German club ideas

German Club didn't get to meet as often as we'd initially hoped to (thanks to snow days, midterms, HSA's, AP exams, and other scheduling problems). We did, however, manage to throw some pretty awesome events that we'll hopefully get to do again next year. Deutschklub 2013-2014 Games After our election and at another meeting later in the year we played some German games. I have a couple board games from Germany (Monopoly and Scrabble), plus we sometimes play Settlers of Catan. And there's always Skat and Mau Mau if you're looking for a card game. Pfefferkuchenhaus During our December meeting, students build Ginger Bread Houses. I'm no ginger bread marvel, so we didn't bake anything ourselves - we purchased kits and students could use the kit to build a house. There was an activity fee associated with it just to cover the cost of purchasing the kits. Students had to pay ahead of time so that I knew how many kits to pick up. We then had some teachers rate the houses based on stability, appearance and overall creativity, then awarded a winner for each category plus overall best. The students had a lot of fun, but we did have some issues (one of the ginger bread kits had cracked pieces, the that group had to use what was left to make what they could). Next year I think we might try a different tactic - instead of using the kits, we'll build them out of Graham crackers, honey, frosting, and candy. Although not as culturally authentic, I think it'll take care of some of the problems we had this year. It'll also be a bit more of a challenge and give the kids an opportunity to show off their creative side. Fliegenklappe Tournament Students love playing Fliegenklappe and the officers decided it'd be a fun club activity. I created three Fliegenklappe boards, each with a large number of cognates. We decided to go with cognates because we wanted the tournament to be open to students who maybe had never taken German before and we didn't want to discriminate against students in lower levels of German. We created a bracket based on how many students showed up. Each round was best out of three - one word was called per board. I tried to randomize the words as much as possible (both location on the boards and the words themselves) to keep it fair. I decided to buy a prize for the first and second place winners - an "engraved" fly swatter (I painted "Deutschklub 2013-2014" on it) and a toy pig (I'm big on pigs) for first place, and a toy pig for second place. Our German Club president also donated a bag of gummy bears as part of our first place prize. Students had a lot of fun with this one. It's definitely a keeper for next year - not only is it easy to set up and fun for the kids, but it's also a free activity (this was right after the Pfefferkuchenhaus club meeting, which had a fee). Musical Chairs The students wanted to do something music related, but I told them just sitting around listening to music didn't count as a club meeting. The officers decided that they would play musical chairs using German music. We had to move back all the desks to make room, and eventually I had to institute a "hands over your head" rule to avoid pushing. You'd be surprised how rowdy high schoolers can get (I had no idea they'd be so in to musical chairs). We did a few rounds and the winners got candy (as donated, once again, by our German club President). Brezeln Because activities that involve food is what drives German club, the officers planned a pretzel baking day. We reserved our school's Food and Culinary Sciences room and got some Auntie Em's pretzel baking kits. There was an activity fee of I believe $3 for a fair share of the pretzels. We got two boxes of pretzel mix and made all of it - we divided the dough between the students who showed up. Each student then made a pretzel with whoever much dough they had - some did small ones, others did one massive one. I would've loved to actually bake them, but because of time constraints we opted for the kits. Timing wise it actually worked out quite well. Spaghetti Eis Another food activity with an activity fee. We got big containers of vanilla ice cream, some strawberry sauce, and of course some sprinkles and tried to make Spaghetti Eis. This was my first time trying to do this, so we weren't quite sure how to get the shape. We used a potato masher I borrowed from a colleague. I'm not sure if it's because the potato masher was on the older side, the ice cream was too cold or if it's just not the right tool for the job, but it was a bit difficult to get the ice cream into a spaghetti form. Delicious, but we'll have to work on the execution (and maybe pair it with another activity). Tie Dye This one didn't have much of a connection to German culture, but the kids wanted to do it and put the event together. We used the revenue from pretzels (there was a small profit margin, really just enough to fund this activity) to get a tie-dying kit. Students had to bring in their own shirts, but we also had some extras students could be if they forgot theirs. A fun, messy activity but I don't know if I would do it again. A shirt-decorating activity might work, but I think we'd have to use fabric paint and we'd put on German-related designs. The tie-dye didn't really scream "Deutsch!" Fussballspiel As our final