Childhood experiences: nouns, past tense, conjunctions
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can recognise correspondences between German and English nouns and can use a range of familiar vocabulary with the past tense, to understand Germany's past and discuss my childhood.
Vocabulary and transcripts for this lessons
Key learning points
- German nouns ending '-heit' often correspond to English nouns ending '-ity', '-ness', e.g., 'die Sicherheit' (security).
- After WW2, Germany was split into West and East Germany. Life was very different in each country.
- Use the perfect tense and shorter imperfect tense forms 'war', 'waren', 'es gab', 'hatte' to narrate past events.
- The conjunctions 'als' or 'bevor' trigger word order three and can be used at the start of a sentence.
- If 'als' or 'bevor' begin a clause, the following clause uses word order two, creating a verb-comma-verb pattern.
Keywords
War - imperfect tense form meaning 'was'
Waren - imperfect tense form meaning 'were'
Es gab - imperfect tense form meaning 'there was | there were'
Hatte - imperfect tense form meaning 'had'
Word order three - after certain conjunctions, the verb is sent to the end of the sentence or clause
Common misconception
There aren't any patterns in German nouns that help you identify their grammatical gender.
There are some suffixes in German nouns that signal the noun is feminine, for example '-heit', '-ung', '-in'. There may be some exceptions!
Teacher tip
For extra challenge in Task C3, encourage students to use the perfect tense after sentences beginning with 'als' or 'bevor'.
Licence
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.Which of the following is a conjunction meaning 'after' and sends the verb to the end of the clause/sentence?
Q2.Match up the German and the English.
Q3.Fill in the missing word in the following sentence: '__________ der Schule spiele ich Tennis.' (After school, I play tennis.)
Q4.Choose the correct word for 'when' in the following sentence: '__________ ich nach Deutschland gefahren bin, habe ich meinen Freund besucht.' (When I went to Germany, I visited my friend.)
Q5.Match the German and the English.
Q6.Complete the following sentence using the correct past participle of the verb 'bezahlen' (to pay): 'Ich habe das Hotel .'
Assessment exit quiz
4 Questions
Q1.What is the correct translation of 'When did you go to Germany?'?
Q2.What gender are nouns ending in 'in', 'ung' and 'heit' usually in German?
Q3.Fill in the missing word in the following sentence. The verb 'hatte' is the __________ form of the verb 'haben'.
Q4.Which of the following sentences shows a verb-comma-verb pattern?
To help you plan your 9 German lesson on: Childhood experiences: nouns, past tense, conjunctions, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 9 German lesson on: Childhood experiences: nouns, past tense, conjunctions, 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 Past lives: perfect and imperfect tenses unit, dive into the full secondary German curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.