Students match German idioms relating to food to their literal and actual meanings. Great activity to boost vocabulary and as an extension task when doing the food topic at GCSE. Students could also look at ways of including the idioms when discussing other topic areas.

Some ‘fun’ phrases to help students to react to their partners’ comments during speaking tasks. Encourages experimentation and interaction, and adds an element of authenticity to speaking work. A proven motivator.

Useful phrases for use during listening tasks which students can use to discuss what they have heard. Students make notes in German when listening, then with a partner, use their notes and the help sheet to discuss the content of the audio. This encourages extended use of the target language and promotes interaction.

Useful shopping phrases to match up. This can then lead on to students devising their own shopping dialogues. They could read / act out their dialogues to others and ask questions about it. Good practice for GCSE role-play.

Help sheet explaining how subordinating conjunctions work in German, with examples and a follow up task.

Students read about what Elias does for the environment, then adapt his paragraph to make him sound non environmentally-friendly. This is a good task for lower ability students as much of the necessary language is in both German and English on the worksheet.

Sheet showing the 3 connective types in German with examples of how to use them. Useful for adding variety to students’ writing and speaking, and for encouraging ambition.

Model dialogue in which 2 people arrange to go to the cinema. Students fill in the gaps by finding missing words in the word puzzle. As an extension task, they can complete the film programme information and devise their own conversation based on it.

In small groups, students take turns to throw a dice twice which determines a question. They then have 30 seconds to answer it. Students could peer assess answers using exam criteria or WWW / EBI. This grid focuses on GCSE topic questions relating to school and free time, and covers a range of tenses.

Worksheet outlining the rules for the imperfect tense (regular and irregular verbs) with 2 creative tasks for practice.

This help sheet, with examples and exercises, looks at how to translate the verb ‘get’. Students often confuse ‘bekommen’ and ‘werden’. This sheet is proven to help students choose the correct verb.

3 separate reading tasks about 3 young people. Each one gives information about their jobs, family, interests, school, as well as referring to the past and future. The first task is a comprehension with questions in English, the second a gap text, and the third a translation. The texts are challenging but accessible. I have used for several different purposes - an assessment, a cover lesson, a task to focus students while speaking tests are taking place. They have proven to motivate and engage.

Students are given a list of qualities a friend may have which they rate by importance. They use this to discuss with different partners what an ideal friend (or boy/girlfriend) would be like. Excellent for engaging and motivating. Great vocab builder. Also good for practising ambitious sentence structures (esp subordinate clauses).

A reading and writing task with online research, ideal for end of term / topic. Students read about the Weber family and research possibilities for a summer holiday for them. Students should make suggestions which match the family’s interests and write to them in German with suggested itinerary / activities. Some German tourist websites are given as a starting point, and key phrases are offered to help students put their suggestions into sentences. Proven in class to be a motivating task, with strong links to the ‘real world’ and GCSE Urlaub theme.

Reading comprehension in which Philipp and Gabi explain about their school. Questions are in English and there is a follow up writing task.

A range of phrases and vocabulary to help students talk about musical interests and give opinions about different types of music. There are some ambitious adjectives here. I have used this by playing some different types of music as students move around the room discussing what they here. Encourages interaction and ambition.

Useful sheet with vocabulary for different clothes and adjectives to describe them. The sheet also shows the gender of each item of clothing and indicates what adjective ending to use. Proven to broaden students’ descriptive vocabulary.

4 German role-plays to practise on a theme of holidays and tourism. Students take turns to be the ‘examiner’. Can be repeated until students can do all 4 from memory. Proven to boost performance on role-play tasks in GCSE exams.

Recording of a young German talking about their Christmas with 3 related comprehension tasks (multiple choice / answer in English / re-translate). Excellent vocab booster, and includes a range of tenses. Accessible and motivating for all abilities. A very good Christmas task which students can work on independently and maintains a good level of challenge for end of term lessons.

Listening & speaking activities based on a German snack bar menu. Notes for activities are on Powerpoint slides. Audio is also embedded on 2nd slide. Very engaging and motivating pair work. Ideal for KS3 but also to practise key speaking role-play phrases and food vocab at KS4. Includes genuine menu, 3 recorded voices, and model conversation.