activity of the year, the German Club challenged the French and Spanish Clubs to a friendly soccer match. With the World Cup starting, this seemed like a fun cultural connection for all three clubs. Unfortunately, French Club declined the invitation, but Spanish Club was up for the challenge. We reserved one of the gyms after school and one of the German club members brought in a couple soccer balls. Because of the size of the gym and the number of students on each team, we played 5x5 plus a goalie. The kids did a great job of reffing themselves - I was really just there to keep track of the time and score (and to make sure the kids were subbing out and staying hydrated - it was quite hot and humid in the gym). This was a lot of fun (and not just because German Club won) - the kids are already talking about next year's match up and getting French Club involved. One of the Spanish teachers said we should have some sort of Field Day for the languages. There'd be multiple activities and/or races and students could compete for their "country." Basically, a mini-Olympics. Other Activities Here are some other activities that we didn't do this year but that we might try to do in the future. Movie Night: We were hoping to do a movie event that's like an outdoor movie theater. We were going to project the movie onto the side of the school and have a picnic as we watched. The only real problem we had in setting this up was coming up with an appropriate German movie that could a.) could be viewed by all age groups and b.) would be of interest to the school population in general (instead of just German students). Schuhplattler: At some point I hope to have the students learn a basic slap dance that we could then perform at a school event. Oktoberfest: We always want to do an Oktoberfest related event, but we still haven't pinned down exactly what we want to do. We might move the Brezel cooking to Oktoberfest or try the Schuhplattler then. Wurst and Kaese Tasting: French Club does cheese tasting, so this seems like a great opportunity for our students to come together for a joint activity. This is something I think students will like - food and culture are usually a great mix. Schultüten: Because we started the club so late in the school year, we missed the chance to do this. I found some Schultüten available on Teacher's Discovery. I got a set of 24, perfect as a first meeting activity at the beginning of next school year. Deutschklub: End of the Year Gift As a special thanks to the members of German Club, I made copies of the club picture and gave one to each of them. It was just a little something to show I appreciated their participation and energy in making this year's German Club a success. Students seemed to like them - it was a nice treat to end the year right :) I'm always interested in suggestions for other activities - if there are any events that you do with your German Club, please share! - Frau Leonard

If you are a sponsor for your school's Language Club or Culture Club, or are thinking about starting a Spanish Club, French Club, German Club we'd like to offer some fun activities that you can do with your students. Since our language and culture club has students studying a variety of different languages, we have really enjoyed taking a more global approach. We have an account with www.postcrossing.com and we send postcards and receive them from all over the world in many different languages. We have a showcase where we display all of our postcards on a huge map and next year we are creating a traveling postcard display that will travel to the different elementary school buildings in our district. We have all learned a lot from these small glimpses into the lives of people all around our wonderful world. -Spanish Sundries The World Language Café offers the following idea: Temas y tapas/Chez Nous: Here's an activity that I do with my classes and can be done with an after school group. Create your own language café. Have students sign up for dates throughout the year when they will bring an authentic food and/or drink with cups, plates, utensils, etc. to share. Students can look up recipes online. If you will be eating in the classroom, make sure that the food and ingredients are peanut-free. Have students sit around tables in the cafeteria or classroom to converse. Start off by having the students who prepared the food talk about what they made, which country it’s from, how they made it, what ingredients they used, etc. Then start the conversation topics. Tailor the topics to what you are studying or to what is going on at school, in their lives, around town, etc. Prepare 5-8 conversation starters. Sample Conversations: 1. Talk about where the students will go to college, what their lives will be like in 5 years, 10 years, what profession they will have, where they will live, what the world will be like, etc. 2. Talk about what the students did over the weekend, what they like to do, what their goals, dreams are. 3. If something controversial is happening at school or in the community, talk about it. 4. Talk about what could be done to improve classes, the school, the community, the environment. 