Why use challenging or literary texts?

• broaden vocab
• reactivate existing knowledge of vocab and structures
• emotional engagement
• cultural knowledge
• thinking skills
• enjoyment (not ‘my pencil case’)
• cognitive level
• creativity
• cross-curricular
• developing comprehension strategies
Principle 5 READING AND LISTENING

Learners need to be taught how to access a greater range of more

challenging spoken and written texts, through
explicit instruction in comprehension strategies and in the relationship
between the written and spoken forms.
Aims
• Aims
• Develop phonological decoding
• Engaging with and appreciating ‘authentic’ sources
• Learn about German speaking cultures – broadening horizons
• Developing strategic reading for comprehending challenging material
• Expanding vocab and grammatical knowledge – lower frequency items
• Reflect on the nature of translation; develop skill in translating
• Develop English literacy?
• Liaise with English department? History? Music??
Choosing texts
• Short  Extracts? Songs? Poems?

• Topics  Interest and accessibility.

• Media  Wanted to make use of a variety of media to give students a

way in. Youtube was crucial.

• Hard but engaging text vs easy but boring text.

Personal preference and choice quite important.
Interpretationen
Series of about 6 lessons
• Classwork where we explored Rilke’s der Panther in a variety of ways.
• Pre-activating knowledge of text forms (letter, poem etc)
• Pre-activating vocabulary and topic knowledge by watching performance of poem with music.
• Target language discussion. Wie ist die Atmosphäre? Wie ist der Rhythmus?
If this poem were about an animal, what kind of animal could it be? Why?
• Focussing on decoding of key sounds in the poem. The poem form fitted really well with this
for example the assonance used in the poem, really focussed on the tricky ä sound and
listening to the performance really highlighted that sound.
• Reading with reading strategies and using the knowledge they have already gained to pick out
key words / phrases they understand.
• Supporting with google translate, or rough translations.
• Showing the difficulties of using google, but also the skills needed to work with google
effectively (and the art of translation).
Instrumente Rhythmus Ton / Atmosphäre

Farben Licht Sonstiges (other)

 Ä St/sp Z
Käse Stop Zoo
Atmosphäre sport

Ei ie V
Kein
mein
Spielen vier
wie
 Hausaufgaben für Mittwoch 26. November
Wähle eine Aufgabe:
Choose a task and 1) Research the poet Rainer 2) Record yourself saying the poem paying


Maria Rilke and find out what attention to tone and pronunciation. Use the
complete for he was famous for. Bring in sound banks to help you.
homework. your notes (no copying and
pasteting). Can be in English.
Email it to:
[email protected]

3) Write out a neat version of 4) Create your own German 2) Find a poem about an animal (can be any
Der Panther by hand (for poem about an animal of your language) and compare it to ‘der Panther’. Which
display) and illustrate it to choice. do you prefer (in German)?
match the mood and message German words rhyme quite
of the poem. easily but you could use Ich finde der Panther besser/nicht so gut, weil…..
http://www.d-rhyme.de/ to Der Panther ist… während (name of other poem) …… ist. Der
help. Panther is …. whereas….. is….
 and stops to be in the heart.
inOnly
which sometimes
numbed
itself silently open apushes the
big–will
then curtain
stands.
goes of the in
a picture pupil
His
and is,view ifisin
behind from the going
thousand bars past of bars
Theit soft
which
so tired become, pace
itself
asthat smooth
smallest
there
it were
nothing moreno
strong
circle world.
steps
turns,
thousand bars
holds.
is like a dance of strength around a middle,
goes through the limbs tense stillness
 Ich finde das Gedicht…. Die Stimmung/Atmosphäre ist….
I find the poem…. The mood/atmosphere of the poem is….

Ich denke der Dichter möchte sagen,

Das Gedicht handelt von…. dass…..
The poem is about…. I think the poet would like to say
that….

Ein wichtiges Wort im Gedicht ist…. weil…..

An important word in the poem is….because… Meine Lieblingsinterpretation ist….weil
My favourite interpretation of the poem is…
Ein wichtiger Satz im Gedicht ist…. weil… because….
An important line in the poem is….because…

stimmungsvoll traurig stolz frustriert effektiv der Käfig

einsam er langweilt sich verschwendetes Potential

eingeschränkt die Kraft müde rhythmisch langsam

Beindruckend der Ton

Finde die Gegensätze:
Zum Beispiel: Warm – Kalt

traurig froh
laut kühl
langsam ruhig
romantisch schnell
modern altmodisch
nachdenklich krass
 Exploring Lili Marlen song in similar ways but also applying a
historical context.
Instrumente?
Ton?
Atmosphäre?
Alter?
 Ich verstehe nicht ‘…’ I don’t understand
‘…’
Was heisst….? What does …. mean?
Was für..?
What kind of…
Wie sagt man…? How do you say ….?

