an archive of lesson plans

Category: Politics and Social Issues (Page 1 of 6)

About political system, politicians, election, and social “problems”

FR INT/ADV SP23 Political Systems in French-speaking Countries

Level: Intermediate and advanced

Objective: By the end of the lesson, students will be able to identify and describe the main characteristics of the different political systems in French-speaking countries and their main differences.

Materials:

– PowerPoint presentation on political systems in French-speaking countries

– Handouts with vocabulary related to politics and government

– Audio recordings with native speakers discussing political systems in different countries

– Internet access for research

Warm-up activity:

Begin the class by asking students to brainstorm words related to politics and government in French. Write their responses on the board and review the vocabulary as a class. Then, divide the students into pairs or small groups of 3 and give them a list of French-speaking countries. Have them research the type of government each country has and write a brief description.

Activity 1:

Present a PowerPoint on the different political systems in French-speaking countries. Include examples of countries that use each system and the main characteristics of each system. After the presentation, divide the class into small groups of 2 or 3 and assign each group a different political system. Have each group research a French-speaking country that uses their assigned political system and prepare a short presentation describing the system and how it functions in that country.

Activity 2:

Play audio recordings of native speakers discussing political systems in different countries. Have students listen and take notes on the characteristics of each system. Then, ask them to work in pairs to compare and contrast the different systems and discuss which one they believe is the most effective.

To extend the lesson, you could ask students to research current political events in a French-speaking country and write a news report discussing how the political system is affecting the situation. You could also ask them to research political parties in a French-speaking country and create a presentation discussing their platforms and how they relate to the political system in that country.

RU S23: NEWS: TRUTH AND FAKES

Language Resident Name: Aleksandra Bystrova

Date: 02/09/2023

Class theme/topics discussed: NEWS: TRUTH AND FAKES

Goal of the class:

  • Students will identify for themselves news media where they can read the news
  • Students can distinguish truth from untruth in Russian
  • Students can lie in Russian

How did you structure the class?

  1. Warm-up. Good News (10 mins)
    Share the good news; what positive and interesting things happened to you in the past week?
  2. Activity 1. Discussion about news (10 min)
    Students discuss the following questions in pairs: Where do you read/watch the news? What was the last shocking news item you read? How do you recognize fakes? Is it difficult?
  3. Activity 2. What words are associated with the newspaper? (5 min)
    I write the word newspaper on the board and ask students to write all the words they associate with it.
  4. Activity 3. Objects create news (15 min)
    Create a news story with the items from the picture. In pairs, choose three items from the picture and create a news story.

5. Activity 4: Fake News
In pairs, students choose one news story that is real and make up a fake one from it. They can use their phones to do this. They then tell both news stories to the class, and they have to decide which one is true and which one is fake.

6. Wrap-up. Do you agree or disagree (10 min)
Read these statements. Decide whether you agree or disagree with them. Think about the reasons for your answers.
– Now that we have the Internet, print newspapers are no longer necessary.
– News reports are always biased.

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

I really enjoyed this class. The students are very interested in the topic of news in Russia. They talked a lot during the discussion. The picture activity, where they had to choose several subjects, was very interesting. The students were very creative. Also the last activity worked well. Students were able to practice their presentation and lying skills.

How could this class be improved/ modified?

I wouldn’t change anything. In my opinion, the class went very smooth, even though I was a little nervous to talk about news sources.

ES SP23 INT/ADV Crime and Law

Level: Intermediate/advace

Class Topic: Crime and law

Students will be able to:

  • Use vocabulary related to law, trials, crime.
  • Identify and discuss differences between legal systems in the US, Chile and other Spanish-speaking countries
  • Simulate a mock trial with a case taking roles as the different participants of a trial

Class structure:

Warm up:

The facilitator shows a picture of a crime scene in Chile and asks the students to describe what happened and what they think the motives were. The teacher will then introduce the topic of crime and law and ask the students what they think about it.

The facilitator writes vocabulary words in the white board that are relevant to use in the class

Activity:

Students see an image of how the judicial system in Chile works. In groups, they compare it to the system in the US. They discuss similarities, differences, as well as pros and cons of them. They answer the question, what’s the good and bad thing about having a jury?

Activity: Mock trial

The class is divided in 3 groups to work on the cases at first.

First, each group decides what the case is going to look like: what is the crime in hand? Who is the suspect? What can witneses say about it? What evidence has been found?

Second, one person in the group becomes the defendant and another person becomes the lawyer. Then, for each case, the facilitator assigns people from other groups to participate in each case: a Fiscal (prosecutor), a witness and a judge. At the end of that part, for each of the 3 cases, each students has a role, which means that for one case, a student will be the attorney, but also the witness for another case and the defendant for another case.

Third, they role-play the trial of each case. Each student has a role for all of the cases, so they can all participate.

Wrap up:

Students discuss what they learned and how the trials went. They provide feedback on what could have been different in the trials and the evidence that could have helped.

Resources used: Powerpoint presentation

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

The class was fun! At first, I was a little bit afraid that intermediate students might not be able to use legal jargon, but once we had vocabulary on the white board, they were able to access it at any time and they did a good job. Organizing the cases was a little bit messy, so I think I’d be good to show them a diagram of how cases are going to be organized, so that they know what they’re supposed to do. But it was fun to do the mock trials and students seemed to have fun doing it.

