Off and Running

(Me and my amazing colleague from Bloomington HS South.  

My younger son will be in her class this year!) 

Phew!  The first 2 weeks of school are in the books.  Here are the highlights:

• Name Tents were a definite thumbs up.  They have allowed me to change student groups daily until I find an arrangement I'm happy with.  Plus, it's easier to adapt to the nearly daily (sometimes hourly!) changes of student schedules.  I do need to adjust the folding lines a little bit so that they fold flat more easily.  And I want to change the back of the German 2 tents to include haben and sein and "Wie waren deine Ferien?" rather than "Wie geht's?"  Next year...

• German 1 has learned the alphabet, definite, and indefinite articles.  I did definite and indefinite articles in one day rather than two, and it seemed to be fine:

  
 

• My homeroom loves oatmeal.  It started when they kept asking to go to the vending machines for snacks.  We talked about how hard it is to make it until the last lunch period at 12:55 when you eat breakfast at 6:00.  I mentioned that I kept instant oatmeal in the department office and offered them some.  I had one person take me up on the offer the first day, and several on Friday.  The only requirement is that they wash their own dishes, which they have happily done.  Peaches and cream is most popular.  I think bonding over oatmeal works better for me than the more traditional ice breakers.

• The $100 I spent last year buying my own document camera, Ziggi, was money well spent.  No more running around the first week, begging anyone who will listen to connect my desktop computer to AirServer.  It would be great if schools provided resources we need to do our best teaching, but since mine doesn't, I'm glad I could get it myself.

• German 2 is a delight!  They are off to a great start, reviewing nouns, plurals, and present tense verbs while learning vocabulary about celebrations and festivals.  We've started the conversational past and watched Tiba's Geburtstag.

• I started off on day one with the bathroom flowchart.  That one item may single-handedly save my sanity this year (ok, that and A LOT of yoga and running).

I hope your year has gotten off to a good start, too!  Remember:

Flüchtlingskind Tiba

The eighth episode of Flüchtlingskind Tiba is up on Die Seite mit der Maus, and I can't believe I haven't blogged at all yet about this great video series!

One of the best resources I discovered last school year was the video series "Flüchtlingskind Tiba" on the children's TV show Die Sendung mit der Maus, and I can't recommend it highly enough to other German teachers.

The series follows a 9 year old girl, Tiba, and her family, who have fled the Syrian civil war for Germany.  Each episode is 7 or 8 minutes long and shows the next step in the family's journey from Syria to a temporary refugee camp to a permanent apartment in Germany.  It's great for discussing the topic of refugees in Germany and bringing it to a more personal, individual level.

Die Sendung mit der Maus is designed for elementary age children, so the language is fairly simple and straightforward and deals with familiar topics like family, school, hobbies, and food.  

Last school year I watched the series with my German 4 class, and they really enjoyed it. Both the hardships experienced by Tiba's family and the services provided in Germany made a big impression on my students.  

Next year I will only be teaching German 1 and 2, but I still really want to use the series with my students.  

I've taken the first episode, which is also available on YouTube, and inserted comprehension questions using EDpuzzle:

I think my German 2 students should be able to handle these questions, and now I'm thinking of making a family tree activity with Tiba's family for my German 1 students to use in our second semester unit on family.

I highly recommend that you take a look at this great series!