Why Comics? GCSE German Lesson Plan
Why Comics? GCSE (age 14-16) German Lesson Plan: Reading and Writing
Introduction Looking to engage your students in contemporary human rights and social issues? Based at SOAS University of London, Why Comics? Education Charity brings contemporary humanitarian and social issues into the classroom (such as racism, conflict, migration, trafficking and climate change) through interactive literary comic books based on real-life testimony.
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Table of Contents
Introduction 2
UK National Curriculum Modern Languages requirements 3
Why Comics? German Lesson Plan: Reading about social issues within an unfamiliar setting 4
Aims 4
Learning objectives 4
Lesson plan 1 5
Follow-up Lesson Plan 8
Aims 8
Learning objectives 9
Lesson Plan 2 9
Feedback 10
Future Plans 11
Who backs Why Comics? - About PositiveNegatives 11
UK National Curriculum Modern Languages requirements: [Source: UK Gov GCSE Modern Languages Subject content and assessment objectives]
Through studying a GCSE in a modern language, students should develop their ability and desire to communicate confidently and coherently with native speakers in speech and writing. The study of a modern language at GCSE should also broaden students’ horizons and encourage them to step beyond familiar cultural boundaries and develop new ways of seeing the world.
GCSE specifications in a modern language should enable students to:
· deepen their knowledge about how language works and enrich their vocabulary in order for them to increase their independent use and understanding of extended language in a wide range of contexts
· acquire new knowledge, skills and ways of thinking through their ability to understand and respond to a rich range of authentic spoken and written material, including literary texts
· develop awareness and understanding of the culture and identity of the countries and communities where the language is spoken
· make appropriate links to other areas of the curriculum to enable bilingual and deeper learning, where the language may become a medium for constructing and applying knowledge
· develop language learning skills to prepare them for further language study and use in school, higher education or employment.
Context and Purposes:
· students will be expected to understand different types of written language, including relevant personal communication, public information, factual and literary texts, appropriate to this level
· language contexts will be organised in a specified number of broad themes, addressing relevant matters relating to: identity and culture, lifestyle, values and beliefs; environment, local, international and global areas of interest; current and future study and employment
· literary texts can include poems, letters, short stories, extracts and excerpts from abridged and adapted essays, novels or plays from contemporary and historical sources
Scope of Study – Reading: understand and respond to written language
· understand general and specific details within texts using high frequency familiar language across a range of contexts
· identify the overall message, key points, details and opinions in a variety of short and longer written passages, involving some more complex language, recognising the relationship between past, present and future events
· deduce meaning from a variety of short and longer written texts from a range of specified contexts, including authentic sources involving some complex language and unfamiliar material, as well as short narratives and authentic material addressing a wide range of relevant contemporary and cultural themes
· demonstrate understanding by being able to scan for particular information, organise and present relevant details, summarise, draw inferences in context and recognise implicit meaning.
Please note teaching notes are in purple.
Relevant Resources: Dana's story inEnglish(Syrian mother fleeing ISIS persecution with two young sons) and inGerman.
Why Comics? German Lesson Plan:Reading about social issues within an unfamiliar setting
Here is a suggested introductory lesson plan about reading in a foreign language using the subject of social issues through the personal story of the chosen comic protagonist. The lesson is 50 mins long consisting of a reading in class, followed by focus group work and an assigned homework. The class can either read the comic collectively via projector, or at home via the web (www.whycomics.org/comics/).
This lesson allows students to practice detailed understanding of written material in German and to develop their synthesising skills through group elaboration.
Students will learn to examine details about unfamiliar locations and subjects using information provided by Why Comics?.
Reading about social issues: Learning through literary comics
Aims:
This session will explore the social issues embedded in your chosen comic:
· Students will examine the general and specific details of the story
· Students will reflect on the fluid relationship between past and present
· Students will learn about historical/contemporary themes while enriching their vocabulary through unfamiliar material
· Students will work in groups to summarise and creatively present the story in a foreign language.
Learning objectives:
By the end of the session, students will be able to:
· Explain the synopsis of the chosen comic in detail
· Recognise the relationship between past, present and future events
· Identify and assess key information and the correct use of past and present tenses
· Gain a wider awareness of culture and identity of the countries were the language is spoken (if relevant)
· Use new vocabulary and summarising skills aptly
Lesson plan 1:
1. Read through your chosen comic as a group. Project the story in class and go through the comic panel by panel. Ask different pupils to read out each page. (20 mins)
2. Divide the class into groups. If you are able to print the comic out, each group will focus on two consecutive pages of the chosen comic. Students will underline new words, orally summarise the given pages and discuss the use of different tenses and the relationship between past and present. (25 mins)
NB If you are just using a projector: choose two pages and get students to orally summarise the given pages and discuss the use of different tenses and the relationship between past and present. (25 mins)
3. Assign the class a homework: Ask the class to summarise the comic in 200 words using present and past tenses accordingly. (5 mins)
Teacher’s Notes
[Source: BBC Bitesize]
Introduce or revise the Preterit or Imperfect and assess its relationship to the Present, making use of examples from the chosen comic.
