Text Sets #1: Cultural Differences and Traveling in Germany

Text set Collection #1

Anton van den Berg

October 28, 2013

Topic: Cultural Differences and Traveling in Germany

1.               1. www.bahn.de

This website is the main site for Germany’s national train/rail system. It offers transportation in and around Germany, price comparisons, and cultural information. It is a 7-10^th grade reading level when translated into English.

2.             2. http://www.mitfahrgelegenheit.de

This is a similar site to the German rail road system website, but this particular site offers a different means of transportation within Germany. It is an organized hitch hiking website that I personally have used and is extremely helpful to get around Germany. It is affordable and safe transportation. I would put this site at about a middle school reading level when translated into English.

3.             3. Regions of Germany

This is a book highlighting the many regions of Germany and their cultural differences, which would be a great help to anyone wanting to travel around Germany. 10^th grade reading level.

          4.       http://www.eurail.com/?gclid=COTkucTauboCFSEV7AodwjUAsQ

This site is another transportation site that I personally have used. It is allows transportation throughout Europe during certain periods of time for varied prices. 8th grade reading level

5.       http://www.fodors.com/world/europe/germany/

Traveling around Germany can be difficult if you are not sure where you are going or what you want to do, so this travel guide offers cities, regions, cultural information, tourism hotspots, scenic locations. 10^th grade reading level.

6.      German Customs- book

This book offers a lot of good general information about German politics, culture, economy, holidays, cuisine (relative to the areas of Germany), and religion that would useful to anyone wanting to travel to Germany for an extended period of time. 10^th grade reading level.

7.      Modern Germany

This book is directed at anyone who is interested about life and society in Germany. It could be helpful to anyone traveling there. 9^th grade reading level

8.      German Slang

I love books like this that are not all about the more serious cultural things and more about contemporary changes to German culture, like German slang. A book like this could get you out of a sticky situation or help you communicate in a less touristy part of a German town. 10^th grade reading level

9.      http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/de(.html

This is an interactive map of Germany. For anyone who does not know the layout of the country of how it is organized, this map provides each of the 16 Federal German states, and you can click on them to find out more about each one. 7-8^th grade reading level.

10.  http://www.visitberlin.de/en

If you are looking to visit the capital of Germany, and its most culturally vibrant city, then look no further. This is the official travel/tourism site of Berlin. From here you can access tours, concerts, bars, clubs, and history of the city. 9^th grade reading level.

11.  Article-Rise in British tourism to Germany

This is an article backing up the popularity of tourism in Germany. If British people are visiting Germany at an increasing rate, you know that it is a hot destination, because the British and Germans are not the best of friends (from my experience). This article discusses many reasons why tourism there is increasing. 10^th grade reading level.

12.  Immigration in the FRG from 1945-2006

Have you ever wondered how diverse Germany is in relation to the United States? Well this book highlights many of the differing cultural and racial groups that migrated into Germany since the end of both WWII and the Cold War. This may not be a book you read for a 2 week trip to Germany, but it is definitely an interesting read for anyone who is curious as to why Germany is made up of so many immigrants and different racial groups now-a-days. 12^th grade + reading level.

13.  TOP 100 things to do in Germny

When I go somewhere new, I usually want to know what I absolutely have to do before leaving! This site is a list of 100 things that are considered MUST DO things in Germany. I can agree with about 50% of these things for sure, because I have in fact seen/done them. 8^th grade reading level.

14.  http://culinarytravel.about.com/od/internationaltravel/tp/FoodiesGermany.htm

As simple as this post is, It is so true and so informative. There a certain things in Germany that you have to eat no matter what when you are visiting, such as the first thing listed “curry wurst.” Little things like this are a huge help when trying to decide what to do on a trip. 9^th grade reading level.

15.  http://www.jugendherberge.de/en/

From my travels in Germany, the places I saved the most money were the places I lodged. Instead of going to a hotel, there are youth hostels scattered all over every city in Germany which offer cheaper accommodations with often times the same amount of comfort and convenience as a hotel. This website is a search engine for youth hostels all over Germany. 

Building Vocabulary: Response #7

Vocabulary is a necessity for anyone and everyone, no matter what they are learning. You cannot build a house unless you know what a foundation, symmetry, dry wall, concrete, brick, wood, drills, nails, hammers, etc are, and the same goes for teaching using vocabulary. It is the foundation on which you build a students knowledge. This is especially true in my subject are, foreign language –German-. You cannot expect a student to learn the language unless they get the proper understanding and exposure to vocabulary. In German, often when you are learning vocabulary, the task is especially daunting because nouns can be accompanied by 3 different articles (der –masculine-, die –feminine- or das –neuter-).

This chapter in our textbook offered many different approaches to teaching vocabulary that I found really awesome. Etymology and morphology can often be used with German words during translation, but German doesn’t lend itself as much to this method of learning and understanding as much as other languages. There are often a lot of false cognates in German that can throw many students off. With German, often the best method is simple memorization, and it is hard for me to explain this to my students, because some rules in German are just rules you have to know with no rhyme or reason (das Mädche “the girl” has a neuter ending). So having a personal glossary that you can refer to at all times is something that can be extremely helpful. 

Blog 6 10/13: Helping Struggling Readers

This weeks readings were both placing emphasis on giving students who are struggling with reading extra support. The readings discussed different strategies to do so. For students in foreign language, it is always extremely important to implement strategies that can help students grasp the content and understand the grammar they are reading. Some things that the readings discussed that I already attempt to use everyday are things like modeling. I model that the students should be reading the selections out loud and then taking breaks every sentence or two to translate the sentences, make them into conversationally correct English sentences, and then read them out loud again. The kids often are overwhelmed if we just quickly read the selections without any checking for understanding.

 I think being supportive is also something the reading really emphasizes, and I really think that it is necessary for students who are struggling with reading. In my class, if a student gets discouraged because they cannot pronounce a word or they cant grasp a grammar concept, if I am negative, or if the rest of the class has a negative attitude, it just kills their confidence and makes the problem worse. So if I can encourage them to take their time, find the problem they are having in the reading and correct it, then they will be much more encouraged and excited about reading in class and comprehending the language.