Das Märchen 1: Der Pfannkuchen (Intermediate German)

Improve your reading, practise asking questions, do extra work focussing on verbs in the Präteritum, and practise your declension skills - all while enjoying a unique German fairy tale!

Plot Summary

A mother of seven children makes a pancake that suddenly begins to speak. It leaps out of the frying pan in an attempt to escape. As the pancake rolls through the village, it discovers that, unfortunately, many creatures would like to gobble it up. At last it encounters a pig who offers to give it a ride across a stream to freedom. Will it finally be free, or is it a trick?

This story is divided into five short sections. For each section there are basic assignments and bonus assignments. Teachers may pick and choose which assignments to use. Detailed instructions are included.

Basic Assignments:

· a chart in which to translate unfamiliar vocabulary and identify parts of speech

· three statements that are ‘answers’, for which the student will write the questions

· a short assignment to practise parsing individual words (answer key provided)

Bonus Assignments:

· for each section, learn to conjugate 3 verbs from the story in the Präteritum (14 verbs in total)

· Explore extra Grammar topics (using other materials such as a dictionary or Grammar reference): Ordinalzahlen, the difference between essen and fressen, the difference between wollen and möchten, the difference between das and dass, the use of um . . . zu.

Further assignments apply to the full story, including a ‘Fill in the Blanks’ quiz, discussion, and more exercises focussing on verbs.

Note: Students who work through the Märchen series in numerical order will be challenged by progressively more difficult texts and assignments. For each story, a different part of speech is given special attention. Der Pfannkuchen puts a special emphasis on verbs in the Präteritum. It is suitable for students who can figure out the meaning of a variety of sentence structures, and are learning the Präteritum.