Lesson Plan 1: Introduction to Germany"s States
C. Group Structures: Whole class activity and small groups
II. INTENDED STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES
A. Students will look at map of Germany as the various states are identified.
B. Teacher will write on transparency the name and the students will do the
same on their own handout. The students will then color in the map.
C. It is not expected that all the students will be able to recall all the capitals
or all of the states after one lesson. By the end of the course all students will
name all of the states and spell them correctly.
D. Students will practice pronunciation and using complete sentences. The
Students have mastered enough vocabulary and grammar to say, "Kiel
ist die Hauptstadt von Schleswig-Holstein."
E. Students will begin to think about the postcard or pen pal correspondence.
F. Students will begin to think about which state they want to research more
Students will learn the 16 federal states (English and German names), the capital
of each, as well as some other larger cities, population, location and size because great
cultural diversity exists among the states. There isnít a single German culture. After the
unit on Germany, Austria, Switzerland and other cultures will be discussed.
In subsequent lessons also local cuisine and favorite dishes will be learned. I
expect the students to be interested in sampling them, and enjoy planning a food festival.
A. Large political wall map of Europe and Germany
1. Map of Germany showing only the state boundaries and location of the capitals
C. Handouts of the transparency
D. Handouts of facts sheet in spreadsheet format
A. INTRODUCTION and MOTIVATION
Guten Morgen! Wie geht's Ihnen heute? I will conduct the lesson in German as
The purpose of this lesson is to introduce the students to the federal states of
Germany because nowhere is the federal structure more evident than in the cultural
sphere. Germany never had a cultural metropolis comparable to Paris or London, thus
considerable cultural autonomy exists. It is a country with many cultural centers.
Berlin is again the capital and also has the most theaters, but Hamburg has the
largest concentration of media. Kˆln (Cologne) and D¸sseldorf are just two of the
centers of modern art. The two most important literary archives are in Marbach and
Weimar. Cultural and scholarly activity can be found even in small towns and communities.
This great cultural diversity necessitates a study of the geography of the
Germany has always been divided into states, but the shape of the map has
changed over the centuries. Modern Germany was established after 1945, but the states
retained their ethnic traditions and characteristics. Until the reunification in 1990, the
Federal Republic consisted of 11 states and the German Democratic Republic, East
Germany, consisted of five states which were abolished for political reasons, but
reestablished in 1990 as Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Westen Pomerania, Saxony,
Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. At the same time, East and West Berlin were again
Germany has 16 states, three of which are city-states: Berlin, Hamburg and
only what region they'd like to visit first, but also which region has their favorite foods.
Also, working in groups, they will choose a state to research more thoroughly. At the
end of the year the class will have a food festival.
The lesson will begin with the map of Europe, pointing out Germany and its
neighbors. The map of Germany will have each state a different color. In the South are
Baden-Wuerttemberg and Bayern; in the West Saarland, Rheinland-Pfalz and Nordrhein-
Westfalen; in the North Niedersachsen, Bremen, Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein and
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern; in the East Brandenburg, Berlin, Sachsen-Anhalt and
Sachsen, and in Central Germany lie Hessen and Thueringen.
A handout showing the outline of the country, the boundaries of the states and a
dot to mark the location of the capitals will be distributed. The same will be projected
with an overhead projector. The students will tell me the name of the state and capital to
write in. They can use the wall map or the one in their text. They will then also fill in
their individual maps, after which they will color each state a different color.
Another handout listing the states, capitals, population and size will be distributed
and discussed. The students will practice the pronunciation, learn the vocabulary
(Bundeslaender, Hauptstadt, Einwohnerzahl, Flaeche, Gesamt), and determine the most
populous state, the least, the largest and the smallest. Other large cities will be found on
the map such as Frankfurt am Main, Frankfurt Oder, Heidelberg, Potsdam, Koeln, etc. A
word search puzzle is the homework assignment.
To review and summarize the lesson the students work in small groups of their
choice to test themselves with the same blank map, filling it in.
The spreadsheet will be expanded for future lessons to include major cities, rivers,
sights, industry and local dishes, in preparation for the food festival at the end of the year.
The students enjoyed the lesson and are excited about both the pen pal and the
food festival. All were on task and completed the activities successfully. Most of them
have already decided which federal state to research. All of the students have formed
I. OVERVIEW OF THE LESSON
A. Date: October 10
B. Length: 90- Minutes
C. Group Structure: Individual computer data entry, group practice
C. Topic: Creating spreadsheets to organize information
D. German I
II. INTENDED STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES
A. Students will use a spreadsheet program to graph the area and the population
Of the 16 federal states in Germany.
