Conversation Class Lesson Plan

Section: Advanced Conversation
Date: January 28, 2010

Class theme/topics discussed: Famous and popular Germans

How did you pick this theme or topic? I thought it would be nice, if my students knew famous German people and what they did to become so famous.

How did you present the material? (handouts, group work, general discussion, student presentations, etc.)
First of all, I asked the students to write down all (famous) Germans on the White Board that they knew. They made quite a long list, which was very impressive. Then, I asked them to say a few words about these people and about their lives – as far as they knew. Afterwards, we played a memory game. I had prepared cards with famous and popular German people – half of the cards had their names on them, the other half showed their faces. I asked my students to name these people (some of them they had already written on the White Board before) and match the pictures with the names, just to get to know who these people were. Then, my students played memory.
Afterwards we played “Wer bin ich?” about German people, which is a question-and-answer game. The students prepared little post-it notes with a name of a famous German person and gave it to one of the other students, who then stuck the note on his forehead. Then, the students were to ask questions in order to guess what name was on their post-it i.e. which famous German person they represented.

How did students react?
My students were very motivated and eager to participate. They had fun listing all the German people they knew (a lot of soccer players for example). They also loved the memory game and wanted to play a 2nd time.

Did they engage with each other and you?
Yes, they were very talkative and they seemed to have a lot of fun.

What materials or media did you use? (articles, satellite tv, digital projector, etc.)
Memory game
Post-it notes

Would you recommend this activity for a future class? Why or why not?
Yes, definitely. The students seemed to have enjoyed this lesson and they were talking a lot.