FR INT/ADV S23 French Online Influencers

Objective: To introduce French online influencers and improve French language skills through watching their videos and engaging in related activities.

Level: Intermediate and advanced

Materials:

– Access to the Internet and YouTube

– Activity sheets

Introduction:

1. Introduction of the concept of French online influencers, what they are, who some of the most popular ones are, and what they typically do (vlogs, gaming, comedy, etc.)

2. Present the influencers that will be focused on in this lesson: Squeezie, Mcfly et Carlito, and Le rire jaune, and make a brief overview of their content and why they are popular in France.

3. Ask students if they have heard of any of these influencers before, and if so, what they know about them. Encourage a discussion to get students engaged.

Activity 1: Watch a video by Squeezie

1. Have students watch a video by Squeezie on YouTube, such as his “Je teste des objets insolites” series or QUI EST L’IMPOSTEUR ? (ft Eric & Ramzy) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1Z1A46FknM .

2. While watching, have students take notes on any new vocabulary words or phrases they hear.

3. After watching, have students share some of the new words and phrases they learned. Create a vocabulary list on the board or in a shared Google doc online. What did they like/dislike about the videos?

Activity 2: Complete a listening comprehension activity with Mcfly et Carlito

1. Have students watch a video by Mcfly et Carlito, such as their CONCOURS D’ANECDOTES vs LE PRÉSIDENT DE LA RÉPUBLIQUE video ( this one is very long but you can show them just a part of it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neqCdyadqFA&t=156s ).

2. After watching, provide students with a worksheet with questions related to the video

3. Have students work in pairs or small groups to discuss their answers and ensure they understood the video/what was shown.

Optional activity if there is time left, or can be done in the next class:

Activity 3: Create a sketch inspired by Le rire jaune

1. Introduce students to Le rire jaune, a famous French YouTuber who creates comic videos.

2. Have students watch a few of his videos and identify common themes or elements (e.g. humor, sarcasm, pop culture references).

3. Divide students into small groups and have them create a short sketch inspired by Le rire jaune. Encourage them to incorporate some of the elements they identified in his sketches.

4. Have groups perform their sketches for the class, allowing time for feedback and discussion.

Conclusion:

1. Review the new vocabulary words and phrases learned throughout the lesson.

2. Ask students to reflect on what they enjoyed about learning French through online influencers. Did they find it engaging? Did they feel like they learnt anything new?

3. Encourage students to continue watching videos by these youtubers and other French influencers as a way to continue improving their language skills outside of class.

DE 23 INT S23 German Politics/Parties

TopicPolitics
Goals of the Classget to know the German political parties and their programs. form your own opinion about important issues in a country. what is important for me or for society.
Warm UpWhere is which city in Germany? the students had to take a quiz on different cities on the Germany map positions.
Activity 1I showed the students the colors of the six major parties. What do you associate with which color? What do colors stand for? What do they stand for in a political sense?
Activity 2Input about the programs of the German parties from My Side. Results of the last elections were shown. – Which points are of great importance to you? – If I were head of a party, what things would you focus on? – What colors and what name would your party wear?
Activity 3Voting at 16? sensible or not? Discuss advantages and disadvantages
What worked well in this class? What did not work (and how could it be improved)? The lesson was very well received by the students and was also requested as a proposal in the first lesson. the two participants were able to represent their opinions very well and participated very strongly. The students were also very interested in the input about the German electoral and party system.  

JP F22 INT/ADV 政治や外交・歴史や人権、人種差別の問題について話そう!Let’s talk about complex subjects such as Politics, Intl relations, History, racism and Human rights!

Conversation Class Lesson Summary

Language Resident Name: Cozy Enrique NAKADA (Koji NAKADA)

Day and Date: 14th week (29th Nov and 1st Dec 2022) 

Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class):  Advanced

Class theme/topics discussed: Conversation project

Goal of the class: To be able to express on the academic interest they have

How did you structure the class?

29th November 2022

16:15

              Talking about bilingualism and economical success in California

              Talking about a documentary film about heritage language

and social exclusion in Korea

17:15

1st December 2022

16:15

              Talking about microaggression and racial justice

              Talking about minority / majority issues in Japan

17:15

What technology, media or props did you use?  

   Handout, YouTube video

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

It was great two consecutive session to talk about their themes that they’re passionate about. They learned many higher / abstract words.

マイクロアグレッションの問題を説明する動画。

人種差別の無知を笑いで切り返す、爽快な動画。考えるきっかけとして最適

日本における「外人」差別をデフォルメして描いた動画。もちろん実際ここまでの人はいないにしても、多かれ少なかれ差別はあるよね。

学生の一人が制作に携わった、韓国のドキュメンタリー。いわゆる「ハーフ」の子達が、自らのルーツと向き合うためベトナムに旅行する、そのインタビューも載っているとのこと。非常に参考になる。(全て韓国語、たまに日本語も)

ハーフ達

日本における「ハーフ」のリアルを描いたドキュメンタリー映画。本当に力強く、マジョリティの「純ジャパ」と自称する人たちこそ見て考えを改めるべきで、その参考になる作品。

ES S22 ADV LGBTQ+ Issues II

Language Resident: Franco Rivas Quiroz

Level: Advanced

Class theme/topic discussed: LGBTIQ+ Issues  II

Goal of the class:

Students will be able to:

  • Discuss issues that affected the LGBTIQ+ both today and in the past.
  • Compare struggles among the communities in the US, Chile or their own countries.
  • Make hypothetical assumptions using the conditional form “ría” (i.e debería, podría, etc.)  and negative ones using the subjunctive (i.e no creo que sea, es poco probable que intente, etc.) 

