A new resource on the Free Downloads for German page is the set of three domino games. These have the same vocabulary as the bingo games. Full colour and ready to print and cut out! These games may be freely distributed, as long as they are not modified in any way.

Use as one station in a "learning stations" lesson, or make multiple copies for whole class use. The cards can be used as a domino puzzle, where teams compete to finish first. As a game, the cards can be divided among the (2, 3, 5 or 6) players who take turns to place a card if possible. Any card can be used as the starting point.

Labels: games, german, teaching ideas, website, what-is-new

Thanks to those who made the suggestion of the grid lines, and to those who asked "What vegetable IS that?", I've updated the Occupations and Vegetables bingo games. So now for those of you who can't tell an artichoke from choy sum , the vocabulary is on the calling card, along with useful information like gender and plural forms. Check out the new versions on the German Free Downloads page.

The German translation and English dictionary pages have been given a facelift. There are new tools there and I encourage you to try them out!

Other minor changes have been made throughout the site, including fixing an omission in the English version of the fruit bingo game. See the ESL Free Downloads page for more information. Just a reminder if you teach other languages - these bingo games only have words on the calling cards, so the sets can really be used for all languages.

Holidays are coming soon, and a major update of resources is planned. Check back regularly, and if you have your own website, please feel welcome to link to any of the html pages.

Labels: all languages, English, german, website, what-is-new

Hatschi-Patschi is a nonsense word in German associated with sneezing (like "ah choo" in English). This game is useful to review any personal information question-and-answer pair.

Players sit on chairs in a circle. One player doesn't have a chair and is sent out of sight long enough for the others to decide who will be "Hatschi-Patschi". In a class of 30, it is good to have three or four Hatschi-Patschis.

The player who was out comes inside the circle and asks other players the predetermined question. The others answer the question. However, if the person asked is a Hatschi-Patschi, they have to include that word in their answer. This is the cue for everyone to get up and swap chairs. The player left without a chair goes out for the next round.

This can be a good getting-to-know-you game with Q/A of "What's your name?/My name is..." Ages, birthdays, favourite colours - almost any personal question will work. My grade 8 classes are doing a mini-unit about the Three Little Pigs, and we played with "Wer bist du?/Ich bin ...". Students had to choose a character from the story for their answer.

There are safety concerns with this game: There needs to be enough space, and chairs need to be stable. The players need to be able to be trusted to move around without hitting each other or knocking others down or off chairs. With the right type of group though, this is a very popular game.

Labels: all languages, games, teaching ideas

Canticum Chamber Choir's next concert is on Sunday 10 June at 3pm. In German will be Brahms' Liebeslieder Walzer, a setting of 18 songs about love. Other languages performed will be Finnish, French, Italian and English. More information is available at http://canticum.asn.au/concerts/calendar.php. Hope to see some of you there!

Labels: Brisbane, concert