an archive of lesson plans

Category: Intermediate (Page 3 of 27)

Intermediate Conversation class

FR SP21 INT/ADV Advertising & Slogans

Language Resident: Marie Segura

Class theme/topic discussed: Advertising

Goal of the class: learning vocabulary about advertisement, learning more about French culture and especially the advertisement culture. 

Structure:

ACTIVITY 1 – Slogans

  • Show the students a list of French slogans and a list of brands and ask the students to pair them up.
  • What are the characteristics of a good slogan? (repetitions, rhymes…)
  • In pairs, ask the students to come up with the best slogan to sell a simple object (something they use everyday).

ACTIVITY 2 – Discussing (French) commercials

  • Brainstorming: what aspects do publicists rely on to sell specific types of products? (eg for coffee: seduction, luxury…)
  • Show the students a French ad and ask them to guess what it is trying to sell + what aspects  are emphasized 
  • Reflection: show them an infamous car ad that was taken down and ask them what they understand + what they think about it. What is it trying to sell? Who is the target audience? Is it efficient?

ACTIVITY 3 – Create your own commercial

  • In pairs: give each group a picture of an impossible object. Ask the students to write the scenario of an ad promoting it: what is the target audience of the ad? where does it take place? Who are the characters? Is there music? What happens?
  • Present your ad to the rest of the class. 

Resources used:

Bouygues: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSAuAd9mcc4

Kinder: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zSl7xldK8U

Powerpoint, pictures of impossible objects

ES S21 INT/ADV Abortion Laws (Marea Verde)

Language Resident: Katherine Pérez Gutiérrez 

Class theme/topic discussed : Abortion Laws in Latin America

Goal of the class 

  • Discuss “Marea Verde”, the pro-choice movement born in Argentina

Class structure

  • Activity 1 Green/Blue Scarves: I show students pictures of people of protestors wearing green (pro-choice) and blue scarves  (pro-choice). Have you seen these pictures before? What do these people stand for?. 
  • Activity 2 Marea Verde: Students hear a short presentation to contextualise the pro-choice movement “Marea Verde”, which started in 2018 in Argentina.
  • Activity 3: What do you know about reproductive rights policies in the US?  Students discuss in pairs and then volunteers report in the main room
  • Activity 4: In small groups students choose 2 different countries (a Spanish speaking country & another one) an do a small research on reproductive rights public policy from those 2 countries. What to these countries’ policies have in common? Are there any differences? 
  • Activity 5 75 Opiniones: Students are given a list of 5 questiones used by a Peruvian Organization to gather opinions about abortion within the country. They discuss how appropriate they think these questions are to address the issue and whether they would use a different set of questions.

Resources used

https://www.guttmacher.org/sites/default/files/factsheet/fs-aww-lac-es.pdf

Reflection: What worked/did not work? How can it be improved?

  • ADV: The class worked great! I was worried about how students would feel talking about more controversial topics, but they were very talkative and seemed to enjoy the class a lot. For activity 3 almost all groups chose different countries so it was very interesting comparing that many policies. 
  • INT: It was a good class too, we weren’t able to have the same dynamic, thought-provoking discussion as with the advanced group but students still enjoyed it.
  • ** I asked both classes in advanced if whether they were interested talking about this topic or not, and how did they feel about it.

JP SP21 INT/ADV: Hyakunin Isshu, Waka, Renga

This topic can be done in a class or two classes.

anguage Resident/Assistant Name:  

Kozue Matsumoto  

Day and Date:  

Wednesday April 14, 2021   

Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class):  

Intermediate 

Class theme/topics discussed:  

  • Movie trailer 
  • Make Renga 

Goal of the class:  

  • Understand a movie trailer  

anguage Resident/Assistant Name:  

Kozue Matsumoto  

Day and Date:  

Wednesday April 12 – 15, 2021   

Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class):  

Intermediate 

Class theme/topics discussed:  

  • Movie trailer 
  • Hyakunin isshu 
  • Renga 

Goal of the class:  

  • Understand a movie trailer  
  • Understand hyakunin-isshu, waka poetry, and other ideas around waka
  • Make some renga 

How did you structure the class?  

  1. Trailer #1 (20 min) 
    1. https://youtu.be/ZjNlJLjDzjk  
    2. What kind of characters? 
  2. Karuta or Hyakunin isshu (15 min) 
    1. What is this? 
    2. A collection of Waka poems 
      1. 100 poems from 100 poets throughout the history  
      2. Created in the early 13th century 
      3. Who are poets? 
        1. Emperors, aristocrats, monks 
    3. There are lots of other waka collections 
      1. Some of them include regular people’s poems and poems with writers unknown from ancient times  
    4. What Is waka? 
      1. Haiku (5.7.5) vs. Waka (5.7.5.7.7.) 
      2. 柿くへば鐘が鳴るなり法隆寺 by 正岡子規 
      3. ちはやふる 神代もきかず 竜田川 からくれなゐに 水くくるとは by 在原 業平 (9th century) 
    5. As a game 
      1. How the game works 
    6. Renga 
      1. Difference between waka 
  3. Trailer #2 (15 min) 
    1. https://youtu.be/MU6FqgKawxQ   
    2. What’s new here 
    3. New Character? What’s she like?  
    4. What’s a message shown throughout the trailer? 
    5. The effect of adopting story that was originally written in a manga format. 
  4. Let’s make renga (30 min) 

What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.)  Class agreement, breakout rooms 

Zoom, Sharescreen, Youtube, Whiteboard 

What worked well in this class? What did not work?   

Intermediate:

  • Today’s trailer was a lot easier to understand for them. They were able to guess the relationship of 3 main characters. 
  • They know some sort of card game is related, but they had little idea. One student was able to guess that it would be something with poems. That was great. 
  • Introduced this game, Hyakunin Isshu, Waka, and Renga. I talked a lot for this to explain what they are. It was like I’m doing a Japanese class in a junior high school in Japan. At least they got the new ideas and cultures around Hyakunin Isshu and Waka poems. 
  • The trailer #2 was fun. This time we guessed what’s going on and also tried to listen carefully each phrase in the trailer. From these phrases, we thought about shared value that these characters are having (team work) in contrast to the best player (individualistic). 
  • Renga was a fun activity. This is a collaborative poetry, so you have to follow 5-7-5 and 7-7 format and also develop the idea and theme that previous people present. They created funny poems collaboratively. 
  • I used whiteboard for this collaborative activity. They just type their work on to whiteboard by themselves. This worked out very well. 
  • I shared music when they were working on poems. It was a good and fun addition to the class. 

Advanced:

  • Today’s trailer was a lot easier for them to grasp the story. They were able to find more details than 11.1 students 
  • We talked a lot about Hyakunin Isshu, Waka, Haiku, and Renga. They knew Haiku but they didn’t know Waka. 
  • We discussed the difference between Karuta and Hyakunin Isshu, which also called karuta occasionally  
  • With trailer #2 we talked about certain values that Japanese society likes to hear and see in pop cultures and entertainment. Some elements, friendship, collaborative work, hard work, are so popular and they are seen a lot of pop cultures 
  • We also talked about a little strange cinematography. This might be because the film tries to adopt the styles of comic. 
  • Renga making was so fun. I used background music to play while they are thinking so there is no awkward silence. Their works are so funny. 
  • I used white board for the renga making activity, and it worked well 

How could this class be improved/ modified? 

