Conversation Class Lesson Summary
Language Resident Name: Lea Marie Uhlending
Day and Date: Monday, 01/29/24
Language and Level: German, Intermediate
Class theme/topics discussed:
The song “Schrei nach Liebe” by the German punk band Die Ärzte
Goals of the class:
To pick up on what we talked about in class last week, about the anti-right protests happening. This song, while an old song, is a very well known song and one that always comes up in times like these.
How did you structure the class?
At first we recapped the last class, I let one of the students do this. After that, I told them a little bit about the band and when the song was first released. And then, we watched the music video and I asked them for first impressions about the video, the music, if they picked up on any lyrics etc. Then I gave them copies of the song text and asked them to read along while listening and note down anything that jumps out to them and also any unknown vocabulary. I wrote down all the words they mentioned and we translated them, and I gave them the necessary background for the cultural elements that are mentioned. We went through each line with one of them translating it into English. Afterwards I gave them some more background info on the song. (being banned from the radio originally, “Aktion Arschloch”)
What technology, media or props did you use? (Internet resources, handouts, etc.)
PowerPoint, whiteboard
What worked well in this class? What did not work?
Everything worked really well! They had a lot to say about the song and seemed really interested in it. They mentioned wanting to listen to more German songs, because they thought it could improve their pronunciation.
How could this class be improved/ modified?
In my opinion, this class worked well which is why I did a similar class last semester for my advanced course. I adjusted it a bit for an intermediate class, we went through each line instead of just specific words. I also added the background information because I knew that with an intermediate class there would be less of a discussion, and I felt like that info is very helpful to understand the cultural impact of the song