Class structure:

Warm up:

Students see an image of a piece of news of a recent piece of news in Chile that equal marriage is now officially legal since March 1st.  Since there are students that took the class the previous semester, they compare the situation about that bill that they learned about the previous semester.  They answer the questions “what do you think about this piece of news? what are the struggles that the LGBTIQ+ faces in your countries/states?”.

Activity:

Students see the extract of a videio in which discrimination situation occured in the middle of an interview. https://youtu.be/qh7WNAG117w

In small groups they discuss the questions: ¨Do you know about any similar situation in the US or in your own country? What do you think about it?¨

Students see headlines of Chilean old news about different situations that involved the LGBT community. They discuss the way language was used and the normalization of instults to reffer to someone gay. They are encouraged to use the conditional form for affirmative assumptions (i.e “podría estar intentando mostrar…”) and the subjunctive for negative statements (i.e “no creo que esté diciendo…”). 

Lenguaje Inclusivo: The facilitator briefly explains the general rules to use inclusive Spanish in order to refer to a neutral gender or groups. In small groups, they create a story – each person ads a sentence to continue the story– using inclusive Spanish.

Wrap up:

As a group they exchange ideas on what would be some good ideas to make visible the realities and issues that the LGBTQ community faces today and how to support those who are struggling.

Resources used: Projector, Powerpoint.

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

 Students were very engaged with this topic. Students had a lot of questions about the situation in Chile and it was interesting for students who took the class last semester to see the progress that has been made over the last year. They practiced using inclusive Spanish and it was a bit challenging but they were able to do it. There was a lot of vocabulary that they asked to know, and we spent some time talking about words or expressions –and some words to avoid that might be offensive– related to the topic. In general people seemed engaged.

Appendix: Newspapers’ headlines 

22 de abril de 1973, la primera protesta en Chile de disidencias sexuales  por sus derechos | Artes y Cultura | BioBioChile
LasPortadasDeTuVida📰 Twitterissä: "1984 Agosto 23 - "Murió paciente del  cáncer gay chileno" Así se retrataba entonces el SIDA en Chile. ¿Qué te  parece? https://t.co/33Vze41LzX" / Twitter

DE S22 INT/ADV: Subjunctive & Artistic Freedom (Part 1) [Zoom-class]

Language Resident/Assistant Name:
Nicolai Diener

Class theme/topics discussed:
Konjunktiv & Kunstfreiheit (Teil 1) [Zoom-class]

Goal of the class:
Learn about “Konjunktiv II” (When and how to use it)
Discuss “Kunstfreiheit” (artistic freedom)
Put pictures in relation to “Kunstfreiheit” and discuss their historical context
Compare artistic freedom in Germany and the US
Discuss the content of a music video based on isolated pictures

How did you structure the class?

4.15 – 4.20:        Welcome (Welcoming students to class, talking about how they feel and getting all the technology starting)

4.20 – 4.33:        “Was würdest du machen, wenn…” (Practicing the Konjunktiv II with the “würde”-form, e.g. “What you would do if you were to win a million dollars?” “I would buy an island if…”. Students join breakout rooms and ask each other one of the two questions in groups of 2-3 people. Three rounds with 2 questions each + always different groups)

4.33 – 4.37:        Review Konjunktiv II (short review of when to use and how to use the Konjunktiv II with its two forms. One of them the “würde”-Form, which we practiced in the task before)

4.37 – 4.45:        “Kunstfreiheit” + pictures (The term “Kunstfreiheit“ (artistic freedom) is introduced and students are then asked to look at 4 pictures, describe them, tell the group what is depicted in the pictures (and the context) and then put that in relation to “Kunstfreiheit”. If the students do not know about some of the pictures, the teacher can help them and explain their context. After that we take a quick look at how artistic freedom is embedded in the basic law for Germany)

4.45 – 4.55:        “Kunstfreiheit” experiences (students join breakout rooms first, and then come back to share with the group. They are asked to share their experiences with artistic freedom. Either because something that they themselves were involved, or something they have heard of and that has a relation to artistic freedom

4.55 – 5.00:        “Danger Dan” impression (“Danger Dan” is the name of the musician we are going to hear a song from. The students are asked to share their impressions when hearing the name)

5.00 – 5.05:        Pictures from the song (students see 4 pictures from the music video to the song “Das ist alles von der Kunstfreiheit gedeckt”. They are rather provocative and can be interpreted in different ways and the students are supposed to share their impressions of those pictures, and also what they think the video could be about and what it is supposed to express. Students discuss that in breakout rooms)

5.05 – 5.10:        Watch music video

5.10 – 5.15:        Music video impressions (students share their impressions from the music video and compare it with what they had shared before, when they just saw 4 isolated pictures from the music video)

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

Power Point Presentation
Zoom (+ Breakout rooms)
Pictures & videos (see Power Point Presentation)

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

The introduction worked really well because the students seemed to be really engaged with the questions, as they had a lot of fun thinking about those scenarios and “what they could do, if…”. Also, it was a really good introduction and transition to explaining the Konjunktiv II, which is used a lot by Danger Dan in his song and therefore offers a great grammatical foundation for working with the song later on.

