Language Residents

an archive of lesson plans

Author: Julia (Page 4 of 4)

DE F09 ADV Study Abroad

October 27, 2009 /

Conversation Class
Lesson Plan

Section: Advanced Conversation
Date: 27. Oktober 2009

Class theme/topics discussed: Studying abroad in Germany

How did you pick this theme or topic? I knew that only one of my two students would come today. She had told me earlier that she would like to talk about studying abroad sometime, the other student, however, was had told me she was not interested in this topic. So I thought this day might be a good time to talk to the one student about it who was interested in this topic.

How did you present the material? (handouts, group work, general discussion, student presentations, etc.)
Firstly, I asked my student what she thought about studying abroad – why does she want to do that, when, where, how long, etc. Then I showed her some reviews of students who went abroad and we talked about their experiences. Afterwards the student asked me some general questions about studying in Germany and the German university system. At the end of the lesson I asked my students to think about why so few students want to go to Germany to study and how we / one could change that.

How did students react?
My student was very interested and even stayed 15 min longer after the class ended to finish our conversation.

Did they engage with each other and you?
Yes, she did. She was very interested and asked a lot of questions.

What materials or media did you use? (articles, satellite tv, digital projector, etc.)
Map of Germany
Reviews (Erfahrungsberichte)

Would you recommend this activity for a future class? Why or why not?
Yes, because I think this is a very important topic. My student was also very talkative.

 

 

 

 

DE F09 ADV Speed Dating

October 8, 2009 /

Conversation Class
Lesson Plan

Section: Advanced Conversation
Date: 8. Oktober 2009

Class theme/topics discussed: Speed Dating

How did you pick this theme or topic? I heard about this game from a friend who said that students really liked working on this. So I thought I’d give it a try in my conversation class.

How did you present the material? (handouts, group work, general discussion, student presentations, etc.)
First of all, the students created 4 different personalities. For that matter they wrote short portraits and collected pictures from old magazines. Then, we played Speed Dating. The students would talk to each other for about 5 minutes and try to get to know the other person. They would do this the same way with all their ‘4 personalities’. After each round I had the students fill out a survey to comment on their respective dates. At the end I asked my students to sum up what they thought about their dates, which ones they liked / didn’t like and why, and who they thought would be their perfect match.

How did students react?
The students had a lot of fun and told me they really liked this exercise.

Did they engage with each other and you?
Yes, they were talking to each other very much and they learned some new, useful vocabulary.

What materials or media did you use? (articles, satellite tv, digital projector, etc.)
Old magazines
Portrait sheet
Survey sheet

Would you recommend this activity for a future class? Why or why not?
Yes, definitely. It is a great exercise to make your students talk. They also had a lot of fun creating different characters and acting a little bit.

 

 

 

DE F09 ADV Games

October 6, 2009 /

Conversation Class Lesson Plan

Section: Advanced Conversation
Date: 6. Oktober 2009

Class theme/topics discussed: Sprachspiele

How did you pick this theme or topic?
We wanted to keep working on our project, but since I had been sick and the FLRC was booked this week, we decided to spend one week playing different word and language games.

How did you present the material? (handouts, group work, general discussion, student presentations, etc.)
At first, I asked my students what kind of German games they knew. Then I told them about different language games and exercises and asked them which ones they would like to play. We agreed on “Stadt, Land, Fluss”, “Kofferpacken” and learning some “Zungenbrecher”. So we played “Stadt, Land, Fluss” for the most part of the lesson, spent about 10 minutes on the second game and then for the last 5 minutes we learned some funny tongue-twisters.

How did students react?
The students were very excited about the games. We had a lot of fun playing the different games and learning German tongue-twisters.

Did they engage with each other and you?
Yes, they did. They were talking very much and they asked a lot of questions about vocabulary.

What materials or media did you use? (articles, satellite tv, digital projector, etc.)–

Would you recommend this activity for a future class? Why or why not?
Yes, it was a nice break from the other lessons. The students enjoyed playing games and were quite competitive.

 

DE F09 ADV Project2

September 17, 2009 /

Conversation Class
Lesson Plan

Section: Advanced Conversation
Date: 17. September 2009

Class theme/topics discussed: Working on our class project

How did you pick this theme or topic? –

How did you present the material? (handouts, group work, general discussion, student presentations, etc.)
In this lesson we worked on the translation of the song the students had picked the lesson before: ‘Sweet Dreams’ by the Eurythmics. I had prepared copies of the English version and we read that version one more time. Then I asked the students to start translating it into German. I told them not to translate word-by-word but rather with regards to content. I offered them to ask me any vocabulary questions they might have. So occasionally, the students would ask me about certain words or to the paraphrase certain vocabulary. At the end of the lesson the students had translated the whole song into German and typed their final version on my computer, so that I could print out a copy for everyone (note: since I only helped the students with vocabulary questions, the German version of ‘Sweet Dreams’ – which they called ‘Süße Träume’ – is entirely the product of the students).