  • Renga making was so fun. I used background music to play while they are thinking so there is no awkward silence. Their works are so funny. 
  • Renga activity can be done in breakout room instead of whiteboard. I was thinking which way to do. This time I used whiteboard. But I think breakout room works as well 

Trailers

Haiku, Waka, and Renga Whiteboard

Students’ Renga Works

ES S20 INT/ADV Fake News

Language Resident: Katherine Pérez Gutiérrez  (cred. to José Gómez & Tamara Olivos)

Class theme/topic discussed : Fake News

Goal of the class 

  • To exchange information in an argumentative way
  • To hypothesize about the veracity of different news
  • To understand, summarize and present a piece of news as a professional TV presenter

Class structure

  • Activity 1 Intro questions: : Students answer some questions about different ways of keeping up with news (TV, online newspapers, etc.), the time they dedicate to it, the importance it has, etc. 
  • Activity 2 Fake News Video: I show them one video of a piece of fake news from an online newspaper (El Mundo Today) with lots of comic fake news. They answer some questions about it and, in case students do not figure out that the piece of news is fake, I reveal it and tell them about the existence of this online newspaper. 
  • Activity 3 Pieces of News: Students receive different pieces of news. Most of them will be fake, except for one. In pairs, they have to read the piece of news, understanding it to be able to summarize the main content. 
  • Activity 4 Discussion Students present their news in a very professional way, as if all the news were true and very serious. They will have to discuss afterwards about which news are fake and which one is true. 
  • Activity 5 White Lies:  Fake news are full of lies, so students talk about white lies. Are they good or can they be good sometimes? Do they lie a lot? Are they good liars? Have you ever been caught lying?
  • Activity 6 Follow-up Excuses:  Students are given a list of hypothetical situations and have to come up with excuses to avoid getting into these situations. 

Resources used

Reflection: What worked/did not work? How can it be improved?

  • This was a great class for both section. They talked a lot in their small breakout groups. Because using handouts on zoom is harder, having each news article on a different google doc made it easier to share with students.  
  • The intermediate class needed some extra help with the vocabulary on the articles so it is good to jump back and forth between breakout rooms for that section.

DE SP21 INT/ADV – Student Presentations

Note: This is a two-part class! I did one class brainstorming and then one to two classes presenting.
ADV: 15-20 minutes per presentation, over several classes
INT: 5-10 minutes per presentation, can be held in one class, depending on number of students.

Language Resident/Assistant Name: Eva Saunders

Day and Date: 4/15/2021, 4/20/2021, 4/22/2021,

Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class): Intermediate/Advanced

Class theme/topics discussed: Presenting

Goal of the class: Learn interactive ways to present a topic

How did you structure the class?

Class 1

A) “Word of The Day” Game: Students are given a very specific and not well known word that fits the topic of the day (For example a slang word: “Trantüte”). They write a quick description of what they think the word could be (on a card, piece of paper, or in Zoom they would privately message you). When all have submitted their description, you read all of them, including the correct one and let the students guess which one is right. I do this at the beginning of every class as an ice breaker, but it can also be done as a quick random activity.

B) Presentations Discussion: What makes a good presentation? Which ones do you remember best? Tell us about your favorite and worst presentations you have heard or seen. As the teacher, filter out bullet points of Do’s and Dont’s that the students can have access to.

C) Brainstorm: What you could do in your presentation? Each student deliberates for themselves. The questions are asked one after another, so the students have to sit with them for a bit to give them a chance to go deeper.

1) If you had to talk about a topic, what would you talk about and why? – everybody gets 5 minutes to think about a topic (or optional: topics can be assigned, but I found they enjoy picking their own more)

2) How would you put a new spin on it? – 5 minutes

3) Think of an interactive exercise to incorporate in your presentation – 5 minutes

4) Which other aspects of what we reviewed earlier (your bullet points) can you incorporate in your presentation? Brainstorm for 10 minutes (or until the end of class)

D) Optional homework: Pick a topic and prepare a 5-10 (INT)/10-20(ADV) -minute presentation. Think of an interactive exercise and a new way to present your topic.

Note: If you don’t want to do it as homework, students can work on a shorter presentation in the next class in the first half and present in the second half of the class

Class 2:

Students present their topics. Afterwards you can have a discussion about what they liked, what new things they learned, etc.

What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.), Props: Share Screen function in Zoom for presentations, Google Doc to write down bullet points

What worked well in this class? What did not work?

This class worked very well, the students were very engaged talking about presenting in the first half. The second half was quiet work where they could start preparing the concept of their presentation and brainstorm ideas about how to present it. Every five minutes I changed prompts to help them brainstorm.

How could this class be improved/ modified?

You could have less prompts and more talking about presenting, but with four people we had a good chunk of time at the end for prep. It reduces some of their homework time to let them start on it in class and gives them a chance to really think about it and take their time.

FR SP21 INT/ADV (Fake) News

Language Resident: Marie Segura

Class theme/topic discussed : News and fake news

Goal of the class: Discuss pieces of news, improvise

Structure of the class:

  1. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
  • How do you like to stay informed? Do you use newspapers, online newspapers, social media… ?
  • What was the most memorable piece of news you ever watched?
  • If you are someone who usually follows the news, has there been a time when you decided to stop? Why and for how long?
  • Do you read newspapers in other languages?
  • If the news reported your week, what would the headline be?
  1. FIND THE TITLE
  • Each student is sent a short article, without the title, and is given a few minutes to read it. Then, they are sent in breakout rooms in pairs/groups of 3 with students who don’t have the same article.
  • Each student has to explain the content of their article (without showing the text) and together they have to find the most original title
    • For the advanced class: find a second version for the internet, like a clickbait
  1. KAHOOT: FAKE NEWS?

Students have to guess whether the piece of news is real or fake.

  1. ROLE PLAY: WHAT HAPPENED?

Each group is assigned one of the “real” titles from the previous activity. Together, they must come up with a story to go with the title. They have to prepare a presentation in a news-report format: they have to be either a journalist or the protagonist of the story. Each group then acts in front of the rest of the class.

Resources used:

Kahoot

Newspapers articles (without titles):

Reflection: What worked/did not work? How can it be improved?

DE SP21 INT/ADV – Environmental Protection

Language Resident/Assistant Name: Eva Saunders

Day and Date: 4/29/2021

Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class): Intermediate/Advanced

Class theme/topics discussed: Environmental pollution and protection

Goal of the class: Being able to talk about how to protect the environment

How did you structure the class?

A) “Word of The Day” Game: Students are given a very specific and not well known word that fits the topic of the day (For example a slang word: “Schmarotzer”). They write a quick description of what they think the word could be (on a card, piece of paper, or in Zoom they would privately message you). When all have submitted their description, you read all of them, including the correct one and let the students guess which one is right. I do this at the beginning of every class as an ice breaker, but it can also be done as a quick random activity.

B) Green Politics Vocabulary: Give each student or group of students a few words relating to environmental protection (see examples below) . The students shall find pictures that illustrate each word and write a description of what each word means.

C) Household items: (See examples below) Together with the students, go through pictures of machines or appliances and let them fill out the English words (or ask them and fill in for them). Pronounce each German word together.

D) Discussion:
Advanced: How can we use these household items to be more mindful of the environment?
Intermediate: How can we describe these machines? What do they do? (Good exercise to learn relative sentences).

E) Extra Activity: Pick one machine, but don’t tell the students which one. Now they have to ask questions to guess which of the machines you are thinking of, for example: is it being used outside or inside? Is the color grey? etc. Once a student guesses correctly, they will pick a word and everyone else will guess again. (Can be yes/no questions to make it more advanced, but doesn’t have to be).

What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.), Props: Share Screen function in Zoom, Google Docs & Google Sheets (for exercises)

What worked well in this class? What did not work?

This was inspired by two assignments from the book “Passwort Deutsch 4” in another class, so I re-used the vocabulary for this class, because protecting the environment is something I noticed the students are very interested in. They learned a lot of fairly simple vocabulary to be able to talk about this topic better. It worked out well.

Examples:

Green Politics Vocabulary List:
Die Umweltschutzbewegung, Alternative Energien, Die Umwelt verschmutzen, Abgase (Pl.), Das Gift, Umweltfeindlich, Müll & Recycling, Der Smogalarm, In einer Bürgerinitiative aktiv sein, Der Stromverbrauch, Der Lärm, Umweltschädlich, Die Katastrophe

Houshold items List (Excel)

How could this class be improved/ modified?

I wouldn’t change anything.

RUS SP21 ADV/INT: Untitled Goose Game

Conversation Class Lesson Summary

Language Resident Name:

MARIA GLUKHOVA

Day and Date:

Thursday, 04/06/2021 and Thursday, 04/08/2021

Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class):

Russian, Advanced

Class theme/topics discussed:

Untitled Goose Game

Goal of the class:

To play Untitled Goose Game together, practice imperatives, and have fun.  