When we looked at the pictures, the students were able to identify most of them and put them in connection to artistic freedom. I chose the pictures because two of them are important pieces in the history of Germany, the Charlie Hebdo-picture is important in the context of contemporary European affairs, and the last one was a fun, little story that is connected to artistic freedom. We took a look at the basic law, and the exchange of their “Kunstfreiheit” experiences was really interesting. Same can be said for talking about the name “Danger Dan” and the pictures from the music video. Finally, we watched the music video and the students shared their impressions. Generally, it was a good mix of learning about current affairs in Germany, pop-culture and Konjunktiv II on the one hand, and sharing their impressions, thoughts and experiences on the other hand.

DE S22 INT/ADV: Subjunctive & Artistic Freedom (Part 2) [Zoom-class]

Language Resident/Assistant Name:
Nicolai Diener

Class theme/topics discussed:
Konjunktiv & Kunstfreiheit (Teil 2) [Zoom-class]

Goal of the class:
Analyze the lyrics of a song (describe in own words/research context/interpret what artist wants to express)
Compare different parts of a song with each other
Discuss differences and possible interpretations
Discuss whether the song “Das ist alles von der Kunstfreiheit gedeckt“ is an example for Kunstfreiheit or Beleidigung (insult)
Discuss whether Böhmermanns „Schmähgedicht“ is an example for Kunstfreiheit or Beleidigung

How did you structure the class?

4.15 – 4.23:        Recap (Recap last class and thereby make a transition to this class’ topic)

4.23 – 4.35:        Group work (students have to get together in 3 groups and analyze the lyrics of one verse based on 3 questions that ask them to describe the lyrics in their own words, research the context of the song and interpret what the artist wants to say and how he writes his song in order to achieve that message. Each group meets in one breakout room, while they have access to the questions and a vocabulary list on our GoogleDoc)

4.35 – 4.55:        Presentation group work (Each group presents their findings according to the 3 questions that were given to them – there is a particular emphasis on finding the Konjunktiv-forms, as they are an important instrument for Danger Dan in his song and also connect to the last class and the grammatical topic)

4.55 – 5.00:        Bridge (We look at the bridge of the song and try to analyze in which ways it is different from the rest of the song and why that is the case)

5.00 – 5.07:        Positionsline + discussion (students have to locate themselves along a position line ranging from Kunstfreiheit to Beleidigung. Based on that they have to discuss their own position)

5.07 – 5.13:        Böhmermann-Affäre introduction + video (Most students probably see the song as an obvious example for Kunstfreiheit, thus I present them a case that could be more critical to evaluate. The so-called “Böhmermann-Affäre” is introduced in a few minutes, and then we watch the video of it)

5.13 – 5.20:        Positionsline + discussion (students are again asked to locate themselves along the same position line and then discuss what led them to their judgements)

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

Power Point Presentation
Google Doc (Questions + vocabulary list)
Zoom (+ Breakout rooms & annotate functions)
Pictures & videos (see Power Point Presentation)
(Jan Boehmermann Erdogan poem) https://vimeo.com/163537121

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

This class worked really well! It was a good conclusion to this 2-class-topic, which connected a song as a cultural element, with an important contemporary topic and a grammatical input. The class had different elements (discussions, group work, interpretations, media consumption etc.), a coherent structure and a few take-home messages.

The addition of a vocabulary list to the group work was very important and ensured efficiency, which allowed for a greater focus on the presentations and the discussions later. In those discussions, the students were really engaged and seemed interested in both the topic as well as the others’ opinions.  The position line worked really well and also as I expected (everybody saying it is Kunstfreiheit), which allowed me to introduce the “Böhmermann-Affäre” as a less clear-cut example for that topic. It is worth mentioning that the class ended about 5 minutes later – which is acceptable considering the complexity of the topic and the importance of the last discussion.

ES S22 ADV Fake News

Language Resident: Franco Rivas Quiroz

Level: Advanced

Class theme/topic discussed: Fake News

Goal of the class:

Students will be able to:

  • Discuss the concept of Fake News, the ways it happens both in the US and in Chile 
  • Identify good ways to be informed about the news.

Class structure:

Warm up:

Think-pair-share: Students answer the questions: how do you usually get informed? How much time do you spend on that? Why do you think it’s relevant?

Activity:

-Students discuss in groups whether there is fake news in the US, how it usually happens and whether they want to share one in particular. They do that in groups and then they share to the class. 

-Students see images of news papers/ social media posts of fake news that had an impact on Chile. Some of them were true and others were false. They discuss which ones are true and which ones were false, choosing some criteria to affirm that.

-Mentiras blancas: In groups, students discuss the following questions about white lies: 

  • ¿Son buenas? ¿Pueden ser buenas a veces?
  • ¿Mienten mucho?
  • ¿Son buenos mentirosos?
  • ¿Te han descubierto alguna vez mintiendo?

-In couples, students select one piece of news that is real and they make up a fake one. They can use their phones to do that. After that, they tell both of them to the class and they have to decide which one is correct and which one is fake news.

Wrap up:

Students vote on which one was the most convincing of all. 

Resources used: Projector.

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

  The topic seemed engaging for students. They followed the activities and the discussion prompts well in their groups. Students got the chance to talk a lot in the groups and couples. It was fun to hear their make up news and some of them were very convincing. Maybe what didn’t work so well was that, since there were a lot of couples, it took longer for the whole class to share their news, but students would make comments on them, so it wasn’t like they weren’t participating while the groups shared. They seemed to have fun with it.

