an archive of lesson plans

Category: Traditions, Culture and Stereotypes (Page 2 of 10)

About traditions, customs, holidays, celebrations, festivals

DE F20 INT/ADV – St. Martin’s Day & Lantern crafting

Language Resident/Assistant Name: Eva Saunders

Day and Date: 11/12/2020

Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class): Intermediate & Advanced

Class theme/topics discussed: St. Martin’s Day

Goal of the class: Learn about German culture and master casual conversation

How did you structure the class?

A) Warm-Up: Have you heard of St. Martins Day or seen lantern-walks before? Why are they happening?

Watch short cartoon about St. Martin:


B) Activity: Make a lantern as is a custom in Germany on 11/11 while listening to songs that are traditionally sung, like  “Ich geh mit meiner Laterne“ and “Laterne, Laterne”.

Here is an example for an easy lantern: http://www.labbe.de/zzzebra/index.asp?themaid=237&titelid=4116
This one is made poking holes, alternatively you can have the students cut out shapes with small scissors and glue tissue paper behind it.

Maybe watch video of actual St. Martin’s procession towards the end, when people are settled in with crafting (you can find some on Youtube).

C) Discussion while crafting or after: What were your favorite Childhood activities this time of year? Is there something similar in your culture?

What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.) Props: Share Screen function in Zoom, Chat, Youtube, Spotify, Course Website as a resource for homework and reference.

I emailed students a few days before with what is needed so they could get the supplies needed for making the lanterns (cardboard box, scissors, thumb tacks, glue, tissue paper, fake candle, etc.).

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

The students very much enjoyed making the lanterns. It is a bit hard to make them multi-task, so they became chattier once they were almost done with their work. It worked well to listen to some traditional songs while they were crafting and showing the videos in the beginning & end.

How could this class be improved/ modified?

I’d leave it as is. And we took a screenshot photo with all our lanterns at the end, which made a fun memory.

If you have a more detailed lesson plan, please attach it below (OK to use target language for that).  Please attach any handouts as well.

Virtual Handout in target language:  https://courses.pomona.edu/la-german-2020/blog/2020/11/12/13-1-class-23-11-12-2020/   (Password: GERMAN)

DE F20 INT/ADV – Christmas Escape Room

Language Resident/Assistant Name: Eva Saunders

Day and Date: 11/24/2020

Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class): Intermediante/Advanced

Class theme/topics discussed: Christmas & the holidays

Goal of the class: Learning about German customs and escaping Krampus’ mine

How did you structure the class?

A) Warm-Up: With the lights off and your Zoom background set to a coal mine, tell the students they have been captured and brought to a coal mine because they opened their advent calendars too early! Impersonating Krampus for this is highly recommended & fun (I wore a Santa hat and used a flash light to make myself look frightening)

B) Give them the “escape room” game Google Sheet link and explain (as “Krampus”) how they are going to find the code word to get out (which is “Merry Christmas” in German, but backwards, see Key sheet). Stress that they are supposed to talk to each other to solve riddles together, one at a time. Then set a timer for 45-50 minutes for them to solve the questions and to guess the code word.

It’s good to remind them of the time they have left every once in a while (half time and maybe 5 minutes before, depending how they are doing on time). I plan about 5 minutes per question on average as a guideline. If they are taking longer, feel free to help them a bit by telling them if their answer is right or wrong before they type them in, to avoid detours. And giving hints or more information about a correct answer works well, too.

C) Once the game is finished, go over the answers the students provided or answer any outstanding questions about Christmas in Germany.

D) Extra activity: Watch “Cat-A-Claws”, a 2-minute Christmas themed cat movie https://vimeo.com/381605666 (this is my own production, but available publicly). Find traditions and words we talked about in the movie.

What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.): Share Screen function in Zoom, Chat, Google Sheets, Vimeo, Course Website as a resource for homework and reference

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

The students enjoyed the surprise escape room very much and solved the riddles just in time. I clarified some things during the game and helped a bit to keep it moving. It was a fun way to learn!

How could this class be improved/ modified?

I’ve tried this both with just one student and a group of three students and both took about 45-50 minutes to finish it. If the group is much larger, communication might be hard so they should probably be split up into groups of three or four and you can jump from room to room to help if necessary.

If you have a more detailed lesson plan, please attach it below (OK to use target language for that).  Please attach any handouts as well.

Virtual Handout in target language https://courses.pomona.edu/la-german-2020/blog/2020/11/24/13-1-class-25-11-23-2020/ (Password: GERMAN)

Note: You can use the key document for yourself and then load the blank template tab into Google Sheets to have the students work in the same document. It’s best if one student shares their screen of it so all can see what’s asked.

