German Intermediate Update

During our unit in October and November the students were given many opportunities to speak about their week-ends, their school day, and their weekly schedule . We continued to use the past tense form "Perfekt" in describing and writing about these activities. This unit was particularly beneficial to the students because the topic was pertinent and the students had much practice in sharing real life happenings. The past tense form Präteritum in "hatte, hatten und sein (war, waren)" were introduced and the students interviewed each other and made voice recordings.

In December our focus has been on animals. The simple fact that all students enjoy learning about animals was very motivating. Many new verbs and adjectives were learned. We saw a video entitled "Katzen" and worked in small groups making posters categorizing the information. (See photos). After several more lessons we constructed a Mind Map with the information learned over the 3 weeks. (See photos). The students then were given bits of information from each category to create their own "Fantasietier".

During the past few months the students have taken more time to reflect on their progress in German and set goals for themselves. This has been a semester of growth for all of the students and it is a joy to observe, be involved in and guide them in their learning.
Ich wünsche Ihnen schöne Feiertage und ein gutes neues Jahr 2011.
Lynn Scherpel