III. CONTENT
A. The students will learn the sizes of the states and their population, as well as
How to create a spreadsheet.
IV. INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIAL
A. Computer
B. Research materials, Internet or encyclopedias
V. ACTIVITY AND PROCEDURE
A. Students have already been introduced to the geography as an introduction
to the study the culture. Spreadsheets and graphs are excellent means to
to organize vast amounts of information. Graphs visually present the
information.
B. I do expect that most, if not all, of the students will be more computer literate
than I. Instruction will be given on how to enter the information from their
handout onto the spreadsheet, how to total the columns, create graphs and
copy and paste onto a word processing program. Some may also want to play
with the format of the spreadsheet.
The students will write a summary report and announce which state they
want to research in detail.
C. The students will practice saying in German in complete sentences the
capitals, locations, size and populations of the states.
VI. EVALUATION
A. All students completed the lesson successfully. They found it fun to
determine to which of the states the letter (or letters) refers.
Using the Inspiration Software Lesson Plan
I. OVERVIEW OF THE LESSON
A. Date: Nov. 12, 2002
B. 90- Minute Block
C. Group lesson, individual computer work
D. Topic: Family
E. German I
II. INTENDED STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES
Students will read out loud from the text chapter on family. The vocabulary will be repeated, a family tree will be drawn on the board. Each student will construct his/her own family tree, use the Inspiration software and write a paragraph about their family.
III. CONTENT TO BE COVERED
A. Students will learn the vocabulary for family members and practice expressing
the family relationships, after which they will construct a graphic
representation using the Inspiration software.
IV. INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS
A. Text chapter on family relationships
B. Computer
V. ACTIVITY AND PROCEDURE
We all have families and it is important to know how to say it in German. The students will be eager to use the computer to create a visual diagram of their own family.
The students will then write in narrative form a description of their family.
VI. EVALUATION
Time ran out before the students could write the paragraph; therefore, it was assigned as homework.
(I like this lesson plan so much I am quoting it here. Only the "Spanish" needs to be replaced with "German".)
An AskERIC Lesson Plan
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Submitted by: Melinda Paquette
Endorced by: Don Descy, Mankato State University
Date: May 15, 1997
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Grade Level:(s) 9, 10, 11, 12
Subject(s):
*Foreign Language/Spanish (German)
Description:
We, as future foreign language teachers, know that speaking is an essential part in learning a language. This activity is designed to help the students feel more comfortable speaking Spanish along with improving their grammar and pronunciation. The students will be in groups of no more than two and will be able to select a topic of their choice for a demonstration speech. After having a couple days to prepare their presentation, they will perform it for the class.
Grade Level:
This is appropriate for students in their second year or higher of Spanish.(German)
Goal:
The students will practice speaking Spanish (German) and the grammar of the chapter along with showing the class a skill that they enjoy.
Objectives:
1.The students will better understand the grammar and vocabulary of the chapter or unit.
2.The students will also learn how to pronounce the sounds better and sound more like a native speaker.
Background Information:
This activity can be used for all speaking levels. It has been proven that speaking and presenting to the class is one of the best ways to learn a foreign language. Also, one of the things that most people say they lack after a year or so into the learning process of a foreign language is confidence in speaking, so this is a way they can overcome their fears.
Concepts:
Students will be able to:
1. Practice speaking and learning correct pronunciation.
2. Learn the grammar concepts of the lesson.
3. Know the vocabulary words better by using them in context.
4. Demonstrate to the class something they are interested in.
Materials:
The only thing needed is the imagination and creation of the students and some props if they so desire.
Procedure:
1. Give the students the guidelines for the activity.
ex. It has to be 2-4 minutes in length.
*It must all be in Spanish (German).
*New or unfamiliar vocabulary words must be presented to the class.
*It must have four different verb tenses in the speech.
*It must use a variety of vocabulary words.
*It must be grammatically correct.
*The students must turn in a copy of the outline to the teacher before presenting.
*The students may have three notecards.
*This wouldn't apply to first or second year students.
2. The students would have two class days to work on their speeches and ask the teacher for directions.
3. The students will present and this will take two or three days depending on the size of the class and the length of the speeches.
4. The total time spent on this project is about one week.
Assessment:
The assessment could be broken up into four different categories: originality, grammar, uses of tenses, and length. The number value assigned to each of these categories could be anything that you, as a teacher, wanted. An example would be a score of 1-10 in every category.
Lesson Plan 1