German 3-4
Objective:
Students will review and expand upon all skills learned in the first year, while mastering the past tenses and other higher level grammatical concepts through the use of the TPRS method (Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling). Emphasis will be placed on listening, reading, and writing, which will in turn build confidence in speaking. Classes will conducted in as much German as possible with nearly daily homework being assigned to compliment that oral practice.
Curriculum:
You will be issued a copy of Deutsch Aktuell 1 (blue) by the bookstore. This text is excellent source as a vocabulary/grammar resource, but will be used at times during class time. We will also be using the materials titled Michael und Sabine which use storytelling to teach vocabulary and grammar. We will complete most of the Level 2 materials and will complete two units per semester. The chapters will be supplemented with short oral projects (dialogues, skits, or individual oral presentations) and writing assignments. Throughout the course of the semester, we will also read short stories about the adventures of Hilde und Günter, which is a supplementary reader written by the text’s author, Michael Miller. The chapters in this reader are designed to be read with each list of vocabulary in the text. On average of once per week, students will be asked to write about a specific topic appropriate to the current vocabulary being taught. Students will complete these entries during class within a given time frame, or they may complete these entries as homework assignments.
Assessments:
Students are quizzed roughly every four days over the vocabulary given in each of the eight lists in each chapter. These quizzes are provided by the text’s author and are worth between 10 and 26 points each. At the end of each chapter, the students are assessed with a chapter test. Again, these tests are provided by the text’s author and are worth roughly 100 points each. Before assessing the students with the chapter test, students are also required to prepare and perform a role play which embodies the elements of that chapter. They have the choice to perform the role play live, using only pictures instead of a script, or via video. This assignment will be worth a total of 75 points. At the end of each semester, students are given a final exam which is created by the classroom teacher. Each exam is comprehensive and covers the material taught throughout that semester. Semester exams are worth between 100 and 150 points.
Bonus Points may be earned through participation in selected German Club activities and field trips conducted throughout the semester. Membership in the German Club is recommended. Extra credit assignments may be assigned throughout the year at teachers’ discretion.
Homework will be checked for completion for a total of 5-20 points per assignment. Occasionally, I may collect a worksheet to grade for accuracy. However, it is your responsibility to do every assignment with the greatest degree of accuracy of which you are capable if you expect to master the material and not fall behind the rest of the class.
Late Work: No credit will be given for assignments which are not completed on the day for which they were assigned, assuming that you were present both on the day the assignments were made and on the day on which they were checked or completed.
Make Up Work: It is your responsibility to see me about completing work you missed when absent. Failure to make arrangements with me for the completion of this work will result in your receiving a zero on the involved assignments. Tests and quizzes are typically announced 2-3 days in advance of assignment. Absent students, who were aware of, and had had the advance notification of the test or quiz, and also possess the required work, will be expected to take the test/quiz on the day of their returning to school.
Grading Scale:
A 90-100
B 80-89
C 70-79
D 60-69
F 59 and below
Required Supplies:
One 3-ring notebook/binder (at least one inch) which is strictly devoted to German.
Loose-leaf notebook paper which can be turned in without the mess of spiral notebook dandruff.
Blue or Black pens.
BTHSE agenda book.
Suggested Supplies:
o German-English dictionary
o 2-3 packages of index cards for creating flashcards during or outside of class
o 501 German Verbs (Book)
Fall Semester
Unit 5: TPR Storytelling. Students will learn a variety of words about their home including…
Content: Rooms of the house, furniture, appliances, and chores.
Grammar: modal verbs, zu Hause vs. nach Hause, suffixes, ‘chore’ verbs, da-compounds, short explanation of reflexive verbs, hin vs. her, drauβen vs. drinnen
Supplementary Materials: Hilde und Günter “Der Fall der verlorenen Maus” and Langenscheidt Oktoberfest reader.
Unit 6: TPR Storytelling. Students will learn vocabulary related to clothes and buying clothes.
Content: Clothing items, colors and sizes, clothing stores, prices, and sales.
Grammar: Dative pronouns, possessive adjectives, accusative case review, comparative and superlative forms of adjectives, immer + comparative, making nouns out of verbs, review of modals.
Supplementary Materials: Hilde und Günter “Der Rock” and grammar worksheets to practice comparative and superlative forms of adjectives.
Unit 7: Students will learn vocabulary related to shopping for food.
Content: Fruits and vegetables, groceries and grocery store vocabulary, bakery and butcher shop vocabulary, the metric system.
Grammar: Möchten/hätten gern, werden, derselbe, dative case, dative pronouns, prepositions and verbs.
Supplementary Materials: Hilde und Günter “Das Vorzeichen” and grammar worksheets to practice the dative case.
Unit 8: Students will learn vocabulary related to ordering food in a restaurant.
Content: Menus and drinks, main courses, table settings, paying the bill and tipping, German food and breakfast items.
Grammar: Conversational past tense, war and konnten, weil, stem-changing verbs
Supplementary Materials: Hilde und Günter “Der Glückskeks”and worksheets practicing to the conversational past tense.