German Beginners’Course

Sample Unit of Work

Language:German Beginners / Target group:Preliminary / Topic:Friends, recreation and pastimes / Indicative time:45 weeks

What are the key ideas or concepts you want the students to learn?

The key concepts I want students to learn arethat:
  • when talking about leisure, a range of language can be used, including:
-present tense
-comparatives and superlatives
-expressions of frequency.
  • there are similarities and differences between German leisure activities and our own.
/ Why does that learning matter?
The learning matters because:
  • students will be able to communicate with German speakers about topics of interest to them.
  • different perspectives encourage an understanding about cultural values.

Unit description:This unit is intended for Term 2 of the Preliminary Course and includes the sub-topics Leisure and Sport and Health and Fitness. It also incorporates the previously studied topic Family life, home and neighbourhood.
Key Competencies:
The following key competencies are embedded in the Beginners Stage 6 Syllabus to enhance student learning:
  • communicating ideas and information
  • collecting, analysing and organising information
  • planning and organising activities
  • working with others and in teams
  • using technology
  • solving problems.

Grammar – recognition and use:
Assumed Knowledge:
  • Nouns – masculine, feminine, neuter, plural
  • Articles – definite, indefinite
  • Pronouns – personal, nominative, accusative, interrogative
  • Verbs – present tense
New grammatical structures and language in this unit:
  • Adverbs – simple, comparative, superlative
  • Numbers – cardinal numbers
  • Conjunctions – coordinating
  • Word order – in statements, in questions, in adverbial phrases: time, manner, place; position of separable prefix
/ Key resources:
‘Katzensprung1’ Textbook and Workbook
‘Katzensprung 2’Textbook and Workbook
‘Genau’Textbook and Workbook
‘Arbeitsheft’
‘Deutsch Downunder1’ German coursebook
‘Feuerwerk 2’Textbook and Workbook
‘Geni@lA1’ CD-ROM
Resource sheets
Outcomes:
Objective 1 – Interacting
A student:
1.1 establishes and maintains communication in German.
1.2 manipulates linguistic structures to express ideas effectively in German.
1.3 sequences ideas and information. / Student learn about:
  • the importance of listening for key words to assist understanding
  • the importance of reading for key words to assist understanding
  • register in language use
  • the logical sequencing of ideas
  • ways of inferring meaning from text
/ Students learn to:
  • listen for meaning
  • read for meaning
  • interact with reference to context, purpose and audience
  • structure information and ideas coherently
  • use contextual and other clues to infer meaning from text

Objective 2 – Understanding Texts
A student:
2.1 understands and interprets information in texts using a range of strategies
2.2 conveys the gist of and identifies specific information in texts
2.4 draws conclusions from or justifies an opinion about a text
2.6 identifies and explains aspects of the culture of German-speaking communities /
  • resources available to access, enhance or promote independent learning
  • the effect of syntax on meaning
  • cultural attitudes that add meaning to text
/
  • access available resources to assist comprehension of a text, e.g. dictionaries, words lists, glossaries, charts
  • analyse ways in which words, phrases and sentences are constructed, e.g. how words are modified for grammatical effect
  • identify and discuss cultural influences in specific texts e.g. newspapers, magazines, advertisements and films

Objective 3 – Producing Texts
A student:
3.1 produces texts appropriate to audience, purpose and context
3.2 structures and sequences ideas and information /
  • the structure and format of particular texts
  • the purpose and context of a text and their influence on the choice of structure, format and vocabulary
  • the logical sequencing of ideas in extended text
  • the application of known linguistic structures in new contexts
/
  • present and organise information in ways appropriate to audience, purpose and context
  • plan, draft and edit text
  • sequence ideas and information in texts
  • apply a range of vocabulary and linguistic structures across a range of contexts