JP F20 INT/ADV: Music Videos

Language Resident/Assistant Name:  

Kozue Matsumoto 

Day and Date:  

Monday November 9, 2020   

Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class):  

Intermediate  / Advanced

Class theme/topics discussed:  

Goal of the class:  

  • Get to know some contemporary attempt of Japanese traditional music 
  • Describe music videos, what do you see? What do you hear?

How did you structure the class?  

  1. How are you doing? Hanging there? Good news if any??? (7 min) 
    1. We are trying to stay calm with the presidential election result being updated.
  1. Today’s plan (3 min) 
  1. Breakout room (30 min): Each group has a different music video
    1. Watch the videos 
    2. How many people are there?  
    3. What are they doing? What are the instruments? 
    4. What do they wear? 
    5. What kind of music? 
    6. What is traditional and what is not traditional? 
    7. Do you like it or not and why? 
  1. Main room (20 min) 
    1. Explain the music video and watch video 
    2. Wrap up. Stay positive, and stay calm,  

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

Class agreement, breakup rooms 

Zoom, breakout rooms, youtube videos 

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

  • Students were a little tired at the beginning with upcoming exams and all the homework they have 
  • Each breakout room had a different music video. So I told them to describe the video really in detail. 
  • They enjoyed the videos.  
  • We learned some way of describing music, terms such as “traditional,” “contemporary,” and other terms used for traditional clothing.  
  • In breakout rooms, they asked me some words that explain musical moments, things artists are wearing, or the scenery. They used these terms when shearing in the main room. 
  • I first let all the groups explain what they watched. After that is done, I shared my screen and played all three videos at once. They loved it.  
  • Students enjoyed the music, costumes, the techniques of artists, and other details.   
  • This is one of classes students chose as the best.

Advanced:

  • Students enjoyed the music, costumes, the techniques of artists, and other details. 
  • We ended up with talking a lot about Japanese arts and elements in videos. 
  • Students have a little more knowledge about Buddhism in this class, and it made some discussions very interesting. 

How could this class be improved/ modified? 

  • I noticed that students used chat a lot as we all watch the videos together. Probably I can make use of the chat function more effectively with music moment. I don’t know how yet though. Something to keep thinking for the next time.  

If you have a more detailed lesson plan, please attach it below (OK to use target language for that).  Please attach any handouts as well. 

Videos Shared:

Vocabulary that we learned: 

袴:はかま 
ばち 
伝統的:でんとうてき:traditional 
楽器:がっき:musical instrument 
稲荷:いなり 
畳:たたみ 
和室:わしつ 
襖:ふすま 
和紙:わし 
障子:しょうじ 
きつね 
竹:たけ 
竹林:ちくりん 
帯:おび 
頭巾:ずきん 
お経:おきょう 
般若心経:はんにゃしんきょう 
袈裟:けさ 
邪道:じゃどう 

Students’ comments on chat for each video

https://youtu.be/KHna8ngTaOg
17:06:41     From Lena She-Her : This lit 
17:06:50     From Mason Cai : ^^ 
17:06:54     From Marina Aina : ^^^ 
17:07:00     From Ruby Hoffman : ^^ 
17:07:10     From Ashley Cheng : ^^^^^ 
17:07:32     From Marina Aina : The mv visuals are so nice too 😮 
17:07:48     From Alyssa Zhang : those masks damnnnnn 
17:08:06     From Mason Cai : :OOOoOOO: 

https://youtu.be/cbObLy5MjWU  
17:10:24     From Marina Aina : Ive never felt more untalented in my life LMAO they’re so good 😮 
17:10:32     From Kate McHale : this really slaps 
17:10:34     From Ashley Cheng : It really do be one of those days 

https://youtu.be/nvIGCMhjkvw?t=120  
17:12:03     From Kano Cheng : I want to be this man when I grow up 
17:12:29     From Ruby Hoffman : yes oh my god 
17:12:37     From Marina Aina : i think you can accomplish that dream :,) 
17:12:40     From Kate McHale : immaculate vibes 
17:12:42     From Ashley Cheng : I wonder if my buddhist grandma would appreciate this 
17:13:07     From Alyssa Zhang : i want to know what hes saying 

DE F20 INT/ADV – Octoberfest

Language Resident/Assistant Name: Eva Saunders

Day and Date: 10/1/2020

Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class): Intermediate/Advanced

Class theme/topics discussed: Oktoberfest

Goal of the class: Know how to order foods and drinks & how to give compliments/small talk

How did you structure the class?

A) Warm-Up:  Discussion about Oktoberfest – what do students know about it? Have you been? Learn important vocabulary (best with pictures, maybe let them pronounce the words/fill in translations for intermediate). (10 min)

*Optional for advanced students or students who have been to Oktoberfest: Wordsearch with words that they have to find (helps knowing how to spell words that they have just heard before)

Activity 2: Discussion: How do we order items/ask other people to bring us food? How do we give compliments? (10 min) – can be done online in small breakout groups either just talking or written with Google Sheets or in small classes with whole class (see example for ordering food/conversations with server attached)

B) Some facts and figures about Oktoberfest. Learn about 40th Oktoberfest terrorist attack anniversary. Talk about effects of Covid-19 and the alternate program in Munich via their Instagram page.

