Language: German Year level: 7 (beginners,

year 7 entry)

Time for each lesson: 60 min

The aim of this unit is to develop student understanding and communication skills and for

students to be able to talk about themselves. Topics covered in this unit are the family, what

students like, items of clothing and colours. The Australian Curriculum content descriptors

for ACLGEU012 and ACLGEC001 suggest the key concepts to grasp are family and

relationships, pronunciation and spelling, with key processes including a focus on

interaction, description, listening and imitating (ACARA, 2015).

Learning Outcomes:

At the conclusion of this unit, students will:

Have knowledge and understanding of new vocabulary relating to family, clothing

and colours

Understand how to use the verb mӧgen (to like) in a sentence

Communicate to others factual information about themselves (in relation to family,

interests and clothing)

Have a knowledge of some German/English cognates (such as Mutter/mother)

Continue to develop correct pronunciation of German words

Links to Australian Curriculum:

This unit addresses both the communication strand of the Australian Curriculum

(socialsising) as well as the understanding strand (systems of language):

“Socialise and interact with teacher and peers to exchange greetings, good wishes,

and factual information about self, family, home, school and interests, and express

likes, dislikes and preferences

[Key concepts: family, relationships; Key processes: interacting, describing]

(ACLGEC001)” (ACARA, 2015)

“Recognise and use key features of the German sound system, including

pronunciation, rhythm, stress and intonation, and identify main similarities and

differences between the phonological and orthographic systems of English and

German

[Key concepts: pronunciation, spelling, intonation; Key processes: listening,

imitating,recognising] (ACLGEU012)” (ACARA, 2015)

Pachler, Barnes and Field (2008) strategies:

Question and answer

Brainstorming

Repetition

Flashcard games

Integration of ICT

Time

Lesson 1: Family

Introduction

In German, welcome everyone to class by

saying Guten Tag. Go around class and repeat

greeting using student names eg. Guten Tag

Maria. Students to respond in German

Introduction to today’s topic: Family

Have Powerpoint of the Simpsons family. Each

slide has a particular member of the family on it

with the German vocabulary. For example, a

picture of Bart Simpson is accompanied by “der

Bruder”, Marge Simpson “die Mutter”. Good

idea Go through the family members, with

students guessing what member of the family

each character is. Teacher then says the word in

German and students repeat.

Explicit Teaching/Student Action

Explain that when describing family members

in German, the gender of the noun corresponds

with the family member. So female family

members have a feminine article, and male

members have a masculine article (the concept

of article gender has been covered in previous

Adjustments/ Guiding Questions

Gauge learner’s involvement.

Accept and respond positively to

responses given

lessons). Note some similarities between

English and German words such as

Vater/father, Mutter/mother, brother/Bruder,

uncles/Onkel, as well as differences such as

cousin (male)/Vetter

Students to draw a family tree (either their own

if they know it, or can make one up). Once

complete, students to pair up and ask simple

questions about names on their partner’s family

tree to practice their new family vocabulary.

The vocabulary will be written up on the board

to help with this. eg: Wer ist Helene? Helene ist

Pauls Tochter. Wer ist David? David ist mein

Bruder.

To review family vocabulary, the game of

bingo will be played (multiple rounds

depending on time) Before the game starts the

vocab will be removed from the board. Each

student will receive a printed sheet of paper

with 6 Simpsons character on each of them.

Each sheet has a different group of characters.

The teacher will say a family member in

German (eg der Vater, die Schwester, die

Teacher to walk around the pairs

and listen and correct

pronunciation if necessary

Assessment of this lesson is

informal and observation based.

Eltern). The students must repeat the vocab and

cross out the character if they have them on

their sheet. The first student to have all

characters crossed off wins (and must read out

the family names (eg die Tante, der Vetter, der

Bruder, die Eltern)

Lesson 2: What do you like?

Introduction

In German, welcome everyone to class by

saying Guten Tag. Go around class and repeat

greeting using student names. Students to

respond in German

Brief Recap last lesson: family

Students are put into small groups and given a

set of flash cards. Half have the picture of a

Simpsons character, and the other half have the

corresponding vocabulary. Students need to pair

the correct picture and words together. The first

group to finish gets a prize.