Untitled Goose Game for Nintendo Switch - Nintendo Game Details

How did you structure the class?

  1. Greetings, announcements, general questions.
  2. In advance, create a vocabulary list with necessary words (especially verbs). Work on this list together with your students and ask them to make imperative forms of verbs: run! swim! etc. It’s also helpful to talk about directions: go left, jump on, etc. 
  3. Open the Untitled Goose Game on your computer and share the screen. Most likely, you can change the settings and choose your target language as the language of the game.
  4. Explain the rules. You’ll be the one playing, but your student will have to tell you what to do.
  5. Show them the “To-Do List” for the first episode. Read it together. You can also play it together for a few minutes to give students an idea of how the game works.
  6. Divide students into groups. In the break-out rooms, each group has to come up with instructions for you to complete one of the tasks from the “To-Do List.” For example, one group can think about hiding the food, while the second group has to steal the key. They can brainstorm for 5 minutes or so.  
  7. Once everyone has a strategy, open the game again. Each group has 3-4 minutes. They have to guide you and tell you what to do to complete the task: “Run up, hide in the grass, wait until the farmer can’t see you, grab the carrot,” etc. 
  8. Have fun! 🙂

What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.)

Untitled Goose Game, Zoom

What worked well in this class? What did not work?

The class worked out great, we had a lot of fun! I did two classes on this game because it takes time to work on vocabulary, explain the rules, etc. Also, make sure you know how to play this game first because it’s not always intuitive.  

How could this class be improved/ modified?

I would leave it as it is.

JP SP21 INT/ADV: Asian Stereotypes

Language Resident/Assistant Name:  

Kozue Matsumoto  

Day and Date:  

Tuesday March 3 & 16, 2021   

Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class):  

Intermediate & Advanced 

Class theme/topics discussed:  

  • Stereotypes towards Asians and Half Japanese people 

Goal of the class:  

  • Think about stereotypes  

How did you structure the class?  

  1. Language Table Reminder (5 min) 
  1. Study Break date? (1 min) 
  1. Good News? (10 min) 
  1. Asian Stereotypes (45 min) 
    1. What kind of Stereotypes exist towards Asians and Half Japanese?  ? 
    2. Have you had such experiences?  
    3. High school experiences? students hang based on race? 
    4. What is stereotype?
    5. Why does this happen? 
    6. Internalized racism in Japanese people?
    7. Why do we need to talk about?  
    8. What stereotype do we have?
    9. What can we do for that? 
  2. Asian history and now
    1. Idea of model minority  
    2. At the same time no matter how hard we work, there are hate crimes against us 
    3. Hate crime against Asians over covid 
  3. Japanese history 

What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.)  Class agreement, breakup rooms 

Zoom 

What worked well in this class? What did not work?   

Intermediate:

  • Today’s topic was complicated and not easy to talk about. So I was wondering how long this was going to last. But students shared a lot of experiences and thoughts around the topic.  
  • We are all Asians in this class. I believe that this fact helped them to talk more honestly and share their own personal stories.  
  • I appreciate their honesty and effort to discuss the complicated and sensitive issues. And they had a lot of ideas, thoughts, and experiences related to it.  
  • They said that the more they think the more difficult and complicated the issue looks, but they said that such complexity shouldn’t discourage them to keep talking about it.  
  • There are a little more silent this time as they needed to think and find a way to say in Japanese. At the same time, things that they said were a lot longer and more complicated than other classes.  

Advanced:

  • We talked about stereotypes. This turned into a little different topic from the 11.1 class. Students in the 11.1 class are all Asian Americans who live in the USA. Students in this class are half Japanese and lived in Japan. Experiences around stereotypes created the topic around “why do Japanese people think about us that way?” 
  • They also witnessed Japanese people’s reaction to their white fathers and had some thoughts around that.  
  • They also think about their Korean friends and Japanese people, and how different their attitudes towards their own cultures. 

How could this class be improved/ modified? 

  • Depending on students’ awareness on the topic, some introductory video or a good ice breaker might be helpful. This particular group of students have some awareness already, and all are Asians. This situation might have made it easier to discuss the topic.  
  • I also shared some of my own experiences for a few times, which helped them encourage them to share their stories and related ideas.  
  • It was interesting to hear what they say about the topic. They have a lot to talk about. It is possible to spend multiple classes for this topic.
  • Also it would be interesting to spend another hour to think about Japanese culture as national culture and more regional cultures, such as Kyoto culture, Osaka culture. Some peole think that their culture is Japanese culture. Some Japanese people think their culture is their regional culture (Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Tohoku, Okinawa, etc.) instead of general Japanese culture

ES S21 INT/ADV Lifestyle – Minimalism

Language Resident: Katherine Pérez Gutiérrez 

Class theme/topic discussed : Lifestyles & Minimalism

Goal of the class 

  • To understand information different lifestyles and their relation with culture and language.
  • To reflect and contrast on the long-term effects and consequences of specific lifestyles

Class structure

  • Warm-up:  Students read the word minimalism on the slide and have a couple of minutes to think about what comes to their minds when they see the word. They look up a picture that represents their interpretation of minimalism and share it in breakout rooms. 
  • Activity 1: Students watch a couple of videos on minimalism to check if their idea of minimalism is correct 
  • Activity 2: Students see a small survey on minimalist lifestyle and as a class we choose three main questions: Are you a minimalist person? Do you know anyone who lives a minimalist life? Would you be able to live such kind of life?
  • Activity 3: Minimalist challenge. Students have 5 minutes to think about 15 items in their room/house that they could throw away within the next 5 minutes. Students also make a top 5 list of things they could never get rid of. In small breakout rooms they share their lists and compare.
  • Activity 4: Students decide to change their lifestyle. Taking into account different lifestyles, minimalist included, students discuss the benefits of some of them. They have to find a lifestyle that suits them the best and come up with a plan as to how they will implement that on their daily life from now on.
  • Extra activity: On a google slides presentation, students see pictures of 11 different households and their fridges. These people are from all over the world so students have to discuss 1) Where do they think they are from, 2) What kind of lifestyle they think they have by looking at their fridges. 

Resources used

Reflection: What worked/did not work? How can it be improved?

  • The class worked great for both levels. For the intermediate class the first video was slightly faster but, because it was one of the first activities, it worked well anyways. We did the extra activity as well in both classes, students enjoyed working with the pictures a lot more than the discussion-based activities this time, so it would have been nicer to have spent more time on it.

JP SP21 INT/ADV: Yokai

Language Resident/Assistant Name:  

Kozue Matsumoto  

Day and Date:  

Monday February 15 & 18, 2021   

Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class):  

Intermediate  & Advanced

Class theme/topics discussed:  

  • Yokai  

Goal of the class:  

  • Understand Yokai 
  • Introduce a yokai 
  • Think about yokai of our time

How did you structure the class?  

  1. Study Break Announcement (10 min) 
    1. Have you done origami before? What did you make? What occasion? 
  1. Good news?  (10 min) 
    1. Snow in Houston 
    2. Lunar New Year 
    3. Success (extra stuff) in Chinese  
  1. What is yokai? (5 min) 
  1. What kind of Yokai have you found? (15 min) 
  1. アマビエ Amabie (https://youtu.be/seDUC9Dqep8 or https://youtu.be/WC6vZrg2yZo) (15 min) 
    1. Watch and understand followings  
      1. What Amabie looks like 
      2. What Amabie said to people 
    2. How this is popular in Japan now
    3. Draw Amabie 
  1. (Intermidiate) Let’s think about today’s Yokai
  2. (Advanced) Japanese people/society’s attitude towards yokai, other spiritual existence, and not-so-scientific things (5 min) 

What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.) 

Class agreement, breakup rooms 

Zoom, share screen, youtube, google images, pen and paper 

What worked well in this class? What did not work?   