How did students react?
The students liked working on their German version of ‘Sweet Dreams’. They had fun translating and changing the song into the German.

Did they engage with each other and you?
Yes, they did, they talked a lot and asked a lot of questions about German vocabulary.

What materials or media did you use? (articles, satellite tv, digital projector, etc.)
My laptop
Copy of ‘Sweet Dreams’
Copy of ‘Süße Träume’ (written by the students)

Would you recommend this activity for a future class? Why or why not?

Sweet Dreams

Süße Träume

DE F09 ADV Project

September 15, 2009 /

Conversation Class
Lesson Plan

Section: Advanced Conversation
Date: 15. September 2009

Class theme/topics discussed: Talking about our class project

How did you pick this theme or topic? I thought it might be good to start working on the project early in the semester, since the following weeks and months will probably be  quite busy (off-cultural activity in October, Special Dinner in November, exams in December).

How did you present the material? (handouts, group work, general discussion, student presentations, etc.)
In the beginning of the lesson I told the students that I would like to use this lesson to talk about our class project. I asked them if they preferred to do the project earlier in the semester or later and they both agreed to start early. Thus, I asked them what they would be interested in. We did some kind of brainstorming and I told them a little bit about possible projects that we might do. In the end, the students agreed on making a music video in German. We then browsed the internet and looked for songs that might be interesting and suitable to translate into German. After choosing a few, we looked at the respective videos to see if they might be suitable to re-enact. Finally, the students decided to chose ‘Sweet Dreams’ by the Eurythmics. We agreed to actually start working on the project the following lesson.

How did students react?
The students were interested in the class project and seemed excited about their choice of making a music video.

Did they engage with each other and you?
Yes, they did. They shared their ideas and had lively discussions.

What materials or media did you use? (articles, satellite tv, digital projector, etc.)
My laptop

Would you recommend this activity for a future class? Why or why not?
Yes. I think it is good to start planning early in the semester, so that you have enough time to work on the project and can plan your other lessons accordingly.

 

DE F09 ADV Dialects 2

September 8, 2009 /

Conversation Class Lesson Plan

Section: Advanced Conversation
Date: 8. September 2009

Class theme/topics discussed: German dialects II

How did you present the material? (handouts, group work, general discussion, student presentations, etc.)
In this lesson the students continued to work on their little story. When they were done, they practiced once and then I recorded them reading out their story in Hochdeutsch. Then I recorded them reading their story in a humerous way, using Turkish-German words that they had learned the meeting before. Afterwards we listened to the recordings. After that we talked about Hochdeutsch for a bit and I told them that we would play a word game (Tabu), which most of them knew. At the end of the meeting we talked briefly about possible cultural events.

How did students react?
The students had a lot of fun working on their dialogues and recording them. They enjoyed playing Tabu.

Did they engage with each other and you?
Yes, very much.

What materials or media did you use? (articles, satellite tv, digital projector, etc.)
Mac-Notebook
Snowball (Microphone)
Tabu Junior

Would you recommend this activity for a future class? Why or why not?
Yes, the students had fun and were eager to work on their story. They also had fun recording and playing Tabu Junior (some words they didn’t know.. I might take out the cards with words they don’t know some time in the future).

DE F09 ADV Dialects

September 8, 2009 /

Conversation Class Lesson Plan

Section: Advanced Conversation
Date: 8. September 2009

Class theme/topics discussed: German dialects

How did you pick this theme or topic? I think it is important to know that not everyone in Germany speaks ‘Hochdeutsch’ and that there are numerous dialects.

How did you present the material? (handouts, group work, general discussion, student presentations, etc.)
I asked the students about their knowledge of German dialects, – they knew very little. Then I played five short audio files with conversations or songs in a certain dialect (Bayerisch, Berlinerisch, Kölsch, Hamburgisch und Sächsisch) and asked the students to guess which one was which. We talked about Berlinerisch for a bit and we read ‘Rotkäppchen’ in Berlinerisch. Then we talked about Turkish people in Germany and their accent / dialect. Then we read an exaggerated version of ‘Hänsel und Gretel’ in Turkish German. We talked about the way Turkish German sounds in that story and the way people might react, when they hear someone talk like that. Afterwards I asked the students to create a short dialogue or story together (there were 3 students), which we would later (next meeting) record on the computer in Hochdeutsch and Turkish German.

How did students react?
The students were very surprised about the different dialects, they knew very little. They enjoyed talking about Turkish German and were excited to create their own dialogue.

