Submitted by Linda Uscola

Objectives:

Content:
Students will:
· begin to understand some of the reasons for the differences/similarities between youth groups found here, in Germany and in Switzerland
· gather information about German and Swiss teenagers through interviews

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 an initial understanding of interests/priorities of teenagers in Germany and Switzerland and explore how these relate to a "national identity"
· understand how identity and groups are culturally constructed in some nations

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 vreb 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
· accurately use nominative, accusative, and dative case articles

Learning Strategies / Social and Skills Development:

Time Frame:

One 50 minute class session

Materials Needed:

· audiorecorder or videorecorder, if desired
· sample list of interview questions (See "Attachments")
· audio clip of sample interview (See "Attachments")

Description of Assessment (Performance Project):

The three German-speaking foreign exchange students in our school will be interviewed in class. One is from the former East Germany, one from Bremen and one from Ravensburg. (If no German-speaking foreign exchange students attend your school or neighboring schools, I have included an audio clip that could be used instead.)

Assessment:

Observe the student's participation and interaction with other students and assess informally. This interview may be assessed more formally, if desired.

Attachments:

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

Sample student interview/survey sent to Germany/Switzerland

Handout for note-gathering on surveys/interviews

Audio clip

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