5. Talk about favorite bands, singers, TV shows, etc. 6. Talk about current events in the world. Tips – Be willing to go with the flow of the conversation. Make it a casual, fun environment. This is one idea from "Over 50 World Language Games to Spice Up Your Classroom". Also available in French and Spanish versions. We always host an International Festival close to International Week at our school. Students in World Language classes and in the World Language Club prepare popular desserts from the cultures of languages we teach and we sell them during lunches. Each ticket is worth 25 cents and the proceeds go toward a $500 scholarship to a language student who responds to an essay question. Students then use this money to help fund their college experience. -Madame H In French club, we make crepes twice a year and crafts such as berets, Christmas ornaments and Mardi Gras masks. We watch music videos that I find on NRJ.com and rate them according to craziest, funniest, most energetic, and best story. We watch music videos and rank the songs, then vote on the ones we like the best. We also watch videos from Paris fashion week and rate the designers and clothes. We play games such as boules, Wheel of Fortune (each team gets a die, they roll to find out how much they will get when they guess a consonant correctly), trivia basketball game and hangman. I have a great French Club resource that I put together with the directions for the crafts, recipes, ideas for holiday celebrations and all the trivia questions/Wheel of Fortune sentences/hangman words, etc. which you can purchase at teacherspayteachers.com - it's under Robin Noudali. It takes all the pressure away from planning French club meetings because I've done all the work for you! -Robin Noudali I Speak Your Language offers the following tips: First, try inviting foreign exchange and immigrant students who speak the target language to join your club. They may be able to help with different presentations sharing their own experiences. 1) Teach a Spanish dance, such as “La Cucaracha”. 2) Have a “craft night” and make Mexican paper flowers or “Ojos de Dios". 3) Invite a guest speaker (such as a foreign exchange student) to do a power point presentation on his or her country. Many exchange students come prepared to do such presentations. 4) Celebrate Carnaval or Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) by planning a fun evening. If your school has both Spanish and French Clubs, plan a celebration together. Have a costume party where the French students come as famous French people and the Spanish students masquerade as famous Hispanics. Have students vote for the best costume and award a prize. 5) Plan a night out at a Spanish restaurant. 6) Celebrate Navidad by learning some Spanish carols and go Christmas caroling. If you have some Hispanic families in your community, carol at their homes and bring a small bag of treats for the children. @SorianoSpanish suggest "Games like scattegories, Kahoot trivia, cooking, dance lessons, lyricstraining, crafts!

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In Deutsch II, our first new vocabulary unit relates to gifts and holidays. Students discuss common gifts to give different people, as well as holiday traditions in Germany (with a focus on Christmas and birthdays). In order to get a better look at birthdays, the class throws a birthday party for Piggeldy. This is one of my favorite activities for the year because the kids really get into it. It's a chance for them to have fun but still do something related to German and our current unit. Maybe I should back track a little. Who's Piggeldy? Well, he's a character in a children's book and cartoon show called Piggeldy and Frederick that I frequently use with my students (great for listening practice and circumlocution, but more on that some other time). Because of how often we use this cartoon show, even in Deutsch I, I do happen to have a stuffed pig in my classroom that we call Piggeldy. So when we do activities related to the show, or when we have this party, we can bring Piggeldy front and center :) Every year students start by watching the Piggeldy und Frederick episode titled "Geburtstag." In this particular episode, Piggeldy wants to know what a birthday is and then wants to find out when his is. We find out that he's 5 years old and that today is actually his birthday. After this introduction, I tell students we need to have a birthday party to celebrate Piggeldy turning 6. We go through all the steps of planning a party. After we've discussed the date and location, students write invitations. This year is actually the first year I've handed out these invitations - I sent the invitations along with this explanation to our school administrators, inviting them to see what we're doing in the classroom. To further prepare for the party, students had to write a birthday card for Piggeldy and find him a gift. Students obviously didn't have to buy a gift - I told them to find something they thought Piggeldy would like, print out a picture of it (or draw it themselves), and explain why they thought it was a good gift for him. They're usually pretty creative (though there's usually at least one student who gives him bacon each year...). Here are some of the birthday cards and gifts: Yesterday was our actual celebration. In class we played three birthday games. We played Gummitwist, Schlangenschwanz, and then