Possessive Pronouns with Easy German

Sometimes everything just comes together!  I've blogged about my love of Easy German videos and also how useful EDPuzzle can be for teachers.  

Put them together, add a good worksheet to go along with the video, and you've got a great lesson to teach possessive pronouns (my, your, his, her, etc) in German 1 or to review them in German 2 or 3.  Enjoy!

Here are the links:

Original Super Easy German Possessive Pronouns Video

My EDPuzzle Video Version

Possessive Pronouns Worksheet

Easy German Reise nach Dresden - Yule Blog

 

Easy German Reise nach Dresden Trip to Dresden

A tool I find really useful is Edpuzzle.  I've blogged about it before, and I really like it for cutting and adding questions to online videos.

This video is the first 3 minutes of a new Easy German video filmed in Dresden.  The whole video is pretty good but probably a bit long for students' attention spans.  There is also the word "Scheiße" and some consumption of alcoholic beverages (by adults) later in the video, so it may not be something you want to show in your classes, depending on your school's policies and the maturity of your students.

However, the first three minutes show some beautiful sights in Dresden and provide great opportunities to use weather, clothing, and travel vocabulary, which are all German 2 topics in the district where I most recently taught. 

I made a one page worksheet to go along with my video.  Click on this link if you'd like a copy.

A Favorite Resource of 2022 - Yule Blog Challenge

A Favorite Resource of 2022 - Easy German

Ok, I'm cheating a little here since Easy German has been a favorite resource of mine for some time, so it's not new to 2022.  I've blogged about it quite a bit.  But it continues to be great and keep getting better, so it continues to deserve mention.

Recently they posted a video about Relativsätze, relative clauses.  This is a topic my German 3 students often found confusing, and the video explains it very well.

I made some guided notes to go along with the video.

Click the link if you'd like a copy: Relativsätze Relative Clauses notes

 

German Joke for students learning "werden"

It's been a very long time since I last blogged, and much has changed since my last post.  

I was inspired to write again by a video from Easy German with cheesey jokes which might be useful to other German teachers, so I'll post about that and save updates for another day (maybe).

Warning to K-12 public school teachers: this video has two or three words that would be inappropriate in most schools, so be sure to preview it before watching with your students and/or show only clips.

In spite of a few bathroom language moments, this is a sweet video, especially since Janusz is Manuel's dad.  I could imagine asking students to memorize and present one of the jokes as a short speaking assignment or extra credit opportunity.  

My personal favorite is at 11:33 and uses the verb werden, which I've generally taught in 2nd year.  

It's a pretty easy joke to understand in terms of language level, and what I like about it most is the way it contains both uses of werden:

1. As a helping verb to form the future tense - Wir werden sehen.  We will see.
2. As its own verb meaning to become - Wir werden Seen.  We're becoming lakes.

Ist das nicht fabelhaft?  Thanks, Easy German team.  Ach, I love teaching German!  

Update: I've updated my guided notes to include the joke video

     

and made a Google Slides presentation for the lesson.

I'm happy to share - just leave me a comment, and I'll send you a copy!

Kuchen Rezept

I love to bake!  When we're in school, I really enjoy baking with my students.  

This spring one of my German 2 classes opted to bake Pfannkuchen (thin German pancakes, much like crepes) for Faschingsdienstag (Mardi Gras/Shrove Tuesday).  We watched this great video from Easy German and then gave it a try.  The results were delicious! 

 

 (Here's a newer video in Super Easy German.)

We made Lebkuchenhersen this fall for Oktoberfest.

And last year we baked Apfelkuchen.

Andrea Thionville, who makes great beginning German videos, has a Kuchenrezept video.

I've converted the recipe to U.S. units, and it's my hope to try out this cake sometime next school year with my German 1 students.

Transport in Berlin Video from Easy German

My German 2 students just started a new unit on Transportation before Spring Break and the school closures.  I used Edpuzzle to insert comprehension questions into a video from Easy German about Transport in Berlin:



We watched the video as a whole class first without the questions and pauses.  Then, students were assigned to watch the Edpuzzle video and answer the questions in Canvas (our LMS) at their own pace.  Overall, it worked pretty well.  Now, with schools closed and students learning from home, I may be doing more of these videos.

Podcasts for German Learning

I've become a big fan lately of Podcasts, and there are several that are good for German learning.

One that's been around for a while is Slow German Podcast from Annik Rubens.

Annik has been podcasting for more than 10 years and has some great episodes for German students.  The podcasts are usually 8-10 minutes long, and she speaks slowly and clearly.  

You can download them to your mobile phone or subscribe through a Podcast App, or you can listen online.  There is also a transcript of the episode available for free as a pdf download.

If you listen online, there's a really nice feature where she has translated some of the more difficult words, which you can see if you move your cursor over the word:

My German 2 students are now working on a unit about travel, and we listened to part of the podcast about Jugendherbergen (youth hostels) this week.  These podcasts are challenging but understandable for intermediate level students. 

I've blogged previously about using videos from Easy German in my classes.  They have recently started a podcast, which I think is fantastic!

These podcasts are much longer than Slow German - usually at least an hour - and are geared at more advanced students.  They speak at a regular speed but keep their German learner audience in mind and explain (in German) particularly tricky words or cultural references.  

Again, you can download them to your mobile phone or subscribe through a Podcast App, or you can listen online.  The podcast is free, but if you subscribe for $2 a week, you have access to a transcript as well as a really neat vocabulary feature on certain Podcast Apps.

I use Overcast, and when I am listening, the vocabulary and English translations for the current section of the podcast show up automatically on my phone:

Since I only teach first and second year German currently, I wouldn't use these podcasts with my students, but parts of them could definitely be used in an upper level class, and they'd be great for students who want to challenge themselves.  

I enjoy listening to hear native speakers and keep my German fresh, and the hosts Manuel, Cari, and Janusz are voll sympathisch!

Finally, the Tagesschau evening news is also available as a free video or audio only podcast for your phone or mobile app.  

I often listen while driving to or from school, and frequently hear a story I want to share with my students on the video version so that they have visual supports and subtitles to support their understanding.

Viel Spaß beim Zuhören!

Typisch Deutsch Video Activity

Was ist Typisch Deutsch?

School started this week on Wednesday.  I'm always glad when we start with a short week because the first week is tiring for everyone.  It went very well!

One of the activities I did with my German 2 classes was to watch the German in Me video from Easy German.  

It was a nice way to engage the students in the target language without overwhelming them since there are German and English subtitles.

As we watched, students were asked to select one key German word for each typically German characteristic and to make some notes in English about what it meant:

We did one example together as a class:

We didn't have enough time to get through the whole video in either of my two German 2 classes, but we did get to several typisch Deutsch characteristics, and I think students were getting the hang of it.  Definitely something to do again.  I may turn this activity into an enrichment assignment for students who score 90% or better on the first test.

12 Typical German Dishes

Whew, once you get out of the routine on regular blogging, it's hard to get back in!  My first year teaching full time had me wiped out in March and April, but now with just 11 days of school left, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and have regained some energy.

Easy German recently posted this video of 12 Typical German Dishes, which I really like for our German 1 food unit.  

I've created an assignment on Canvas from the video where students label picture of the dishes after watching the video:

Then, they sort them by category:

This could either be an assignment for the whole class or possibly an enrichment activity for students who have mastered a topic to work on while their peers complete additional practice.

I'll be teaching 3 sections of German 1 and 3 sections of German 2 next year, which is the same as this year, so I'm hoping to add in some things like enrichment and remediation differentiation.