ES F21 ADV LGBTIQ+ Issues

Language Resident: Franco Rivas Quiroz

Level: Advanced

Class theme/topic discussed: LGBTIQ+ Issues 

Goal of the class:

Students will be able to:

  • Discuss issues that affected the LGBTIQ+ both today and in the past.
  • Make hypothetical assumptions using the conditional form “ría” (i.e debería, podría, etc.)  and negative ones using the subjunctive (i.e no creo que sea, es poco probable que intente, etc.) 

Class structure:

Warm up:

Students see an image of a piece of news of a recent piece of news in Chile about the fact that the Equal marriage bill passed the congress’ “cámara de diputados”, making it one step closer to become a law.  They answer the questions “what do you think about this piece of news? what are the struggles that the LGBTIQ+ faces in your countries/states?”.

Activity:

-Students see images of artistic interventions of Pedro Lemebel, a Chilean queer writer that made a lot of effort during the dictatorship of Pinochet to bring to light issues of the LGBT community. After the facilitator explain a little bit who Pedro Lemembel is, they try to make assumptions on the meaning and purpose of each interventions. They are encouraged to use the conditional form for affirmative assumptions (i.e “podría estar intentando mostrar…”) and the subjunctive for negative statements (i.e “no creo que esté diciendo…”). After that, they are provided with short written explanations on pieces of paper and are encouraged to match the image with the explanation.

Referentes queer:  Students see two instagram videos (30 seconds each aprox.) of the influencers @unafamiliax (a Chilean lesbian couple activists who talk about current issues of the community and make visible their lives as a homoparental family with a child). Students are encouraged to ask questions about them, and then to share some role models or references in their own countries or communities that they know of, what they do, what they stand for and whatever they would like to share.

Wrap up:

As a group they exchange ideas on what would be some good ideas to make visible the realities and issues that the LGBTQ community faces today and how to support those who are struggling.

Resources used: Projector, Powerpoint.

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

 Students were very engaged with this topic. Some of them were closed to the topic because they have previously participated in activist groups in support of LGBTQ students in their communities. Students had a lot of questions about the situation in Chile, the progress that had been made so far and other challenges that the community faces today. There was a lot of vocabulary that they asked to know, and we spent some time talking about words or expressions –and some words to avoid that might be offensive– related to the topic. We were not able to fully complete all the activities of the class and we will continue on the next class and add some more activities related to the topic.

Pedro Lemebel artistic interventions:

Pedro Lemebel | ArtNexus

The Relaunch of the Yeguas del Apocalipsis | ArtNexus

Queens of the Corner: Pedro Lemebel y Las Yeguas del Apocalipsis – Mijente

The Relaunch of the Yeguas del Apocalipsis | ArtNexus

DE F21 INT/ADV German Federal Election 2021

Language Resident/Assistant Name:
Nicolai Diener

Class theme/topics discussed:
German Federal Election 2021

Goal of the class:
Learn and discuss about:

  • Political system in Germany
  • Comparison between German political system with U.S.
  • Comparison between Majority voting & proportional representation
  • Key political offices/names/institutions/parties in Germany
  • Distinction between party, fraction and coalition
  • Distinction between German parties

How did you structure the class?

4.30 – 4.40:        “Positionslinie” (Students have to position themselves along a line (“Positionslinie”) which is marked by a check on one side and a cross on the other according to three statements: 1) “I mostly understand what politics is about” 2) I feel that my opinion is well represented in politics 3) “I would go to a demonstration if I didn’t like something in the country”. Depending on where the students stand the teacher tries to collect like 1-2 opinions from students (standing on the extremes/middle/.. trying to involve everyone))

4.40 – 4.45:        Review: Political System USA – groups (the students have to discuss the following points with regard to the political system in the U.S.: “1) Key offices 2) Who votes for whom? 3) How is the winner decided?” They can use the chalkboard for illustrations)

4.45 – 4.50:        Review: Political System USA – plenum (teacher asks students for what they discussed in the groups and collects their input on the chalkboard for illustration purposes + easier comparison to German system)

4.50 – 5.00:        Scheme of key offices/institutions in German political system (students get 6 different parts of one scheme and have to bring them in the correct relation to each other. If too difficult help the students + discuss open questions)

5.00 – 5.05:        Gap text of key offices/institutions in German political system (introduce more/precise vocabulary/offices/institutions and record it with the gap text)

5.05 – 5.10:        Discuss 3 important terms: party, fraction & coalition (“party” and “fraction” important basic terms to understand the political system in Germany, as well as “coalition” – the latter one also allows to transfer to the next point: the comparison between majority voting and proportional representation)

5.10 – 5.20:        Watch Video „Wahlsysteme einfach erklärt“ + Discuss open questions

5.20 – 5.30:        Introduce & Discuss the Parties in Germany (each student gets 1 party – they have to read the short introduction and combined with their own knowledge have to answer the following questions: “1) Who is you party? What positions do they represent? 2) Where would your party position on a left-right-scale (using the same line as in the first task) 3) With which other parties would your party form a coalition?”)

