Unit 11 Karneval der Tiere (‘Carnival of the Animals’)
Learning Objectives
This unit is based on the “Carnival of the Animals” by Saint-Saëns. Pupils will learn to describe animals characterized by the music and to talk about their habitats. They will also learn how to tell the time on the hour (analogue only). Phonic focus will be on w, a, ö, ü and z.
Section 1 – week 1.Learning objectives:
Pupils will name some animals and give a physical response to something they hear. / Resources / Notes (including phonic focus and daily activities) / KS2 Framework Objectives for the section
Practise questions and answers learnt so far with soft ball, role play, games, match up exercises, writing to a partner school.
Ask pupils which names of animals they know in German.
Explain about the “Carnival of the Animals.” The composer of “Le Carnaval des Animaux”, Camille Saint-Saëns, was born in Paris in 1835. He died in 1921. The work comprises a set of short orchestral pieces, which represent a particular animal by mimicking its sounds or characterising the way it moves.
Introduce the names of the animals with pictures or actions:
Der Fisch (fish)
Der Löwe (lion)
Der Hahn (cockerel)
Der Kuckuck (cuckoo)
Der Elefant (elephant)
Der Esel (donkey)
Der Vogel (bird)
Die Schildkröte (tortoise)
Die Henne (hen)
Das Känguru (kangeroo)
Give pupils a set of mini-picture flashcards of the animals. Display large flashcards on the board one by one, as you say the word. Pupils listen and point to their corresponding mini-flashcard.
Show a large picture flashcard of an animal and say the word. Pupils repeat the word and hold up the correct mini-flashcard.
Play Wiederholt wenn es richtig ist (Repeat if it’s True). Say the word and hold up a picture flashcard. If the two match, pupils repeat. If they don’t, they remain silent.
Show the flashcard and pupils say the word.
Play an extract from the “Carnival of the Animals”. Play it again and ask pupils to discuss with a partner which animal they think it is. Have support on the board, i.e. pictures, possibly with der/die/das + the first letter of the animal, e.g der E. Encourage pupils to say the words in German, e.g. Das ist der Elefant.
Activity where pupils match picture of animal with word – done with or without extracts of the music being played. Draw pupils’ attention to cognates/near cognates.
Play Name that Tune. Divide the class into 2 teams and play the first bars of each musical extract. Ask Welches Tier ist das? (What animal is it?). Pupils respond by saying which animal they have heard.
A flashcard could be shown or a mime done instead.
Introduce adjectives to describe music and animals:
Die Musik ist/das Tier ist:
Schnell (fast)
Langsam (slow)
Laut (loud)
Leise (quiet)
Das Tier ist:
Groß (big)
Klein (small)
Some pupils could give this as a reason for choosing the particular animal.
Put word cards of the animals on the board and ask pupils to put in alphabetical order – Ordnet die Tiere (Put the animals in order). Alternatively, pupils could be called to the front to each hold a word card and to stand in alphabetical order.
Introduce the traditional German song “Kuckuck Kuckuck ruft’s aus dem Wald”. Display the words and let pupils listen to a recording. Read aloud the words that pupils will know – with actions – Kuckuck, singen, tanzen, springen and Winter. Go through each line in English, then ask pupils to read aloud all the words beginning with W. Draw pupils’ attention to the change in sound in Wald and Wälder.
Sing/play the song again, and this time pupils do an action when they hear the w sound or the ä sound (läßt, räumt and Wälder). Sing/play the song again and encourage pupils to join in.
Pupils could be given a copy of the words in pairs and asked to highlight words that contain the following phonemes: w, äu, ü.
Play Human Phonemes to help the pupils build phonetically regular words. Give out large phoneme cards such as w, au, m, a, f, il, al, d, s, sch, say a word and ask the pupils to arrange themselves to form that word. Possible words to try include Wald, Schaf, Maus, wild. / Ideas for language games document
Kuckuck, Kuckuck ruft's aus dem Wald.
Lasset uns singen, tanzen und springen.
Frühling, Frühling wird es nun bald.
Kuckuck, Kuckuck lässt nicht sein Schrei'n:
Komm in die Felder, Wiesen und Wälder.
Frühling, Frühling, stelle dich ein.
Kuckuck, Kuckuck, trefflicher Held.
Was du gesungen, ist dir gelungen.
Winter, Winter räumet das Feld.
