Malen und Basteln in Deutsch 1

The past few days in German 1 have been a lot of fun, which is what you need in February: coloring, cutting, pasting, and Das doofe Fischlied.  

Our current unit, Wie sind sie? How are they? focuses on descriptive adjectives.

Adjectives in German means adjective endings, which is a really difficult topic for most students.  It's often not introduced until 2nd year, but our current textbook gives an introduction to it in 1st year, and I think it's good to start chipping away at the topic early.

Time for Das doofe Fischlied:



There are many versions of it available on YouTube, but I like this one because it has the lyrics on the screen.

Before we get to the song, I introduced the difference between predicate adjectives and attributive adjectives: 

Then, we listened to the song and completed notes for the nominative and accusative cases:

I don't test students on adjective endings or expect them to use them correctly at this point, but I do point them out when we encounter them so that students start to develop a feel for them.  Just planting the seed...

The next class began with coloring:

And some partner speaking practice, with a few adjective endings snuck in:

The following day we followed up coloring with cutting and pasting of adjective opposite pairs, which I've blogged about before.   Just like last year, students seemed to really enjoy this activity, and it pushed them to work on their vocabulary.  

Files for the activities I've described can be found here:

     

     Introduction to Adjective Endings with Das doofe Fischlied

     Colored Pencils Picture

     Introduction to Colors with Partner Speaking 

Eine Reise

German 2 started a new unit about travel on Friday.  Since we were just at the very beginning of the unit (students received the new vocabulary list the previous class), I wanted to do some activities that got them interacting with and using the new vocabulary.

I found this great picture at Illustratoren für Flüchtlinge which we used to start our discussion:

Then, we wrote a story about a trip.  First, we chose our destination.  Period 1 chose Berlin.

Period 3 discussed this for a while and finally decided on Honolulu.

Next, each table group received a picture card and was asked to write a sentence using the new vocabulary to describe what was on the card.

I wrote the first sentence as an example.  When groups has finished, they read their sentence out loud to the class, and I typed it into the story.

An observant member of period 1 noticed the Sydney opera house in the background of picture 6 and insisted that we include this in the story.  It added an interesting plot twist.

Period 3's trip went more to plan.  I had a little more time in that class, so we added a few more details.

That was it for Friday.  Energy levels were low and cell phones kept appearing.  Time for the Handy Haus.

My plan is to use these stories for additional activities during the unit.  I hope to have them add details, using adverbs and coordinating conjunctions, and change the story into the Futur, which we'll be learning this unit.  

If you'd like a copy of the file, click here: Ich mache eine Reise Schreiben.