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Assessing Interpretive Communication Skills

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  There has been much talk about the National German Exam.  Some teachers may have given it before their winter break while others will return to school and fit it in to their schedules before the administration deadline.  Even if you do not administer the National German Exam, I think the question structure is very similar to the AP Exam.  I was on the NGE Test Writing Committee and have attended a few phenomenal AP Summer workshops lead by Angelika Becker and Linda Zins-Adams.  Both experiences helped me learn how to look for authentic resources and write questions in order for my students to practice the skills needed.  The AATG website of course has lots of information and practice exams as well.  https://www.aatg.org/ Test Structure and Types for Questions:  The listening and reading section questions are both written in a similar way.  Most of the listening resources are actually now videos with one or two pure listening resources.  All resources are authentic videos found on dif
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Being an empathetic human, but especially being an empathetic educator.

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  Warning, this will be a long, sappy, and personal post without any actual teaching methods or materials being shared.   Well, hello there!  I have taken quite the hiatus from the blog.  To be honest the last two years of teaching were really hard and scary for me.  Coming back after Covid to full time school with students who were not used to paying attention all day, being around that many other people, being without their technology and also to some groups of parents in my state (and others) who wanted to say that teachers are pushing political agendas has not been for the faint of heart.  This school year has thankfully been so much better, which I will elaborate on more later. During the last two years I was questioning if I had it in me to continue teaching.  No joke, in 8th grade I decided I would become a German teacher and I held onto that, even when I moved to a high school that did not offer German and I had to take a three year break from it.  I started over in college wi
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Jetzt geht's los! Starting off the school year

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School starts next Monday for me and Wednesday for my students.  I'm really looking forward to and hoping for a more normal school year.  I felt lucky last school year as I was in the building with most of my students for most of the year, but this year we are not offering a virtual option or hybrid schedules (as of now).   Today I wanted to write about some ideas for starting out the school year.   Here's a list of ice break ideas I have used in the past.   I like to use these the first week or two of school.   All first year students fill out this getting to know me sheet.   This year I will also give it to my resource (homeroom) students.   I email and send home this Parent Welcome Letter with my first year students as well.  Day 1:  Level 1: I do not go over the syllabus! (I will do this day 3).  Instead I introduce myself in German and ask what the students understood and how they understood it since I am speaking German but they haven't learned German yet.  In the la
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How I Start My Classes

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There are so many ways to start class which allow students to ease into the target language.  In the past I would often have a few questions on the board for the students to write down answers to.  They often mixed together the topic that we are currently working on with old grammar and structures to help keep them fresh.   This year I have changed things up, as has our status and school schedule this year (hybrid, all "green", all virtual, block scheduling, traditional, etc).  We have had more schedules and modes than an Oscar host has outfit changes!   On Mondays I like to start the class the same way.  I made this Google Slides presentation that I use .  The ideas for date and day, special day,  how are you, and weather slides came from a Spanish teacher's social media page (but I cannot remember which).   Excuse my mess, I have been adding to this throughout the year and moving older slides to the bottom.   I added  a quote of the week and long word of the week where
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Low Prep Reading Activities

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Something I have not been as great about doing during these Covid times has been reading novels.  My hope is that next school year I will get back to them again.  We are currently reading a novel in my level 3 and 4 AP classes and the plan is to read one in German 1 before the end of the year.  As I've said before, I am so impressed by my students and what that notice and ask about whenever we read a longer text.  They always ask great questions about the grammar and punctuation because they are seeing so much of the language.  Here are some of the activites that I like to do either after reading a section or to start the next day to remember what we read the during the previous class. Some of the fastest and simplest activties we do are 2 truths and a lie.   Students write 2 things that happened in the chapter and 1 thing that did not.  They read them outloud and classmates say which is the lie.  Another well liked activity is social media posts with hashtags from the main charac
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Incorporating Authentic Materials and Culture in a Level 1 Animal Unit

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 Grüß dich!  Using authentic materials in my instruction has really lead to my students using more natural language and progressing more quickly (in some ways for some students).  I am a planner and do teach units.  Students love talking about favorite animals and pets alike and the animal unit is normally a class favorite.   When using authentic materials I remind students that it is okay that they do not understand every word.  I don't understand every word in English!  I also tell them to be proud of themselves for being able to take away major topics, a few details, and a few new words from an authentic material.  Students will notice so many new things (things I overlook and don't even think about until they point it out) about the language and culture from authentic materials.   When looking for authentic materials, I will google in the target language and add phrases like simple language or explained for kids to the end.  Say I want to teach about bees.  In German I woul
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Teaching Grammar

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Hi again!  Today I want to share how I approach grammar in my classes.  I currently have 4 classes of German 1, 1 class of German 3, and 1 class of AP German 4.  In my level 1 classes, I teach grammar more as vocabulary and break it down more.  In my opinion, students do not need to conjugate all of the verbs or use all possessive pronouns on the same day.  This doesn't stick with the students and not all students are ready for everything at once.  Many students use something because they hear it or see it but aren't quite sure about the why.  Students are still getting grammar instruction in my class, but it's not the main focus.  Instead of saying our goals are conjugating verbs, we say what we are doing with that grammar instead.  Our goal is to tell what a friend or family member likes to do in his/her freetime.    For example, when we talk about our hobbies in class, I will have students talk about themselves for one day.  I show them the verb conjugations they will ne
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