XXX       Campaign issues

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

I knew that this class would be intense and we won’t be able to do all the things that I had planned – nevertheless I am really happy, as we were able to talk about the most important aspects and from my point of view the students were really (!) interested and also understood a lot (!). They were really engaged and worked pretty well on all the assignments, even though they had different degrees of political knowledge. To be honest, I switched to English several times this class – but this was a once a year occasion and it was important to me that they use German as much as possible (and I use German as much as possible in explaining things), but at the same time I really wanted them to take as much knowledge out of that class as possible – even if that meant that I had to switch to English sometimes.
All the assignments worked really well and took about the right amount of time – maybe the first task could have been a little bit shorter, but it was a really nice introduction, had the students walking around in class, discussing, sharing – so I would not necessarily change it as it is a good introduction to the class.
The comparison worked really well – students own knowledge/experience as basis to imagine how the German system could work. The explanations of the “party”, “fraction” and “coalition” terms allowed to have short little excursions to other topics – e.g. differences between the two voting systems. The video was good and worked really well in combination with further explanations by myself. They got to know the parties and what they stand for – the only thing we did not talk about were the campaign issues. But I do not really mind that – as that part is the weakest in my opinion and I will focus my study break on campaign issues. So it is not too bad that we did not do it and instead used the SHORT time for all the other important stuff. The students also asked a lot of questions after the class, left about 5.45 and I could tell them some insights to the German political landscape – all in all I would say that this was certainly a PACKED, but VERY good class.

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

Video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZSCCKjttM0 (09/23/2021)

ES S21 ADV Indigenous Languages

Language Resident: Katherine Pérez Gutiérrez 

Class theme/topic discussed : Indigenous Languages

Goal of the class 

  • Discuss the relationship between Spanish and indigenous languages
  • Talk about the public policies surrounding indigenous languages
  • Learn some indigenous words used in a day-to-day basis in some Spanish speaking countries.

Class structure

  • Warm-up:  Students play 3 rounds of would you rather.  
  • Activity 1: In breakout rooms, students answer some questions related to the languages they speak. Do you speak any more languages other than English and Spanish? What are the benefits of speaking multiple languages?
  • Activity 2: We watch a short video about how some indigenous languages are dying and what kind of public policies are being ruled to help this issue. In addition, students discuss a couple of questions to check what they understood from the video: What are the advantages and disadvantages of learning an indigenous language in school? What factors contribute to the loss and death of indigenous languages? What do you think about prioritizing teaching a foreign language over an indigenous language at school? What are the consequences?
  • Activity 3: I read aloud a paragraph of colloquial Chilean Spanish and students have to identify the indigenous words and guess the meaning of the words used in the text.
  • Activity 4: After checking and discussing the meaning, students come up with a dialogue where they use at least 2-3 of the words just learnt.

Resources used

  • PPT
  • Youtube:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyMjFoqUhfA

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

  • It was a good class. We spent most of the class on activity 2 discussing the questions and the video. Although students were engaged with that activity, I think moving on faster so that you have enough time to do the last two activities would be more fun and more dynamic.

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.

ES S21 ADV Accents and Stereotypes

Language Resident/Assistant Name: Tamara Olivos

Day and Date: February 2, 2021

Language and Level : Spanish Advanced

 Class theme/topics discussed: Accents

Goal of the class:

  • To talk about different accents in English and Spanish.
  • To talk about how accents influence our perception of people

How did you structure the class?

Ice breaker: “House Treasure Hunt”. The instructor will post items on the chat (one at a time) and students must try to find the item and bring them back as soon as possible.

  • A kitchen item that starts with a “C” (cuchara, cazuela, cubeta, copa)
  • The longest book/textbook you can find
  • Something yellow
  • Scissors
  • A small box
  • A broom

Warm up: Which accent is your favorite in Spanish and in English? Which accent is easiest/hardest to understand in Spanish? Why? Are you good at imitating accents in English?

Activity 1: We watch a video about the different accents in English. What did you think? Did she do a good job? Did you like her accent? Where is she from? Because the video is pretty long, the instructor can pause after each accent and discuss the questions above.

Alternative: Watch this video instead about Spanish accents, although it’s in English.

Activity 2:  We watch a series of videos by HBO Latino where they discuss stereotypes and their lives in the US. We discuss the videos. What is the stereotype? What is the situation in their states?  How can we change this? What’s the main reason for the rejection of people different from us? Has anyone made fun of your accent, in English or Spanish?

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

Zoom, YouTube

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

I skipped the accents video because my previous class didn’t enjoy it very much. I added an alternative because it may be easier for students to talk about Spanish accents. This class loved all the HBO videos though and had lots of comments. Because we skipped the first one, we had a lot of time to spend on the HBO videos.

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.

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

DE SP21 ADV – German politicians & Social Media

Day and Date: 3/23/2021

Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class): Advanced

Class theme/topics discussed: Current German politics, Social Media

Goal of the class: Get to know party leaders (= candidates for chancellor)

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: “lindnern” or “verschlimmbessern”). 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) Instagram Profile Revamp: Each student is assigned an important politician (leader of a party or chancellor candidate). They look up one of their Social Media profiles (for example, Instagram or Facebook) and think about how their page could be re-done in order to speak to them as an audience. Alone or in groups, they work on a new Profile Image, Instagram handle (Name), a concise logline, three lines of bio description and three posts consisting of a picture of the politician with a post text. Use of emojis is strongly welcomed. This activity can take about 25 minutes. (Note: they do not create an actual Instagram account, that should be made clear. They can do the task in a Word or Google Doc.)

