4.3 Wahlveranstaltungen

Lektionsüberblick

One of the differences between US schools and those in German-speaking countries is the location of Wahlveranstaltungen (extracurricular activities) like sports and music. In the US, many if not most high schools have sports teams and a variety of musical ensembles. Überm Teich (across the pond), competitive sports teams and musical ensembles exist generally only in Sportvereine und Musikschulen (sports and music clubs), although you can find some extracurricular activities in AGs, Arbeitsgruppen (working groups) that take place at the school, but are not classes. In this lesson, we will look at these kinds of Wahlveranstaltungen as well as the role of student government and other school-age free time activities. In the end, you will be able to talk about 1) the sports, music, and other club activities you participated in and 2) your engagement with student government at your school.

1) Vereine und AGs

Look at the following slides and read about (and listen to) the differences in where extracurricular activities take place.

Now look at a selection of AGs (after-school clubs) from a variety of Swiss, Austrian, and German schools.
Want to know more about school sports in Germany? Check out this information.

Deutsch IRL

Here are some school webpages featuring their AGs

Want to go back in time and see how the Swiss youth of past generations spend their time? Check out these videos!

Jetzt bist du dran!

Hast du Schulsport gemacht? Wenn ja, welchen? Hast du sonst irgendwelche AGs gemacht? Wenn ja, welche? Using the modeled language above, answer the questions in your written journal, naming which extracurricular activities you participated in while in school.

When you are done, check your work. Then record your answers in your audio journal.

2) Demokratie für Kinder

Let’s start this section on student government with some questions:
Warst du Klassensprecher?
Welche Erfahrungen hast du mit dem Klassensprecher bzw. der Klassensprecherin an deiner Schule gemacht?
Welche Aufgaben haben die Klassensprecher*innen gehabt? 
Did you participate in student government while in school?
What experiences did you have with student government at your school?
What responsibilities did kids in student government have?
Now let’s look at the Klexikon entry about democracy for children and answer the questions that follow.
Now watch the video to learn about how student government works at the Theodor-Heuss-Gymnasium: Laura und Leon werden über die Rolle des Klassensprechers sprechen und was damit verbunden ist. Then answer the questions.

A fifth grade class at the Orientierungsstufe Findorff made this video with Playmobil figurines to show how the Klassenrat, the class council, works with Demokratie und Verantwortung im Klassenraum. Watch the video and answer the questions.

Deutsch IRL

There are many videos explaining how student government works.

 

Jetzt bist du dran!

Warst du Klassensprecher? Welche Erfahrungen hast du mit dem Klassensprecher bzw. der Klassensprecherin an deiner Schule gemacht? Welche Aufgaben haben die Klassensprecher*innen gehabt? Answer the questions in your written journal about your experiences with student government using the modeled language above.

 

Jetzt kombinieren!

In this lesson, you learned about1) the sports, music, and other club activities you participated in and 2) your engagement with student government at your school. Now it’s time to combine your knowledge!

Welche Wahlveranstaltungen an deiner Schule hast du gewählt? Warst du auch mal in einem Klub außerhalb der Schule?

In your written journal, write out a brief dialogue between you and the new friend you’ve made on your study abroad. What questions do you ask? How does the friend answer. What questions does the friend ask? How do you answer? You may be very tempted to write this in English first and then translate it. Resist that temptation! Remember that your conversation does not need to be precise. You cannot sound like you have been speaking German your whole life, when you have only been speaking it for a couple years. Use the German you know and the language modeled here.

When you are done, record your dialogue. As always, feel free to meet up with a classmate and record together.

 

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Deutsch im Alltag III: Gestern und heute Copyright © by Rebecca Steele is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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