German Festivals and Traditions
Activites for teaching about German culture in Primary Schools
Book
NICOLETTE HANNAM and MICHELLE WILLIAMS
{German_Festivals}
£17.50
German Festivals and Traditions helps children to better understand how German children lead their lives. Comparisons are regularly made with similar routines and traditions in England.There is an event for each month of the year with each event containing:
  • background information
  • key vocabulary
  • detailed lists of possible teaching activities
  • optional photocopiable sheets
Ideas range from making cards and reading/writing poems to playing games and cooking traditional recipes.

Analysis grids show where and how the Intercultural Strand of the Framework of Modern Languages is covered, both by objective and year group.

The final section provides detailed plans for organizing a German Day in your school - an ideal way to raise the profile of modern foreign languages and enthuse both staff and children.

The aspects covered include:
  • Neujahrstag (New Year's Day)
    Heilige Drei Könige (The Three Holy Kings)
  • Karneval (Carnival time)
    Valentinstag (Saint Valentine's Day)
    Die Berlinale (The Berlin International Film Festival)
  • Die Märchen (Fairy Tales)
    Das Essen (German Food)
  • Ostern (Easter)
    Erster April (1st April/April Fool's Day)
  • Tag der Arbeit (Mary Day/Labour Day)
    Muttertag (Mother's Day)
  • Sommersonnenwende (Summer Solstice)
    Viel Glück zum Geburtstag (Happy Birthday)
  • German festivals
    German symbols
  • Planning a holiday)
    How is German culture incorporated into our everyday life?
  • A typical school day in Germany
    Comparing pastimes and everyday life
    German wine
  • Halloween
    Tag der Deutschen Einheit (German Unity Day)
    Oktoberfest
  • Comparing buildings and places
    Martinstag (Saint Martin's Day))
    Challenging stereotypes
    Role models for children
  • Weihnachten (Christmas)
For the pupil, German Festivals and Traditions:
  • gives clear examples of significant aspects of German culture
  • is full of fun activities that relate to all sorts of social and occupational ways of life, pastimes etc
  • develops his/her sense of context through numerous intercultural comparisons
  • helps to foster positive attitudes towards other cultures
  • helps develop a better sense of his/her own culture as he/she now has another one to compare it with
  • makes the learning of the German language more meaningful
Copy of "Contents", "Introduction", "Analysis by Year Group"and "Successful teaching ideas for new vocabulary" pages. ("Analysis by Objective" not shown)
There's lots of useful information to help when organising a German Day in your school
{German_Festivals_composite1}
You can see at a glance where the objectives are convered in the book for each year through KS1 and KS2
(Not shown here in "Analysis by Objective" sesction; you can see where the various interculatural learning objectives are covered in the book).
Copy of Unit 3 (March)
There is one chapter for each month of the year
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There are useful suggestions to help with the learning of new vocabulary
Return to "German Materials"