Intermidiate:

  • Students researched some ideas of what Yokai is. We also introduced some yokai that they found. They also shared some stories around the yokai.  
  • We watched the video of Amabie story. Amabie is a yokai that became super popular in Japan last year. Amabie is a yokai who lives in the ocean. It is said that if you draw Amabie and show it to a sick person, they will get well. So the coronavirus reminded people of Amabie, and it became a huge cultural trend in japan, like a collective wish towards the people suffering from COVID. 
  • Since we watched the story and know that Amabie looks like (have a bird-like beak, rhombus shaped eyes, long red hear, rainbow color scales, and 3 fish tales on which they can stand), we draw Amabie. That was fun. 
  • We also looked at original amabie. A student found a page that shows various amabie interpretations by comtemporary artists in the world (https://www.ideo.com/blog/16-artist-interpretations-of-amabie-a-mythical-japanese-creature-said-to-ward-off-disease ). 
  • We thought about what the yokai could be in today’s contemporary world. It was fun, but we only had a few minutes to think about.  

Advanced:

  • We discussed what yokai is. We were able to discuss more conceptual ideas than 11.1 class. They told me that they didn’t have a concept of yokai until I said it in the previous class, but after some research, they realized they have seen yokai here and there in their lives. They didn’t recognize them as yokai at that time.  
  • We also talked about yokai as not mosters, not spirits, but some other category. Probably based on Japanese people’s imagination towards little things in their lives.  
  • Watching Amabie story and drawing it was fun. We saw other amabie drawings by artists in the world. We also discussed how Amabie became a trend in Japan last year under COVID, and how these non-scientific things are still around people’s life 
  • We talked about other non-scientific things around our Japanese life. Could these things be just stupid ideas or do they help people’s mind/psychology in a certain way? How and Why? 

How could this class be improved/ modified? 

  • Yokai is such a unique concept, and one hour might not be enough to fully understand what they are, but I hope they got a bit of sense about it.  
  • Amabie was a good example of relationship between human and yokai.  
  • While they were drawing (5 min or so). There was a silent, but I thought it’s good to have some activities like drawing once in a while, especially when it’s related to the topic.  

Amabie Videos

Amabie Drawings by Students

FR SP21 INT/ADV Tinder

Language Resident: Marie Segura

Class theme/topic discussed : Personality & speed Dating

Class structure:

WARM UP

Create a word cloud and ask students to enter as many adjectives as possible

ACTIVITY – SPEED DATING

  • Give students 10mn to fill in a Tinder profile: they have to imagine a character, to choose their name, where they live, what they like doing etc, using adjectives seen before.
  • Organize a speed-dating: each student will be given 5mn in a breakout room to get to know each of the other students’ fictive character to find their perfect match.

FOLLOW UP

  • Ask students if they found their perfect match and to explain what they have in common.
  • What would their first date be? Where would they go? If there’s still time, students can look for a restaurant online.

> If there is an odd number of students, one stays in the main room with you and you can ask them to introduce their character, and if they invented them, or were inspired by someone etc.

Resources used:

Google doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OS0E68vWAwjAdsT63rn_V_ESCR9adZX55qbOtfln6Jo/edit

Wordcloud on Menti

Reflection:

Sending students into breakout rooms takes time, make sure to start early enough so that you can give them at least (!) 5mn to talk with the other person in the breakout room (especially for intermediate students, they probably need more).

ES S21 INT Change.org Petitions

Language Resident/Assistant Name: Tamara Olivos

Day and Date: February 10, 2021

Language and Level : Spanish Intermediate

Class theme/topics discussed: Change.org petitions

Goal of the class: To write a change.org petition

How did you structure the class?

Ice-breaker: Taboo. The class is divided in groups. The instructor gives one person a word in a private chat (the word includes taboo words). Students must describe the word without mentioning the taboo words.

Activity 1: Students read a headline about funding being pulled from Erasmus students. As a class we discuss what is Erasmus and if there is something similar in the US (Fulbright pulled funding during the pandemic, for example)

Activity 2: Instructor asks students to define change.org. What is it? What is it for? Is it effective? Have you signed or created a petition? Encourage sharing as much as possible.

Activity 2: We read a short letter that a student sent to the Department of Education in Spain. Some verbs are in bold to call attention to the verb tense (presente del subjuntivo)

Activity 3: In a google Doc, students read some Facebook comments regarding the headline from activity 1. In groups, students must add a comment stating their opinion.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jp-0RkaEi2Lvjozr8qj1So9zyR65xSFePUAzZsb9Wq8/edit?usp=sharing

Activity 4: Students write their own petition. In groups of 2, students think about a topic that is relevant to them. Who is it addressed to? Some verb suggestions are given, and model structures. This could be a silly activity or a serious one. It will depend on your students.

This activity was taken from:

http://www.rutaele.es/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/R2_COMECOCOS_Subjuntivo_Changeorg_MMAP_B1B2.pdf

What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.)

Zoom, google docs, PPT

 If you have a more detailed lesson plan, please attach it below (OK to use target language for that).  Please attach any handouts as well.

Puente: NO PUEDES DECIR río atravesar colgante unir

Batería: NO PUEDES DECIR instrumento banda música tambor

Ayer: NO PUEDES DECIR mañana tiempo antes día

Noche: NO PUEDES DECIR luna estrellas oscuro día

Película: NO PUEDES DECIR cine actor director rodar

Cangrejo: NO PUEDES DECIR pinzas crustáceo caparazón caminar

Museo: NO PUEDES DECIR arte edificio pinturas cuadros

Sandia: NO PUEDES DECIR jugosa verano fruta semilla

Pijama: NO PUEDES DECIR ropa noche cama dormir

Pintar: NO PUEDES DECIR artista cuadro colores pincel

Doctor: NO PUEDES DECIR hospital anestesia operación enfermo

Flan: NO PUEDES DECIR leche molde postre huevos

Disfraz: NO PUEDES DECIR traje mascara fiesta carnaval

Vaso: NO PUEDES DECIR beber agua cristal vidrio

Aceituna: NO PUEDES DECIR negra olivo aceite verde

Hoja: NO PUEDES DECIR árbol papel cuaderno escribir

ES S21 INT/ADV Slogans

Language Resident Name: Tamara Olivos

Day and Date: April 28, 2021

Language and Level : Intermediate/Advanced Spanish

Class theme/topics discussed: Advertising

Goal of the class: to create a slogan for a product

How did you structure the class?

Warm up: Introduce the topic by asking the students which is their favorite TV commercial. Do you remember a specific commercial from your childhood? What is the goal of advertising a product? What makes a good ad?

Video 1: Introduce some vocabulary necessary for the video (trenzas). Talk about meeting the parents of the person you are dating. Then watch this Argentine ad “a todos nos puede gustar lo mismo”.

Alternative: ask students what they would want to ask the boyfriend/girlfriend of their kid. Write down the questions in the chat.

Mention the differences between Spanish from Argentina with other accents.

Activity for video 1: In pairs, students will have to create and ad for a beverage, creating a new slogan and drawing the TV commercial as a comic. Students will draw using Zoom whiteboard or paint.

Each group will share their work with the rest of the class. We vote on the best product and slogan. Would you buy this?

Video 2: The teacher will give the students a handout with the written ad with some missing words. They must fill in the blanks with the video. Play video twice.

Review their answers by asking each student to read one sentence. Explain the words they do not know.

Alternative: Assign a part of the video to small groups or have small groups fill out the whole handout. They can help each other fill out the handout because the video is pretty fast.

Alternative: compare to the 2020 version https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcO7xfik1Xw&ab_channel=MarketingDirecto

Activity for video 2: We will watch the video a third time so the students can focus on watching the video only. After this they will answer some questions about the ad in groups of 2. They will share the answers to the class.

What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.)

Handouts, Zoom and YouTube

 If you have a more detailed lesson plan, please attach it below (OK to use target language for that).  Please attach any handouts as well.