Fun Examples: – Watch “Bavarian Line Dance” https://youtu.be/BcU38jrw5ew

C) If extra time, show them attraction “Teufelsrad”, a spinning platform that people sit on and have to stay on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5oEn5y0H10

What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.): Share Screen function in Zoom, Images, Instagram, YouTube, Google Docs, Chat, Course Website as a resource for homework and reference

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

The students were engaged well. One of the students had been to Oktoberfest, so I let her knowledge and conversations lead to the topics and added some based on questions. They enjoyed ordering things and learning compliments. We zigzagged a bit in terms of topics, but I wanted to keep it organic. They very much enjoyed the videos and pictures of the alternate program to Oktoberfest this year.

How could this class be improved/ modified?

Oktoberfest is such a huge topic that it’s hard to give a true impression in one hour and have a conversation and some grammar at the same time. I assumed they had already seen the partying in tents and the atmosphere, so I focused on more practical/historical aspects of it and some special attractions that they have had in the past and are having now. I think that worked well.

For the wordsearch, you can make your own here: https://www.bookwidgets.com/blog/2017/01/make-word-search-puzzles-for-your-classroom

If you have a more detailed lesson plan, please attach it below (OK to use target language for that).  Please attach any handouts as well.

Virtual Handout in target language https://courses.pomona.edu/la-german-2020/blog/2020/10/02/13-1-class-12-10-1-2020 (Password: GERMAN)

Oktoberfest-conversations

Oktoberfest-Vocabulary

Wordsearch-Oktoberfest-10_2-food_word_search

JP F20 INT/ADV: Naomi Osaka

Language Resident/Assistant Name:  

Kozue Matsumoto 

Day and Date:  

Wednesday September 16, 2020   

Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class):  

Intermediate / Advanced

Class theme/topics discussed:  

  • Naomi Osaka  

Goal of the class:  

  • What Naomi Osaka did, and how the story was told.  
  • Think about racism and BLM movement, think about them in Japanese context, and express ideas in Japanese 

How did you structure the class?  

  1. Good news? (5min) *We share positive stories at the beginning of each class.
  1. Ask about some Japanese news they know (5min)  
  1. Listen to the news (10 min)  
    1. https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/easy/k10012615261000/k10012615261000.html  
    2. Check the basics of the news (Who she is, what she did, her action of wearing masks etc.) 
  1. Breakout room (30 mim) 
    1. What do you think about her action of wearing masks during the US Open? 
    2. Lots of Japanese people believe that top athletes like her shouldn’t talk about any political or controversial issues. What do you think about it? 
    3. For so long time, for Japanese people, “Japanese people” mean people who look like Japanese, speak Japanese, live in japan for entire their life, and have both Japanese parents. Now things are changing. The Japanese society needs to adjust to multi-cultural, multi-racial, multi-everything reality. As a person who lives in USA, what would you like to suggest, advise, or teach Japanese people about living in a diverse community? 
  1. Main room (10 min) 
    1. Share ideas regarding the last question (4.c) 

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

Class agreement, breakup rooms 

Zoom, Breakout room, chat section, news web site 

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

  • Listening to Japanese news stories (created specifically for children and non-Japanese native people) seemed to be a little difficult, but they got a basics about the story (I believe the photos helped too.) 
  • Students had so much to say about this topic.  They had thoughts and ideas. They sometimes struggled to express it in Japanese. But I felt their willingness to challenge themselves and share their thoughts in Japanese. I think this is great. 
  • I had another news story to discuss as I thought that one topic wouldn’t cover the whole hour. I was wrong. Students had a lot to think and share.
  • I tried to reflect some reality of Japanese society. Also, I tried to have them think about it in relation to their reality in the USA. I received a lot of great points about question 4.c. One said that the USA has lots of issues itself and that it is difficult to provide any advice. This is understandable, too. 
  • I wasn’t sure how students would react to this topic, but they were very serious, and I can tell that this is not a new topic for them. They have been thinking about this issue for a while.  

Advanced:

  • Even before we start first discussion about Naomi Osaka, students had a lot of questions about Japanese society, such as how Japanese people understand things like BLM, whether there is racism in Japan and if so what kind, how Japanese people think about being different, whether and how people talk about politics, about the media’s political stance, how people learn about the USA. We had a good discussion. 

How could this class be improved/ modified? 

