Ways of exploiting the texts
Longer texts are now OK – it’s official ; you also don’t need to feel guilty about using texts with some unfamiliar vocabulary ! Texts can be a starting point for a topic. You don’t need to stick slavishly to the routine of presenting vocab through flashcards, OHP, listen and repeat
1) Chain reading aloud
Pupils read as much or as little as they like out loud before passing it on to someone else in the class. Or they must pass on when they reach a full-stop. Or see howmuch someone can read without making a mistake.
2) Chain translation
As above, but translating into English
3) Find the word for …. Teacher/pupil question answer. Could also be pupil/pupil. Make it into a game. One point for the teacher if they shout out or make a mistake; one point for the pupils if they get it right and respond in the correct manner.
4) ‘My word!’
Read it through with the pupils; check for meaning. Go through the tricky bits with them.
Give each pupil a different highlighted word to listen out for. The words could be put onto card. The teacher reads the text aloud, with the pupils seeing the text. When you reach the word, the pupil with that word shouts it out and holds up the card.
Do this a few times.
Then the pupils put the text away and the teacher reads the text. The pupils should now be able to anticipate when their word will occur. They shout it out in the same way.
They should now be able to do a gap fill text, filling in the words.
Variation:
‘Whose word is it anyway?’
Give each pupils a word on a card. Read the text aloud a few times with them, getting them to hold up their card and say the words as they occur. After 2 or 3 readings ask for 1 or 2 volunteers to come to the front and watch the class closely to see who has a particular word.
Now the teacher reads the text again, pausing when a highlighted word comes up, but this time the pupils have to remain silent. The volunteer(s) at the front has to name and point to the person who he/she thinks has the word. If they are right, this is a ‘hit’ and the person is ‘dead’.
You could also ask the volunteer to see if they can remember the word.
If pupils shout out their word by mistake they are automatically ‘dead’. The aim is to see which pupils have survived by the end.
5) Aim to drill the text really thoroughly. Show them that it is a good model for a successful KS3 or even GCSE task. Get them to spot the past tense and see if they can produce some more using regular verbs; gemacht, gelernt,
Train them to piece it together – show them ways of learning by heart.
e.g.
Once they are fairly familiar with the text, ask them to put it away and listen.
Read them the text, saying ‘beep’ when you want them to supply a mssing word.
You read the start of a sentence, and they say the end.
You read the end of the sentence and they say the start.
6) use the OHP – present the text with gaps. Pupils come to the front and fill in the missing word. (or give pupils a selection of words cut out on transparency and they come out and put their word in the gap. This can be fiddly as little cut out strips of words are hard to see and easily lost, especially if dropped on the floor)
7) Ask the pupils to do some text analysis: can they spot certain rules:
e.g.
verb second / inversion of subject and verb
normal word order after und/ aber/ oder
negatives
adjective endings
adjectives without endings
past tense
modal verb
a good idiom: (gradeboosting megamarks)e.g. ‘it’s fun’
sub clause with verb at the end (clue: weil)
sub clause without the verb at the end (clue: denn)
high frequency words: mostly, or, and, but, especially, really etc
8) Use mini whiteboards to train writing skills
this includes aspects such as
spelling individual words : sorting out ie/ ei confusion; coping with longer words and tricky words such as Lieblingsfach, schlecht, Fächer
dealing with word order – verb second
dealing with sub clauses after ‘weil’
dealing with the past tense
9) mini dictation – choose selected bits of text for pupils to write out
10) back translation: give pupils 5 sentences in German to put into English – this could just be read to them and they write the English
Go over the English and make sure they all have it written down correctly.
Then they pupils translate the English back into Geman.
11) group writing is also effective:
In this activity copying and consulting about the answers is essential!
Divide the class into groups of about 4 pupils. Tell them that you will take a piece of paper in from each group at the end and mark it for accuracy.
Each pupil is given a piece of paper. (or you use one piece of paper per group and insist that it is circulated after each question so that everyone gets a chance to be a scribe). They write the names of the people in their group on their paper.
Give the class various writing tasks ranging from:
individual words to put into German
phrases into German
a sequence of sentences.
Wait for a short while between each answer to give pupils in the group time to consult each other and write the answers. The communication must be within the group and not between groups, as groups are competing to be the most accurate.
It is important that everyone writes the answers on their own paper. At the end, take one piece of paper at random from each group and mark it. In an average class, you should only have about 5 papers to check. The group with the fewest mistakes wins.
12) pupils could prepare a short presentation about one of the headings – get tem to use visuals as prompts and present orally to the rest of the class
13) pupils mark each others written work. Or a pupil teaches a section to the rest of the class.