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.

März Musik 2020

modified from https://drive.google.com/open?id=1mdc2dxcQ2-jRsgEwRrQl999IF2qGgH625Na_cObqYp0

It's almost March, and once again, I am incredibly grateful for the internet and German teachers who share their fantastic resources!

Last year, I debuted März Musik with my German 2 classes, and it was a big hit.  Some of my students from last year have already been asking if we'll be doing it again this year.  It's a lot of fun, but also a lot of work to set up.  Here's where the German Teacher Blogosphere steps in:

A German teacher in Wisconsin shared her list of 16 songs to compete in this year's March Music Madness, as well as activities, brackets, and more.  Other teachers have contributed their materials, and now there's a whole Google Folder full of great stuff!  

So, I think I'm ready to go.  Like last year, I'll be doing März Musik with my German 2 classes, and I'll open it up to my colleague's German 2 class and her 3/4 classes as well.

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!

Weltschul Maus - Kleidung enrichment for Deutsch 2... and a request

https://www.wdrmaus.de/filme/sachgeschichten/welt_schul_maus.php5 

As promised last week, here is the Enrichment activity for Deutsch 2 focusing on the topic of clothing in the Sendung mit der Maus Welt-Schul video. 

 https://drive.google.com/open?id=1isWxAL9QVNItM_6OSnU3BLrTGCjLshX6 

This time I focused in more detail on the first 10 minutes.  Students need to write complete sentences describing the different school uniforms worn by the children in different countries.  My students worked on it yesterday, and the level seemed good for them.

This is such a great video!  There are so many things you can pull out of it - clothing, languages, weather, transportation to school - and it's really accessible even at the beginning levels.

And, readers, now a request from you:  Could you please leave a note in the comments about which German textbook you use in your school?  We are entering textbook adoption season and embarking on the eternal quest for the perfect German textbook.  What do you recommend or not recommend?  Danke im Voraus!

First Enrichment Activity for Deutsch 2

Last year in German 1 during the second semester, I started assigning students enrichment or corrections after their unit tests.  The idea was to push students who struggled to look closely at their errors, learn from them, and then retake their test if they wanted to.  I also wanted to give my students who had mastered the material a chance to go further.

It worked quite well, so I've decided to expand it into the first semester of both German 1 and German 2 this year (hopefully!).

German 2 takes their first unit test next week, and I've definitely noticed a wide range of mastery among my students so far on formative assessments.  So, I expect to have students with a lot of corrections to do and others who are ready for new challenges.

The enrichment activity I've designed has students watching a 2 minute segment on the Tagesschau from August 23.  I'm trying to teach my students how to work with authentic video clips that contain a lot of unfamiliar vocabulary by focusing on what they can understand and by viewing a clip several times.

Here's what they'll do:

You will be watching a 2 minute segment from the German news several times.  Repetition is important in learning a new language!  Don't worry that you don't understand every word.  Focus on what you can understand.

Write the answers to the following questions on a separate piece of paper:

1. 1. 1.  Before you watch the video for the first time, write down what you think you might hear based on the pictures below.   
      2. Watch the video from 6:30 to 8:44.  You can turn on German subtitles by clicking on UT.  https://www.tagesschau.de/multimedia/sendung/ts-32903.html (Links to an external site.) What did you see?  Was it what you expected? 
      3. Watch the video a second time.  What do you think the story is about?  What questions do you have?
      4. Watch the video a third time, making sure that you have the subtitles turned on.  Choose 3 unfamiliar words that you think are important to the story, look them up, and record them with their English meanings on your paper.
      5. Watch the video a fourth time, making sure that you have the subtitles turned on.  Answer these questions in German:  

a)  Wie viele Menschen waren (were) in 1989 in der Menschenkette?

b)  Wie lange war (was) die Menschenkette?

Listening Feature in Quizizz

I'm a fan of Kahoot, Quizizz, and Quizlet Live.  All three games provide a fun way to practice material, and each has its own strengths and classroom situations when it works best.

I really like the way Quizizz allows students to work at their own pace.  It also shows the answer choices on students' own screens, which can be very helpful if the answers are long or quite similar to each other.  I have also had classes which are not mature enough to handle the whole-class competitive aspects of Kahoot (or choosing an appropriate name), and Quizizz offers a good alternative.

As I was looking at my collection of Quizizz this week, I found a Quizizz made by another teacher for the German alphabet:

 https://quizizz.com/admin/quiz/57c3570c9debbafb240a341f 

It asks students about the German names for the letters of the alphabet: 

My students usually really need practice in hearing and recognizing a letter of the alphabet.