Introduce today’s topic: What do you like?

Teacher introduces the verb mӧgen (to like

something).

Accept and respond positively to

responses given

Give an example of things that

you like to do

Go through the basic conjugations of the verb

(which is different to the pattern of regular

verbs) on the whiteboard.

Students will then join the teacher in a rhythmic

pattern, using each of the conjugations of the

verb and the word for dogs (Hunde). The

students will join their teacher in alternating

clapping their hands together and on their thighs

and going speaking the conjugations in time.

Eg: Ich mag Hunde (I like dogs)

Du magst Hunde (you (informal) like dogs)

Er mag Hunde (he likes dogs).

With a vocabulary sheet as a guide, pair

students up and ask each other what they like.

The vocabulary sheet has a list of some

common foods, sports and activities.

This activity will then be used to reinforce the

family vocabulary from last lesson, with

students asking what members of their family

like.

Listening task: Students listen to a short

dialogue between two fictional characters Anna

“Hunde” can be replaced with

something else if the teacher

knows something the students are

particularly interested in

Extension task: introduce the

word for favourite (Liebling) and

how it gets used. Ask the student

to write who their favourite

family member is, their favourite

sport.

and Heidi who have just met and are describing

things that they like. Students to respond to

questions relating to the dialogue on their

worksheets.

To complete the lesson, students will play a

game of “Haji Baji”. The person in the middle

needs to ask questions of their other students

relating to what they like or the name of a

family member (eg: Was magst du? Wie heiβt

deine Mutter?)

Teacher to play dialogue twice so

students are able to hear more

than once.

Assessment in this lesson is again

largely informal, however teacher

is to collect the worksheets from

the listening task to mark.

Lesson 3: Clothing

Introduction

In German, welcome everyone to class by

saying Guten Tag. Go around class and repeat

greeting using student names. Students to

respond in German

Recap of last lesson: What do you like?

“Speed dating” activity. Students each given a

list of foods/activities/animals and must find

other members of the class who like them by

asking each other (in German) “do you like

tennis?”

Introduce today’s topic: Items of clothing

Around the walls of the room, various items of

clothing have been hung with a sign pinned to

them with their German name (eg a skirt would

have the sign “der Rock”). In addition to this,

there is a large box of clothes at the front of the

room.

The teacher demonstrates how to say “I am

wearing” (which will be also written on the

whiteboard) and then goes round the class to

Accept and respond positively to

responses given

ask students to say the name of an item of

clothing on the wall. The students are required

to pick an item of clothing and model it for the

class. This will be repeated with three different

types of clothing, and each time the student will

need to say (in German) “I’m wearing….”.

The next part of this lesson is a formal

assessment task. Students will be provided with

a worksheet which they will need to complete

individually. The worksheet will contain a fill

in the blank letters task relating to family

vocabulary and items of clothing and will

require students to write two sentences using

the verb mӧgen.

Extension task if students finish

early: in pairs or by themselves,

write a short role play in which

the characters meet for the first

time and discuss what they like to

do and their favourite items of

clothing.

Lesson 4

Introduction

In German, welcome everyone to class by

saying Guten Tag. Go around class and repeat

greeting using student names. Students to

respond in German

Recap last lesson: Clothing

Students to brainstorm in small groups as many

different types of clothing from last lesson as

they can remember.

Introduce today’s topic: Colours

Over the last 3 lessons we have looked at

family, what we like and items of clothing. The

aim of this lesson is to learn the colour words

and use these words to make more interesting

sentences.

The teacher will hold up a coloured

crayon/texta and will say the name of the

colour. Students are to repeat the word. After a

few goes, the teacher will just hold a crayon up

and the students will have to guess the colour.

Accept and respond positively to

responses given

The words to a song called All My Colours will

be then provided to students. This song follows

the tune of Frere Jacques and goes through all

the main colours.

Each student will be given a different coloured

crayon/texta. When the class sings “Alle meine

Farben” when their colour gets mentioned they

need to raise their crayon.