  • Providing a basic key terms in Japanese at the beginning of the class might have helped. But at the same time, if I did it, that’s going to frame how and what they are going to think. So probably, just start free flowing, and help them when they ask about certain words.  
  • I see that the advanced class can learn and discuss a lot about Japan’s social and political issues as well as cultural things. I appreciate their curiosity.  

JP S20 ADV Fashion

Language Resident Name: Miki Saigo

Day and Date: January 28, 2019

Language and Level: Advanced Japanese

Class theme/topics discussed:

  • Fashion

Goal of the class:

  • Discuss preferences and opinions on fashion

How did you structure the class?

  • Greetings and announcements
    – Study Break: Calligraphy Feb. 6th
    – Oldenborg Open House Feb. 13th
  • Activity I: Whose outfit?
    I show students pictures of various outfits. In groups of three, students discuss who/what kind of person would wear them to where and if students themselves would try wearing these outfits. After they discuss in groups, they discuss with the whole class.
  • Activity II: Discussions on fashion
    In groups of three, students discuss the following questions:
    1. What type of outfit do 5C students wear?
    2. What would you wear when you go to:
        – a family gathering for Christmas
        – a friend’s wedding
        – a job interview
    3. Do you take time to pick clothes in the morning? What do you do when you can’t decide?
    4. Do you stick to certain brands? Do you like fast fashion?
    5. Imagine you traveled to a somewhere far away… and you find people there wear completely different from you (e.g. everybody is wearing ルーズソックス!). What would you do?
  • Activity III: Idol group audition
    I mention how idols/groups wear unique fashion and do various types of activities on media (e.g. singing, dancing, cooking, comedy, acting, harvesting…). I divide the students into groups and tell each group to imagine they are going on an audition as an idol group. Using a worksheet, students first ask each other their hobbies, skills and things they want to try in the future. Students list up the keywords and then discuss what they can do as an idol group using their talents. They also decide their group name, goals and theme fashion (draw what they are going to wear on media).
    When they are done, they present their idea to the whole class.

What technology, media or props did you use?

  • PowerPoint slides
  • Pictures from the internet (for the picture cards)
  • Worksheet

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

  • Activity I was visually entertaining. It is open-ended and made students talk, too.
  • Students had fun in Activity III. They were creative and talked spontaneously to share their ideas. It was nice to have them draw their costumes.

How could this class be improved/ modified?

  • I would add a discussion on trend fashion next time. (e.g. What kind of fashion item is popular now/went popular in the past?)

Materials (Download the files for better view):

DE S20 INT: Impressions

Language Resident Name: Tilman Viëtor

Credit to Katherine Pérez, Mariia Glukhova

Day and Date: Monday, 02/03/2020

Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class): German, Intermediate

# of Students: 6

Class theme/topics discussed: Physical appearance

Goal of the class: Learning vocabulary to describe someone’s physical appearance.

How did you structure the class?

  1. Warm-up (Prior knowledge):

Focused Freewriting: What do you think about when you think about physical appearance? How would you describe your closest friend? How would you describe yourself? (3-5min) We talk about it and come up with categories for describing physical appearance. Then the students get to the board and fill the categories with as many expressions as possible.

  • Activity 1 (Input):

I show students a picture of me and friends of mine. I then describe some people in the picture, before I have the students describe the remaining people based on what they see.

  • Activity 2 (Guided Practice):

While the German music is playing, everybody walks around the room observing other people’s clothes, hairstyle, etc. As soon as the music stops, each student pairs up with the person standing nearest and they stand back to back. Each of the students makes statements about the other’s appearance. Repeat a couple of times.

  • Activity 3 (Task):

Detective role play: Each student gets a picture of someone who “has gone missing”. One of the students is a detective and the other one has to tell what the person missing looks like. The “detective” draws the person who is being described. Both students get to be a “detective” using one different picture each. After having done this, each group describes their partners’ picture and we all get to compare and see how accurate the description was (15-20 min).

  • Activity 4 (Follow-up):

What do students guess the occupations of the people on the pictures are?

After guessing and giving reasons for their guesses, in two groups, they each look up one of the people, then present their findings to the group.

  • Extra final activity:

What do you think the German saying “Kleider machen Leute” could mean?

We talk about it.

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

Song, pictures of German celebrities

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

The class worked very well, even though we did not get to the extra activity.

First-impressions

DE S20 ADV: Youth Slang (Zoom class)

Language Resident Name: Tilman Viëtor

Day and Date: Thursday, 04/16/2020

Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class): German, Advanced

# of Students: 3

Class theme/topics discussed: German youth slang

Goal of the class: Students learn about German youth slang

How did you structure the class?