As I was looking at this Quizizz, I found that you can upload 10 second MP3 files or record yourself very easily to give an audio clue.  Perfect!

I found a great website, https://www.thoughtco.com/the-german-alphabet-1444644, which has individual MP3 files for the letter of the alphabet which you can download.  

I'm going to record myself spelling words as well for my students to practice, and there are lots more possibilities for listening practice on Quizizz with this function.  I hope you find it useful as well!

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.  

Sesamstraße - Die neue Jacke für Deutsch 2

After a three day weekend (Martin Luther King Day) turned into a five day weekend due to ice, snow, and very cold temperatures, we returned to school on Wednesday and finished the week on a high note in German 2 with this Sesamstraße video:

My students really enjoyed it, and it was a great way to talk about weather and clothing, and even use the subordinating conjunctions that I introduced this week. 

We watched the video as a whole class and discussed the questions as we went.  I gave my students a handout with the questions written on it so that they could fill it out as we watched.  

My hope is to eventually have students watch videos like this independently, but I want to model what doing a video assignment like this should look like before I turn students loose to do it on their own.

Familie Video from Hallo Deutschschule

When we return from break on Monday, German 1 will begin the topic of Familie.  It's a fun topic that students generally do well on - it's concrete and easy to relate to and the vocabulary isn't difficult.

There are quite a few good videos online that work well for this unit.  A simple one that I found is from Hallo Deutschschule, a German language course in Switzerland.  

I've added comprehension questions through Edpuzzle to make an assignment for my students:

https://edpuzzle.com/media/5a4b9a89b3b18640e3b5000f 

Online Resources for Starting the Year in German 1

My school year is off and running!  Over the weekend I was compiling a list of online resources for German 1 introductory topics like the alphabet and beginning conversation.  Here are some of the highlights:

The Alphabet Song

The Alphabet Song with ß, ä, ö, and ü

Sesame Street Disco Alphabet with Grover from 1978

Listening Practice: Name Spelling

Learning App: German Conversation Listening

Nominative Pronouns and Sein 

Krümelmonster als Harry Potter

Today I found this Sesamstraße video of Cookie Monster as Harry Potter and think it will be great for my German 2 students in our unit on clothing and colors.

Before they watch the video, students will look up some essential vocabulary:

Then, students are ready to watch the video.  

Since this unit is about clothing and colors, many of my comprehension questions focus on those topics:

while other questions concern primarily the story:

and one gives them a chance to practice Two-Way Prepositions:

Here's the file if you'd like to use it with your students: Krümelmonster als Harry Potter

Backe, backe Kuchen

One of the best parts of the German Instructor Summer Program that I attended last week was talking with and sharing ideas with other German teachers.  One of the other teachers said that she sings classic German children's songs with her students every Monday.  One of the songs she mentioned was "Backe, backe Kuchen," which would fit in really well with our foods unit.

There are lots of videos of the song on YouTube.  One of my favorites is this one

I created notes to go along with it.  Before students watch the video and hear the song, they will work with the text, finding words they know and hunting for particular grammar forms.

Next, students will watch the video and sing the song.  

Finally, they will label the numbered items in the picture from the video.

For enrichment or bonus, I might have students watch another version of the song and figure out which of the ingredients has been changed:

I hope to do something similar with other children's songs.  Here's the file if you'd like a copy: Backe, backe Kuchen

Elmo und Bert kochen

I am a huge fan of both Sesame Street in English and Sesamstraße in German, so whenever I get to use Sesamstraße in my lesson, it's a good day:

Schwer und leicht mit Ernie und Bert

Wir mögen Deutsch!

Our current topic in German 1 is food and restaurants.  Students have learned several adjectives - lecker, süß, salzig, scharf - to describe how food tastes, so it's a perfect time to use this clip:

We watched the clip as a whole class and talked about it using schmecken and adjectives.  

Then, I wanted students to do some independent writing in response to the video.  I have some really great digital interactive notebook templates from Danielle Knight ($7 through Teachers Pay Teachers), including this one for retelling a story:

I used it to create a PowerPoint worksheet with clips from the video and questions for the students to answer:

Normally, I would just print out the worksheet and students would complete it on paper.  But since we are 1-1 with laptops, I made an assignment in our Learning Management System where students downloaded the file to their computers, typed their answers in the boxes, and submitted it to me digitally in the LMS.

I was a little nervous about how my students would do with this since I haven't given this type of download-write-save-upload assignment before, but it went very smoothly!

