If you are able to have students email you work for feedback, there are a number of ways you can do this using MS Word (and presumably, many other word-processors):

1. Insert menu | Comment
Advantages: You can write as much as you want, pointing out the correction to be made and explaining why the correction is needed.
Disadvantages: Students need to be shown how to remove the comments if they are going to re-edit the document.

2. Tools menu | Track changes
Advantages: You correct the student's work and the word processor will show where changes have been made. This can be printed as well, or turned off if a "clean copy" of the document is desired.
Disadvantages: Students might not get the opportunity to learn why the changes were neccessary.

3. Tools menu | Compare and merge documents
Advantages: Like track changes, the word processor will show where changes have been made and what was there before the change.
Disadvantages: You need to remember to save a copy of the student's work as a new file before you start.

4. Use a marking toolbar (macros)
Advantages: Very fast way of indicating to the student where and what type of corrections need to be made. Makes the student review their own work.
Disadvantages: Needs to be installed. This can be tricky, but once set up, is as easy as selecting a word or phrase and clicking a button. This then highlights the text and inserts a comment about what type of error the student has made. See http://iteslj.org/Articles/Holmes-ComputerMarking/index.html for examples and downloads.

Some of these ideas I use in my own teaching, a couple are thanks to a colleague at a workshop yesterday.

Labels: chinese, ESL, german, indonesian, IT tips, japanese, teaching ideas

Some of my students find this song a memorable tool to work out which case to use for common prepositions in German:
(to the tune of "She'll be coming round the mountain")

Dative Preps are: aus, bei, mit, nach, seit, von, zu.
Accusative Preps are: durch, für, gegen, ohne, um.
An, auf, hinter, neben, in,
über, unter, vor und zwischen
take the dative when they say where something is
and the accusative when they say where something goes.

It's not my original idea. I'm sure I got it from one of the many wonderful people on the AATG list. I thought I'd share it though because I introduced it to yet another class today. Even those students reluctant to sing still find it useful.

If you are interested in more on the use of German cases, please have a look at http://www.germanteaching.com/ger-tip-cas.htm.

Labels: cases, german, grammar, prepositions, songs, teaching ideas

That got your attention, didn't it!

What is an essential part of language? Culture.
What is an essential part of culture? Food.

What connections are there between German and Asian foods? My favourite spice: ginger! Mainly used in gingerbread and other baked goodies in Germany, ginger is a popular flavour in various Asian cuisines. The culinary form is the same whether you buy it in Europe, Asia, Australia...

So why the soy? It is the basis for many Asian dishes, and has much regional variety: thin/thick, dark/light, salty/sweet...

So much of language learning is about recognising aspects that are the same and different between languages, whether they be vocabulary, phonetical or grammatical features or cultural patterns of usage.

Despite its address, this website is not singularly focused on German. It is hoped that a "dash of ginger and soy" will help make the connection between the language offerings here.

Labels: website

I am not against language change! I embrace new vocabulary that is created for new concepts and things, and am fairly tolerant of regional variations in spelling, pronunciation and grammar.

I despair though, when change is wrought because someone found an aspect of language just too hard.

This seems to be increasingly the case with the use of the apostrophe in English, that humble, hard-working piece of punctuation; marker of contractions and possession.

Why does this come to mind now? Well, five years ago was the last time I had to renew my licence to drive a car, that is, my "Driver's Licence". This week I received in the mail a letter from Queensland Transport, with instructions about how to renew my "Driver Licence". Some time in the last five years, the word "driver" has become an adjective, evidently. A quick check of Google's index suggests that this aberration is only endemic in Queensland and Tasmania, so far. An alternate grammatical explanation would be that the words in "Driver Licence" were so closely linked, that they formed one concept, much like "birthday party". Nevertheless, my licence from five years ago is called a "Driver's Licence", so some official change in language policy has occurred.

However, using an apostrophe for possession is easy! Just consider this: "the licence of the driver". The apostrophe goes after the "r": Driver's Licence. If we have a noun ending in "s", plural or not, then the apostrophe goes after the "s". In all cases, an "s" is added if there isn't one before the apostrophe.

More examples: The school of the children - the children's school. The hat of Hans - Hans' hat. The bikes of the boys - the boys' bikes.

Long live the apostrophe!

Labels: English, punctuation