C) Presenting their work/politician: Students present their revamped Instagram pages to each other, so that the students get to know each politician in a fun and engaging way.

D) Discussion: Compare to existing social media accounts and talk about the differences.

E) Optional extra activity: The students record a selfie video telling their friends why they should vote for this politician’s party.

Example: One student went above and beyond (which was not expected) and photoshopped his answers so it looks real. Can be part of the exercise as well.

What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.), Props: Share Screen function in Zoom, Google Docs or Word Doc for students to write down their Instagram material

What worked well in this class? What did not work?
The class worked well. The students seem to enjoy the creative exercises.

How could this class be improved/ modified?
The Instagram task could also be done as homework, if applicable, and the class can be used to talk more in-depth about the parties. If the Instagram task is done in class, the selfie-video exercise can also be done as homework or done in a previous class about politics and watched before the exercise.

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

DE F20 ADV – German politics

Language Resident/Assistant Name: Eva Saunders

Credit to: INES FISTER, DE F17 INT German Parliament – Bundestag
(I modified her class for online. Had the group research be homework so we had more time to discuss current politics and added some explainity videos.)

Day and Date: 11/10/2020

Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class): Advanced

Class theme/topics discussed: German government and current politics

Goal of the class: Discuss current politics and trends in Germany

How did you structure the class?

A) Warm-Up: How do you feel right now that the US election is over? Did you celebrate?

B) Discussion: Did you know yesterday was the first anniversary of the fall of the Wall in Berlin? How much do you know about that? Fill in knowledge gaps, if needed with a short video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxWn75LSO48

C) Homework Recap: Students present their research about a German political party each. Then talk about 6 major parties in Germany and where they are on the spectrum. Look at how large each party is in the Parliament. Discuss some topics the parties have discussed recently or topics the students are especially interested in.

D) Extra Activity (if not talking about the fall of the wall or if students want to go deeper):
a) Video about how parliament is elected: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAkG_D8nKTc&list=PLfRDp3S7rLds47DhlHPlRwTSK4DP5fmuo&index=55

b) Video about how chancellor is elected:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLHEBeSKfPI

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

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

I modified the previous lesson plan to having the students each present a party that was prepared as homework, because they seemed to be interested in the current policies and we had more time to talk about that this way. But the research could also be done during the class. I assigned each a party, so we didn’t hear about the same party several times.

How could this class be improved/ modified?

I would leave as is. I asked the students which direction they wanted to go deeper in and they wanted to know more about parliament elections. They were very interested and engaged this way.

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/2020/11/10/13-1-class-22-11-10-2020/  (Password: GERMAN)

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?

JP F20 INT/ADV: Naomi Osaka

Language Resident/Assistant Name:  

Kozue Matsumoto 

Day and Date:  

Wednesday September 16, 2020   

Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class):  

Intermediate / Advanced

Class theme/topics discussed:  

  • Naomi Osaka  

Goal of the class:  

  • What Naomi Osaka did, and how the story was told.  
  • Think about racism and BLM movement, think about them in Japanese context, and express ideas in Japanese 

How did you structure the class?  

  1. Good news? (5min) *We share positive stories at the beginning of each class.
  1. Ask about some Japanese news they know (5min)  
  1. Listen to the news (10 min)  
    1. https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/easy/k10012615261000/k10012615261000.html  
    2. Check the basics of the news (Who she is, what she did, her action of wearing masks etc.) 
  1. Breakout room (30 mim) 
    1. What do you think about her action of wearing masks during the US Open? 
    2. Lots of Japanese people believe that top athletes like her shouldn’t talk about any political or controversial issues. What do you think about it? 
    3. For so long time, for Japanese people, “Japanese people” mean people who look like Japanese, speak Japanese, live in japan for entire their life, and have both Japanese parents. Now things are changing. The Japanese society needs to adjust to multi-cultural, multi-racial, multi-everything reality. As a person who lives in USA, what would you like to suggest, advise, or teach Japanese people about living in a diverse community? 
  1. Main room (10 min) 
    1. Share ideas regarding the last question (4.c) 

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

Class agreement, breakup rooms 

Zoom, Breakout room, chat section, news web site 

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

  • Listening to Japanese news stories (created specifically for children and non-Japanese native people) seemed to be a little difficult, but they got a basics about the story (I believe the photos helped too.) 
  • Students had so much to say about this topic.  They had thoughts and ideas. They sometimes struggled to express it in Japanese. But I felt their willingness to challenge themselves and share their thoughts in Japanese. I think this is great. 
  • I had another news story to discuss as I thought that one topic wouldn’t cover the whole hour. I was wrong. Students had a lot to think and share.
  • I tried to reflect some reality of Japanese society. Also, I tried to have them think about it in relation to their reality in the USA. I received a lot of great points about question 4.c. One said that the USA has lots of issues itself and that it is difficult to provide any advice. This is understandable, too. 
  • I wasn’t sure how students would react to this topic, but they were very serious, and I can tell that this is not a new topic for them. They have been thinking about this issue for a while.  

Advanced:

  • Even before we start first discussion about Naomi Osaka, students had a lot of questions about Japanese society, such as how Japanese people understand things like BLM, whether there is racism in Japan and if so what kind, how Japanese people think about being different, whether and how people talk about politics, about the media’s political stance, how people learn about the USA. We had a good discussion. 