  1. Warm-up (Prior knowledge):

I post questions in the Google Doc, that serve as conversation starters. They talk about the questions in Breakout Rooms and if they look up vocabulary, which I encourage them to do, they put them in our shared vocab list. The questions were 1. What is good about winter if you compare it to summer? 2. What are the most essential food items for you? 3. What three things are the most important for you in life right now? 4. Who is your favorite musician?

  • Activity 1 (Input):

In the Main Room: I give the students three lists of youth slang words and short phrases in the Google Doc. I give each one of them a list and they do a short research on Google.de to find out what the words/phrases mean and what language they are from. I demonstrate the process via screenshare quickly, so that they know that they should also enter “meaning youth slang” into the search bar after the word/phrase. We then go through the words together.

  • Activity 2 (Guided Practice):

We read a website together that is about German youth slang, its history and its important elements and characteristics. They can later use the forms on that website for their dialogues.

  • Activity 3 (Task):

I give the students four different little scenarios, to choose from and write a creative dialogue around, using as many youth slang words as possible for them. They write the dialogues in pairs in breakout rooms, and then they present them in the Main Room

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

Google Doc, Google.de, Website : https://online-lernen.levrai.de/deutsch-uebungen/jugendsprache/0_jugendsprache_regeln.htm

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

The class went well, we had good conversations and the students had a lot of fun with writing and performing the dialogues. I had to skip the website bit, and we did not have a lot of time left for the dialogues, so they were short.

How could this class be improved/ modified?

I should have reduced the amount of warm-up questions and the amount of words every single student had to research.

ES F19 ADV Halloween

Conversation Class Lesson Summary

Language Resident Name: Blanca Barranco Lafuente

Day and Date: 31st October

Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class): Spanish Advanced 

Class theme/topics discussed: Halloween

Goal of the class: 

  • To know more about how Halloween is celebrated in Spanish regions
  • To invent their own scary story 

How did you structure the class? 

  • Warm up: Students are asked about how they celebrate Halloween to find out different possibilities. Students do a Kahoot quiz to prove how much they know about the origin of Halloween. 
  • Activity 1: I explain how Halloween is celebrated in Spain and, more specifically, how it is celebrated in my city, where one of Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer legends takes place. They do some comprehension activities about the legend. 
  • Activity 2: Students invent their own legend with the help of the story cubes. 
  • Activity 3: Students share their stories with the rest of the class and ask one or two questions to make sure that they understood it and that they were paying attention. 
  • Extra final activity: Speaking about Halloween customs, about the ones they liked the most so far and the one they will be wearing this year. 

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

  • PowerPoint Presentation
  • Kahoot
  • YouTube
  • Story Cubes

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

  • They created very original stories and they were really into it. 
  • The Kahoot quiz worked pretty well. 
Conv_Halloween

ES F19 ADV Regional Festivities

Conversation Class Lesson Summary

Language Resident Name: Blanca Barranco Lafuente

Day and Date: 10th September 

Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class): Spanish Advanced 

Class theme/topics discussed: Regional festivities (1) 

Goal of the class: 

  • To know about the different festivities that take place in different parts of Spain. 
  • To invent their own festivity. 

How did you structure the class? 

  • Warm up: Students brainstorm about Spanish festivities that they have heard about. Afterwards, they see a map of Spain with stereotypical features of the different regions to appreciate how the stereotypes change in the different cities. They match some of the Spanish regions with sentences that describe those stereotypes. 
  • Activity 1: Students see some of the typical festivities that take place in some parts of Spain. It will serve as example for the following activity. 
  • Activity 2: Students receive a handout with a table about different elements that are needed to describe a festivity (when, where, what, why, etc.) and one card describing the main element of the festivity (e. g. tomatoes). They invent their own festivity filling the table.
  • Activity 3: They share their festivity with the rest of the class and see how the real festivity is (in this case, la tomatina), being able to compare it with their invented ones. 
  • Extra final activityStudents walk around talking to each other about their favorite festivity in the US.

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

  • PowerPoint Presentation
  • Handout 
  • YouTube 

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

  • They really enjoyed watching some videos of the festivities, since some of them were really unique. They also participated very actively while inventing their own festivity. 
  • The invention of the new festivity took less time than I thought, so we had enough time to do the extra activity and they were able to talk about their favorite American festivities. Some of them insisted that there were no such festivities in the US, but still they had nice conversations with each other. 
Conv_Festivities_Handout

Conv_Regional-festivities-1

JP F19 ADV Facial Expressions, Gestures & Emojis

Language Resident Name: Miki Saigo

Day and Date: December 3, 2019

Language and Level: Advanced Japanese

Class theme/topics discussed:
Face expressions, gestures and emojis

Goal of the class:

  • Talk about emotions and certain situations to use gestures/emojis
  • Learn cultural differences about gestures and facial expressions

How did you structure the class?