Steck dem Schwein den Schwanz an (see below!). Since I'm not German and don't have a German family background, I didn't know too many authentic games. When we first started doing a party for Piggeldy, I had to look into the types of games German kids play at birthday parties. These were the ones I found (though I did change it from pin the tail on the donkey to pin the tail on the pig, just to go with our birthday theme). If you know of any other games, let me know and I'd be glad to try and incorporate them! After playing games, students gave Piggeldy their cards and gifts, we sung Happy Birthday in German, then got to eat :) The kids had signed up to bring the food ahead of time - I promised to bring the cake, but they had to do the rest! We usually get a pretty decent spread, though (what can I say, teenagers love to eat). I'm really glad that this year I invited our administrators. Three of the four of them came, and they got to see the kids in action! They experienced a whole class in German, with both me explaining the games completely in German and the students speaking to me and each other in German (without needing to be prompted, which is always a plus!). They were really impressed with how much they were using the language in a level 2 class and loved the activity. I loved that the kids got a chance to show off what they can do while having fun! - Frau Leonard

Eine Modenschau: End of Year Fashion Show

It's probably pretty standard to have a "fashion show" project when doing a unit on clothes. When I took French in Middle School, we put on a big one in the main atrium of the school. There were probably a hundred students who came to view our fashion show (I assume the other language classes since I don't really remember) and we spent a lot of time on it. To this day it's the only project that stands out when I think about my French classes throughout Middle and High School and even College. Prior to this year, I'd never done this project with my students. I've thought about it before, we'd done similar "fashion show" activities that involved designing outfits but never an actual fashion show where the students dressed up. For whatever reason, I decided this year would be the year to try it out. My German 1 class this past school year was a little on the weaker side and because we only saw each other every other day, I'd had to cut out a lot of activities I usually do simply due to time constraints. I wanted to give them something fun at the end of the year to reward them for their progress (although weak as a class, they made some big improvements toward the end of the year). I wasn't sure how it would go. When my French class did this project, we were a group of mostly girls. With my German classes, they tend to be mostly guys. In the lower level the genders are a little more even, but I was still worried the male students wouldn't find this project appealing. I was pleasantly surprised how into this they got. Even students who had had a lackluster performance all year were interested in the project. When I did my usual end of the year survey to get feedback, most of the class was very positive about the project and wished they'd done more, similar projects. We planned and carried this project out over four 90 minute class periods. However, we never spent a whole class period on the project, so I think it could be done over the course of a week (5-6 days) with a shorter class period. Here's the overall process: Day One: Planning I introduced the project to my students. We were already in our clothing unit and had learned how to express like/dislike using the verb gefallen. Before talking about the project itself, we looked at some pictures from fashion shoes. We discussed what the models were wearing and if we liked the outfits. This was a great segue into them doing their own fashion show. I only gave them a general overview of the project at this point - that they'd be working in groups and each group would put on an actual fashion show during class. More details would come as we went through the project. I let students form their own groups of 4-5. I did have to move a couple students around just to make sure the numbers worked out. For this first day of planning, students had to do the basics for setting up the fashion show: who was emcee, who were the models, what was each model wearing? There were some vocabulary requirements (needed twelve different articles of clothing, needed to look up new clothing-related words that weren't on our vocab list, etc) to help guide them, but really the sky was the limit. I did, however, say that they should focus on clothing they already have at home - this was not an excuse to go shopping, this did not require new clothes or anything like that. I emphasized that they should work with what they have. Day One Planning Sheet As groups worked, I circulated to give them feedback. The planning sheet helped keep them focused and listed all of the requirements for this stage of the project, but they still needed some guidance. At the end of class I collected the planning sheet from each group. Since there are vocab and outfit requirements, I went through and made sure each group met them. If they didn't, I highlighted areas for them to work on or finish. Day Two: Planning Students get