New
New
Year 9

Famous festivals and traditions: plural reflexive verbs, 12-hour clock

I can use new and known vocabulary to describe important international cultural traditions.

New
New
Year 9

Famous festivals and traditions: plural reflexive verbs, 12-hour clock

I can use new and known vocabulary to describe important international cultural traditions.

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Lesson details

Vocabulary and transcripts for this lessons

Key learning points

  1. Practising new vocabulary in a range of ways supports effective learning.
  2. When verbs are used reflexively, the person doing the action is also the receiver of the action.
  3. ‘Halb’ means half, ‘nach’ means past and ‘vor’ means to in 12-hour clock times.
  4. In German, ‘half past' is expressed as half of the next hour, e.g., ‘halb acht’ is 7:30.
  5. Learning about cultural traditions strengthens language learning, improving comprehension and cultural knowledge.

Keywords

  • Reflexive - describes an action where the subject and object of the verb are the same

Common misconception

When saying the time, 'half past' is expressed the same way in German as in English, i.e., half past the current hour.

In German, 'half past' is expressed as half of the next hour, e.g., 'halb neun' is half of nine o'clock, or half past eight.


To help you plan your year 9 German lesson on: Famous festivals and traditions: plural reflexive verbs, 12-hour clock, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

Teachers may wish to further explore the cutural elements of this lesson. There are several, such as Eid-al-Fitr, including how it is celebrated in Germany, Christmas in Switzerland, and the Cologne carnival. Teachers will be able to find video clips online to extend cultural awareness.
Teacher tip

Equipment

A mini whiteboard and pen, together with pen and paper for making notes. would be useful, if available.

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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Prior knowledge starter quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
Match each German word to its English meaning.

Correct Answer:verbessern,to improve, improving

to improve, improving

Correct Answer:hoffen,to hope, hoping

to hope, hoping

Correct Answer:Pflicht (f),duty

duty

Correct Answer:Geist (m),mind/spirit

mind/spirit

Q2.
What is the German word for 'thousand'?

Correct Answer: tausend, ein Tausend

Q3.
Put the words below in the correct order. Start with 'wir'.

1 - wir
2 - machen
3 - sie
4 - ungeduldig

Q4.
Put the words below in the correct order to make a sentence with a reflexive pronoun. Start with 'wir'.

1 - wir
2 - freuen
3 - uns
4 - auf
5 - die
6 - Ausbildung

Q5.
Which sentence includes a reflexive pronoun?

Ich sehe meinen Traum.
Du hörst auf deinen Geist.
Correct answer: Er freut sich auf die Karriere.

Q6.
Translate to German: 'They are hoping to get in touch.'

Correct Answer: Sie hoffen sich zu melden, Sie hoffen, sich zu melden

Assessment exit quiz

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4 Questions

Q1.
Which of these German verbs are reflexive?

studieren
Correct answer: sich freuen
verbessern
Correct answer: sich melden

Q2.
Put the words below into the correct order to make a sentence using a reflexive verb. Start with 'wir'.

1 - wir
2 - möchten
3 - uns
4 - verbessern

Q3.
What time is 'halb acht'?

half past eight
Correct answer: half past seven
eight o’clock
seven o'clock

Q4.
Translate into German: 'It is quarter to nine.'

Correct Answer: es ist Viertel vor neun

Additional material

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