  • Warm-up: Greetings and announcements
    – Cultural events
    – Lunch Table attendances
  • Activity I: Emojis
    I give students Handout of emojis and briefly explain what “emojis” are. In pairs, I ask students to discuss (i) what kind of emotions/meanings the emojis represent, and (ii) in what kind of context people would use the emojis in a message. After a while, I ask the questions to the whole class and discuss together. If needed, I explain cultural backgrounds of some of the emojis. I also ask if there are other emojis that students often use.
  • Activity II: Gestures
    I show a list of words/situations on the screen (“to call,” “thank you,” “when you meet your friends” etc.) and ask students to think of gestures they might use in the situations. Students work in pairs, and when they are done, I ask them to act out each gesture. We talk about cultural differences found in the gestures.
  • Activity III: Discussions
    In pairs, students discuss the following questions:
    1. Are there other gestures you use/ have seen? (To give examples at first, I mention a couple gestures that I have seen in American TV shows.)
    2. When you travel abroad and you don’t know the local language, what do you do? (It could be gestures or other ways to communicate.) For example, when you’re at a store or in a taxi?

What technology, media or props did you use?

  • Handout with pictures
  • PowerPoint slides

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

We had lively and interesting discussions throughout the class. Students enjoyed talking about emojis more than I had expected. I think it was a good topic for our generation. The first few emojis in Handout were meant to be basic expressions (e.g. smile, laugh, cry etc.), but they developed way more than that and had a huge discussion (e.g. “It is a fake smile you make when you don’t like something,” “You don’t use this crying face when you are actually sad,” “It could be happy tears”). Moreover, students in this class had culturally diverse backgrounds, so it was interesting to compare the cultural differences in gestures (e.g. how to count with your fingers in China).

How could this class be improved/ modified?

I was going to do another activity (storytelling by using emojis), but students spent a long time discussing emojis (which is fine because they enjoyed and talked a lot). Depending on the audience, however, I would use another activity to adjust the time.

Handout & Slide (Activity I):

絵文字(えもじ)
A.

B.

DE F19 ADV children’s books, Thanksgiving

Language Resident Name: Tilman Viëtor

Day and Date: Tuesday, 12/03/19

Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class): German, Advanced

Class theme/topics discussed: Thanksgiving, children’s stories

Goal of the class: Students improve their narration skills, asking questions, reading skills

How did you structure the class?

  1. Warm-up (Prior knowledge):

Two truths and one lie: I tell students three short stories about my Thanksgiving holidays, one of which was a lie. I wrote 1 word associated with each story on the board. Then students had to decide which story was a lie. They could each ask me two questions before making a decision. Then the students had to come up with three words and stories about them, and then they presented, and we played in the same way as detailed above.

  • Activity 1 (Input):

I talked about children’s books that I read as a child and showed and described to them the covers of these books. I then told them about my favorite children’s book, and in the process answered the 5 questions I would give them afterwards.

  • Activity 2 (Guided Practice):

I gave the students the following questions to answer about their favorite children’s book:

  • What is the title of the book?
  • When was it first published?
  • Did you read it yourself or was it read to you?
  • What is the plot of the book?
  • Why should everyone in this room read this book?

The students presented their books to the class.

  • Activity 3 (Task):

I introduced the “Struwwelpeter” to the class and read the first story in the book to them, while showing the text and pictures on the screen. Then I gave both students a story and they figured out what it was about, asked for words that they did not know and then read and presented their story to the class.

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

Whiteboard, pens, PPT, Handout with the Struwwelpeter stories (You can find the whole book as a free pdf on Google)

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

The class worked pretty well, the students were engaged and seemed to have fun.

How could this class be improved/ modified?

More work with the text. Maybe a gap text, or matching pictures and verses of the stories.

Thanksgiving-Kids-stories

JP F19 ADV Business Situations

Language Resident Name: Miki Saigo

Day and Date: September 12, 2019

Language and Level: Advanced Japanese

Class theme/topics discussed:

  • Superstitions/customs in Japan
  • Business situations in Japan

Goal of the class:

  • Become familiar with Japanese superstitions and customs
  • Learn how you are supposed to speak and act in business situations
  • Learn how to present your ideas

How did you structure the class?

  • Warm-up: Greeting and small talks (How their days are going etc.)
  • Activity I: Superstitions in Japan
    Students make groups of two or three and I give each group a set of cards (See the attached file). Each card describes a famous superstition in Japan with a picture. Students have to guess if the superstitions on the cards are something they should or should not do in terms of good fortune/manner. After they separate the cards in do’s and don’ts, I give them the correct answers and explain.
  • Activity II: Business manners in Japan
    I talk how job hunting in Japan has many rules you have to follow. I give students this webpage I printed out, which is about the dress code in job interviews:
    https://job.rikunabi.com/contents/manners/1003/
    I mention a few important rules and ask how what they think about having these strict rules in job hunting and how it is different from their cultures.
  • Activity III: Invent a new product
    I mention a few products from this webpage which lists products invented by college students in Japan:
    https://matome.naver.jp/odai/2138608074292868501
    I ask them to work in a group of two or three and invent a new product. Before they begin, I present a product I came up with, as an example. I show them a drawing of the product and present a) its name, b) what it is like and what it can do, c) the target consumers, and d) its price. I ask them to try inventing something and give them a handout that helps list (a)-(d). After they collect their ideas and draw what their products look like, they present it to class.

