Christmas traditions: singular and plural nouns
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can recognise and use three different plural rules, understand some German Christmas traditions and write a Christmas letter in German.
Vocabulary and transcripts for this lessons
Key learning points
- [ä] can be either short (followed by 2 or more consonants) or long (followed by a single consonant or 'h').
- For noun plural rule 1, most masculine and neuter nouns add -e to the end and an umlaut on the vowel (ä, ö, ü).
- For noun plural rule 2, words ending in -el, -en or -er are often the same in the plural.
- For noun plural rule 3, most feminine nouns add '-n' or '-en'.
Keywords
[ä] - pronounced long [ä] as in ‘spät’ and short [ä] as in ‘lächeln'
Plural rule 1 - most masculine and neuter nouns add -e to the end and an umlaut on the vowel (ä, ö, ü)
Plural rule 2 - masculine and neuter nouns ending in -el, -er or -en often stay the same in their plural form
Plural rule 3 - most feminine nouns either add -n or -en to the end of the noun
Common misconception
All nouns change when they are in their plural form.
There are three different plural rules. 1. Most masculine and neuter nouns add -e to the end and an umlaut to the vowel; 2. M. and nt. nouns ending in -el, -er or -en often stay the same when plural; 3. Most feminine nouns add -n or -en to the end.
Teacher tip
Navigate the topic of Father Christmas carefully. There will be students who don’t celebrate Christmas at all, those who do give and receive gifts but for whom the celebrations are 100% secular, those who are practising Christians, and those who still believe in Father Christmas.
Licence
Lesson video
Loading...
Some of our videos, including non-English language videos, do not have captions.
Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.What is an umlaut?
Q2.Masculine and neuter nouns ending in __________ don't usually change in their plural form.
Q3.Which of these words is the plural word for 'the' in German?
Q4.Match the vocabulary below to the correct English translations.
sometimes
often
never
hardly
once a week
Q5.Match the infinitives to the correct English translations.
to show
to speak
to listen
to read
to write
to repeat
Q6.Complete the following sentence: 'Die Familie __________ da.'
Assessment exit quiz
6 Questions
Q1.Which words have a long [ä] sound?
Q2.Match the vocabulary below to the correct English translations.
dog
church
family
week
cat
idea
Q3.Select the singular nouns.
Q4.Translate the following sentence into English: 'Die Kirchen sind warm.'
Q5.German children have the choice to send their Christmas wish list to one of how many possible people?
Q6.The song 'Wir wünschen dir frohe Weihnacht' is a translated version of which English Christmas song?
To help you plan your 7 German lesson on: Christmas traditions: singular and plural nouns, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 7 German lesson on: Christmas traditions: singular and plural nouns, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 3 German lessons from the Christmas: singular and plural nouns unit, dive into the full secondary German curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.