Conversation Class Lesson Summary
Language Resident Name: Lea Marie Uhlending
Day and Date: Wednesday, 02/14/24
Language and Level: Intermediate
Class theme/topics discussed:
Karneval
Goals of the class:
show them what Karneval is all about
How did you structure the class?
I started off by telling them that while it’s valentine’s day we weren’t going to talk about it because it’s not a thing in Germany. Instead we would talk about Karneval since it was also Ash Wednesday, the end of Karneval season. I started by showing them where in Germany we call Karneval what (depending on the region there’s a different name for it). And then I gave them some background info on Karneval and Weiberfastnacht. Then we moved on to the floats, I showed them pictures of the floats that were created for this year and asked them what they thought this was criticizing, who they were showing and so on. We ended class with me showing them pictures of “Nubbelverbrennungen” since that’s what happens on Ash Wednesday.
What technology, media or props did you use? (Internet resources, handouts, etc.)
powerpoint
What worked well in this class? What did not work?
The students enjoyed learning about Karneval and they really enjoyed the floats I showed them, and since we had talked about politics before they could also interpret and recognize a lot of the satire shown on the floats.
How could this class be improved/ modified?
Maybe I could include a research portion where I tell them to search for floats and pick one that they liked the most and present it to the class.