Para los gordos, para los …….…….., para los altos, para los bajos, para los que ríen, para los ………………..….., para los que lloran, para los optimistas, para los …………………, para los que lo tienen todo, para los que no tienen nada, para los …………..…., para los que juegan, para los cerrados, para las familias, para los …………….…, para los reyes, para los …………….., para los ……………, para los náufragos, para los rockeros, para los que van, para los que van en tren, para los ………………, para los que sufren, para los motociclistas, para los de allá, para los que trabajan, para los de acá, para los ……….…….., para los que te quieren, para los que no te quieren, para los que te quieren mucho, para los que te quieren poco, para los ……………..……, para los nudistas, para los supersticiosos, para los originales, para los …………….………, para los calculadores, para los pelados, para los ………., para los que leen, para los que escriben, para los ……………….………, para los gemelos, para los distintos, para los …………………., para los que viven solos, para los que viven …………………, para los guiteros, para los que …………………, para los primeros, para los últimos, para los hombres, para los……………………, para ella, para los músicos, para los transparentes, para los fuertes, para los que…………..………, para los que participan, para los que suman, para los que no se callan, para nosotros.

  1.  Explica el eslogan del anuncio
  2.  Público al que se dirige
  3.  Características del producto
  4.  La voz en “off”: ¿tiene siempre el mismo tono? ¿Por qué?
  5.  Cuál es la imagen principal. Señala ejemplos en los que aparece fija la imagen, otros en que el plano se mueve y otros en que la imagen aparece y desaparece.
  6.  ¿Por qué al final al decir PARA TODOS sólo aparece una botella?
  7.  ¿Cómo es el ritmo del anuncio?

DE F20 INT/ADV – Baking Bread & Brotzeit

Language Resident/Assistant Name: Eva Saunders

Day and Date: 9/22/2020 & 9/25/2020 (Two-day class!)

Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class): Intermediate/Advanced

Class theme/topics discussed: Prep & bake a bread & “Brotzeit” (Bread Time)

Goal of the class: Learn how to read recipes and make your own bread

How did you structure the class?

DAY 1

A) Warm-Up Discussion: Tell us about a food you like to cook and describe how you would cook it (learn words for preparation)

B) Look at a simple, no-knead bread recipe steps 1-3 (see attached) and go through the verbs necessary in each step. (In my kitchen, I showed them kitchen items that we will need for baking the bread and made sure they have them accessible.)

C) Ask the students to tell you what to do in German to prep the dough for the bread, reading the recipe out loud.

D) Homework: The students shall prep their bread the night before the next class! Make sure to let them know to put a note on the oven so roommates/family know that the dough is proofing in there (so nobody turns it on and accidentally bakes the pre-dough). If they have high traffic in their kitchen, they can proof it on their counter overnight alternatively.

DAY 2

A) Start with preheating dutch ovens and preparing utensils (10 mins). Go through the rest of the recipe with them and make it together.

B) Bread goes into oven (20 minutes). Meanwhile, talk about “Brotzeit” and where it came from. Show some examples on what you can have on bread. Discussion with students: How will you eat your self-made bread?

C) Remove lid from bread and bake for another 25 minutes. Meanwhile, continue discussion: What is a beer garden, what utensils do we use to eat? What do we call our table setting? Learn new words that they are not familiar with yet.

D) Homework: Take a photo of what you’re eating the bread with and who you’re eating with. Describe how it tasted in the next class.

What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.)

Prop: Share Screen function in Zoom, Images, Google Docs, Chat, Course Website as a resource for homework and reference

What worked well in this class? What did not work?

The students were nicely engaged, baking along. When showing them how to make the recipe I could tell they were a little bored so I had them taking turns directing me. The bake-along might be more difficult in a larger class, I only had three students.

How could this class be improved/ modified?

I could have given the students a bit more notice for the ingredients. They need water, flour, salt and yeast. And maybe one could find a way to have my laptop in the kitchen, so I don’t have to run between my desk and the kitchen while the bread is in the oven and we talk about “Brotzeit”.

If you have a more detailed lesson plan, please attach it below (OK to use target language for that).  Please attach any handouts as well.

Virtual Handout in target language https://courses.pomona.edu/la-german-2020/blog/category/germ-13-1/  (Password: GERMAN) and https://courses.pomona.edu/la-german-2020/blog/2020/09/24/13-1-class-10-9-24-2020/ (Password: GERMAN)

Example for vocabulary related to Brotzeit, from DK “Bilingual dictionary” ISBN: 978-0-7566-1295-5
Brot-ohne-Kneten

ES F20 INT/ADV Climate Change

Language Resident: Katherine Pérez Gutiérrez

Class theme/topic discussed : Climate Change

Goal of the class 

  • Talk about environment and climate change issues

Class structure

  • Warm-up Focused Free Writing (cred. Tilman Viëtor): I give students 5 sentences/words related with climate change (eating habits, waste, habits change, economic system, tourism, 3 Rs). After choosing one, they have 3-5 min to write about how that word/sentence is related to environment & climate change.
  • Activity 2 Intro questions: What do you know about climate change? What climate change related issues do you know about? Is there anything you do to help the environment? Do you think tourism has anything to do with the environment? What do you think about recycling?
  • Activity 3 UN Discussion: I show students key words related to what UN recommends people to do to for a greener world post-pandemic. They have to discuss why they think this term is there and how it is related to environment/climate change. (Key words: Nature, essential goods and services, energy, eating systems, cities, public funds)
  • Activity 4 What about my town?: In groups, students look up environment issues their cities/states are struggling, and how people (individuals & government) are dealing with it (measures being adopted).
  • Extra activity: Students have to choose one of the many issues discusses in class and choose a measure, that they could implement in their lives, aimed at solving this issue (You can ask how did that go a few weeks afterwards 🙂
  • Extra activity 2: Discuss the consequences social distancing and quarantine has had on environment (Less contamination, wild animals on the street, etc.)

Resources used

Reflection: What worked/did not work? How can it be improved?

  • It was a fun class. I was worried students would not be willing to talk much about the topic because it tends to be repetitive, but having activity 4 helped because they brought the topic into their own lives. We did not have enough time to do extra activities.
  • Having questions related to each key word on activity 3, in case students are a bit lost as to how to address the topic can be useful. I did not need them with the advanced class, but I used a few of them with the intermediate class.

Annex

  • Questions for activity 3:
  • Naturaleza: ¿Crees que dependemos demasiado del petróleo? ¿Se te ocurren otras alternativas?
  • Servicios esenciales: ¿Cómo debería controlarse el gasto de agua? ¿De qué manera se puede proteger lugares con escasez hídrica?
  • Energía: ¿Crees que malgastamos mucha energía? ¿Cómo? ¿Piensas que deberíamos dar prioridad a las energías renovables? ¿Si pudieras elegir una energía renovable cuál sería? ¿Qué problemas crees que tienen las energías renovables? ¿Crees que deberíamos usar la energía nuclear?
  • Sistemas alimentarios: ¿Crees que hay sistemas alimentarios más perjudiciales que otros? ¿Cómo afectan las diferencias alimentarias de distintas culturas los espacios físicos?
  • Ciudades: ¿Piensas que el tráfico en las ciudades debería ser controlado de alguna manera?¿Crees que el turismo tiene algo que ver con el medioambiente?
  • Dinero público: Crees que se puede compatibilizar el Desarrollo economico con el deterioro medioambiental? Crees que los gobiernos estan lo suficientemente comprometidos con el cuidado del medio ambiente?

ES F20 INT Health and Verbs

Conversation Class Lesson Summary

Language Resident Name: Tamara Olivos

Day and Date: November 11, 2020

Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class): Intermediate Spanish

 Class theme/topics discussed: Health and Verbs

Goal of the class: To practice vocabulary related to health and verb conjugations

How did you structure the class?

Board game: I shared on my screen the verb tenses board. I assigned each tense a number, so when they roll the die they are rolling a verb tense. (I used the virtual Google dice, just search “roll dice”)

1: presente

2: futuro

3: pret perfecto

4: pret imperfecto

5: subjunctivo

6: preterito

Bingo: We review the vocabulary to make sure everyone understands everything. Then, I read only the definitions and students must know the word in order to cross it out of their bingo cards. I put several bingo cards in Sakai (a different set for each student)

http://marcoele.com/descargas/4/mielgo-bingosalud.pdf

What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.)

