ND Curriculum Initiative

Subject & Standards

Needs Assessment/Rational

Instructional Need: In teaching a second language, students learn language that will be useful to them in the future. My German II students have been learning verbs in the present tense, but do not know how to express themselves using future tense. They also need to be able to describe the world around them, whereas up until now they have learned to describe their world: their family; their house; the food they eat, etc. By learning the theme of weather and future tense, they will learn the global concept of prediction and also learn a little more about the weather in Germany and in the world.
Rationale:
Foreign language educators are now being taught to immerse students into the language, similar to their first language experience. The more the students hear and use the language the more comfortable they will be with it. With this in mind, students need to know how to discuss the weather; students need to be able to know what the weather will be like in advance.
If students go to Germany, they will need to know what the weather is like to be able to dress and plan appropriately. By practicing the language orally, student align their learning with the communication standards. The connection standards are achieved by learning information about weather, connecting their previous learning to other core classes.

Understandings & Goals

Enduring Understanding:
I want the students to be able to understand and express items concerning the weather. They will also be able to understand a simple way to convert temperatures between the metric and standard systems.
Students should be able to realize standard temperatures (body temperature, boiling point, freezing point, hot, cold, warm) in both systems.
I also want them to be able to express items in the future verb tense.
To start to be able to describe the world around them, students will be able to observe the weather in various areas.
Goal(s):
Learn weather terms. Write a weather forecast Learn future tense of verbs Understand temperature in the metric system.

Questions Answered

Essential questions:
How can I interpret the different weather symbols on a German website?
What is the weather like today?
How do I describe the weather?
What is the weather going to be like in the future?
How do I state future activities in German?
How do I convert temperatures from Celsius to Fahrenheit and back quickly and without a calculator?
How can I find out the weather in German for any city in the world?
Objectives:
Students will be able to describe weather in correct German. Students will be able to forecast weather for 5 days from a city in the world in German with few errors. Students will be able to answer questions about current weather conditions in German with few errors. Students will be able to use future tense of verbs correctly to express items that are going to happen with correct grammar. Students will be able to read and comprehend a German weather website to find contextual information to relate to previously learned knowledge. Students will be able to describe weather in the 4 seasons of the year in German with few errors. Students will be able to convert temperatures from Fahrenheit to Celsius and from Celsius to Fahrenheit approximately using a quick method. Students will be able to understand the differences and similarities between the Celsius and Fahrenheit scales by comprehending what numbers are equivalent in both scales.

Assessment

What quiz and test items (e.g. simple content-focused questions that require a single, best answer) will provide evidence of understanding?
  Quiz on future tense; Quiz on weather terms; Quiz on temperature conversions

What academic prompts (e.g. open-ended questions or problems that require students to think critically and then to prepare a response / product / performance) will provide evidence of understanding?
  What is the weather in a specific city in the worldfor 6 days (current day and the next 5 days)? What information can you comprehend from a German website to be able to present to your classmates?

What performance tasks and projects (e.g. complex challenges that are authentic, mirror the real world and require a performance or product) will you include that will provide evidence of student understanding?
  Students will create a Power Point presentation of a weather forecast for 6 days from a specific German city, using weather vocabulary and future tense of verbs. Together we will create a rubric to evaluate the presentations - students will check off items as they complete each required aspect.

What other evidence (e.g. observations, work samples, dialogues, student self-assessment) of understanding will you collect?
  Worksheets; Student generated conversations using future tense of verbs; Group response to questions

Instructional Strategies

I will use a project-based strategy for this theme.
Students will learn necessary vocabulary for weather and know how to construct future tense from previous classes. Students will work in groups of 2 or 3 and go to the computer lab to research weather in particular cities in the world using a German weather website. They will print out their results and then together develop a Power Point slide show to present their forecast to the rest of the class in German using future tense for the 5 days in the future. They will know the weather, minimum and maximum temperatures and any other interesting information from the website. Any creativity and extras are encouraged and rewarded with extra credit.