Note:  This page is still under construction.  I will add to it throughout the year.  Please let me know if you have any ideas I could show here.

Vocabulary Games

Basket of Objects: A variety of objects is named and put in a basket or paper sack.  Use props, flash cards or pictures for this.  Then students compile a list in German to see how many they can remember.  The objects are then removed and the lists checked.  This can also be done by sorting objects into three different sacks for the three articles.

Battleship: Play battleship to review letters and numbers.  Have students make two grids of small ten by ten squares (use graph paper, if possible).  One of the grids is used to mark their own ships, the other they will use to record hits or misses they score on their opponent..  Have them write the letters A - J across the top, the numbers 1-10 down the left side.   Mark the following ships: 2 carriers - 5 squares each, 2 battleships - 4 squares each, 2 submarines - 3 squares each, 2 tugboats - 2 squares each.  The squares of each individual ship have to be connected.  They can be connected at a right angle but not diagonally. 
To play one student calls out a location to his partner, for example A - 9 (auf deutsch, natürlich!).  The partner tells the first student if it was a hit (on of the partner's ships was located here) or miss.

Bingo: Hand out blank bingo cards.  Students write the German word in the squares or draw pictures.  Teacher says English words or German (if pictures).  Commercial bingo cards are available from Teachers Discovery, 1-800-832-2437.  They are expensive ($15.95).

Crossword Puzzle:  Use graph paper.  Tell students to use at least 8 words to make a puzzle.  The German words go in the puzzle, the English words are cues.  (Note:  "Umlaute" can be spelled as ae = ä, oe = ö, ue=ü.)  Each student makes two puzzles, one "key", the other blank.  The blank puzzle is exchanged with a partner who has to solve it.  If you have access to the Internet you can make crossword and other word puzzles at www.puzzlemaker.com (or you can ask your students to use Puzzlemaker to make their own).

Flyswatter Game:  To practice numbers: the teacher writes numbers on the board.  Two students come up to the board and are given a flyswatter each.   The teacher (or another student) says a number in German, the students at the board hit that number with the flyswatter.
To practice articles:  write "der," "die" and "das" on the board.  The teacher or the other students say a German noun, the students at the board have to hit the right article with the flyswatter.
To practice other words: attach flashcards to the board (Plastitak or magnetic board).   The teacher or other students say one of the words in German, the students at the board hit the correct card.

Hangman: Play "Hangman" with your German students.  Review the German alphabet before you play, then make sure that students say the letters in German.

Human Typewriter: Hand out a set of cards with the German letters, one for each letter.  Teacher (or student) calls out a vocabulary word to the class.  The students act as a "Human Typewriter", spelling out the word by standing up and calling out the letters of the word in order, as they hold up the cards.

Letter People:  Divide your students in groups of four or five.   Ask each group to pick one word from the current vocabulary list and write it, one letter per sheet of paper.  Then groups exchange the words (with the sheets in random order).  Each group has to figure out its word and display it with the students lining up and holding the words in the correct order.
If you want to avoid using a lot of paper for this, laminate some sheets of paper and let the students use dry erase markers.  After the game the letters can be wiped off and the sheets can be used again. You can also hand out chenille sticks (pipe cleaners), one per student, and have students form their letters using the pipe cleaners.

Mini-Crossword:  Have students write one German word (the longer, the better) vertically on a sheet of paper.  Give them a limited amount of time to come up with German words which share one of the letters with that word and which can be written horizontally using that letter from the original word.

Pictionary (= Win, lose or draw): Write a German word on a piece of paper, then call a student to the board.  The student draws the picture of that word on the board, others guess what it is.  Since this can get very noisy it works better if you designate students who can guess (e.g. divide students into two teams, only one person of the team can answer) or have students write the answers and lift their papers for you to see.

Puzzlemaker:  Make a word puzzle for your students (crossword puzzle, scrambled words, "fallen sentences" or "sentence tiles") using www.puzzlemaker.com on the Internet.

Word Chain:  A students starts by saying a German word.  The next student has to come up with a German word that starts with the ending letter of the previous word.  Example:  Bleistift - Tür - Regen - nicht - Tisch - hier - Radio.

Worttanz:  Have 4 students come to the board - 2 teams of 2 students each. Have them link arms facing opposite directions (if you want to, have them link right arms so that they will write with their left).  Another student calls out a German word.  The student teams have to write these on the board as follows: one student of each team writes the first letter, then they spin around so that the second student faces the board.  They pass the chalk or marker to that student, s/he writes the second letter, then they spin around again for the next letter, etc.  The team which finishes first (and spells correctly) stays at the board, the other team is replaced by two other students.

Grammar

Articles:  Say the "die" words with a higher voice for a while and the "der" words with a lower voice.  Yodel the "das" words or do something weird with your voice.

Use an "Artikelhaus:" draw the outline of a big house with 3 rooms on poster board.  Label the rooms "die Küche", "das Kinderzimmer" and "der Keller."  Make small flash cards for the nouns you are learning and place them (Plastitak) in the different rooms according to the article (all "die" nouns go in the kitchen, all "der" nouns go in the cellar, all "das" nouns go in the childrens' room).  Put people in the rooms, e.g. die Mutter in the kitchen (sorry!), der Vater in the cellar, das Mädchen in the kids' room.  Make up funny stories about why the items are in these particular rooms, e.g. das Telefon and das Radio are in the kids' room, because the girl is monopolizing these; father is in the basement with the TV because mother got tired about all the basketball games he was watching, etc.

Make handmotions when you are saying nouns: teach your students "der Stein", "die Schere" and "das Papier."  Make a fist for the stone, a "V" for the scissors and a flat open hand for the paper.  Make these motions for all nouns you are learning.

To help your students to remember to add an "-e" to "ein" for female nouns tell them:
If it's "die" add an "-e",
for "das" and "der" there's nothing there.

Sometimes the nouns themselves give you a clue about the article:
If the ending is "-e" it's usually die,
if -en, -el or -er it's usually der,
it it's something little or -chen or -lein
it's got to be das all the time.

Cases:  Tell your students to remember RESE, NESE, and MRMN (say "merman") and SRSR (say "sirsir").   Nominative articles are RESE (R=der, E=die, S=das, E=die), accusative articles are NESE (N=den, E=die, S=das, E=die), dative articles are MRMN (M=dem, R=der, M=dem, N=den), genitive articles are SRSR (S=des, R=der, S=des, R=der).

Sing the articles according to the melody of "Dragnet":
der, die, das, die
den, die, das, die
dem, der, dem, den  -n
des, der, des, der
(If you don't know the melody of "Dragnet" call me and I will sing it for you.)

Subject, direct object and indirect object are agent, victim and beneficiary of the action.

Themes