Summer German 1A/10A blog link

Here is the link to this year's summer session German 1A blog:

German1A10A

Wissen vs. Kennen - Supplemental Handout

5.   weiß/kenne

6.  wissen/weiß

7.  weiß/kenne

8.  weiß/weiß

9.  weiß/kennst/kennst/kenne/weiß

Final - German 1A - General Topics

The final will be held on Wednesday, July 30 from 6:00 p.m. > how ever much time you need but hopefully not later than 8:30.  

Here are the general topics, in order for you to focus your review and study: 

1.  Family tree terms

2.  Describing in complete sentences: things in your room/home, personal characteristics, favorite activities, questions re: renting an apartment, and things you need to have in an apartment or as part of an apartment. 

3.  Completing a dialog by writing grammatically correct questions.  Review question formation on p. 41 and p. 43.  It would be helpful to also review word order, p. 40 (and see video in previous post)     

4.    Personal pronouns: nominative and accusative. 

5.  Verb conjugation (fill in blanks).  Very important!  Sehr wichtig!  Review, pp. 36 and 71.  

6.  Possessive adjectives 

7.  Accusative pronouns

8.  wissen or kennen? 

9.  kein or nicht?  

10.  A reading passage. 

Assignment for Monday, July 28 - Review!

See the post following this for what to focus on in studying for the final.  For Monday: review each chapter: vocabulary, Grammatik, the Themen, as well as consulting "Das kann ich nun!" at the end of each Kapitel as a guideline.  

We will watch the Kap 3 video and answer the questions A, and B, which will help in reviewing vocabulary as well as practicing formulating questions and using wissen/kennen.  

We will spend ca. 30 minutes on each chapter, take no break and end class ca. 8 p.m.  

Strange but true: Birthday Customs in Germany

Read here for a description of some interesting birthday celebration customs in Germany or Austria.  Here's one that stands out: 

• The first German birthday tradition I’d like to share, serves as a warning as well: Never wish a German a happy birthday before their birthday. It is considered bad luck to do so. There are no well-wishes, cards or presents given before a German’s birthday. Period.

And about that Happy Birthday song: 

 The good news about learning a birthday song sung in Germany is that it is not hard at all. The reason is the bad news: The English version of 'Happy Birthday' is what is mostly sung at German partys now. Nevertheless, on occasion you will hear it sung in German and so here is the German version:

Zum Geburtstag viel Glück,Zum Geburtstag viel Glück,Zum Geburtstag alles Gute,Zum Geburtstag viel Glück. 


One traditional birthday song where sometimes the chair is being lifted up as everybody sings along isHoch soll er/sie leben. However it is being taken over by 'Happy Birthday' and is not so popular anymore.:


Hoch soll sie/er leben! (Long may she/he live!)
Hoch soll sie/er leben! 
Dreimal hoch! (Three cheers!)

Another birthday song that you will hear at times, expecially at children's birthday partys is the one penned by Germany's favorite children's singer, Rolf Zuckowski: Wie schön, dass du geboren bist.

The Goethe Portrait in DNK, p. 103

To all information-seeking and curious students, here is a link to a larger photo of the photo on p. 103 of Johann von Goethe.  There is also a description about the genesis of the portrait.  Of course, you will recognize something different here.  What is it?

German 1A: Assignment for 7/23/14: Kapitel 3: Familie und Freunde

Continue to work on WB/LM for Kapitel 3.  It will be handed in on the evening of the final on 7/30.  

P. 105:  We will watch the video in class, but it is always beneficial to you to have already viewed it once or twice.   

Sprache im Kontext, p. 105.   Read "Lesen" A, check boxes, B, check boxes 

Read Landeskunde-Info

P. 106: Zum Text:  Read "Saskia" and choose one other person then fill in chart "Zum Text" for just those two people.   Don't be concerned if you don't know all the vocabulary or don't have time to look everything up.  The important part is to get the gist of things and also use your powers of inference from context to round things out.  

P. 107: B: be prepared to discuss in class.  

C:  write 3-4 sentences about how you celebrate your birthday.  

Grammatik im Kontext: 

Pp. 100-101:  Prepositions with the Accusative Case: Read and study, including notes.  

Übung 10:  Write sentences according to the example/Beispiel

Übung 11: write the correct proposition to review in class 

Test, Kapitel 3: 

We will "crowd source" the test for Kapitel 3, listen and review the listening section, etc.  This will be a good chance for you to review Kapitel 3 material in advance of the final.