Suggested teaching, learning and assessment activities:
Hobbies
Building the field:
  • In pairs, brainstorm in English what the top 10 hobbies in Germany could be. Choose (at least) five of their listed hobbies, and look them up in German (see resource sheet 1), practising dictionary skills.
  • Match sport pictograms/pictures to verb and noun phrases, e.g. ‘Timesavers for German Teachers’ p. 54. Students then interview each other, asking direct questions about the pictures e.g. Spielst du Tennis? Ja, ich spiele Tennis.
  • Practise finding the infinitive form of verbs e.g. ‘Oxford German Dictionary Skills’ – Sheets 7, 8
General listening activities:
  • Match pictures to the activity described, e.g. ‘Katzensprung 1’ workbook p. 57, B
  • Indicate what students do in their free-time, e.g. ‘Katzensprung 1’ workbook p. 59, E
  • Was machst du gern?from‘Genau’ textbook p. 24
General speaking activities:
  • Practise structures (ich, du and er/sie form of verbs) and vocabulary using flashcards.
  • Survey about how well students can do certain activities e.g. ‘Katzensprung 2’ TRAK, p. 30
General reading activities:
  • Read through the hobbies of seven German teenagers, underlining the ich form of the verb and other relevant components (see resource sheet 2) e.g. Ich schreibe E-mails or Ich gehe schwimmen. Students choose 1215 phrases and rewrite using the er/sie form.
  • Describe what students do in their free-time e.g. ‘Genau’ textbook p. 24
  • Comprehension - email about hobbies, e.g. ‘DeutschDownunder 1’ coursebook p. 7073
General writing activities:
Note: Include irregularities of fahren, sehen, lesen, reiten, laufen and separable verbs e.g. fernsehen, Rad fahren
  • Verb table and gap activity, e.g. ‘Katzensprung 1’workbook p. 62
  • Gap activity, e.g. ‘Genau’workbook p. 28 and 29
  • Verb drills for sein, habenand other present tense verbs, e.g. ‘Arbeitsheft’Chapters 14
  • Write a paragraph about hobbies
Talking about preferences
Note: Introduce gern, lieber, am liebsten and Lieblings-
General speaking activities:
  • Class survey – Was machst du gern?
  • Wer bin ich? game: Teacher reads mini biographies of famous people and students guess identity. Students then choose a famous person and write the matching profile for their classmates to guess (see samples on resource sheet 3).
  • Survey on free-time activities – Gruppenarbeit (seeresource sheet 4)
  • Board game using pictures and cards to conjugate verbs – Konjugationsspiel (see resource sheet 5)
General writing activities:
  • Grammar drills with gern, lieber, am liebsten, e.g. ‘Arbeitsheft’ Chapter 4, p. 4349
General reading activities:
  • Find the matching penfriends by matching personal descriptions(see resource sheet 6)
General listening activities:
  • Memory game on free-time activities, e.g. ‘Geni@l A1’ CD-ROMChapter 8, Übung 4
  • Type in the sentences heard e.g. ‘Geni@l A1’ CD-ROMChapter 8, Übung 5
Frequency: days, parts of day and seasons
Note: German word order (verb in second position) will be a focus of this section
Building the field:
  • Read through Gymnasium Salzgitter-Bad sheet (see resource sheet 7). Work out where this page is from (a school website) and what the page is about (after-school activities), using the clues provided (format, known language, cognates etc.). Then decide which AGs (Arbeitsgemeinschaften) they would participate in based on their interests for three days of the week at Gymnasium Bad-Salzgitter.
  • Video comprehension based on AGs with true/false questions e.g. ‘Geni@l A1’ CD-ROMChapter 5, Übung 1
General speaking activities:
  • Ask about a weekly timetable of activities e.g. ‘Katzensprung 1’ textbook p. 60
  • Conversation about weekend activities e.g. ‘Genau’ workbook p. 35
  • Barrier game: Was machst du nächste Woche? (see resource sheet 8)
  • Das Freizeitspiel (seeresource sheet 9) – board game involving questions on free-time activities
  • A song about which free-time activities students do in the week e.g. ‘Geni@l A1’ textbook p. 47 (Keine Zeit, keine Zeit)
  • Interview about how often students do sport andtheir fitness e.g. Wie fit bist du? Wie oft treibst du Sport? Ich spiele einmal pro Woche Fußball.
  • Extension activity: Interview about what students are allowed to eat and do in their free-time e.g. ‘Feuerwerk 2’ textbook p. 88: Wie streng sind eure Eltern?
  • Memorise and perform a short play, in which one student is trying to ask another student to goout (see resource sheet 10)
  • Roleplay: Mein Traumpartner from ‘German Games with Aims’. p. 3234. Each student is given an identity and goes around the room asking questions in order to find a prospective date.
General listening activities:
  • Correct the printed version of a student’s weekly plan e.g. ‘Geni@l A1’workbook p. 43
  • Answer questions about a student’s day e.g. ‘Geni@l A1’textbook p. 45 Was macht Boris?