How could this class be improved/ modified? 

  • Providing a basic key terms in Japanese at the beginning of the class might have helped. But at the same time, if I did it, that’s going to frame how and what they are going to think. So probably, just start free flowing, and help them when they ask about certain words.  
  • I see that the advanced class can learn and discuss a lot about Japan’s social and political issues as well as cultural things. I appreciate their curiosity.  

DE F19 ADV Global Warming

Language Resident Name: Tilman Viëtor

Day and Date: Thursday, 09/26/2019

Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class): German, Advanced

Class theme/topics discussed: What can we do as individuals to combat climate change?

Goal of the class: Students learn the vocabulary and grammar needed to discuss measures that individuals can take to combat climate change. They will be able to say whether they are feasible or not and whether they would take them or not and give reasons for their decisions.

How did you structure the class?

  1. They write down 3 questions they want to ask another student. Then they pair up.
  2. Focused free writing (2-5 min.) with a few words/phrases having to do with climate change as inspiration.
  3. Discuss what they have written with their partner.
  4. We watch a video with 5 tips for a more environmentally friendly lifestyle. After the video we quickly discuss what they think was important and whether they learned something new.
  5. Students write all their ideas down about what people can do individually to fight climate change.
  6. I give input, explaining what I do to contribute to the struggle (Already modeling the grammar they will use later)
  7. I explain what “containern” and “bändern” is. Controversial topics as food for thought for the discussion.
  8. I introduce all the phrases and words they can use to discuss actions with their peers.
  9. Students write down 5 things they would do or already do, and 2 things that they wouldn’t do.
  10. They discuss their ideas in pairs first, then in the group.

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

Video 1 : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTAGliXvZXg

Powerpoint, Pen, Whiteboard

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

The class went, well and we had a lively discussion. Students told me they liked it.

Germ.-adv-4.2

 

ES F19 ADV: Migration

Language Resident Name:  Katherine Pérez Gutiérrez

Class theme/topic discussed: Migration.

Goal of the class:

  • Talk about current immigration affairs (both on a personal and general level)
  • Practice the use of past tenses (preterite & preterite imperfect) 
  • Practice storytelling (1st & 3rd person)

Class’ structure

  • Attendance (2 min)
  • Warm-up: Students and I go over the talk we went to on the previous class (“Commonsense Racism and Latin American Mobility in the Time of Trump”)  and comment a bit on what the speaker said.  In small groups, they start discussing: What where some common phrases used by Trump? What group/s of people is he usually referring to when talking about migrants? Why do you think people leave their countries? Which ones are the largest groups of migrants in the US? Do you have any idea about immigration in other places, like Chile?  (5-7 min)
  • Input: 1) Students look up on their phone where do people who migrate to Chile come from. After discussing their findings, I showed them a video about a Foundation in Santiago. During the video they had to answer: When was the foundation created and by whom?Around  how many students and volunteers where participating there? What was the role of the more advanced students?

2) I also talk about how my experience working in that foundation was. (5-7 min)

  • Activity 1:  In groups, students tell each other wether or not they have had any experience related to migration, and, if so, they share it to one another. Afterwards each group share their stories with the whole class, but each student has to tell one of their classmate’s story. (10-15 min)
  • Activity 2: Aporofobia (fear and rejection towards poverty and poor people): Students look up the meaning of that word and comment on it. They have to answer: Have you seen an example of that in the U.S? Where? When? Does that sound similar to what I’ve told you about Chile? (5-7 min)
  • Acrivity 3: “Linguistic barrier”: I read a paragraph from a news article about Haitians in Chile and how language is a barrier for them as well. Students comment on that as well, comparing and contrasting U.S. situation with Chile’s one (5-7 min)
  • Activity 4: Migration explained with kitties: I play a video that explains Central American migrants situation with kitties. In groups, students answer some questions related to the video:  Why are they using cats to explain the migratory situation? Why do Central American migrants travel in caravans? What are some of the issues they face along the way? Mention 3 reasons why they leave their countries. (10-15 min)

Resources used

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

  • .The class worked really well in spite of how sensitive the topic can be. If you emphasize that they should not feel pushed to share anything they don’t want to, as long as you pay attention to how students are feeling, the class should work just fine.

ES SP19 INT: Connecting Random Topics in Small Talk

  • Language Resident Name: Hugo Briones Cáceres
  • Day and Date: Wednesday, February 20th   
  • Language and Level: Spanish Conversation Intermediate
  • Class theme/topics discussed:

Improvisation

Connecting random topics

  • Goal of the class:

To improvise conversation based on random topics

  • How did you structure the class? 
  • Activity 1: In pairs, students come in front of the class. They have to choose two random topics from two pits on the table: one of them very simple (e.g.: “cheese”, “chocolate” or “pets”) and the other one complex (e.g.: “The Cold War” or “Plato’s Allegory of the Cave”). They have to start a conversation with the first topic and find a way to get to the other topic without forcing it. 
  • Activity 2: Following the same idea as before, students are assigned a different topic each. One of them starts talking about their topic. Then, when the time is right, someone else takes over the conversation with their topic and so on until everyone gets to speak. 
  • What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.)
  • What worked well in this class? What did not work?

The class worked out quite well. Students had fun and were very creative on coming up with ways to connect the topics.

  • How could this class be improved/ modified?

The class worked out pretty well.

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