Lesson Context

In the 'Houses' lessons, the children began to use 'to be' to construct their own sentences. The following 2 lessons on 'to be' are designed to help the children become more proficient at creating their own sentences, no matter what the topic. In this lesson the children will quickly learn how they combine vocabulary learnt so far with the verb 'to be', specifically age, colours and countries vocabulary. The grammar and vocabulary is presented through fun activities such as 'secret signal', 'bean bag pass' and a walking to the correct country challenge.

Resources

Power point presentation

Hand outs which the children can take home for revision

The German name of 6 countries placed around the classroom 

Slide 2

Communicate LO and SC

Highlight the 'blue SC' and tell the children that prizes will go to children who perform well in the last activity

*You may want the children to practise 'colours' and 'age' vocabulary at this point. If you wish to do this, I have included the flashcards at the bottom of the page

Slide 3 - to be (sein)

Sag mir nach the vocabulary on the slides. Point out that 'are' in 'you are' is different to the 'are' in 'they are' and 'we are'.

Ask the children to make up their own sentences using 'sein' and see if the other children in the class can translate them 

Slide 4 - Secret Signal

Using the vocabulary on the slide, ask one child to leave the room and agree with the rest of the class on a secret signal, such as touching your nose. Choose a child to perform this signal at any given moment. Bring the first child back into the room and ask the class to say 'Ich bin' (the first item on the list) in a chant. Every time the class sees the designated person do the agreed secret signal, they move onto the next phrase in the list - 'Du bist?' The child has to guess who is doing the signal before the class gets to the bottom of the list. If the child who went outside guesses correctly, they earn a reward. If the class get to the bottom, the 'signaller' and somebody else from the class, earn a reward

Slides 5 - 6 - Age translation

5 - Translate number 1 into English. See if anyone can translate numbers 2 - 4 into English. Now see if anyone can translate 5 and 6 into German. Finally randomly select (and reward) children who can translate 7 and 8 into German

Go to slide 5 and explain that this slide is also on their hand outs, with room to write next to it. Give the children 5+ minutes to translate the 8 sentences into German and afterwards randomly select and reward children who translated correctly 

Slides - 7 - 14 - Bean Bag Pass

This is an extension to the bean bag activity from the colours lessons. The children have to combine their 'to be' vocabulary with their colour knowledge. Throw a beanbag at a child and that child has to combine the colour with whatever 'to be' conjugation is on the screen. For example if 'they are' is on the screen and the child catches a red beanbag, s/he has to say 'Sie sind rot'. Change the conjugation every 2 throws to keep the children on their toes 

Slides 15 - 16 - The countries (die Länder)

Sag mir nach the vocabulary on slide 14 and then 15. You will randomly select 2 children to compete against each other with the winner earning a reward. Say a sentence in English using 'to be' and the name of one of the countries on the wall. For example:

I am in Brazil

She is in Austria

They are in South Africa

The children race to the correct country on the wall. The first child to the correct country then has a chance of winning the prize. Say the sentence again and s/he has to translate it into German. Repeat several times, randomly selecting different children every time. 

Assessment and Evidence

Observe and ask questions

Refer back to the learning objective and success criteria after the 'Countries' activity 

Check achievement of the blue success criteria when you are on slide 15 by questioning and rewarding randomly selected children (using lollipop sticks)