What worked well in this class? What did not work?

The verb practice was much appreciated and we spent some time explaining some difficult verb tenses.

How could this class be improved/ modified?

I didn’t have time to create an interactive board. I would do this for next time, on Genialy.

JP F20 ADV: Reading Kanji

Language Resident/Assistant Name:  

Kozue Matsumoto 

Day and Date:  

Tuesday November 24, 2020   

Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class):  

Advanced 

Class theme/topics discussed:  

  • Last class: kanji games 

Goal of the class:  

  • Guess how to read unusual kanji

How did you structure the class?  

  1. How are you doing? Hanging in there? Good news if any??? (7 min) 
    1. Hawaiian Thanksgiving dishes – lots of Asian food included  
  1. Guess and read the kanji (45 min) 
    1. Veggies
    2. Fruits 
    3. Things in the water 
    4. Family names 
  1. Most complicated kanji (10 min) 
    1. Some legendary mysterious kanji 
    2. Officially registered real kanji

What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.) 

Class agreement, breakup rooms 

Zoom, white board 

What worked well in this class? What did not work?   

  • We talked how we feel at the end of the semester. Since everything happened online at home, there is not a huge difference compared to pre-COVID time when students used to move back to their hometown etc.  
  • We talked a bit about Hawaiian Thanksgiving food 
  • Kanji guessing game was fun, and they had very good questions such as when these vegetables were introduced to Japan and how their kanji were decided like that. 
  • One student was sharing her knowledge about how Taiwanese use the same kanji for the same fruits and how a kanji was chosen for a certain fruit because of the meaning of kanji (蕃) 
  • We guessed some strange and rare family names and some super complicated kanji as well. 
  • We had a pretty fun time. They used everything they know to guess the kanji, such as a documentary film about fish that they watched the other day, the knowledge of Taiwanese usage of kanji, etc. 

How could this class be improved/ modified? 

  • There are lots of kanji. Some are easy to guess, and others are just impossible to guess. We can do a lot about this. 

If you have a more detailed lesson plan, please attach it below (OK to use target language for that).  Please attach any handouts as well. 

Below are what we did with whiteboard

Fruits 

Vegetables 

Things in the water 

Rare and strange family names 

Complicated kanji 

Taito たいと – a family name (not officially recorded in anywhere but there is a story around this kanji) 

https://www.benricho.org/kanji/img-kakusuu/Taito_small.gif

Biang – From Chinese kanji 

https://www.benricho.org/kanji/img-kakusuu/biang-68-500.png

Jin ジン – dust 

https://glyphwiki.org/glyph/u269c4.png

RUS F20 Adv/Int: Rooms and their inhabitants

Language Resident Name:

Maria Glukhova

Day and Date:

Wednesday, 09/16/2020

Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class):

Russian, Advanced

Class theme/topics discussed:

Rooms and their inhabitants.

Goal of the class:

Speaking: To work on describing one’s living space and to speculate on who might live there

Grammar: To practice «где» vs. «куда»

Vocabulary: furniture, design/style, colors, character.  

How did you structure the class?

  • Greetings, announcements, general questions.
  • Warm-Up [PowerPoint]: An LR shows a picture of a room and asks who the students think might live there and why. Together we describe the room (высокие потолки, окна во всю стену, персидский ковер на полу, etc.) and the people who might own the apartment (обеспеченные, с отличным вкусом, предпочитают жить за городом, etc.)   
  • Activity 1: Following the same idea as before, students get pictures of different apartments. In pairs they should describe both the rooms and the owners (it is better to choose interesting pictures where there are many things to talk about: дом русской бабушки в деревне, дом из золота в стиле барокко, избушка на курьих ножках, etc.).
  • Activity 2: A Detective game. Students work in pairs. A teacher prints out the pictures (6 rooms and 8 people), and the students have to detect who lives where and to find one character who doesn’t belong to the house.

The game is from here: https://www.adme.ru/tvorchestvo-reklama/najdite-hozyaina-kazhdoj-kvartiry-i-vychislite-cheloveka-kotoryj-voobsche-ne-zhivet-v-etom-dome-1712565/

Answers:

  • Conclusion. We check the results and discuss how they understood [or didn’t understand] who lives where.

What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.)

PowerPoint, Zoom

What worked well in this class? What did not work?

Students love the detective game! Sometimes it takes them almost the whole class to figure out who lives where.

How could this class be improved/ modified?

The class was a lot of fun, I would leave it as it is.

JP F20 INT/ADV: Haiku

Language Resident/Assistant Name:  

Kozue Matsumoto 

Day and Date:  

Monday October 5, 2020   

Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class):  

Intermediate / Advanced

Class theme/topics discussed:  

  • Haiku 

Goal of the class:  

  • Learn about Haiku 
  • Create haiku and kigo 

How did you structure the class?  

  1. Good news (5min) *We share positive stories at the beginning of each class.
  1. Today’s plan and watch a video: https://youtu.be/BNyPE93fXh8  (10 min) 
  1. Example of “kigo” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_kigo#Autumn:_8_August_%E2%80%93_6_November (5 min) 
  1. Break out room (2-3people) (25 min)  
    1. How we appreciate season? Any new “kigo” that we can create that’s specific to American seasonal moments? 
    2. What reminds us of seasons? What kind of things do we appreciate in a season? What do we do, see, hear, taste or feel in a season?  
    3. Let’s make a haiku! 
  1. Main room (15 min) 
    1. Share the haiku each group made.  

What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.) 

Class agreement, breakup rooms 

Zoom, Breakout room, emails, YouTube and internet resources.   

What worked well in this class? What did not work? 

  • They knew the basics of haiku. The video helped them understand a little deeper about haiku. 
  • “kigo” is an interesting concept. Instead of telling them this as a rule, I let them think about and come up with their own “kigo” in their own environment (American or California or whatever they think of) 
  • I believe it’s a nice activity to reflect how we are related to our environment, such as nature or seasonal events.  
  • This also turned into finding a little nice or memorable moment in their daily life relating to a season 
  • They enjoyed thinking of “kigo” and they explained how seasonal a certain word is to me, as I’m not quite familiar to American seasonal practice.  
  • They enjoyed making haiku, too, and they are using some techniques such as ji-amari (extra letter) or taigen-dome (ending a phrase with a noun)   
  • I also had them type their poem into the chat so I can make sure I know what they did and also I can save it. 
  • This was also finding a little nice or memorable moment in their daily life 

How could this class be improved/ modified? 

  • We focused on fall as it’s fall now, but we can do this any seasons 
  • We can also do “senryu,” which is like haiku, but you do not need to use “kigo” in it. So this could be a little freer and more hilarious.  

 If you have a more detailed lesson plan, please attach it below (OK to use target language for that).  Please attach any handouts as well. 

Some concepts: 
俳句、季語、字余り、字足らず、倒置法 

Student works (with my quick translation): 

天の川(あまのがわ)
 
今晩月は(こんばんつきは)
 
珍しい(めずらしい) 
With Milky way, tonight’s moon is rare. 

紅葉狩り 
カリフォルニアで 
火事がある 
While enjoying the colorful fall tree leaves while it’s on fire in California 

コーン畑 
踊って来てる 
骸骨は 
At Corn field, a skeleton is coming while dancing 

花枯れる (はなかれる) 
BTS が来る (ビティエスがくる) 
うれしいな 
The season the flowers die, it’s also a season BTS comes here. Feels happy. 

タコ火曜
 
感謝祭と
 
食べすぎる 
Taco Tuesday, also Thanksgiving, I’m eating too much 

秋のくれ(あき) 
カボチャをほって 
光入れ(ひかりいれ) 
At dusk, I curve a pumpkin and light inside. 

秋の時間 
色々な色 
思い出す 
Fall time, I remember lots of colors. 

秋に来る 
外を見る時 
しあわせな 
Coming in the fall, I feel happy looking outside 

春寒のころ 
電車を待ち中 
あの子見た 
In early spring, while waiting for a train, I saw the girl. 

宿題が 
飛んで行ってる 
貝寄風のおかげ 
My homework is all blown away, thanks to a strong spring wind! 