The next part of this lesson involves adding in

colours to make sentences more descriptive.

In small groups, students will revisit an activity

from lesson 2, where they were asking each

other what they and their family members like.

Students will now have to answer these

questions with answers that involve colours and

items of clothing (eg: I like my red dress, my

mum likes her green scarf).

The final activity of this lesson is Kims Game.

In this activity, multiple items are placed on a

table. Students are given 2 minutes to try and

memorise what is on the table. The teacher then

covers the table and the students have to write

down everything they can remember. The more

items they remember the better, and the more

descriptive the more points they receive (eg: the

blue shirt would be better than the shirt).

Part B

The choice of learning outcomes in this lesson sequence were largely based on

content descriptors ACLGEU012 and ACLGEC001 (ACARA, 2015), however the sequence

does not cover everything contained within those content descriptors. A backwards design

method, as suggested by the Tasmanian Department of Education (2014), was used with the

learning outcomes providing the basis for the lesson plans. ACLGEC001 (ACARA, 2015)

was specifically chosen, as it has a focus on interaction and communication which fits in with

the Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) approach to teaching language. CLT is an

approach by which communication in the target language is the main aim of teaching (Padilla

& Borjian, 2009). Whilst in this lesson sequence there is a lot of vocabulary to be learned, the

aim is to put this vocabulary into communicative practice as soon as possible with the

assistance of games and activities. As the class is quite young and are new to the language,

there are also elements of Total Physical Response, as this is suggested to be an effective

approach for beginners (Asher, 1969). Across the unit, students should be building on their

prior knowledge and ideally each lesson is reinforcing the previous lesson’s content.

Learning a language also provides connections to other areas of the Australian Curriculum.

Two of the General Capabilities are Intercultural Understanding and Personal and Social

Capability (ACARA, 2015). Learning a language allows us to have a greater understanding

of our own culture and of others, assisting students to develop a greater intercultural

understanding. This unit particularly also links with personal and social capability, by

encouraging students to work together in small groups and communicate with each other.

Student diversity was addressed by using a variety of techniques in the classroom to

try and engage different types of learners. Pachler, Barnes and Field (2008) suggest using

games and activities to help learn language can be more effective when compared to more

traditional approaches such as grammar translation. Throughout the unit, there is a mixture of

whole class learning, small group learning as well as individual tasks. There is also a variety

of techniques including some suggested by Pachler, Barnes and Field (2008) such as

brainstorming, question and answers in small groups, imitation and the use of flash cards.

The teacher will have a sound relationship with the students, and can alter activities if

required to suit Individual Learning Plans. There are also extension activities where possible.

In terms of assessment, the unit aimed to cover the four skills of language: speaking,

listening, reading and writing. The assessment strategy was largely formative, with a large

amount of informal assessment, particularly in reference to pronunciation of words. Where

possible, the teacher may take informal notes on how a student is progressing and date it, so

there is a dated record of student progression (AITSL, 2014). A key aim was to ensure that

students felt like they were in a comfortable environment to be able to communicate with

each other and the teacher, without feeling that their every sentence was being assessed.

There are some more formal formative assessments in lessons three and four in the form of a

worksheet with fill in the blank letters and writing some sentences using mӧgen, a reading

and listening task, and a written task with Kim’s Game. Whilst not mentioned in the unit

plan, an additional summative assessment will occur later in the term as part of a larger test.

The assessment will be used to help report student progress in school reports, and provide

information to help the teacher understand what level their students are at.

The resources used within this unit are a culmination of games from Van Heijster

(2008), resources gathered from Professional Experience 1 as part of the UTAS Master of

Teaching degree, as well as ideas from my own experience in learning German as a second

language.

References

Asher, J.J. (1969). The Total Physical Response Approach to Second Language Learning.

The Modern Language Journal, 53, pp. 3-17. DOI: 10.1111/j.1540-

4781.1969.tb04552.x

Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (2015). German (Version 7.5).

Australia: ACARA

Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership. (2014). Types of Assessment.

