Language Resident/Assistant Name:
Nicolai Diener

Class theme/topics discussed:
Rollenspiele

Goal of the class:
Communicative practice and fun!
Learn how to have an argument
Learn about basic vocabulary connected to state founding

How did you structure the class?

4.15 – 4.20:        Welcome (Welcoming students to class, talking about how they feel while introducing the topic)

4.20 – 4.45:        Role play (students get a role card and have to discuss the topic on their card with their respective partner. They have about 5 minutes to come to a compromise. After that they draw a new card and thus get a new partner (if more than 4 people), a new role and a new topic to discuss about)

4.45 – 4.50:        Discussion (quick follow-up discussion on how students handled the different situations and what solutions they found)

4.50 – 5.10:        State foundation (students get a worksheet that gives them the task to found a new state)

5.10 – 5.15:        State foundation – Presentation (students present their new state to the other students – after that, students are asked which state they would like to join

What worked well in this class? What did not work (and how could it be improved)?

The class worked really well. The role playing was very communicative and lots of fun – students had to get into new roles all the time, adjust to the situation and the person they are talking to and at the same time trying to find a compromise with a person that has the opposite opinion to theirs. The short discussion afterwards was helpful in order to compare the different solutions – on one hand as an exchange of knowledge, but most importantly to give the students a stage to share their interesting/funny solutions. I decided not to do it after every round in order to give students the chance to experience a new situation without having heard before how another group has solved it.

The state foundation task was a nice addition, even though – for the sake of coherence – it would be nice to find a smooth transition from one task to the other. If not, it’s two really neat tasks – which is also fine.

Students were really creative and came up with “interesting” states – some of the vocabulary might be a bit too complex – but they also did not really have that much time to take a deep dive into all the aspects but should rather focus on a general idea and for that the task was certainly sufficient while giving them the chance to create something creative as a group together. The following presentation gave them the opportunity to present their state and make other people join that state – either because the idea is very funny or because the state seems really promising. Students can certainly take different paths to finding a solution to that task.