Today we finished off learning words for family members by practicing words for grandma, grandpa, aunt, uncle and male and female cousins. This fun little song we went over in class practices them all.
This quick online activity has students complete a family tree. When you click on a person's face, a voice will tell you who it is. Place it in the correct place to complete the family tree. Once it is finished, you will also have all the answers to the worksheet I sent home.
And this week's episode of TroTro is again fairly concrete. Which is good because I lost my voice this afternoon! TroTro has a little trouble getting up because he's still tired. His mother tells him to wash himself. And after breakfast, he has to do it all over again. Your children should hear a few words we have gone over in class (parts of the body, including hands, face, hair and teeth). Enjoy!
~Frau Hanley
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Thursday, October 24, 2013
Learning words for family members
This week, we learned about our immediate family: der Vater (father), die Mutter (mother), der Bruder (brother) and die Schwester (sister).
To introduce the words for family members, I showed them Die Mausfamilie, a finger play about a family of mice that also reviewed some of the body parts we already have learned. This one is a little different than the one I did, but was the clearest of the ones I found on YouTube and uses words for body parts we have already practiced.
We then glued pictures of our immediate family into our folders with simple sentences to practice introducing family members. ("Das ist mein Vater," means "That is my father.") Everyone did very well as I went around and asked them in German to point to family members and introduce them to me in German. If they didn't finish, just have them glue down their pictures. There isn't room for multiple brothers and sisters, so just have them staple the pictures together or glue them to small pieces of paper and staple those together to place in the appropriate places. Their homework practices introductions by asking the names of various family members. If they don't have brothers or sisters, just leave those questions blank. If they have multiple, they only need to answer with one (it is about the practice more than anything) but they can certainly write out everyone's names if they wish!
This is just for fun, but I also came across an interactive site with simple games to teach German vocabulary. This is a simple tic-tac-toe game that can be played by one or two players to review body parts. The start button is kind of small, so you'll have to look for it, but then it just requires you to select your space, listen for the body part, and select the correct word from a list. I thought it would make a good review. I will begin including one of these games in these weekly posts for some additional practice and you are welcome to explore the site on your own. Some of the games require correct spelling and for now, I won't be including any of those, but you are certainly welcome to try them out!
And to finish off, our weekly episode of TroTro! In this episode, TroTro is a little afraid to sleep in his bed alone. He joins his parents who are a little desperate to get him to go back to his own bed.
Mutter and Vater are the more formal German words for mother and father. Listen closely to see what TroTro calls his parents. As we talked about in class, these are very familiar words used in many languages. Enjoy!
To introduce the words for family members, I showed them Die Mausfamilie, a finger play about a family of mice that also reviewed some of the body parts we already have learned. This one is a little different than the one I did, but was the clearest of the ones I found on YouTube and uses words for body parts we have already practiced.
We then glued pictures of our immediate family into our folders with simple sentences to practice introducing family members. ("Das ist mein Vater," means "That is my father.") Everyone did very well as I went around and asked them in German to point to family members and introduce them to me in German. If they didn't finish, just have them glue down their pictures. There isn't room for multiple brothers and sisters, so just have them staple the pictures together or glue them to small pieces of paper and staple those together to place in the appropriate places. Their homework practices introductions by asking the names of various family members. If they don't have brothers or sisters, just leave those questions blank. If they have multiple, they only need to answer with one (it is about the practice more than anything) but they can certainly write out everyone's names if they wish!
This is just for fun, but I also came across an interactive site with simple games to teach German vocabulary. This is a simple tic-tac-toe game that can be played by one or two players to review body parts. The start button is kind of small, so you'll have to look for it, but then it just requires you to select your space, listen for the body part, and select the correct word from a list. I thought it would make a good review. I will begin including one of these games in these weekly posts for some additional practice and you are welcome to explore the site on your own. Some of the games require correct spelling and for now, I won't be including any of those, but you are certainly welcome to try them out!
And to finish off, our weekly episode of TroTro! In this episode, TroTro is a little afraid to sleep in his bed alone. He joins his parents who are a little desperate to get him to go back to his own bed.
Mutter and Vater are the more formal German words for mother and father. Listen closely to see what TroTro calls his parents. As we talked about in class, these are very familiar words used in many languages. Enjoy!
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
Learning articles of clothing
To introduce articles of clothing, we learned Das Hamplemannlied, a fun little song about a jumping jack toy. There are several versions of the song, so I modified it a little to fit the most important articles of clothing I wanted to teach. This version is similar to what we sang in class and has pictures of the articles of clothing to help students learn the words.
Homework for this week was to color the Hamplemann anyway they wished and then to describe their Hampelmann. The articles of clothing they need are written on their Hampelmann and then they just need to write in the color in the blanks. A couple of children were not able to finish making their toy in class. The directions for making the Hampelmann is here. It also includes the template I used (I modified it slightly to write the clothing words on it) if you are missing parts or would like to make one for other children in your family. (The link in the materials list doesn't work, but the one in the directions does.)
This week's episode of TroTro includes the little donkey dressing himself. I decided not to do a separate introduction for this one because it is pretty concrete. He grabs each article of clothing as he says it. Enjoy!
Homework for this week was to color the Hamplemann anyway they wished and then to describe their Hampelmann. The articles of clothing they need are written on their Hampelmann and then they just need to write in the color in the blanks. A couple of children were not able to finish making their toy in class. The directions for making the Hampelmann is here. It also includes the template I used (I modified it slightly to write the clothing words on it) if you are missing parts or would like to make one for other children in your family. (The link in the materials list doesn't work, but the one in the directions does.)