Was für ein Text ist das?

Wie ist die Atmosphäre?
Wie fühlt sich der Sänger / die Sängerin?
Wie alt ist das Lied? Warum denkst du das?
Was für ein Lied ist das? Warum existiert es?
For this reading exercise I….
1. looked at any pictures, read any titles or instructions, identified type of text e.g.
email/poem etc.
2. thought of any words or phrases I might read
3. looked for words I already know
4. tried to pick out cognates or near cognates
5. tried to work out a word by using the words around it i.e. using the context
6. asked myself if the meaning of the word ‘fits’ in the context.
7. Looked for words which have something in common with the point of the text.
8. looked at longer words to see if I could break them down to work out their meaning
9. used my general knowledge to think about what the unknown word might logically mean
10.used what I know about sentence structure to work out what kind of a word it is
(noun/adjective/verb)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j47THUNGuIY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XM0dseNtaVI&list=PLe5k6
mlATGr211OAiZahSNXquDwI7HrdT

Vor der Kaserne Lili Marleen

Vor dem großen Tor
Stand eine Laterne
Und steht sie noch davor Deine Schritte kennt sie,
So woll'n wir uns da wieder seh'n Deinen zieren Gang
Bei der Laterne wollen wir steh'n Alle Abend brennt sie,
Wie einst Lili Marleen. Doch mich vergaß sie lang
Und sollte mir ein Leid gescheh'n
Unsere beide Schatten Wer wird bei der Laterne stehen
Sah'n wie einer aus Mit dir Lili Marleen?
Daß wir so lieb uns hatten
Das sah man gleich daraus
Und alle Leute soll'n es seh'n
Wenn wir bei der Laterne steh'n
Wie einst Lili Marleen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUsePoATbrUt
1. das Gedicht 14. das Tier
2. der Brief
3. das Lied 15. das Schlagzeug
4. die Farben
5. traurig
16. die Geige
6. laut 17. die Strophe
7. der Ton
8. langsam
18. einsam
9. altmodisch 19. unwohl
10. Ich verstehe nicht
11. Wie sagt man…? 20. müde
Examples of the kind of vocabulary students were

the course 21. die Angst

12. Was heiβt..? noting down and coming across repeatedly during
of the lessons.
13. die Laterne Not particularly obscure.
14. der Krieg
15. die Soldaten
Finally students had an ‘assessment’ lesson where they applied
the skills independently to a third poem, der Pflaumenbaum, by
Berthold Brecht.
Some student responses:
• I’m really pleased with my translation actually. I think it’s quite good! I really
enjoyed that!
• When can we go back to doing real German?
• Really depends on the student. Some students seem to prefer the creativity of it.
They like the ‘arty-ness’ of it. They can engage with the feelings and the topics.
• There were about 7 students in the class that responded particularly well, almost
as if this was the first real challenge they were having (despite being in a top set
class).
• Some students clearly felt out of their comfort zone. First lesson was a novelty,
second lesson was a slog and then by the end they were more comfortable with
and eager to show what they knew, or at least test themselves and get some
feedback.
Decoding focus
1) Looking at der Panther we talked through some key
sounds, using well known words as a starting point.
2) Students looked at der Panther and in pairs identified
where these key sounds appeared in the text. They then
practised reading these in pairs.
3) Students had already heard the performance, which at
this stage proved really useful as they heard the
assonance and rhymes and ‘noticed’ these more than in a
normal text.
4) We did some group reading and peer assessment.
5) Students worked individually to practise reading der
Plaumenbaum and I recorded them. The only help they
had was the previous lesson input and a reminder of the
key sounds on the board.
6) Evaluation: Students still made mistakes in pronunciation,
but on sounds we hadn’t focussed on. Students were very
accurate on the sounds we have practised and which they
were told to focus on. Listen to examples.
 Ä St/sp Z
Käse Stop Zoo
Atmosphäre sport

Ei ie V
Kein
mein
Spielen vier
wie
Eh O/or Ah
gehe Tor! Jahre

Ch W
ich wie