Language Residents

an archive of lesson plans

Author: Lea Marie Uhlending

GERM SP24 Adv Queer History

May 3, 2024 /

Conversation Class Lesson Summary

Language Resident Name: Lea Marie Uhlending                                                   

Day and Date: Thursday, 04/11/24

Language and Level:  Advanced Class

Class theme/topics discussed:

Das Institut für Sexualwissenschaft and Magnus Hirschfeld – German queer history

Goals of the class:

shine a light on a part of German history that really isn’t talked about

How did you structure the class?

I first asked her if she had ever heard of the Institute for sexual science, she had not, and explained to her that we we’re going to dive in to a part of German history that not a lot of people know about (even in Germany). First I gave her a little overview of the man that founded the institute, and we discussed his impressive life. Then I talked to her about what the Institute was and what it offered to its patients/scientists/the people of Berlin. She was very surprised to learn about the range of treatments and events the institute offered. Afterwards I told her about the raid, destruction and book burning committed by the Nazis.

What technology, media or props did you use? (Internet resources, handouts, etc.)

powerpoint

What worked well in this class? What did not work?

Just as I thought the student hadn’t heard of the institute or Hirschfeld. But she was very interested in learning more about it. And due to her advanced level we could have an in depth discussion about why this part of German history is “hidden”.

How could this class be improved/ modified?

This is a topic that is very important to me. It is important to highlight how much progression the Nazi’s ruined and also show that queer people have always existed. I would really like to modify this class so that I could also teach it in my intermediate class.

GERM SP24 Adv German Politics “Das Geheimtreffen”

May 3, 2024 /

Conversation Class Lesson Summary

Language Resident Name: Lea Marie Uhlending                                                   

Day and Date: Tuesday, 01/30/24

Language and Level:  Advanced Class

Class theme/topics discussed:

The meeting between right wing extremist in Potsdam that was uncovered by CORRECTIV

Goals of the class:

Diving deep into current political/social issues in Germany

How did you structure the class?

Last week we had talked about this meeting being revealed and the general things that had been revealed then, for this week we watched a theatrical recreation of said secret meeting. The video was exactly one hour long, we watched the video and both took notes to discuss on Thursday

What technology, media or props did you use? (Internet resources, handouts, etc.)

the TV, laptop

What worked well in this class? What did not work?

The auto-generated subtitles were surprisingly good so that was probably helpful for my student. I also paused in moments where the story got a bit more convoluted to give her some explanations. The student was very very interested in this video and the entire topic, so the class was fun.

How could this class be improved/ modified?

The class worked well for someone that is as proficient and politically interested as my student is but I don’t think I would otherwise show the entire video to a class. For other classes I would’ve picked out some scenes to show.

Here is the video, it starts properly around 19 minutes

GERM SP24 Adv Politics and Music, “Alice und Sarah”

May 3, 2024 /

Conversation Class Lesson Summary

Language Resident Name: Lea Marie Uhlending                                                   

Day and Date: Wednesday, 01/30/24

Language and Level: Advanced Class

Class theme/topics discussed:

The song “Alice und Sarah” by the Broilers, and with it the leader of the ring wing party Alice Weidel

Goals of the class:

give them a deeper understanding of who Alice Weidel is and her hypocrisy

How did you structure the class?

At first we just watched the music video with no context and I asked them for their initial reaction. Then, I told them a little about the Band that wrote the song. After I gave them the song text and we listened to the song again. I gave them the background on the politician Alice Weidel and gave them some reminders about who/what the AfD is. I showed them a picture of Alice with her wife next to some quotes that Alice Weidel had made and then we looked at all the unknown vocab and went through the song line by line. We had a final discussion on their opinions on the song and Alice Weidel herself.

What technology, media or props did you use? (Internet resources, handouts, etc.)

handout, powerpoint, whiteboard

What worked well in this class? What did not work?

This class worked really well. The students had a lot to say about the song and also about Alice Weidel. They were very engaged. They actually stayed 20 minutes after class because they had so much to say so we just kept talking. Admittedly the conversation switched from at first Denglish to full on English at that point (since it was after class that was fine with me) but at least the topic was still German.

How could this class be improved/ modified?

I don’t think this class can be improved honestly. It’s why, I used the same class last semester for both my classes. In a way it worked even better this semester since it’s very topical with the things currently happening in Germany.

Alice-und-SarahDownload

GERM SP24 Int Karneval

May 3, 2024 /

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.

GERM SP24 Int Planning a Vacation

May 3, 2024 /

Conversation Class Lesson Summary

Language Resident Name: Lea Marie Uhlending                                                   

Day and Date: Monday, 04/08/24

Language and Level:  Intermediate

Class theme/topics discussed:

Vacation in Germany

Goals of the class:

For the students to plan a theoretical vacation in Germany that they might even turn into a real one.

How did you structure the class?

I began by asking them a few questions like “Where in Germany would you like to visit?”, “What would you like to do?”, “Beach or city?”, etc. And then I gave them a specific situation and told them to plan a vacation. Afterwards they each presented their plans.

What technology, media or props did you use? (Internet resources, handouts, etc.)

the map, powerpoint, whiteboard

What worked well in this class? What did not work?

The students came up with interesting plans and I know that at least one of them will put parts of her plan into action.

How could this class be improved/ modified?

I think that this idea works well, especially close to the end of the semester. Their attention shifts towards their full credit classes, and to their summer vacation plans. So something low stress is a good idea.

GERM SP24 Int Tongue Twisters

May 3, 2024 /

Conversation Class Lesson Summary

Language Resident Name: Lea Marie Uhlending                                                   

Day and Date: Wednesday, 02/07/24

Language and Level:  Intermediate

Class theme/topics discussed:

some organizational stuff and then German tongue twisters

Goals of the class:

We had some organizational stuff to deal with and afterwards we had some fun with German tongue twisters. The idea was to work on the student’s pronunciation in a fun way.

How did you structure the class?

At first we talked about some organizational stuff. We talked about costume ideas for the Karneval themed study break and I showed them what a typical costume might look like in Germany. Then we discussed the Conversation Class Projects, the students that were there had never taken a CC so they didn’t really know about the projects, they had also never been to the OLC. So, it took more time than I had thought to talk about that. Afterwards we dove into some German tongue twisters, or as we call them tongue breakers (Zungenbrecher). I put them on a slide and asked one of the students to read it out loud without any input from me, then I read it for them and we talked about the meaning, or rather lack thereof, and then I asked them to try again but faster. The students took turns reading the twisters and they got progressively harder.

What technology, media or props did you use? (Internet resources, handouts, etc.)

PowerPoint

What worked well in this class? What did not work?

The class was inspired by a conversation that happened at language tables. I had never thought of doing tongue twisters but it’s such a good and fun idea to work on students’ pronunciations. The class worked really well, the students had a lot of fun. They also made me laugh so hard I had to cry.

How could this class be improved/ modified?

I think this class worked surprisingly well. It was also actually helpful that we had so much organizational stuff to talk about because I feel like doing the tongue twisters for an entire hour would have gotten tedious.

GERM SP24 Int Music and Politics, “Schrei nach Liebe”

May 3, 2024 /

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

Schrei-nach-Liebe-SongtextDownload

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