蝉の音 
種を吐き出せ 
ネバネバな手 
Cicada sounds, let’s spit out seeds with my sticky hands 

最初の雨 
上に雪が降る 
山眠る
 
The first rain, and then snow falls, the mountain sleeps 

大雨で 峰
白くなり 
山眠る 
A huge rain fall, the peak of mountains become white as mountains sleeps 

雨の後  
雲吹き飛ばし  
白い山 
After the rain, the clounds are blown away and I see a white mountain.  

DE F20 INT/ADV – St. Martin’s Day & Lantern crafting

Language Resident/Assistant Name: Eva Saunders

Day and Date: 11/12/2020

Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class): Intermediate & Advanced

Class theme/topics discussed: St. Martin’s Day

Goal of the class: Learn about German culture and master casual conversation

How did you structure the class?

A) Warm-Up: Have you heard of St. Martins Day or seen lantern-walks before? Why are they happening?

Watch short cartoon about St. Martin:


B) Activity: Make a lantern as is a custom in Germany on 11/11 while listening to songs that are traditionally sung, like  “Ich geh mit meiner Laterne“ and “Laterne, Laterne”.

Here is an example for an easy lantern: http://www.labbe.de/zzzebra/index.asp?themaid=237&titelid=4116
This one is made poking holes, alternatively you can have the students cut out shapes with small scissors and glue tissue paper behind it.

Maybe watch video of actual St. Martin’s procession towards the end, when people are settled in with crafting (you can find some on Youtube).

C) Discussion while crafting or after: What were your favorite Childhood activities this time of year? Is there something similar in your culture?

What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.) Props: Share Screen function in Zoom, Chat, Youtube, Spotify, Course Website as a resource for homework and reference.

I emailed students a few days before with what is needed so they could get the supplies needed for making the lanterns (cardboard box, scissors, thumb tacks, glue, tissue paper, fake candle, etc.).

What worked well in this class? What did not work?

The students very much enjoyed making the lanterns. It is a bit hard to make them multi-task, so they became chattier once they were almost done with their work. It worked well to listen to some traditional songs while they were crafting and showing the videos in the beginning & end.

How could this class be improved/ modified?

I’d leave it as is. And we took a screenshot photo with all our lanterns at the end, which made a fun memory.

If you have a more detailed lesson plan, please attach it below (OK to use target language for that).  Please attach any handouts as well.

Virtual Handout in target language:  https://courses.pomona.edu/la-german-2020/blog/2020/11/12/13-1-class-23-11-12-2020/   (Password: GERMAN)

JP F20 INT: Embarrassing Stories

Language Resident/Assistant Name:  

Kozue Matsumoto 

Day and Date:  

Wednesday October 14, 2020   

Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class):  

Intermediate 

Class theme/topics discussed:  

  • Student suggested theme #2 
  • Embarrassing Stories 

Goal of the class:  

  • Share embarrassing stories. 

How did you structure the class?  

  1. Good news (5 min) *We share positive stories at the beginning of each class.
  1. Continue from last class (5 min) 
  1. Today’s plan (5 min) 
    1. Your embarrassing story is awesome, but something you witnessed counts, too. For example, your siblings.
  1. Break out room (2-3people) (25 min)  
    1. Share embarrassing stories 
    2. Ask at least 1 question to each other’s stories 
  1. Main room (20 min) 
    1. Share each others’ story. 
    2. My partner’s story is like this. I asked this question, and their answer was that.  

What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.) 

Class agreement, breakup rooms 

Zoom, Breakout room.   

What worked well in this class? What did not work? 

  • They have hilarious stories! I thought the last class “Childhood stories” were amazing, but this was as amazing as last time if not more.  
  • We didn’t get to share all the stories, so we will start next class with sharing the rest of the stories. 
  • Students spoke a lot, and we laughed a lot.  
  • I felt students are trying very hard to tell a story as they wanted to deliver the story and how funny the story is. Also I sensed that everyone was listening hard because they didn’t want to miss the funny point.   
  • They were definitely sharing more stories while I wasn’t with them in breakout rooms.   
  • This is one of classes students chose as the best.

How could this class be improved/ modified? 

  • Several students said that they had hard time remembering any stories as they wanted to forget embarrassing stories. So I think it was a good idea to let them know that it’s ok to use some embarrassing stories that they witnessed as well as their own stories.  

JP F20 INT/ADV: Onomatopoeia

Language Resident/Assistant Name:  

Kozue Matsumoto 

Day and Date:  

Wednesday November 4, 2020   

Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class):  

Intermediate  / Advanced

Class theme/topics discussed:  

  • Check in with everyone and see how they are doing 
  • Onomatopoeia 

Goal of the class:  

  • See if everyone is cool to do a class (This class was right after the presidential election)
  • Explore Onomatopoeia 

How did you structure the class?  

  1. How are you doing? Hanging there? Good news if any??? (7 min) 
  1. Introduce Onomatopoeia (8 min) 
    1. ザーザー and パラパラ 
    2. Animal voices etc. 
  1. Breakout room (30 min) 
    1. Describe a moment or create a story 
    2. Pick 3 or 4 Onomatope from https://www.tofugu.com/japanese/japanese-onomatopoeia/ and use it in sentence. One sentence one onomatope. 
  1. Main room (15 min) 
    1. Share the sentences that each group creates 
    2. Wrap up. Stay positive, and stay calm

What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.) 

Class agreement, breakup rooms 

Zoom, breakout rooms online resource 

What worked well in this class? What did not work? 

  • Students were tired and stressed out with election situations. 
  • Students loved Onomatope. They sound funny and cute apparently. 
  • In the breakout rooms, students were laughing so hard finding new Onomatope and how they sound like 
  • They were so creative about making a story. This is a lot more than I expected. 
  • In the main room, students typed what they created in a chat and read aloud. It became almost like a theatre at some point. One student acted character A, another one was character B, and another one was a narrator, etc. 
  • They were so good at creating, writing, and using new words. I gave a little grammar correction to make a phrase sound natural after every group presented their stories. 
  • I enjoyed so much how engaged they were in today’s activity.  
  • I wanted this class to be somewhat fun. I’m glad that this class created some cheerful moments for them, especially after hearing them saying that other classes were all ok today and that they were just ok. 
  • This is one of classes students chose as the best.

Advanced:

  • They knew a lot more onomatope than the intermediate class. 
  • They were very nervous and worried about the election results.  
  • We ended up with talking a lot of feelings and situations around the election with onomatope.  
  • We also had some fun moments with some fun and positive and funny onomatope.  
  • Students also expressed some feelings about COVID. 
  • Onomatope are very nuanced expressions, so it was a great exercise to think about what the equivalent expressions are in English. I ended up with doing a lot of acting and facial expressions to tell them the nuances. That was fun.  
  • Manga is a great way to learn onomatope. 

How could this class be improved/ modified? 

  • Onomatopoeia is very fun and great things to know. I used an entire class focusing on this. But also it’s possible to introduce a few Onomatopoeia at the beginning of every class. This would give students some laugh and create a positive mood to start a class. 
  • I used a breakout room with 3-4 people. It could be smaller groups. 

If you have a more detailed lesson plan, please attach it below (OK to use target language for that).  Please attach any handouts as well. 

https://www.tofugu.com/japanese/japanese-onomatopoeia/

Student works: Each group created a story. 

