Was gibt’s?
Big Walnut German Program Newsletter
www.bigwalnutgerman.com
www.eaglepride.org
General Announcements:
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Projects for German I, German III Honors and AP are due October 13
th
. German II project is due October
14th. See below for project specifics.
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Our in-class Oktoberfest will be October 19th.
Students will find recipes for German desserts on-line and
bring in their homemade German dessert the morning of the 19th. Please remind your child to label dessert with
their name and class period and bring a serving utensil. I am encouraging students to make their dessert with a
partner so that we don’t have too many desserts to taste! Hopefully all the projects will be evaluated and be hanging
upstairs in the German part of the hallway! We will be looking at the projects, tasting our desserts and watching a
movie in German! Students have already been to the computer lab to research Oktoberfest in Munich and topics for
their projects!
Conjuguemos! Attached you will find a list of instructions for your child to follow to get registered in my class for a
program called Conjuguemos. Students will be assigned verb and vocabulary practice and some tests and quizzes
through this computer program. I will also be handing this out in class. Those students who do not have access to
the internet will be provided access and time at school to take advantage of this. Please remind your child to register
with their German names for this program.
Please remember that German tutoring is available every Thursday from 7:15- 8:10. If students want some extra
help and cannot make it on Thursday morning, s/he should come see me about an alternate morning. This is for all
students who would like a little extra help, have questions, want to study for a test or would just like a little extra
practice.
Levy News: Big Walnut Schools need your support on the November 2
nd
ballot. www.eaglepride.org
Attached you will find 2010 levy outcome scenarios for both passage and failure of the levy. These outcomes have
not been voted on by the board. However, they are areas which will be discussed.
October 11th: Board Meeting @7pm high school media center
October 13th: PSAT testing. Call guidance with any questions.
October 15th: no school for students, faculty and staff. Central Day
October 18th Sports banquet
October 23rd: ACT testing
October 29th: grade cards distributed
Deutsch I
We concluded testing on chapter one last week: speaking, reading, writing and listening. I am very pleased with students’
progress to this point. Students corrected their tests and had a chance to look back at what they missed. We are well
underway with chapter 2. Your child should be able to talk about their activities in their free-time and ask others what they
do in their free-time. Students are also able to express liking and disliking doing certain things. Through this chapter students
are becoming more proficient at conjugating or ‘charting’ regular verbs. Next week we will start talking about ‘when’ we do
these activities and our opinions about them. This will involve learning more about German word order.
Projects due October 13th. Students have one of the following topics: German reunification, German American Day or
Oktoberfest. Sample projects and the guidelines can be found on the German website: www.bigwalnutgerman.com. Click on
class projects. Students have a hard copy of the guidelines but can download another copy if they misplace the one
distributed in class.
Deutsch II
We have completed most of our review of German I—although we will be continually reviewing as we learn new vocab. and
concepts. We have completed all the material for chapter 11. Your child should know how to talk about making a call in
German, dates and holidays, giving gifts to other. This entails using separable prefix verbs, ordinal numbers, modal verbs and
the dative case. The listening, reading and writing test will be on Monday and the speaking test will come on Tuesday. They
have begun working with partners to practice the listening test and may have some additional time this Friday.
German II Project is due on October 14th. This project has 3 parts: a poster, a short paragraph and a presentation. The
project is based on a famous German-American. Sample projects and the guidelines can be found on the German website:
www.bigwalnutgerman.com. Click on class projects. Students have a hard copy of the guidelines but can download another
copy if they misplace the one distributed in class.
Deutsch III os
We are continuing with our short story and several verbs tenses with irregular verbs. Students have had their first ‘literature
test’ last week. This can be tough the first time around for students to begin to write about literature in German—not just
about themselves. I was very pleased with what I have seen so far. Students are learning to incorporate the different tenses
correctly as well as some subordinating conjunctions in their writing. We are also continuing to work with some of the
reading material they had during the summer.
German III Honors Project is due October 13th. Students have research Pennsylvania Dutch barn symbols and will be creating
their own. Students will select colors and symbols which represent their life, families and goals and present their information
to their classmates in German. Sample projects can be found on the German website: www.bigwalnutgerman.com. Click on
class projects.
FG Deutsch
We concluded our testing on Konjunktiv II and students will be correcting their test and continue to incorporate this in their
writing and speaking. We are almost finished with the short story, Gespenster. This story was not simplified for classroom
use and I am very impressed at the level of understanding the students have. We are also learning about infinitival phrases
and incorporating them into their writing. We will continue with the short story, Das Dicke Kind.