On a sunny spring Saturday in Oxford MS, April 12, 2014, the Mississippi Chapter of the Association of American Teachers of German conducted a productive workshop on teaching Grammar and culture in the target language. For those who could not attend, I would like to share some of these ideas.
We started off with my presentation “Auf Deutsch, Bitte! Tips for Keeping the Elementary German Class in German”. I presented a plethora of communicative activities that I have created which provide the structure, context, and vocabulary which I use to enable students to rehearse German in the classroom. I prefer that the majority of the class time be spent with the students producing the language, and I make every effort to keep the hour in German. I would be happy to share any of these activities with any of you, if you are interested.
Next, Dr. Corina L. Petrescu of the University of Mississippi presented her method for using poetry in the first semester as pronunciation practice and oral testing. Her talk was entitled “Deutsche Reime im Sprachunterricht.” The strength of this idea is not only that students are learning German culture and literature early on, but also that they start off paying attention to the sound of the language. Students can study and memorize a poem before they can produce a relaxed dialog with a partner, so this exercise may be done after a few weeks of class.
Dr. Christopher D. Sapp then introduced us to some helpful websites in his presentation of “Using Technology to Teach Grammar.” He showed us some of the many ways students and teachers can use Quizlet.com. For students who need to brush up on their participles, for instance, this website can help them learn though repetition, pronunciation, production, flash card creation and all kinds of games. He also introduced us to Bubblr, a website where students and teachers can make comic strips. At the end, he also mentioned TeacherTrainingVideos.com, where one can find many more ideas.
Then we were treated to a mini-demo of “The Use of Film in the Classroom: Movie Quotes” by Mr. Russell Bellande of the University of Mississippi. Mr. Bellande showed us memorable scenes from favorite, and famous, films with quotes in German. Students enjoy learning these quotes in German while practicing the structures involved in their making.
After a walk downtown, through the beautiful campus of Ole Miss and the town of Oxford, and long, relaxed, European-style lunch at a quiet Mediterranean restaurant on the square called Petra Café, where we enjoyed Gyros, Falafel, and Turkish coffee, we returned to the campus for the afternoon sessions.
Ms. Melissa Ondrovcik of the University of Mississippi, gave an engaging presentation of “TPRS” or “Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling”—involving total physical response. She demonstrated her method with Goethe’s “Heidenröslein” showing us how this kind of presentation allows students complete understanding of the action while they are producing a new verb form: the simple past. In her presentation she created vocab gestures, quizzed us on them, acted out the story, repeated it, followed up by asking about the action, then in the end, we read the story. For a final activity students could then personalize it by writing their own story.
With “Der Kreis des Lebens: Introducing and Engaging Beginning Level Students with the Accusative Case,” Ms. Kelly Jo Fuller of the University of Mississippi, demonstrated a delightful activity using a theme from the Lion King. Using Power Point and construction paper, she gave us a circle with some animals missing. As we filled in some animals, each animal eating the next, using the verb “fressen”, we were to use the correct form of the accusative case. The end result is a lovely illustration of the forms in all three genders and the plural.
Finally, Ms. Victoria Lee of Mississippi State University gave a talk on “Structuring a Listening Activity Set: A Focus on Pre-, During and Post-Listening Exercises” using the very popular reggae song “Haus am See” by Peter Fox. Ms. Lee emphasized teaching in context, asking us questions about where we wanted to be in the future and practicing both the future tense and the subjunctive. The lesson was engaging and easy to follow, and very enjoyable!
As was this entire workshop! I would like to thank Melissa Ondrovicik for organizing this, all of the faculty and staff at Ole Miss for hosting, all who participated and all who came! I would also like to encourage the teachers of German in Mississippi to join us next time! I promise it will be worth your while.
Sally Hatch Gray, President of the Mississippi Chapter of AATG and Associate Professor of German at Mississippi State University
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