Salzburg, Österreich: imperfect tense, extended writing (Edexcel)
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can use the imperfect and other tenses to complete exam-style writing tasks on the topics of holidays, people and places.
Vocabulary and transcripts for this lessons
Key learning points
- Weak verbs form the imperfect tense by adding these endings to the verb stem: -te, -test, -te, -ten, -tet, -ten.
- Strong verbs have irregular stems in the imperfect tense, with vowel changes and endings: -, st, -, en, t, en.
- The imperfect tense of ‘sein’, ‘haben’, modal verbs and 'es gab' are commonly used in spoken as well as written German.
- Use ‘früher’ with a past tense to mean ‘in the past’ or ‘used to’.
- The BORDER acronym is a useful tool to respond fully and accurately to bullet point writing prompts.
Keywords
Imperfect - German single-word past tense used mainly to narrate past events in writing; for example, 'war', 'hatte', 'gab', 'fand'
BORDER - acronym used to respond fully and accurately to bullet point writing prompts
Common misconception
The imperfect tense is only ever written.
Whilst the imperfect tense is mainly used to narrate past events in written German, some forms are regularly used in spoken German, such as 'es gab', 'war' and 'hatte'.
Teacher tip
Learning cycle 1 contains some higher-tier imperfect verbs as vocabulary items. Higher-tier writing tasks use the imperfect, but the perfect is valid (apart from 'war', 'hatte', 'gab'). When reviewing extended writing, students might like to use different highlighters to check for required elements.
Licence
Lesson video
Loading...
Some of our videos, including non-English language videos, do not have captions.
Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.Match the correct pairs of present and past tense verbs.
warst
hattet
hatte
waren
Q2.What does 'Viertel vor neun' mean?
Q3.Order the words to form a sentence. Start with 'ich'.
Q4.Which sentence uses the correct imperfect modal structure?
Q5.Translate into English: 'Warst du mit diesen Touristen?'.
Q6.Complete the following sentence using the correct imperfect verb: 'Du Spaß bei der Abschlussfeier.'
Assessment exit quiz
4 Questions
Q1.Match the German and English.
used to, in the past
there was, there were
was
had
quarter past
Q2.'Wir __________ früher den See'. Choose the correct missing verb.
Q3.Write in English: 'Es gab viele Touristen.'
Q4.Write the correct form of the verb 'to be': 'Ihr früher oft in Österreich.'
To help you plan your 11 German lesson on: Salzburg, Österreich: imperfect tense, extended writing (Edexcel), download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 11 German lesson on: Salzburg, Österreich: imperfect tense, extended writing (Edexcel), 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 4 German lessons from the Travel and Tourism: Wiederholung: Menschen und Orte unit, dive into the full secondary German curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.