Themenüberblick

In our previous Thema, we started speaking about things in the more recent past. For the next couple units, we will go all the way back to our origins to talk about our childhoods and traditions (Thema 3) and our elementary school and tween/teen years (Thema 4). Even as we talk about the past, we will often return to the present to compare our lives then with our lives now. Since many of our childhood memories are connected to special days, holidays and traditions, we will learn about holidays in Switzerland and other parts of German-speaking Europe. Other common childhood topics include talk about illness and injuries (who broke their arm doing kid stuff?) and childhood dreams (do you still remember what you wanted to be when you grew up?).

Before we move on to our learning goals for this Thema, we want to remind you that our class is not a courtroom. If there are parts of your childhood you do not want to talk about, then you do not need to talk about them. You can adopt a different persona or make things up. And anything you make up does not need to be consistent (i.e. you can have two sisters one day and only one brother on the next).

Here is an overview of the learning objectives for each Lektion of the Thema Meine Kindheit. At the end of each lesson, you will be able to talk about…

3.1 Die Kindheit

1. where you lived and what kind of family you grew up in
2. your favorite activities
3. your favorite outings

3.2 Damals & heute

1.  your personality then and now
2. your physical appearances then and now
3. your family members then and now

3.3 Krankheiten

1. increase recall of body parts
2. talk about typical illnesses
3. make a doctor’s appointment

3.4 Verletzungen

1. talk about injuries and their typical treatments
2. differentiate between an Apotheke and Drogerie

3.5 Kindheitsträume

1. say what you wanted to become then and what you want to become now
2. state other things you wanted to do, were allowed to do, and were not allowed to do
3. talk about the things you were able to do then and now

3.6 Feste und Traditionen

1. your childhood birthdays
2. giving and receiving presents
3. your birthdate and how you celebrate your birthday now
4. you will learn about a variety of birthday traditions in German-speaking countries.

3.7 Feiertage und Bräuche

1. your local festivals in comparison with Volksfeste
2. your national holiday in comparison with Nationalfeiertage
3. local autumnal festivals in comparison with Herbstfesten

You will demonstrate how well you have achieved the learning objectives with a Themenprojekt.