Blog Post #1...Here We Go!

 Blog Post #1...Here We Go!

Welcome!  I have thought about starting a blog for a couple of years now but have been reluctant to do so.  There are so many amazing Spanish and French teachers who have blogs and share what they are doing in their classrooms.  The German teaching world is blessed with a great community of teachers who share a lot; I couldn't survive without the numerous Facebook Groups that exist (AATG Listserve Fans!!) or conferences.  We don't have too many German teachers who are blogging though or sharing things a little more in depth.  I've been so nervous to do so too and thought of many reasons not to start a blog.  I am not that great of a writer, my German is not perfect, and even though I am in my 14th year of teaching I am such a work in progress as a teacher (especially during these Covid times).  I steal so many ideas from other teachers and don't always create things myself.  Often I think if I'm doing this, everyone is doing this so I don't have anything mind blowing to share.  In my classroom I am huge on growth mindset and celebrating success.  It's time to take my own advice.  I know I'm good at finding resources, sharing, spinning ideas into my own, and reaching out when I need help.  

Here's an idea of how you can reach out for help: earlier this school year I felt like I wasn't very engaging for my online students and like I kept doing the same types of activities, so after looking on YoutTube for ideas I hit up a few Facebook Groups and asked if I could observe online classes from other teachers.  A few German teachers and Spanish teachers were generious and let me observe or zoomed with me to talk about practices that are working for them. Thanks to those teachers who helped!

Today I am going to share one of my favorite techniques, movie talks.  Again, it's nothing new or mind blowing but maybe you haven't tried it yet, maybe you haven't tried it with level one, maybe I ask different types of questions or share a resource you haven't used yet.  My students are on hybrid schedule with an A Group and B Group who each come in two days a week and a group of virtual students.  This means I see most students twice a week and there's a group I don't see in person at all.  We are not allowed to require students to join live, but I highly encourage it for my students.  I have used movie talks with in person and at home students.  

The short film I use for this movie talk is called "The Gift".  It's mostly silent with a little English, but was made by students at the Filmakadamie Baden-Würrtemberg in Ludwigsburg.  

For my movie talks, I use Google Slides and pause the movie at certain points using the snipping tool to take pictures of certain scenes.  In level 1 I ask a lot of either or and yes or no questions followed by personal questions.  On my Google Slides I added German questions in the notes for the teachers to use or change as they wish.  After the questions, we watch the video together.  Sometimes I will ask student which words stuck with them from the lesson.    

   

Example questions I ask for the first slide/ picture are:

Wo ist der Junge?  Ist er zu Hause oder in der Schule?- Where is the boy?  Is he at home or school?

Wie heißt der Junge?- What's the boy's name?

Wo wohnt der Junge?- Where does he live?

Ist der Junge mit Freunden zusammen oder allein?- Is he with friends or alone?

Ist das Zimmer hell oder dunkel?- Is the room dark or light?

Was spielt er?- What is he playing?

Spielst du Videospiele?- Do you play video games?

Wer mag/ Wer spielt Videospiele?- Who like/plays videogames?

Wer mag/ Wer spielt Videospiele nicht?- Who does not like/play videogames?

I do teach thematic units and since students always ask how to say things like I am excited, tired, frustrated, stressed, etc., I turned this into a unit on happiness and other emotions.  We use infographics about what German speakers so makes them happy and the happiest countries in the world, talk about stress and anger management, and work on giving advice.  

Here's my Pinterest Page for the Happiness and other Emotions Unit.   I don't use every resource every year.  This unit is for Level 1 students, at my school these are mostly freshman and sophomores with some juniors and an occassional senior sprinkled in.  I am either their very first language teacher or they came from a year or two of a different language.

Hopefully you can take away something!  Feel free to reach out with questions!