Die Sonne und der Mond: Instructional Strategies in Grammar for German-speaking ELs

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Die Sonne und der Mond Instructional Strategies
in Grammar for German-speaking ELs
Jennifer Meyer, Ed. S. Rutherford County Schools
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German Video
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Die Sonne und der Mond

• The words die Sonne and der Mond, or the sun and
  the moon, historically shared similar noun case
  markings or declensions.
• In Old English the sun and the moon were seo
  sunne and se mona Sun was feminine moon was
  masculine.
• While German has maintained this complex system
  of noun case markings, modern English is more
  simplified.

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Language Neighbors
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Cognates and German words we use in English

• Alarm
• Fisch
• Hand
• Finger
• Mann
• mild
• Verb

• Kindergarten
• Angst
• Gesundheit
• Blitzkrieg

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False Cognates

• Bad?bad
• After?after
• Mist?mist/missed
• Chef?chef
• eventuell?eventually
• Pickel?pickle

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Denglisch (Deutsch and English)

• Citydowntown
• Handycell phone
• Mobbingbullying
• Messieshoarders
• Beamerprojector

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Comparing Grammar

• Aspect
• Temporal flow of action
• German does not have the progressive aspect (it
  uses adverbials to convey aspect).
• Ich esse gerade ein Sandwich./I am eating a
  sandwich.

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Comparing Grammar

• Aspect
• English has the progressive aspect
• Present Progressive I am eating a sandwich.
• Past Progressive I was eating a sandwich.

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Applications for the Classroom

• The doctor is attending a conference in Nebraska.
  activity in progress (Glenn Gray, 2007)
• Der Arzt besucht gerade eine Konference in
  Nebraska. the adverb gerade just now conveys
  the same meaning as the progressive is attending
  in the English sentence
• In the first example above, a German-speaker
  would just as likely say The doctor attends a
  conference in Nebraska. Whether the statement
  expresses an activity in progress or a regularly
  occurring event (the doctor attends the same
  conference in Nebraska every year) would be clear
  to the German-speaker from the context of the
  rest of the conversation or text.

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Applications for the Classroom

• We are living in a trailer right now. temporary
  situation
• Im Moment wohnen wir in einem Wohnwagen. the
  adverbial prepositional phrase im Moment at the
  moment or right now expresses the same temporary
  situation as the progressive are living does in
  the English sentence
• In this example, a German-speaker might say We
  live in a trailer at the moment. While this
  construction is close to being accurate in
  English, most native English speakers will find
  this statement slightly off, but might not be
  able to say exactly why.

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Applications for the Classroom

• Helpful Word Lists

Simple Present Present Progressive Never used in Progressive
everyday now believe
always at the moment be
usually today know
often this morning love
sometimes need
never like
hear
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Think Pair Share

• Look at the picture and think about the
  differences between present and present
  progressive aspects.
• Talk to your elbow neighbordiscuss the
  questions.
• Share your responses about the effectiveness of
  this activity with your table.

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Comparing Grammar

• Tense
• German Uses simple past generally only for
  literature and writing. Present perfect is used
  in conversation. There is no difference in
  meaning.
• Hänsel und Gretel verliefen sich im Wald.
• Wir haben uns im Wald verlaufen.

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Comparing Grammar

• Tense
• English Simple past and present perfect have
  distinctive uses in English and change the
  meaning when used improperly.
• I ate a sandwich. (means yesterday)
• I have eaten a sandwich. (means just now, a few
  minutes ago)

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Applications for the Classroom

• Tom has had a bad car accident. expresses an
  event in the recent past, with a connection to
  the present
• Tom hat einen schlimmen Unfall gehabt. the
  German construction uses the present perfect like
  the English sentence
• Tom had a bad car accident. expresses an event
  that happened in the past and has no connection
  to the present
• Tom hat einen schlimmen Unfall gehabt. in German
  no grammatical distinction is made between these
  two grammatically different sentences in English

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Applications for the Classroom

• Vor kürzem hat Tom einen schlimmen Unfall gehabt.
  Er liegt noch im Krankenhaus. in the German
  construction, use of the adverbial prepositional
  phrase vor kürzem recently and the
  clarification that er liegt noch im Krankenhaus
  he is still in the hospital indicate that he is
  still experiencing the consequences of his
  accident
• Letzte Woche hat Tom einen schlimmen Unfall
  gehabt. the use of the adverbial letzte Woche
  last week indicates that this is an action that
  happened in the past and the consequences have
  all been resolved
• A German-speaker would in most cases always say
  Tom has had a bad car accident, regardless of the
  connection to the present. Just as likely is the
  expression Yesterday, Tom has had a bad car
  accident. For a native English speaker, this
  construction is inherently wrong. The adverbial
  yesterday is a clear sign for the need of the
  simple past.

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Applications for the Classroom
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Applications for the Classroom

• Word Markers for simple past yesterday, last
  week, last month, a year ago, etc.
• Word Markers for present perfect just, now,
  yet, etc.

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Comparing Grammar

• Verb Conjugation
• German very complicated, with different endings
  for each person and number

gehen to go Singular Plural
First Person gehe gehen
Second Person gehst geht
Third Person geht gehen
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Comparing Grammar

• Verb Conjugation
• English relatively simple, with an S added to
  third person singular

to go Singular Plural
First Person go go
Second Person go go
Third Person goes go
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Applications for the Classroom

• He, she, itdas s muss mit! He, she, itthe
  s has to come along! (Schwarz, 1997).
• Doch sei klugein s ist genug! But be clever,
  one s is enough! (Schwarz, 1997).
• Does he likes chocolate?
• With modal verbs, only one s is needed!

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Comparing Grammar

• Singular vs. Plural Noncount Nouns
• Some are the same
• Beans/Bohnen are countable. (one bean, two beans)
• Rice/Reis is not. (one grain of rice, two grains
  of rice)

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Comparing Grammar

• Singular vs. Plural Noncount Nouns

English and Singular German and Plural
news Nachrichten
information Informationen
furniture Möbel
United States Vereinigte Staaten
vacation Ferien
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Applications for the Classroom

• Practice
• Practice
• Practice

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Small Group Collaboration

• Create a short activity for Aspect, Tense or
  Conjugation
• Writing
• Reading
• Listening
• Speaking

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Questions
Jennifer Meyer, Ed. S. Rutherford County
Schools Eagleville School/Rockvale Elementary
School Email meyerj_at_rcschools.net Website
http//www.res.rcs.k12.tn.us/TEACHERS/MeyerJ/Meyer
J.html
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Sources/ResourcesRetrieved February 3, 2012

• Glenn, C. and Gray, L. (Eds.). (2007). Hodges
  harbrace handbook (16th ed.). Boston Thomson
  Higher Education.
• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FileVincent_Willem_v
  an_Gogh_128.jpg
• http//www.barewalls.com/ix-post-impressionism-sun
  flowers.html
• http//www.roebuckclasses.com/105/regions/europe/e
  urohuman/europeanlanguage.htm
• Meyer, J. (2008). A Comparison of German and
  English Grammatical Structures Applications for
  the ESL Classroom. (Unpublished graduate research
  paper). Middle Tennessee State University,
  Murfreesboro, TN.
• Schwarz, H. (Ed.). (1997). English G 2000 Band
  A1 für das 5. Schuljahr an Gymnasien. Berlin,
  Germany Cornelsen Verlag.