Wir mögen Deutsch!

We're on to a new unit in German 1 - food!  It's a good unit for this time in the year when everyone's energy level is low.  We all like to talk about food.

Students learned five modal (helping) verbs - sollen, dürfen, können, wollen, and müssen - last unit.  Our new textbook teaches mögen (to like) and möchten (would like to = subjunctive form of mögen) separately in this unit, which I really like.  

Mögen is an unusual modal verb because it is usually used without a main verb to say that you like something, whereas gern (gladly) is more frequently used to say that you like doing something.  We've been using gern for a while now and have that pretty well established in students' vocabulary so I think it is a good time to introduce mögen to talk about foods we like and dislike.

Our guided notes for mögen and looked like this:

I really emphasized the difference between gern and mögen, and we also had a chance to review the ways in which modal verbs are irregular.  

Then, we wrote about foods we liked and disliked before moving on to möchten.

Finally, it was time for Oscar the Grouch from Sesame Street.  I love Sesame Street, both in English and German, and try to incorporate clips from it into class whenever I can.  (The 3/4 students seem to enjoy it a lot, too.  The first year students aren't quite sure yet.)  I happened upon the German version of "I love trash," which uses mögen: "Ich mag Müll."  Perfect!

Here are the files: Mögen guided notes, Mögen worksheet