Conversation Class Lesson Summary
Language Resident Name: Martin Siebert
Day and Date: Wednesday, January 25, 2017
Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class): German Intermediate Conversation
Class theme/topics discussed:
The German and U.S. education system in comparison
Goal of the class:
Students learn or recap vocabulary about school and education, talk about their educational background and compare it with the German system.
How did you structure the class?
20 minutes: Match the people. The LR presents a list of about ten jobs on the board. Then each student writes down ten associations that he or she has with one of these jobs. All of these have to be a single word, no matter if noun, adjective or verb. The students then work in pairs: they have to guess to which of the job the associations correspond. The associations shouldn’t be too obvious. When the partner guessed correctly, the explanation for each of the associations should be provided.
40 minutes: The German and U.S. education system in comparison. Students get in pairs. Together, they work to provide an overview of the U.S. school system (regarding all educational institutions from birth to the first real job). This should entail information such as the different schools (e.g. kindergarten, primary school), the age groups, the subjects studied, curriculum, the classes within the school, the qualification of teachers, hours that children stay in school daily, compulsory schooling, difficulty of studying, private vs. public schools, job training, university education, tutoring, grading/grades, food at schools, homeschooling etc. The students then share their collected information with the group. Subsequently, they watch a short video about the German school system and compare in their groups the most obvious differences. Then they share their thoughts and comments with the group. The LR provides vocabulary and additional information.
What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.)
Whiteboard, Video about the German education system, Vocabulary sheet.
What worked well in this class? What did not work?
Both activities went well. It was interesting for the students to hear about the different educational backgrounds that they each had and liked to get to know new information about the “German way”.
How could this class be improved/ modified?
Maybe I would provide a table/sheet that helps the students to better organize their educational background.
20170125_Das_hessische_Schulsystem