Submitted by Linda Uscola

Objectives:

Content:
Students will:
· gain understanding of why people of all cultures form/join groups
· examine types of groups that exist and whether these are universal or culture-linked
· discuss the common characteristics (if such exist) of members of each type of group
· identify the types of groups formed/joined by American teenagers
· predict the types of groups formed/joined by German and Swiss teenagers
· gather information about German and Swiss teenagers

Cultural:
Students will:
· gain some understanding of the history of all targeted cultures and how it affects the types of groups formed within those cultures
· develop some understanding of interests/priorities of teenagers in Germany and Switzerland and how these relate to a "national identity"
· understand how identity and groups are culturally constructed

Language: Content Obligatory
Students will:
· use orally and in writing the following vocabulary related to the theme:

Identität Gruppenzugehörigkeit Organisation Hilfsorganisation Gruppe Klub Jugendklub

Verein Schülerverbindung jugendlich Jugend christlich politisch Politik

sportlich Sport musikalisch Musik Minderheit Kennzeichen Kultur

kulturverbunden zustimmen wichtig typisch was für glauben

denken wenn denn weil dass meiner Meinung nach

· use comparative structures to discuss similarities and differences among teens: mehr/weniger, öfter, seltener, ähnlich, ganz anders, genau so aus, so-wie
· create questions to request information
· use the present tense, subject/verb agreement to express opinions
· use the present perfect tense accurately to discuss results of surveys
· use separable verbs [Note: A separable verb is a verb made up of both a preposition and a verb, like aufstehen (The addition of the "auf" (up) to "stehen" (stand) changes the meaning of the verb to "get up." It's called a separable verb because the preposition part usually goes to the end of the sentence. Much like "Turn the light on," or "Take that jacket off."]

Language: Content Compatible
Students will:
· use coordinating and subordinating conjunctions
· use vocabulary/terminology from historical developments in the target cultures, eg. political and religious groups, etc.
· use provided subjunctive case vocabulary for hypothesizing: wäre, würde, hätte, könnte, möchte
· use nominative, accusative, and dative case articles accurately in written and oral communication

Learning Strategies / Social and Skills Development:
Students will:
· summarize and interpret information
· discuss possibilities and probabilities related to many topics in this unit

Time Frame:

Four 50 minute class sessions

Materials Needed:

· Computers with Internet access
· Email connections (See "References and Resources" for URL's)
· Sample student survey sent to Germany and Switzerland
· Handout for note-gathering on surveys

Description of Assessment (Performance Project):

Day 1
Begin the use of new vocabulary by webbing in German the types of groups students in the class belong to. Widen the topic to discuss what groups would be typical for American teenagers. At this point, depending on the language ability of students involved, discussion may need to continue in English to delve into why people, in general, join groups. What types of people join which groups and what would be typical characteristics of the members of each group? During these discussions the teacher listens to the conversations and expands the vocabulary and relevant phrases on the board for future reference.

Day 2
Students will create and administer a survey to students in their high school to determine what groups they belong to, why they belong to these groups, and how they rate the importance of each group to the development of their identity. This should be handed out to a large portion of the school, determined by the interest and cooperation of other faculty members. See sample survey in "Attachments."

Day 3
Students will compile the results of the local survey and then hypothesize about what types of groups German and Swiss teenagers would belong to. This could be done in German. Then students would analyze why they think these groups would exist in these cultures. This may need to be done in English, depending upon the complexity of the discussion.

Day 4
Students will then create a survey in German and send it to their individual email partners in a German or Swiss school and to classrooms in at least three other German or Swiss areas.

Assessment:

Throughout the activities, the teacher should observe the students' participation and interaction with other students and assess informally. If desired, email surveys could be graded.

References and Resources:

Classroom to Classroom Email Connections:
http://www.iecc.org/ or http://www.teaching.com/iecc

das Transatlantische Klassenzimmer listserv:
majordomo@tak.schule.de
write: subscribe

tak_talk,francais,teenage-life,deutsch
http://maincc.hufs.ac.kr/~mathias/brief.htm

http://www.iearn.org

Attachments:

NOTE: some attachments are in PDF form (get Acrobat Reader)

Sample student survey sent to Germany/Switzerland

Handout for note-gathering on surveys/interviews

A Lesson from the CoBaLTT Project
/cobaltt
Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition
University of Minnesota