  • ある日かえるさんとあひるさんが、いけに会いました。あひるさんは、かえるさんにかっこつけて、大きな声で 「ガーガー」と泣きました。かえるさんは、これを聞いてクスクス笑いました。じつは、あひるさんはじこあいせいでしたので、笑われたことがなかったです。あひるさんは、これを聞いて「ブルブル」ふるえました。かえるさんは、それを見て「おほん、きみはキャンセルドだ!」と言いました。あひるさんはもじもじして、こいにおちました。そして、かえるさんは、「へんなやつだなー」と思ってたたたたにげました。
 
  • ある日、マイケルジャクソンは馬をみました。馬はマイケルに向かってサクサク走りました
。
マイケルも馬に向かってタタタタ走りました。

マイケルのマネージャーは「マイケル!馬の話をできない」と言いました。
でも、マイケルはガミガミだけを聞きました。
マイケルは気にしませんでした。

馬は「ひひいん」と言いました。
マイケルはうっとりです。
マイケルは「ひひ」と言いました。
その後、マイケルは馬と友達になりました。
マイケルは歌手をやめて、カウボーイになりました。 

サクサク = stepping in dirt 
タタタタ = running 
ガミガミ = being lectured/nagged by someone above you 
ひひいん = sound of a horse 
うっとり = being fascinated by something beautiful 

  • 昔々 きみちゃんという六歳の子供は もりに すたこらに あるいていた。

きゅうに おおきくてこわいくまが 起こった。

でも きみちゃんは ゆうかんな子供 泣かなかった。


くまさん、大丈夫ですか?一人で もりにいるのは さびしいでしょう
。
くまさんは、ええええ、何これ?どうして この子 怖くならないの?

きみちゃんは、私の方が くまさんより こわいよ!それで、どんなに大きくても ぜんぜん ぶるぶる ふるえない!
くまさんは、そうなんだ。じゃあ、一緒に 世界せいふくをしよう!
きみちゃんは、世界征服 したくないけど。でも、人間は 最悪から 一緒に 森を 守ろう!
それ以下 きみちゃんとくまさんは もりを守ったり 毎日ラーメンをたべたり 幸せに 住んでいた.
 

DE F20 INT/ADV – Christmas Escape Room

Language Resident/Assistant Name: Eva Saunders

Day and Date: 11/24/2020

Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class): Intermediante/Advanced

Class theme/topics discussed: Christmas & the holidays

Goal of the class: Learning about German customs and escaping Krampus’ mine

How did you structure the class?

A) Warm-Up: With the lights off and your Zoom background set to a coal mine, tell the students they have been captured and brought to a coal mine because they opened their advent calendars too early! Impersonating Krampus for this is highly recommended & fun (I wore a Santa hat and used a flash light to make myself look frightening)

B) Give them the “escape room” game Google Sheet link and explain (as “Krampus”) how they are going to find the code word to get out (which is “Merry Christmas” in German, but backwards, see Key sheet). Stress that they are supposed to talk to each other to solve riddles together, one at a time. Then set a timer for 45-50 minutes for them to solve the questions and to guess the code word.

It’s good to remind them of the time they have left every once in a while (half time and maybe 5 minutes before, depending how they are doing on time). I plan about 5 minutes per question on average as a guideline. If they are taking longer, feel free to help them a bit by telling them if their answer is right or wrong before they type them in, to avoid detours. And giving hints or more information about a correct answer works well, too.

C) Once the game is finished, go over the answers the students provided or answer any outstanding questions about Christmas in Germany.

D) Extra activity: Watch “Cat-A-Claws”, a 2-minute Christmas themed cat movie https://vimeo.com/381605666 (this is my own production, but available publicly). Find traditions and words we talked about in the movie.

What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.): Share Screen function in Zoom, Chat, Google Sheets, Vimeo, Course Website as a resource for homework and reference

What worked well in this class? What did not work?

The students enjoyed the surprise escape room very much and solved the riddles just in time. I clarified some things during the game and helped a bit to keep it moving. It was a fun way to learn!

How could this class be improved/ modified?

I’ve tried this both with just one student and a group of three students and both took about 45-50 minutes to finish it. If the group is much larger, communication might be hard so they should probably be split up into groups of three or four and you can jump from room to room to help if necessary.

If you have a more detailed lesson plan, please attach it below (OK to use target language for that).  Please attach any handouts as well.

Virtual Handout in target language https://courses.pomona.edu/la-german-2020/blog/2020/11/24/13-1-class-25-11-23-2020/ (Password: GERMAN)

Note: You can use the key document for yourself and then load the blank template tab into Google Sheets to have the students work in the same document. It’s best if one student shares their screen of it so all can see what’s asked.

JP F20 INT/ADV: Music Videos

Language Resident/Assistant Name:  

Kozue Matsumoto 

Day and Date:  

Monday November 9, 2020   

Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class):  

Intermediate  / Advanced

Class theme/topics discussed:  

Goal of the class:  

  • Get to know some contemporary attempt of Japanese traditional music 
  • Describe music videos, what do you see? What do you hear?

How did you structure the class?  

  1. How are you doing? Hanging there? Good news if any??? (7 min) 
    1. We are trying to stay calm with the presidential election result being updated.
  1. Today’s plan (3 min) 
  1. Breakout room (30 min): Each group has a different music video
    1. Watch the videos 
    2. How many people are there?  
    3. What are they doing? What are the instruments? 
    4. What do they wear? 
    5. What kind of music? 
    6. What is traditional and what is not traditional? 
    7. Do you like it or not and why? 
  1. Main room (20 min) 
    1. Explain the music video and watch video 
    2. Wrap up. Stay positive, and stay calm,  

What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.) 

Class agreement, breakup rooms 

Zoom, breakout rooms, youtube videos 

What worked well in this class? What did not work? 

  • Students were a little tired at the beginning with upcoming exams and all the homework they have 
  • Each breakout room had a different music video. So I told them to describe the video really in detail. 
  • They enjoyed the videos.  
  • We learned some way of describing music, terms such as “traditional,” “contemporary,” and other terms used for traditional clothing.  
  • In breakout rooms, they asked me some words that explain musical moments, things artists are wearing, or the scenery. They used these terms when shearing in the main room. 
  • I first let all the groups explain what they watched. After that is done, I shared my screen and played all three videos at once. They loved it.  
  • Students enjoyed the music, costumes, the techniques of artists, and other details.   
  • This is one of classes students chose as the best.

Advanced:

  • Students enjoyed the music, costumes, the techniques of artists, and other details. 
  • We ended up with talking a lot about Japanese arts and elements in videos. 
  • Students have a little more knowledge about Buddhism in this class, and it made some discussions very interesting. 

How could this class be improved/ modified? 

  • I noticed that students used chat a lot as we all watch the videos together. Probably I can make use of the chat function more effectively with music moment. I don’t know how yet though. Something to keep thinking for the next time.  

If you have a more detailed lesson plan, please attach it below (OK to use target language for that).  Please attach any handouts as well. 

Videos Shared:

Vocabulary that we learned: 

袴:はかま 
ばち 
伝統的:でんとうてき:traditional 
楽器:がっき:musical instrument 
稲荷:いなり 
畳:たたみ 
和室:わしつ 
襖:ふすま 
和紙:わし 
障子:しょうじ 
きつね 
竹:たけ 
竹林:ちくりん 
帯:おび 
頭巾:ずきん 
お経:おきょう 
般若心経:はんにゃしんきょう 
袈裟:けさ 
邪道:じゃどう 

Students’ comments on chat for each video

https://youtu.be/KHna8ngTaOg
17:06:41     From Lena She-Her : This lit 
17:06:50     From Mason Cai : ^^ 
17:06:54     From Marina Aina : ^^^ 
17:07:00     From Ruby Hoffman : ^^ 
17:07:10     From Ashley Cheng : ^^^^^ 
17:07:32     From Marina Aina : The mv visuals are so nice too 😮 
17:07:48     From Alyssa Zhang : those masks damnnnnn 
17:08:06     From Mason Cai : :OOOoOOO: 

https://youtu.be/cbObLy5MjWU  
17:10:24     From Marina Aina : Ive never felt more untalented in my life LMAO they’re so good 😮 
17:10:32     From Kate McHale : this really slaps 
17:10:34     From Ashley Cheng : It really do be one of those days 

https://youtu.be/nvIGCMhjkvw?t=120  
17:12:03     From Kano Cheng : I want to be this man when I grow up 
17:12:29     From Ruby Hoffman : yes oh my god 
17:12:37     From Marina Aina : i think you can accomplish that dream :,) 
17:12:40     From Kate McHale : immaculate vibes 
17:12:42     From Ashley Cheng : I wonder if my buddhist grandma would appreciate this 
17:13:07     From Alyssa Zhang : i want to know what hes saying 

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