Join us for conversations that inspire, recognize, and encourage innovation and best practices in the education profession.
Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and more.
CLASSROOM AT A GLANCE
Teacher
Amy Garcia
Language
German
Grades
5
School
Brockett Elementary School, Tucker, Georgia
Lesson Date
March 26
Class Size
16
Schedule
30 minutes, four days per week
In this lesson, students talk about their sports likes and dislikes. They begin by reading their personal journal entries to review the previous day’s vocabulary. Then students share their sports preferences in groups and put the information on a class graph. Next, they interpret an article about the sports interests of young Germans; they scan the article for familiar words and then listen as Ms. Garcia reads the text. Finally, students work in groups to describe the contents of a sports photograph.
Communication: Interpersonal, Interpretive, Presentational
Connections: Making Connections, Acquiring Information
Communities: School and Community
Foreign Language in the Elementary School (FLES)
This elementary school model organizes instruction around a scope and sequence taught by a qualified foreign language teacher. Its goals include developing language proficiency with an emphasis on oral skills, as well as providing a gradual introduction to literacy, building cultural knowledge, and tying language learning to the content of the early grades’ curriculum. FLES programs vary, especially in the number of meetings per week or minutes per session. See also Foreign Language Exploratory Program (FLEX).
Reflect on Your Practice
As you reflect on these questions, write down your responses or discuss them as a group.
Watch Other Videos
Watch other videos in the Teaching Foreign Languages K-12 library for more examples of teaching methodologies like those you’ve just seen. Note: All videos in this series are subtitled in English.
Creating Travel Advice (Spanish) illustrates reading strategies for challenging authentic materials, and Communicating About Sports (Chinese) features students expressing their sports likes and dislikes.
Put It Into Practice
Try these ideas in your classroom. Where it’s not already evident, reflect on how to adapt an idea that targets one performance range for application to other performance ranges.
World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages
The World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages create a roadmap to guide learners to develop competence to communicate effectively and interact with cultural understanding. This lesson correlates to the following Standards:
Interpersonal Communication
Interpretive Communication
Presentational Communication
Making Connections
Acquiring Information and Diverse Perspectives
School and Global Communities
Lesson Materials
Sports Questionnaire (PDF, 22 K)
Sample worksheets used by students to record their classmates’ sports likes and dislikes
Amy Garcia’s Additional Resources
Web Resources:
American Association of Teachers of German
The national organization’s Web site, which includes teaching resources
Germany Info
The German Embassy’s Web site, with information about German politics, culture and life, information for students, and more (Available in English and German)
Olympia-Lexikon
Detailed information about the Olympics (Available in German only)
Sportarten
Background information on the various sports played in Germany (Available in German only)