Cuckoo, cuckoo, calls from the forest,
Let us sing, dance and jump,
Springtime, springtime will be here soon.
Cuckoo, cuckoo, doesn’t stop calling
Come into the fileds, meadowns and forests,
Springtime, springtime come along!
Cuckoo, cuckoo, splendid hero,
What you have sung has now happened,
Winter, winter, leave the field!) / Wie heißt du? (unit 1)
Wie geht’s? (unit 1)
Wie alt bist du? (unit 1)
Was ist dein Lieblingsspiel? (unit 2)
Wann hast du Geburtstag? (unit 3)
Was kannst du gut machen? (unit 3)
Was ist deine Lieblingsfarbe? (unit 4)
Hast du Geschwister? (unit 4)
Hast du Haustiere? (unit 5)
Magst du…? (unit 6)
Wie kommst du zur Schule? (unit 7)
Wo wohnst du? (unit 7)
Was für Sport machst du? (unit 10)
Pupils will know der Hund, die Gans, die Kuh, die Ziege, die Maus, das Huhn, das Schwein, das Pferd, das Schaf and das Kaninchen from unit 2 and and pets from unit 5. Note the 3 words for “the” for singular nouns – der (masculine), die (feminine) and das (neutral).
Fish
Luh-vah
Hahn
Cook-cook
El-ay-fant
Ay-zel
Foe-gehl
Shild-kruh-ta
Henna
Keng-goo-roo
All nouns start with a capital letter in German.
Well-hess tier isst dass? (ch sound as in the English word “loch”).
Moo-zeek/tier
Sh-nell
Lang-zam
Laut
Lie-za
Gross
kline
Ord-net dee tier-a
A w in German is pronounced like a v
Valt/vald-air
Lest, roy-mt
Throughout the week practise animal names by playing games such as Charades.
Use the music of “Carnival of the Animals” for writing poetry or for descriptive writing in literacy. Pupils write non-fiction reports on the animals.
Research the instruments used in the Saint-Saëns piece. / 04.2
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Section 2 – week 2.
Learning objectives:
Pupils will name some animals and recognise some words to describe the music. / Resources / Notes (including phonic focus and daily activities / KS2 Framework Objectives for the section
Revise animal vocabulary from the previous session by playing Pictionary. Draw pictures on the board, asking after each stroke Welches Tier ist das? Pupils guess the animal and say the word in German.
Pupils have a selection of coloured pens or pencils. Give an instruction to draw, for example, eine grüne Schildkröte (a green tortoise). They draw this on paper or on a mini-whiteboard.
Make an animal sound in the way that would be familiar to a young German child, e.g. in English you’d say a hen goes cluck. In German you’d say a hen goes gack.
Roarr! Lion
Kikeriki! Cockerel
Tröröö! Elephant
Kuckuck! Cuckoo
Iaah! Donkey
Piep piep! Bird
Gack! Hen
Miau! Cat
Määhhh! Sheep
Wau wau! Dog
Muh! Cow
Ask Welches Tier ist das? Pupils guess.
Compare German animal sounds with English ones and display in a table on the board.
Discuss the job of the orchestra conductor. Teach the adverbs laut (loudly), leise (softly), schnell (quickly) and langsam (slowly) with hand signals, as a conductor might.
“Conduct” the class as they make one of the German animal sounds. Give them instructions using the German adverbs and hand signals. Pupils could then play in pairs or groups.
Add “er” to the adverbs, for example, schneller.
Create a soundscape. Divide the class into groups. Give each group a different animal sound to make. Give them a few minutes to come up with a rhythm for their sound. Conduct the class, using instructions, e.g. schnell, to create a soundscape. Individual pupils can then take the role of conductor.
Record soundscapes conducted by pupils and play them back to the class. / Eye-na grew-na shilt-kreu-ta
Roh-ahr
Keek-air-eekee
Treur-eu
Kuhk-kuhk
Ee-ah
Peep peep
Gaak
Mee-ow
May
Vow vow
Moo
Der Dirigent (diri-gent)
Throughout the week, practise animal words and sounds through games. For example, pupils find the animal card that corresponds to a given sound.
Experiment with instruments to create different animal sounds. / 04.2
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Section 3 – week 3.
Learning objectives:
Pupils will understand the time and give a physical response to something they hear. / Resources / Notes (including phonic focus and daily activities) / KS2 Framework Objectives for the section
This session is best taught in a hall or large space.