When students submitted their work, I could view it easily in the LMS:

Students got to see clear color pictures from the video and had a link right at their fingertips to watch it again if they needed to.  

It was a great way for me to assess how they were doing with their comprehension, vocabulary, and ability to form complete sentence answers in German.  It also held them accountable for completing the assignment.

I could even make corrections and leave comments quickly and easily on the students' work:

I'm definitely not a technology for technology's sake person, and I don't think I'll have a paperless classroom anytime soon.  (Probably not ever -  there's really nothing like a good foldable for pronouns!)

But there are times when technology really is a useful tool to enhance learning, and I feel like this was one of those times.

Schwer und Leicht mit Ernie und Bert

I don't work well under pressure.

I know there are some people who really need a deadline and do great, creative things at the last minute.  I am not one of them.

My preferred way of lesson planning and creating activities for my students is on a Saturday morning in my pajamas with a big mug of tea and nothing that must be completed by Monday.  I also get a lot of good ideas while I'm on a run...

So, I am thrilled to be both on spring break and finally healthy enough to go running again.  

And I am thrilled with what I came up with for German 2 using a Sesamstraße video about schwer and leicht (heavy and light)!  Hopefully my students will find it as amazing as I do.  

I love Sesame Street in both English and German and am always looking for ways to use clips in class.  I decided to put this video, along with a picture word guide, in a Learning Apps activity to give students practice with forming the comparative and superlative for heavy and light.  I may also eventually turn it into a graded assignment in our learning management system, Canvas.  I think it turned out great!

My Favorite Free Website

Even though I am currently (very happily) teaching only German, I also love (and miss a bit) teaching math.  So, I still consider myself a bit of a math teacher and thus hopefully also a member of the #MTBoS (Math Twitter Blogosphere).  

The #MTBoS is having a 2016 blogging initiative with blog prompts and ideas.  This week's prompt is 

and I'm going to be blogging about one of my two favorite free websites: LearningApps  (The other is Quizlet, which I also adore.)  

I've blogged about it before, but it bears repeating because it is SO GREAT and FREE! 

• You can create a variety of educational practice activities and games using pre-made templates.
• You can use audio and video in these activities.  
• You can also search for and use activities others have already created.  
• You can give students a link or QR code to get to the activity, or you can embed it in a web site or learning management system.  

Since my school is 1-1 this year, I have been using this website more and more to create interactive practice activities for my students.  Here are some activities I've made recently:




And here's one I'll be using on Monday with German 1 to practice listening comprehension:



It's a great resource, and I highly recommend checking it out!

Telling Time

This week students learned how to tell time in German 1.  Here's a look at the guided notes we used:

I've emphasized writing out and spelling numbers correctly more this year than in the past, and I think it helped students when we got to this topic.  For homework, students practiced writing out the time in German on a straightforward worksheet.  

I've noticed this year that my German 3 students are struggling with listening to people other than me speaking German.  If there's a word or two they don't understand, they tend to panic and give up trying to figure out what they can understand.  I've been trying to give them more practice and help with this, but I also want to get students used to hearing native German speakers before German 3.

So, a few days after we started working with telling time, I gave students a listening practice assignment using audio from our textbook.  The speaker describes 8 different activities she does at different times.  Students had to listen for the time at which she does each activity.  I put the assignment into Canvas, our district learning management system, so that students could enter their answers and Canvas would check their work.  They were allowed to try as many times as they needed and received a participation score for the number of correct answers they ended up with.  

This was TOUGH!  I spent a lot of time that day saying, "Yes, it is hard, but you can do it.  Listen again."  But, most of my students persevered, and I was really proud of them for this.  Two of my students decided it was more fun to listen together:

I noticed that students who weren't solid on numbers and the vocabulary for telling time had the most difficulty, but it was challenging for everyone.  And I think it was a good thing for helping them develop their German listening skills.  I don't think I can do it too frequently, or I'll have a full-scale rebellion on my hands, but it is something we'll do more often.

Tagesschau

I've recently started showing parts of the German evening news, the Tagesschau, to my German 3 class. You can find the most recent day's news show as well as archives of previous shows at the website.

It's an interesting cultural comparison to look at how the news is presented and how it compares to U.S. news shows.  Students usually know some background on the top stories, which helps them understand more of what is said.  One of the features I especially like is that you can turn on German subtitles, which really helps my students understand what they are hearing.  

Today, for example, the lead story was about the earthquake in Nepal, so we watched that segment and discussed new vocabulary like Erdbeben (earthquake) and Opfer (victim).  It's a great way for advanced students to improve their listening comprehension and expand their vocabulary!