Accessed from http://www.aitsl.edu.au/australian-professional-standards-for-

teachers/illustrations-of-practice/detail?id=IOP00064

Pachler, N., Barnes, A., Field, K. (2008) Chapter 3. Teaching methods and learning strategies

in modern foreign languages (in) Pachler, Norbert., Barnes, Ann, Field, Kit.: Learning

to teach modern foreign languages in the secondary school, Routledge, New York

Padilla, A., & Borjian, A. (2009) Learning and Teaching Foreign Languages. Accessed

from http://www.education.com/reference/article/learning-and-teaching-foreign-

languages/#A

Department of Education Tasmania. (2014). Good Teaching: Curriculum Mapping and

Planning Planning for Learning. Department of Education Tasmania: Hobart

Van Heijster, A. (2008). 30 plus ways of learning and revising vocabulary. Accessed from

https://mylo.utas.edu.au/d2l/le/content/89173/viewContent/1404078/View

EMT617 Planning and assessing language learning: LOTE and/or TESOL. Assignment 2. Name:

NN PP CR DN HD

Connects language learning to the broader curriculum

Some connections but very

tentative. Reflects little

understanding of Languages

learning and/or other

curriculum areas

Broad connections made to

other curriculum areas in a

manner that would have

some benefit to learner

Careful and purposeful links

to other curriculum

areas. Learners would be

able to make some very

valid connections.

Clear,concise links to other

curriculumareas reflectinga

capacity to integrate learning

Strong learning

opportunities.

A strongly articulated,

sequenced and

developedlink to other

curriculum areas resulting in

an integratedapproach

Draws on professional knowledge to differentiate planning (for a range of learners; uses a range of assessment strategies; selects resources to enhance student learning)

Very little indication of

professional knowledge

evident. Classroom based

work is shallow with poor

assessment tasks, unrelated

activities and weak

resourcing. Student learning

would be minimal from

these activities.

Evidence of professional

knowledgeand

goodpedagogy

throughoutunitplan and

rationale. Planning meets

needs of most learners,

adequately resourced and

assessment tasks would

allow for some worthwhile

evidence of learning to be

collected

Deep professional

knowledge evident

throughout plan and

rationale. Learning sequence

is thorough reflecting

asound understanding of all

learner’s needs,relevant

pedagogies with appropriate

resources and assessment

tasks that will provide rich

information

Depth of assessment

tasksand links to teaching

and learning indicate a

soundunderstanding

ofteaching

Languages. Resourcing

excellent and carefully

incorporated. A very sound

professional knowledge and

an obvious capacity to work

in this area.

Evaluations have seamlessly

integrated into

comprehensive links to

teaching and learningtasks

that have been well

resourced, sequenced and

delivered. An extremely

sound professional

understanding of

requirements for teaching

Languages.

Justifies planning decisions through reference to scholarly

literature

Literature base poor with

heavy reliance on

questionable literature.

Poorly integrated references

Uses soundand authoritative

literature support in

justification. Integrates

references well into writing

Adequate authoritative

literature used throughout to

support

justification. References

integrated effectively into

work.

Ample authoritative

literature used throughout to

support

discussion. References

integrated thoroughly into

work.

High quality authoritative

literature used throughout to

support

discussion. References

integrated effortlessly into

work.

Employs academic writing conventions – spelling, grammar, essay construction - and APA referencing

Work needs some careful

editing to reach acceptable

standard - spellinggrammar,

punctuation. Presentation

ofAPAreferencing, in text/

end text, needs a more

accurate representation

Sentence structure meets

acceptable standard, but

someerrorsare evident -

spelling, grammar,

punctuation. APA

referencing is as it should be

but with still somein text/

end text issues.

Comprehensive

knowledgeof academic

conventions- spelling,

punctuation grammar,

sentence structure.

Afewerrors in APA

referencing, in text/end text

that needs attention

Knowledge and

implementation ofacademic

conventions- spelling,

punctuation grammar,

sentence structure at a high

level Very few, if any, errors

in spelling, grammar &APA

referencing.

Carefully crafted and edited

writing with noerrors.

Transitions smoothly

between paragraphs and

maintains high academic

standardsthroughout. All

APA referencing – very

accurate

Grade: Lecturer