As pupils to move around the room in the style of a particular animal. Use commands such as schnell and langsam to vary the movements.
Pupils stand in a circle to play Gib den Ball weiter (Pass the Ball) to revise numbers 1-12. Say eins and pass the ball to a child, who says zwei and passes the ball to someone else, and so on.
Use a large clock as you say times on the hour, e.g. ein Uhr, zwei Uhr, etc. Pupils listen and repeat.
Practise saying Wie spät ist es? (What time is it?). Pupils chorus the question and you respond with a time in German, e.g. es ist sechs Uhr. Pupils stamp their feet or clap their hands six times in response.
Play a variation of What’s the Time Mr. Wolf? Change the name of the animal so that pupils move in the appropriate style, e.g. Wie spät ist es Herr Elefant? Stand at one end of the room and call out a time, e.g. es ist drei Uhr. Pupils take three steps forward in the style of the chosen animal. If you call Lecker! pupils must run back to the start, in the style of that animal. The first pupil to reach you or to be caught when they run back becomes the animal in the next round.
Pupils who become the animal can choose a partner to come with them if they are not yet confident with the language.
Show pupils word cards of the numbers 1-12. Ask pupils to copy-write them, making large letters in the air with their writing hand. Pupils could then repeat this activity in pairs. / Early Start 2 – Ch 7 / Gib dain bahl veye-ter
Oohr
Notice eins becomes ein when saying/writing ein Uhr. This is similar to when you say/write 21 – einundzwanzig.
Vee sh-pate ist es
Throughout the week, ask pupils the time on the hour. What’s the Time Mr. Wolf? can be played with pupils standing behind their chairs and pacing out steps on the spot. They sit down when they hear lecker! The last one to sit down becomes the animal in the next round.
During the week select extracts from “Carnival of the Animals”. Pupils move around the room in the style of the animals portrayed by the music. They work in groups to create a dance to perform to the rest of the class. / 04.2
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Section 4 – week 4.
Learning objectives:
Pupils will understand and say a number of adjectives and understand the three definite articles. / Resources / Notes (including phonic focus and daily activities) / KS2 Framework Objectives for the section
Display pictures of the animals. Show pupils a selection of adjectives on word cards, e.g. stark (strong), langsam (slow), schnell (fast), groß (big/tall), klein (small), schüchtern (shy) and wild (fierce). You could also add some colours.
Ask pupils what they think these mean. Give clues with actions. Always check that all pupils understand the meaning. Ask pupils to come out and stick the adjectives next to the animal they think they describe.
Ask pupils to mime these.
Divide the board in three and ask pupils to suggest animals. As pupils suggest them, write the name in blue in one column if they are masculine, in red in the next column if they are feminine and in green in the third column if they are neutral. Alternatively, draw three rectangles on the interactive whiteboard, one in each colour. As children suggest animals, type them in black. Change the colour of the definite or indefinite article to white (or the colour of the background outside the coloured rectangles) so that it is invisible until moved into the coloured rectangle.
Ask pupils if they can guess why the names have been written up in three groups. Explain that some are masculine and some are feminine and some are neutral nouns. Use the German terms Maskulinum/Femininum/Neutrum.
Refer back to groß and klein. Display these on word cards written in black.
Describe the animals in a sentence, beginning with masculine ones, e.g. Der Elefant ist groß. Der Fisch ist klein. Die Schildkröte ist langsam. Das Känguruh ist schnell.
Sing the song Alle Vögel sind schon da, or play a recording of it. Pupils do an action when they hear the w sound or the ö sound. Sing the song again and encourage them to join in.
Alle Vögel sind schon da,
alle Vögel, alle!
Welch ein Singen, Musiziern,
Pfeifen, Zwitschern, Tiriliern!
Frühling will nun einmarschiern,
kommt mit Sang und Schalle.
All the birds are already there,
All the birds, all!
What singing, music making,
Whistling, twittering, trilling!
Spring wants to march in now,
Comes with song and sounds.
Pupils do an action when they hear the w sound or the ö sound. Sing the song again and encourage them to join in. / Mama Lisa’s World – for the tune.
See link below to find the tune – scroll down the page.
http://www.mamalisa.com/?p=255&t=es&c=38 / Sh-tark
Lang-zam
Sh-nell
Grow-s
Kline
Sh-uhch-tairn (as the ch in the English word “loch”).
Mask-oo-lee-nuhm