  • Record the answers to a survey about what students are allowed to eat and do in their free-time e.g. ‘Feuerwerk 2’ workbook p. 71 Wie streng sind eure Eltern?
  • Video cloze, e.g. ‘Geni@l A1’ CD-ROMChapter 10, Übung 1
General writing activities:
  • Respond to SMS messages about the weekend e.g. ‘Katzensprung 1’workbook p. 63
  • Practise putting the verb in second position e.g. ‘Katzensprung 2’workbook p. 20, K or‘Genau’workbook p. 29, textbook p. 26
  • Make plans for the weekend based on a list of phrases, sentences or sentence combinations – Schreib die Konversation (see resource sheet 11)
General reading activities:
  • Sort statements about sport into the appropriate country – Deutschland or Australien usingWelchesLand ist das? (see resource sheet 12)
  • Human jumble: group activity involving students arranging themselves into grammatical sentences(see resource sheet 13)
  • Cartoon story about a boy asking out a girl. Students can write their own similar cartoon and act it out e.g. ‘Geni@l A1’workbook p. 40
  • Read some personal descriptions and work out who is the fittest based on their weekly activities (see resource sheet 14)
Introduction to the Task
1)Speaking activity: ‘Getting to know you’ activity with classmates. Each student prepares five questions and is given two minutes with each person before swapping.
2)Reading activity: Look at a sample profiles from letternet.de, a mock penfriend website(see resource sheet 15).
3)Writing activity: Write the speech for student’s own self-introduction video and submit draft to teacher.
The Task
1)Speaking task: Perform the speech prepared in point 3 above (optional – to be videotaped, video could be edited and shown to younger students). Classmates are provided with possible matching penfriends and try to find the most appropriate candidate.
2)Writing task:Write an email to yourprospective penfriend of choice. / Evidence of learning and ongoing feedback for students:
Hobbies
Building the field: Students access dictionaries to find the appropriate information and discuss in class. In pairs, students exchange information in German and teacher provides oral feedback through informal observation.
General listening: Students understand specific information and provide peer evaluation.
General speaking: Students respond to questions from their classmates or teacher using complete sentences. Classmates and teacher provide informal feedback through observation.
General reading: Students locate verbs in text and change them from the first person to the third person singular. Students peer correct and compare with sample answers provided by teacher. Students understand the main points and supporting details in a written text.
General writing: Students conjugate verbs and build meaningful sentences. Teacher provides formal feedback on the sentences, checking verb endings, word order and variety of vocabulary.
Talking about preferences
General speaking: Students ask and respond to questions using correct word order and verb endings. Teacher provides informal feedback through observation.
General writing: Students extend previously learned sentence structures by adding adverbs. Students provide peer evaluation with teacher providing written feedback on more complex activities.
General reading: Students read for specific information and match penfriends based on shared interests (activity self-correcting).
General listening: Students recognise learned phrases in context (activities self-correcting).
Frequency: days, parts of day and seasons
Building the field: Students use their previous knowledge to interpret information. Students read and listen for specific information (activities self-correcting).
General Speaking: Students incorporate frequency into previously learned structures. Teacher provides informal feedback through observation. Students use strategies to initiate, maintain and conclude a conversation. Teacher provides written feedback for the conversation.
General listening: Students listen for key words and other clues to infer meaning from text.
General writing: Students present information in ways appropriate to the audience i.e. SMS. Teacher provides written feedback. Students become more proficient at German word order. Students provide peer evaluation.
General reading: Students analyse information and identify aspects of Australian and German culture. Students provide peer evaluation.
The Task
See Assessment task sheet for detailed information
Unit evaluation and variation: / Teacher signature:______
Date:______

This sample unit of work was developed collaboratively by teachers, consultants and advisers from the Association of Independent Schools NSW and the NSW Department of Education and Training. The development of these materials was guided by the Board of Studies NSW document, Stage 6 Languages Beginners Syllabuses, Advice on Programming and Assessment.

© NSW Department of Education and Training 2007 - 1 -