Much like any form of learning, assimilating into a new language begins with building a strong conceptual foundation. This ties in closely with High-Quality Learning, one of the guiding principles at the FIS.
Our Grade 7 Beginners German class teaches students, who are new to the language, how to understand and communicate basic information about themselves and their family.
In their current topic, “Mein Alltag” (my daily routine), students have been acquiring the skills and knowledge to communicate in a variety of ways about their life in school and at home.
After learning the relevant vocabulary and grammar, they were asked to create a short video of their own personal daily routine. This incorporated some clips from home and some from school. The students also worked on a script that was shared with the teacher to allow corrections and feedback.
The students then made videos featuring their routine, and the final script.
Once finished and submitted, the class enjoyed watching these videos together and the students gave each other constructive feedback.
“The students really enjoyed working on their projects and having the freedom to be creative in their own way. They also enjoyed acquiring new skills like video-making. They really took ownership of their learning,” Katherine Jerdee, who teaches German at the FIS, shares her thoughts.
This task creates an authentic environment with themes relevant to the individual students. It encourages them to work on a wide range of important skills such as planning, organizing, time-management, technology skills, while fostering motivation, creativity, and a love for learning languages.
The above video is by E’mori March, Grade 7 German student. We learned he truly enjoyed this task and approach to learning. “Even though I messed up a bunch of times, it was fun creating the transitions in the video. I also liked being able to talk about school and home in German,” E’mori adds.