back their planning sheet from day one and get an opportunity to make any changes they need to. Groups then moved on to the next planning sheet. Day Two Planning Sheet The next phase of planning is writing their script. Although the emcee will be the person reading out the script during the fashion show, the entire group needs to work together to prepare it. Students need to figure out the order for the fashion show (who's first) and write a short blurb about each outfit. From the previous day, they already know what each student is wearing - that's the first part of the description. The next step is to add detail. I ask them to describe the colors and to use an adjective to describe each person's overall look (modisch, elegant, etc. - a list is included on the back of the planning sheet). They also need to think about the details that could really set their presentation apart from the other groups. I told them to think about choreography (are there any waves or dance moves involved?) and music. If they planned on having music as part of their fashion show (something I made completely optional), they needed to provide both the music and the speakers/method of playing it. I also required them to submit the songs to me first so I could make sure they were appropriate. At the end of class, I collected both planning sheets. I made sure necessary changes were made to the day one sheet (if necessary) and went over the day two planning sheet. I didn't make substantial changes - just spelling and gave help regarding more difficult grammar concepts. If they made mistakes with concepts we already knew, I would highlight it instead of correcting it. Day Three: Practice Run Students first had time to go over their planning sheets from the previous two class periods. If they had questions or needed changes, this was the time to do it. I then gave students time to do practice runs of their entire fashion show. The actual fashion show was going to be in the school atrium, so this was the first time students went to this space. I explained where the audience would be sitting, where they would be starting from, where the emcee would stand, etc. It was their job to figure out any choreography they planned on doing and to go through the entire script and performance, just to make sure everyone new what they were supposed to be doing. It was a large enough space that two groups could use the stairs at the same time, while other groups planned. Note: Although we did a practice run, I would maybe suggest giving more practice time. At the end of class, I re-collected the planning sheets (to make sure they didn't lose anything!). The whole time you should be emphasizing the final date of the fashion show - do a final reminder that they MUST have their planned outfits NEXT CLASS! Day Four: Fashion Show!I gave groups a few minutes to prep. Some students needed to go change and the emcees needed time to go over the script. I didn't make them memorize it - it didn't seem fair to have one group member do so much more work than the others during the actual fashion show. I let groups volunteer to go first. Emcees were given a toy microphone prop I have, just to make it a little more "authentic." While other groups were presenting, the other students had a peer rating sheet to fill out. It basically just asked for their opinion of the other groups - were they creative, which outfit was best, etc. Here's how it turned out: Although I liked the idea of using the school atrium as the location for the project (a big space to make the project seem just as big), logistically it didn't work out as well as I wanted. The space made it too hard to hear what the presenters were saying. Next year I'll probably find a different space - a hallway, re-arrange my classroom, or maybe the auditorium if it's free. The kids really did have a lot of fun - it makes me want to incorporate more group projects like this next year! If you're interested in the worksheets I used, they're available for free on TPT - just click here! - Frau Leonard

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I saw this really cute idea on Pinterest for an idiom of the week board. In this past I've tried to do an idiom of the week/month/whenever I got around to it. I think I tried too hard to make it a part of weekly instruction. I tried to do quizzes and get the students to come up with examples... Really, it was all great in theory but was harder in practice. The problem was always that it was another thing I had to keep track of and make activities for. What I like about this is it's something I can have up and don't have to draw attention to it. If students are interested, it's something they can keep track of and use on their own. If students do use the phrases during class, that's something I can praise. If students don't use the phrase... well at least I can beef up on idioms on my own ;) - Frau Leonard

This sums up my day sometimes... - Frau Leonard

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Here’s what happened. I was ready to dive into German with my 11- and 13-year-old daughters, who are homeschooled — but I can’t find our Rosetta Stone CD. The first disk in the set, I mean. It’s floating around the house somewhere. The rest of the program is right there in its slipcase on the […]