What technology, media or props did you use?

  • PowerPoint
  • Pictures from the internet
  • Japanese webpages
  • Picture cards
  • Handout

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

Students had very creative ideas at inventing new products. The task was more than just language practice but exciting for them.

How could this class be improved/ modified?

It would have been better if I gave students time to practice how to speak in job interviews; in Japanese, you are supposed to talk in honorifics in business situations, and I don’t think they get to practice speaking in honorifics in their usual conversation practices.

Picture cards (Activity I):

Slides:

Sep.12_AdvJP_Slides-Business

JP F19 INT Folk Tales & Superstitions

Language Resident Name: Miki Saigo

Day and Date: September 11, 2019

Language and Level: Intermediate Japanese

Class theme/topics discussed:

Folk tales and superstitions/customs in Japan

Goal of the class:

  • Become familiar with Japanese folk tales, superstitions and customs

How did you structure the class?

  • Warm-up: Greeting and announcements
    – Thomas Mann House Tour & Screening, Sep. 21st
    – Language Partners
    – Tell unregistered students to register
  • Activity I: Japanese folk tale ‘Urashima Taro’
    In this activity, I use a 3.5-minute YouTube video that narrates a Japanese folk tale called ‘Urashima Taro’ along with visual images:

Before we watch the video, I read the vocabulary list in Handout and explain what they are, using the drawings beside the list. Then, we watch the first three minutes of the video until I stop for comprehension check. I ask students to complete the Plot in Handout. After we summarize the story together, I ask what they think is going to happen next and what would they do if they were in the same situation.
Finally, we watch the rest of the video and discuss what the lesson of the story is.

  • Activity II: Superstitions in Japan
    Students make groups of three and I give each group a set of cards (See the attached file). Each card describes a famous superstition in Japan with a picture. Students have to guess if the superstitions on the cards are something they should or should not do in terms of good fortune/manner. After they separate the cards into do’s and don’ts, I give them the correct answers and explain.
    I also ask students if they have superstitions in their cultures.
  • Activity III: Cultural shocks
    I start with some examples of cultural shocks I have encountered since I arrived in the US (e.g. skateboard and scooters). Considering that not all students have traveled abroad a lot, I also add that different customs can be found in your neighbors, giving an example of my friend with weird habits. I ask students to discuss in groups and share some of the most interesting ones with the class.

What technology, media or props did you use?

  • PowerPoint
  • YouTube video
  • Handout
  • Picture cards

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

  • I told students to look up or ask me if they could not understand the words on the cards in Activity II: Superstitions, but in fact, they could figure out from the pictures. Having visual support worked well.
  • Students voluntarily mentioned many superstitions and cultural differences they know.

How could this class be improved/ modified?

  • I think this class went really well.

Picture cards:

Slides:

Sep.11_IntmJP_Slides

ES SP19 ADV: Latinoamérica – Calle 13

  • Language Resident Name: Hugo Briones Cáceres
  • Day and Date: Tuesday, January 29th
  • Language and Level: Spanish Conversation Advanced

  • Class theme/topics discussed: Latin American history, Latin American music
  • Goal of the class:

To promote talking through small talk

To get to know about Latin-America through music

  • How did you structure the class? 
  • Ice Breaker: In pairs, students talk about the question “With what historical figure would you have dinner with?”, so they can practice conversation. We follow up by sharing their answers and working on questions regarding vocabulary or grammar. This is to activate their Spanish conversation abilities before moving forward.
  • Activity 1: We listen to the song “Latinoamérica” by Puerto Rican duo Calle 13. Students pay attention to the lyrics and topics in the song. Students get the lyrics with highlited topics.
  • Activity 2: In pairs, students are assigned one theme tackled in the song Latinoamérica alongside a set of questions related to the topic. They are related to the life, history and culture of the subcontinent. They are asked to research on the topic and present it to the rest of the class. (Refer to the appendix to see the topics). 
  • What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.)
Latinoamérica – Calle 13
  • What worked well in this class? What did not work?

The class worked out very well. Particularly in advanced, students are really eager to talk to each other, so the first activity worked out quite well. The second activity worked out well too, but this activity requires more than one class.

  • How could this class be improved/ modified?

The class worked well. Maybe it is important to consider two classes to work on this instead of one.

