set up, but I did hit a couple buzzers just trying to take them out of and put them back in the box.
- You'll need a very small screwdriver to be able to open the back panel.  Batteries aren't included, so you'll need 2 AAA batteries for each buzzer (8 in total for the set of four).  

Accuracy: 4.5/5
The different sounds makes this perfect - I can easily identify which group buzzed in first.  I mentioned above that they can't be turned off... which means some students who have an itchy trigger finger are likely to set off the buzzer in between rounds/questions.  I very quickly had to make a rule where I deducted points from a group if their buzzer went off when no question was being posed.  

Fun: 5/5
The sounds, the colors, the thrill of trying to buzz in first... My students were hooked from the second they saw the buzzers, never mind when they actually got to use them!  

Overall: 13.5/15 (90%)

I'm really happy with this purchase - it's something fun that was relatively inexpensive.  I'd definitely recommend this if you have an appropriately sized class and have games/activities that could make use of them.  

- Frau Leonard

Black Stories: rabenschwarze Rätsel

I found a new activity today to do with my German 4 students (and maybe later with my German 3 kids)!  I'll start off by saying I don't actually know the English equivalent of this game (if there's even a name for it).  I know it exists (I've played it with friends), but other than that... 

Basically in this game, there's a story in which someone died (usually... sometimes they're a little less morbid).  One person knows the entire story.  Everyone else is trying to figure it out.  The person who knows the story introduces it briefly, usually with a statement or two about the person or situation.  From there, the rest of the players need to figure out how that person died by asking yes or no questions.  It ends up being an exercise in creativity more often than not - there are no clues except the introduction and whatever you get from your questions!

The last time I was in Germany (which was unfortunately a few years ago...), I saw several sets of these at a store.  I figured, what the hell, and bought one.  

Each set comes with 50 cards.  On one side of the card is a picture with a short description of a scenario.  This whole side can be shown to anyone guessing.  

"Veronique lay dead in the middle of a rye field.  Behind her lay a package.  Far and wide were no footprints."

The back is only for the person who will be answering questions.  It explains the details surrounding the character's death and includes another picture.  

"Veronique, an avid sky diver, had bad luck.  This time her shoot just wouldn't open."

When I got them, I was super-excited to try it that school year - it's weird and morbid and seemed like it would get teenagers interested in the activity.  I tried it with my combined German 3 / 4 class.  The results were less than great...  The students were somewhat interested in playing, but really felt - very strongly - that they lacked the vocabulary to be able to ask any of the questions they wanted to.  I pushed them to try for a few minutes, but was greeted with silence more than anything else.  Frustrated, I ended up letting it go and we just moved on to our other activities for the day.

On a whim, I decided to try it again today with my current German 4 AP class.  They were way more interested (before we even started), and were much more involved in the activity.  They had lots of questions (though they did struggle with vocabulary for some of it) and eventually were able to figure out all the circumstances... and then immediately wanted to do another one.  

I have to say, I'm feeling a lot better about incorporating this activity than I was the first time.  If we finish early, it's a great way to keep them in German before the bell rings.  It gives them an opportunity to think outside the box - both outside of the themes we cover and outside of the vocabulary they're comfortable with.  We'll probably try it again - especially since tomorrow is Friday and we're finishing up a unit.  

For now, I'll continue to be the one answering questions.  Later on, once they've done a few, I'll pass on that role to student volunteers.  I might also have them come up with their own situations and cards to add to my collection.  

If you're a German teacher working with upper level students, I'd recommend giving these cards a try.  If you don't want to buy them, look through the sample cards on amazon.de - if it works out well with your students, then buy a set of your own.  

There are some drawbacks - some of the situations are NOT appropriate for high school students.  Just make sure you read them ahead of time and take out the ones that aren't appropriate for your age group.  

- Frau Leonard

Product Review: Colors Bulletin Board Set

PRODUCT REVIEW: Food Colors German Bulletin Board Set (Teacher's Discovery)

Product Description: Blueberries, black olives, brown bread, green grapes, orange carrots, violet eggplants, red bell peppers, yellow bananas, white rice: it's all here in mouth-watering full color! Hit two major vocabulary topics when you talk about food and colors with your class. Hang this bulletin board set to reinforce color vocabulary and healthy eating! Nine 8 x 11-inch glossy pieces, heavy cardstock, not laminated. 

