Here are three classroom Target Language Sentence Builders in French, German and Spanish.
They could be printed and put on tables or stuck in students’ books.
Here are 12 cultural starters to teach elements of culture at KS3 and 4. This is an easy way to get your pupils thinking about German culture for their GCSE. Topics:
Places in Germany/Austria/Switzerland
Music
Food
Traditions
Clothing
History
Buildings
Enjoy!
I have been experimenting and have taught German tenses using a pictorial, dual-coding method which I have found more successful that normal “text book” ways. This is still explicit grammar teaching of the tenses, but it does away with the wordy grammar terms which don’t stick in students memory, but conveys the sentence structure in picture form.
I have found this incredibly useful by embedding this into the language of the classroom e.g. “we are creating sandwich and car sentences”, which helps with student self error-correction too e.g. “how do you make a sandwich sentence again?”
Each tense is made of 3 ingredients which form a whole picture sandwich and car (for past: not moving and moving), fortune cookie (for future) and bed (for conditional).
There is a PowerPoint to explain the concept and a sentence builder so students can follow the pattern straight away.
This is a differentiated starter for 3 groups (low, middle and high) to learn and revise verb conjugations in the present, past, future and conditional. It offers scaffolding for everyone and is focused on the new GCSE.
A typical lesson will start with slide 1 on the board. I will have the class move so they are grouped by ability (low, middle and high). Lows will have slide 2 to fill out, with the tense guide printed on the back (slide 3). Middles will have slide 4 to fill out, with the tense guide printed on the back (slide 5). Highs will have slide 6 to fill out, with their class notes to help.
Enjoy!
This is a reading exercise where pupils find out about different cities in Europe. They match the descriptions with the pictures and then guess the name of the city from the map.
Enjoy!
This is a speaking activity to encourage spontaneity and improve description. Pictures can easily be changed to fit other topics.
I give year 9 some preparation time and then they describe their picture to their partner. Support can be given with speaking mats.
Here is an activity for all age ranges learning the different body parts. Print off the body parts cards and stick them around the room. Pupils get the skeleton that they have to label using the clues. Rewards can be given for quickest. Extension activity to find plurals in a dictionary.
Enjoy!
This is a revision booklet focused on the following areas:
Numbers
Opinions
Strategies
Describing someone
Town
Jobs
Tenses
Time phrases
I made it for my current year 11s before their final Listening and Reading exam. I feel that these topics are key, for example, jobs could merge into family, school or town.
There are also an extension activities for each activity.
Enjoy!
This is a booklet to help pupils develop their reading skills at IB. Developed for an AB Initio class however looks at skills rather than level so will help Standard and Higher too. It looks at all the different types of questions that could come up e.g. synonyms, gap fill, true or false etc.
Enjoy!
Here are 3 displays to brighten up your German classroom. There is a "We (love) languages" banner. A new grades board for the new GCSE to track objectives from year 7 to 11 and different interesting words in other languages to engage.
Enjoy!
Here are 5 trap door games which are related to 4 different topics: Media, TV, Friends, Holiday and Pocket Money. This activity can take up to 10 minutes and promotes spontaneous speaking and listening.
Pupils hide their sheet from their partner and mark 1 of the 3 options for each trap door. Pupils take it in turns to read from the start of the passage. The aim of the game is to get to the end of the passage. They imagine that, where there are multiple choice options in the sentence, this is a trap door. In order to past the trap door, they have to guess what their partner has chosen. They should mark if they get it right as they have to start from the beginning each time. When there is an opportunity to guess, afterwards pupils start from the beginning.
Enjoy!
These are small squares which can be printed off, laminated and stuck to your classroom tables to introduce Kagen techniques to your German classes. I have created examples in sets of 4, but these can be edited. They go three ways: by A/B, by 1-4, or by table.
Enjoy!
Two resources on adjectives based around emojis. One is a table where pupils must use a dictionary to find the adjectives and the second is a crossword puzzle for them to fill in.
There is also a bonus verb word search in the puzzle
Enjoy!
This is a guide for any pupil taking GCSE German. I wanted a small 'survival kit' guide that could slot into a pupil's folder or book that they can reference whenever they are attempting a writing task. This is specifically designed for the new GCSE and I wanted to set the bar at a grade 5. Basically, if a pupil follows the guide accurately, they could achieve a 5/6 in the new GCSE.
I have printed it as A5. On one side there are easily useable phrases in the present, pas and future, time phrases, connectives, opinions and comparisons. On the reverse is an example Foundation 16 mark question with an exemplar answer. With this is a "foundation checklist" which pupils can also do whenever they are completing a writing. Show your pupils how you can use both sides to ensure a 5 at GCSE.
Enjoy!
A reading puzzle for KS3-4 practicing places in the town, prepositions and adjective agreements. Pupils read the passage and try and draw the town onto the grid. There may be more than one place on one square and some may be in-between. Answers supplied. Can be adapted for deeper analysis e.g. cases and adjective endings. There are extension questions included.
This is a term's worth of lessons focused on creating a party. It has reading, listening, writing and speaking activities on the topics of food, clothes, furniture, festivals, invitations and shopping. It introduces adjective agreements, the future tense, questioning and giving opinions. The full PowerPoint slides, worksheets and resources are included. Designed for a year 8 class, could also be used for year 9 or 10.
The slides also include thinking tools (e.g. DeBono hats and 'Habits of Excellence') which can easily be deleted if you do not use them in your school. On each slide there is also scaffolding help and an extension task for stretch and challenge.
Enjoy!
I made this for my reluctant year 10 class who were still not getting their heads around tricky German word order in the past tense. We used this to drill translation exercises until the process was embedded and they could create simple sentences in the perfect tense on their own.