RU SP19 INT Writing Cards

Language Resident Name: Mykyta Tyshchenko

Day and Date: Wednesday, 04.17.2019

Language and Level: Russian, Intermediate

Class theme/topics discussed: Greetings and congratulations

Goal of the class: Teach the grammar and the vocabulary for making greetings and writing wishes in Russian

How did you structure the class?

1. Greetings, general questions, announcements. – 5 min

2. Getting ready to write a card: Students are divided into two groups. First group makes a list of occasions for writing a card, second group makes a list of things to wish. They write on the white boards. – 15 min

3. Revising cases. The LR explains how to form a proper greetings card in Russian. Students revise the cases. – 10 min

4. Writing cards. – 30 min

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

handouts with card templates and examples

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

Overall, it was a good class. We revised the grammar, especially the cases, and learned a lot of new vocabulary. What I like the most in this class is that the students do the majority of the work themselves, the LR just needs to be there to check if the things are correct. At the end, every students had cards written in Russian for occasions like graduation, someone’s birthday etc. Plus, I was able to show the students the cards I had from home and explain the culture of writing wishes.

How could this class be improved/ modified?

If you have a more detailed lesson plan, please attach it below (OK to use target language for that).  Please attach any handouts as well.

DE S19 ADV Tim Bendzko

Conversation Class Lesson Summary

Language Resident Name:

IVAN LUCIC

Day and Date:

Tuesday, 16/04/2019

Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class):

German, Advanced

Class theme/topics discussed:

Tim Bendzko

Goal of the class:

Talk about social phenomena and German society using the example of Tim Bendzko and one of his songs, practice discussion skills

How did you structure the class?

Activity 1 (15 min): Partner interviews. In pairs, the students will talk about their music preferences. The questions on the screen will prompt thoughts and discussion between them.

Activity 2 (10 min): In the group, we would brainstorm everything they would associate with Germany. I would write that down on a big paper.

Activity 3 (10 min): Discussing pictures. In pairs again, they would receive a picture. They would talk about the picture and say what/if they associated something with Germany. Now having talked about the bright sides of German society, I would also ask them what kind of problems they could imagine. Pictures in presentation.

Activity 4 (10 min): I would show them a video of a guy “escaping” from Germany and living on an island. We would have a discussion on that why he might do that and what the students think about that. Link in presentation.

Activity 5 (10 min): After watching the muted video, the students would share their thoughts in the group. We would also watch the music video with audio, aided by lyrics. Discussion after that. Link in presentation.

Activity 6 (10 min): Wrap up and final thoughts. Also critique on the music video by a comedian. If there is still a lot of time left, you can ask the students if they see any similarities to the US. Or also show them another video of Tim Bendzko “Nur noch kurz die Welt retten”. Link in presentation.

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

Lyrics from the song

Pictures

Paper for brainstorming

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

The students seemed to like the topic!

How could this class be improved/ modified?

It was good. I would keep it as it is.

 If you have a more detailed lesson plan, please attach it below (OK to use target language for that).  Please attach any handouts as well.

JP S19 ADV Japanese New Year Traditions

Language Resident Name: Ayaka Matsuo

Day and Date: Tuesday, February 5th

Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class): Advanced Japanese 

Class theme/topics discussed: New Year Traditions 

Goal of the class: To be able to explain their new year traditions and to learn Japanese new year traditions to details. 

How did you structure the class?

Activity1 (5 min): Warm-up

We talk about the game we’ll be having during the Open House next week and discuss what words are interesting sounds for Americans. We decide 5 words that visitors to our lounge has to guess what that it. 

Activity2 (10 min): New Year Tradition

I group students by cultures they’re familiar with. In the group, students talk about what they do as new year’s tradition in their culture. How do they celebrate? What do they eat? Where do they go? What do they see? Etc… After a several minutes, we share what they talked about with the whole class.

Activity3 (10 min): Japanese New Year Tradition

I tell students what we do in Japan, showing some pictures.

Activity4 (10 min): Osechi

I introduce Osechi, Japanese new year’s food, with a picture and ask students what they know about it.

Activity5 (15 min): Meaning of Each Dish in Osechi

We check each name of dishes. Then, students make pairs and guess what its meaning of each dish. Then, I’ll read out true meanings of each dish. Students guess what that is. 

Activity6 (5 min): Wrap-up

We have casual conversations about Osechi. What would you like to try eating? Cooking? Have you ever eaten Japanese Osechi? Is there anything similar to your culture? 

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

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

It worked well. I also learned many things about Japanese new year tradition of food. Time management was good today. 

How could this class be improved/ modified?

The topic with this plan could include more active speaking activities somehow. 

 If you have a more detailed lesson plan, please attach it below (OK to use target language for that).  Please attach any handouts as well.

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