Das Präteritum (Imperfect tense or Preterit) is used to describe a particular event in the past, which no longer has a link to the present. It is mainly used to write reports, articles or novels.
N.B.: Don't use the imperfect tense too often! It's a common mistake made by English speakers. The perfect tense is more usual in German.
Ø To form the imperfect tense with regular verbs:
1. Take off the-enor-nat the end of the infinitive to find the stem, e.g.:spielenspiel-
2. Add the regular endings for the imperfect tense
This table shows the regular endings for the imperfect tense:
Pronoun / Stem / Ending / Full forms /ich / spiel- / -te / ich spielte– I played
du / spiel- / -test / du spieltest– you played
er/sie/es / spiel- / -te / er/sie/es spielte– he/she/it played
wir / spiel- / -ten / wir spielten– we played
ihr / spiel- / -tet / ihr spieltet– you played
Sie / spiel- / -ten / Sie spielten– you played
sie / spiel- / -ten / sie spielten– they played
Ø Irregular verbs work in a very similar way to regular verbs. However, if the verb is irregular, you need to use the irregular verb stem then add slightly different endings. The irregular imperfect verb stems can be found in a dictionary or on an irregular verb list. For example, if you check the verbtrinken(to drink), you will find that it is an irregular verb and that the irregular imperfect stem istrank. Then you need to add the imperfect endings to the imperfect stem.
If you look at the following table, you can see that the first and third person singular forms - 'I' and 'he/she/it' - don’t need an ending added to the stem at all.
ich / trank- / - / ich trank– I drank
du / trank- / -st / du trankst– you drank
er/sie/es / trank- / - / er/sie/es trank– he/she/it drank
wir / trank- / -en / wir tranken– we drank
ihr / trank- / -t / ihr trankt– you drank
Sie / trank- / -en / Sie tranken– you drank
sie / trank- / -en / sie tranken– they drank
Ø To formmodal verbsin the past, it is much more common to use the imperfect tense than the perfect tense. The modal verbs arewollen,sollen,müssen,mögen,dürfen,können.
The imperfect endings for the modal verbs follow this structure:
pronoun + stem + ending: -te; -test; -te; -ten; -tet; -ten
E.g. ich+woll+teàich wollte (I wanted)
Umlauts are dropped from the stem of the modal verbs if they had one in the infinitive form, e.g.:
müssen(to have to) >er musste– (he had to)
können(to be able to) >sie konnten– (they could)
Ø Preterit forms ofsein:
Pronoun / Imperfect form / Translation /ich / war / I was
du / warst / you were (singular, informal)
er/sie/es / war / he/she/it was
wir / waren / we were
ihr / wart / you (plural) were
sie / waren / they were
Ø Preterit forms ofhaben:
Pronoun / Imperfect form / Translation /ich / hatte / I had
du / hattest / you had (singular, informal)
er/sie/es / hatte / he/she/it had
wir / hatten / we had
ihr / hattet / you (plural) had
sie / hatten / they had
Ø Es gibt(present tense) means “there is” or “there are”. It is almost always used in the imperfect tense rather than the perfect tense.
The imperfect form ofes gibtises gab. It means “there was” or “there were”.
For example:
Als meine Mutter jünger war, gab es einen Freibad im Dorf.– When my mother was younger, there was an outdoor pool in the village.
Es gab gestern Abend viele Leute auf der Party.– There were lots of people at the party last night.
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Follow-up Lesson Plan
Descriptively Writing: Learning through literary comics
Aims:
This session will focus on lifestyle. Students will practice creative descriptive writing using the information from the same chosen comic.
· Students will think of lifestyle and working conditions in a different cultural area
· Students will debate the differences to their own lifestyle (if applicable)
· Students will make a plan to write a descriptive piece
· Students will write a descriptive piece about the lifestyle found in the comic
Learning objectives:
By the end of the session, students will be able to:
· Understand living conditions in geographically distant spaces
· Explain the difference between different lifestyles in a foreign language
· Understand how to plan and structure a descriptive piece of writing
· Write a creative account of the character’s lifestyle
Lesson Plan 2:
1. Summarise the previous lesson: recap on your chosen comic and what the class discussed. (5 mins)
2. Use some of the interactive resources tabs on each digital comic page to provide the class with contextual facts and further information on your chosen comic. (15 mins)
3. Classroom Discussion: Ask the class to discuss the difference between the students’ lifestyle and the characters’ lifestyle using the present and past tense. Briefly introduce relevant vocabulary and explain how to structure a written description. (20 mins)
4. Homework - Individual writing: Every student will write her/his own brief description of the lifestyle embedded in the story. (5 mins)