Cost: $19.95

Our county curriculum for German is based on Deutsch Aktuell 1.  The way it was laid out, we were teaching colors to level 1 at the END of the school year.  Can you imagine waiting four quarters and then, as the LAST unit, starting colors?  I saw these in the Teacher's Discovery catalog and thought it would be a great reference for students throughout the year before we actually got to the unit.  

I love them!  The pictures are great and they add a bit of color (duh!) to the classroom.  Since they don't come laminated, make sure you get that done before hanging them up!  I've found the students like having them as a reference before we cover colors.  

They're a little small (only the size of a regular piece of paper) - they're not necessarily easy to read on the opposite side of the classroom - but I like the size because it makes them less obtrusive and gives you more options in where to put them up.

My only complaint is that pink and grey are missing.  I like having the posters, so I ended up making my own food-related posters for them (see above).

Practicality: 4.5/5

Great as a tool for students before they learn the vocab, and great as a quick reference for after (especially with spelling).  Only took off some points because it's only really practical for level 1 - upper levels don't need to refer to them.

Accuracy: 4/5

Only taking off because they're missing colors I wish were included.  Everything that's there is accurate (though students do sometimes complain that there's green in the white picture...).

Fun: 5/5

I love the pictures and color.  Great classroom decoration!

Overall: 13.5 / 15 (90%)

I would *highly* recommend this product if you teach elementary or middle school, or if you teach lower levels of German in high school.  Definitely worth it!

If you're looking for other color-related displays that might be a little cheaper, here are two others:

- Colors Skinny Poster (see left): Teacher's Discovery has a poster that shows all the colors (even pink and grey which are missing in the set above).  Looks good, but my concern is that it might be too small.  I like the look but didn't purchase it because I already own the item above.  Cost of this poster would be $12.00

- Color Their World: This blog post at the Creative Language Class talks about how to make super easy (and cheap!) signs for colors by going to Home Depot or Loews and getting paint strips.  Liked this idea and shared it with some of the other teachers at my school.  Very creative!

- Frau Leonard

Product Review: Pronunciation Video

PRODUCT REVIEW: A PRONUNCIATION DVD MADE ESPECIALLY FOR GERMAN CLASS!  (Teacher's Discovery)

Product Description:  Snappy, funny and effective! Features pronunciation by native speakers, repetitions on the screen and by your students, and hardly anything else. Excellent introduction to and reinforcement of German sounds. What a great way to speak German! ©2004. 15 minutes. German. Middle School, High School level. Also available on VHS. 

Cost: $21.94 DVD or $9.99 Download

I purchased this video during either my first year of teaching as a way to go over pronunciation with my German 1 students.  To be honest, I showed it to my students once that year and haven't bothered to use it since.

Despite being a pronunciation video, it ONLY covers vowels.  They go over vowels, umlauts, and diphthongs, but there is NO discussion of consonants.  This somehow never made it into the product description, so be advised if you were hoping for something more comprehensive.

The video is only 15 minutes long, but with the *repetition* that it advertises in the product description, that is too long.  Each letter is introduced with a few examples of words with that sound.  As each word is pronounced, there is a short video clip playing that shows a visual for the item in question (for example, there's a clip of a cat as they repeatedly say "die Katze").  

Throughout the video, there are cheesy video effects and unrelated music playing in the background.  Some of the video clips are amusing and the pronunciation is helpful, but the effects and music are more distracting than helpful.  Even my students grew bored by the end of it - I teach high school, so maybe it would be better using this video with middle school.  There's a video clip available on the Teacher's Discovery page - you'll see what I mean.

Practicality: 2/5 

Only useful as a study of vowels, but the video is too long for what it is.

Accuracy: 4.5/5 

Only taking off for the accuracy of the product description - the pronunciation itself is fine.

Fun: 2.5/5 

Some of the video clips are funny or cute, but by the end of the 15 minutes you've had enough.  

Overall: 9 / 15 (60%)

I don't think I would recommend this product.  You could probably get your upper level students to produce something more engaging and useful.  

- Frau Leonard