This week's episode of TroTro includes the little donkey dressing himself. I decided not to do a separate introduction for this one because it is pretty concrete. He grabs each article of clothing as he says it. Enjoy!
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Learning Body Parts
This week I introduced body parts with a very popular children's song known in many cultures: Kopf, Schulter, Knie und Fu
Fu
I also wanted to start sharing episodes of a cute, three minute German cartoon: TroTro. It is about a young donkey exploring his world. Given the simple dialog and the adventures taken from the every day, the stories are very simple to understand. Even my two year old begs to watch more and it is my children's favorite part of their practice.
In this episode, TroTro pretends to be a little monster and scares his teddy bear, his friend in the sandbox, his mom while she tries to bake a cake and his father.. He goes off looking for someone else to scare when he is frightened by a little spider and runs back to his mom.
This is a brief introduction to the cartoon I made to help children get more out of watching the cartoon. I provide some simple words and phrases as well as a few short sentences for them to listen for while they watch.
And finally, enjoy the show! I hope to share a new cartoon each week until the end of the semester. I hope your children look forward to them as much as my children do!
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
Learning simple directions
This week, we learned simple directions with a very simple song/dance that is sometimes sung at festivals or large parties. The lyrics in German and in English:
nach vorne forwards
nach hinten backwards
nach links und nach rechts to the left and to the right
nach oben up
nach unten down
nach links und nach rechts. to the left and to the right.
This is obviously a nice little song for introducing simple directions, but it also should give students a good pattern for something they will learn much later in their studies. In German, there are two words that mean to: nach and zu. That can be very confusing for Americans because we only have one word and tend to use zu where we should use nach. Through learning these and other songs, however, children have the opportunity to hear these words used correctly and even to memorize some lines. Then when they are introduced to nach and zu in a grammar lesson some day, it will not be a totally new concept. By then, some may have started developing a feel for the difference between these two difficult prepositions, making the lesson easier for them to learn. That is why I like singing these children's songs with them and speaking so much German. We are a long way from a formal grammar lesson, but they have heard the basics so when we finally get there, the grammar will really be more of an explanation of things they already know.
The project we began in class and that most of the children took home to finish uses the words from this song. The table should go in the middle and be attached so there is a little pocket for the cat to tuck into. The cat should be taped to a string so that it can moved to each of the arrows. It doesn't matter which arrow points which direction, so long as one points up, down, left and right and then one should point behind the table and one in front of the table. They should have words to glue on the appropriate arrows.
Important: Make sure not to glue anything into the center of the folder. Later, we will staple these along the folder's fold line and hold punch them so that they can all be bound together into one picture dictionary.
(You should be able to click on the image for a larger view.)
The sentences are basic and we did practice them a little in class. The first one is:
Die Katze geht nach ___________________.
(The cat goes _______________.)
The blank should be left blank. It is just to remind students of the sentence structure so that they can recite the directions the cat is going to you. So for example, you or your child should be able to put the cat over the up arrow and your child should be able to say, "Die Katze geht nach oben."
The second and third sentences are:
Meine Katze ist ____________________.
(My cat is ___________________.)
Meine Katze heißt _____________________.
(My cat's name is _____________________.)
In the first sentence, they are supposed to complete it by writing what color their cat is. In the second, they are supposed to name their cat. This is just for a little review of colors and how to introduce someone. The funny looking letter that almost looks like a B is called an s-set and makes the same sound as "ss."
I will make a short video tomorrow going over this with the proper pronunciation so that students may practice more effectively at home and listen to the new vocabulary again.
nach vorne forwards
nach hinten backwards
nach links und nach rechts to the left and to the right
nach oben up
nach unten down
nach links und nach rechts. to the left and to the right.
This is obviously a nice little song for introducing simple directions, but it also should give students a good pattern for something they will learn much later in their studies. In German, there are two words that mean to: nach and zu. That can be very confusing for Americans because we only have one word and tend to use zu where we should use nach. Through learning these and other songs, however, children have the opportunity to hear these words used correctly and even to memorize some lines. Then when they are introduced to nach and zu in a grammar lesson some day, it will not be a totally new concept. By then, some may have started developing a feel for the difference between these two difficult prepositions, making the lesson easier for them to learn. That is why I like singing these children's songs with them and speaking so much German. We are a long way from a formal grammar lesson, but they have heard the basics so when we finally get there, the grammar will really be more of an explanation of things they already know.
The project we began in class and that most of the children took home to finish uses the words from this song. The table should go in the middle and be attached so there is a little pocket for the cat to tuck into. The cat should be taped to a string so that it can moved to each of the arrows. It doesn't matter which arrow points which direction, so long as one points up, down, left and right and then one should point behind the table and one in front of the table. They should have words to glue on the appropriate arrows.
Important: Make sure not to glue anything into the center of the folder. Later, we will staple these along the folder's fold line and hold punch them so that they can all be bound together into one picture dictionary.
The sentences are basic and we did practice them a little in class. The first one is:
Die Katze geht nach ___________________.
(The cat goes _______________.)
The blank should be left blank. It is just to remind students of the sentence structure so that they can recite the directions the cat is going to you. So for example, you or your child should be able to put the cat over the up arrow and your child should be able to say, "Die Katze geht nach oben."
The second and third sentences are:
Meine Katze ist ____________________.
(My cat is ___________________.)
Meine Katze heißt _____________________.
(My cat's name is _____________________.)
In the first sentence, they are supposed to complete it by writing what color their cat is. In the second, they are supposed to name their cat. This is just for a little review of colors and how to introduce someone. The funny looking letter that almost looks like a B is called an s-set and makes the same sound as "ss."
I will make a short video tomorrow going over this with the proper pronunciation so that students may practice more effectively at home and listen to the new vocabulary again.
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