Did they engage with each other and you?
Yes, they did. Especially when working on the dialogue. They had a lot of ideas and wanted to write a longer and more complex story that I had asked of them.

What materials or media did you use? (articles, satellite tv, digital projector, etc.)
Sound files on my laptop
My laptop
Documents: ‘Rotkäppchen’ and ‘Hänsel und Gretel’

 

 

Would you recommend this activity for a future class? Why or why not?
Yes, the students had fun and were eager to work on the given exercise. I don’t know, if they learned a lot about the different dialects though, since we only talked about some of them very briefly. I also thought about showing them a youtube-video about Erkan & Stefan, but I don’t think they would have understood, because it was difficult for them to understand the different dialects (even if they were spoken rather slowly).

 

 

 

 

 

Hänsel und Gretel auf Kanakisch
Rotkäppchen auf Berlinerisch

DE F09 ADV Stereotypes

September 3, 2009 /

Conversation Class
Lesson Plan

Section: Advanced Conversation
Date: 3. September

Class theme/topics discussed: Stereotypes about Germans and Germany

How did you pick this theme or topic? I though it was a good way to start talking about Germany and to see what impressions they might have of Germans and Germany.

How did you present the material? (handouts, group work, general discussion, student presentations, etc.)
I put about 10 different flashcards with pictures of German stereotypes (e.g. Bratwurst, Dirndl & Lederhosen, Mercedes & VW) on the table and asked the students to each chose one and say what they can see on the picture and what it might have to do with Germans / Germany. The students quickly guessed that those were all stereotypes. I asked them about their experiences and what they thought about those stereotypes. I had prepared three pieces of paper saying ‘Stimmt oft’, ‘Stimmt manchmal’ and ‘Stimmt gar nicht’ and asked the students to put the flashcards on either one of the papers to say whether they believed they are mostly true, sometimes, and not at all. I also asked them to say why they thought so, this way we had a very lively discussion. Then I asked them to think about positive things about Germans and Germany. I handed them each four little pieces of paper and asked them to write down four different words or phrases that came to their mind. After a few minutes the students presented their results and told the group what they liked about Germans / Germany (e.g. educational system, landscape, manners). Then I showed the students a video on youtube, ‘Frag nen Deutschen’, where a German man talks about German stereotypes. After I showed the video a 2nd time, we talked about the stereotypes and whether or not they are rather true or false. At the end of the class I asked the students, if they knew any stereotypes about the Claremont Colleges and they told me about stereotypes of each of the five colleges.

How did students react?
The students seemed to like the activities very much and were eager to tell their impressions and their experiences about certain stereotypes. They were laughing a lot and seemed to enjoy the topic.

Did they engage with each other and you?
Yes, they talked a lot with each other and we had a lively discussion. They were also very interested in my opinion and wanted to know, if those stereotypes were really true or not.

What materials or media did you use? (articles, satellite tv, digital projector, etc.)
Flashcards of German stereotypes (Flashcards are printed and in my ADV conversation folder).
Colored pieces of paper to write down signal words or short phrases about Germany.
My Laptop + TV in the German Lounge.
Video on youtube : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQ0Bgw2vkAM

Please attach a copy.

Would you recommend this activity for a future class? Why or why not?
Yes, definitely. The students were very motivated and eager to share their thoughts and experiences. However, I probably wouldn’t use the youtube video again, it had a bad sound quality and at times it was difficult for the students to understand it.

DE F09 ADV Intro

September 1, 2009 /

Conversation Class
Lesson Plan

Section: Advanced Conversation
Date: 1. September

Class theme/topics discussed: Introduction to the Conversation Class

How did you pick this theme or topic? Informational meeting for the first class to discuss important aspects of class and to get to know each other.

How did you present the material? (handouts, group work, general discussion, student presentations, etc.)
I asked the students to read out the syllabus. I asked them if they had questions and I told them more about the study breaks, cultural events, and the German lunch table. Afterwards I asked the students if they were interested in any specific topic or subject that they would like to discuss in this class. I wrote their answers down in order to respect  their interests regarding the planning of the semester. Then I introduced myself to the students and told them about me and my job as a Language Resident. I told them I’d like to know more about them too, so they were supposed to interview each other and find out interesting things about each other. They made notes and afterwards we talked about what they had found out.

How did students react?
The students seemed to like the activity and were eager to ask each other questions.

Did they engage with each other and you?
Yes, they talked a lot (there was only two of them) and they had fun interviewing each other and presenting the results.

 

What materials or media did you use? (articles, satellite tv, digital projector, etc.)
Copies of the syllabus

Please attach a copy.

Would you recommend this activity for a future class? Why or why not?
Yes. It was a nice way to get to know the students and to motivate them to talk in German.

 

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