G2.04 directions v15

2.4 Links, rechts, geradeaus

4. Links, rechts, geradeaus Directions

DVD: film 4

There are many German phrases you can use in asking for and giving directions. This section enables pupils to ask how to get to particular places or streets, and helps them understand very simple replies.

They will learn to be polite by saying “excuse me”, “please” and “thank you”.

Children will also be able to give German people directions to places in their own school or neighbourhood.

Street signs illustrate the directions: left, right and straight ahead:

“links, rechts, geradeaus.”

NEW WORDS AND PHRASES Directions

links - left rechts - right geradeaus - straight ahead

Film 4: Street sign for “Links”.

Then we see German children at a cycling school, doing cycling proficiency training on a mock road layout. The instructor calls out directions to the learner-cyclists.

Instructor: “Links...rechts....und jetzt geradeaus.”

(Left..right..and now straight ahead.)

“Nach rechts...Nummer 7 nach links.”

(To the right...Number 7 to the left.)

Street names

die Straße - street der Platz - place or square die Salzstraße - Salt Street*

*should you translate proper names? See Talking Point 1.

Asking politely Entschuldigung - excuse me, sorry Giving directions

Wo ist...(der Markt)?

Where is...(the market)?

nach links - (go) to the left nach rechts - (go) to the right dann - then entlang - along

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Film 4: Cycling school - “Nach rechts”.

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...die Salzstraße entlang (go) along Salzstraße das ist an dem Rathausplatz it’s on Rathausplatz ...an der Salzstraße ...on Salzstraße

PAUSE - part 2 looks at German street names:

Street names: next we see some streets in Freiburg, with their street signs (often with extra information); we hear the street names:

die Beethovenstraße der Goetheplatz

die Maximilianstraße der Rathausplatz

die Salzstraße

Flashcards CD 4 59

Early Start German Pack 2 Some of the streets are named after famous German people (see Talking Point; the street signs can also be seen on the Flashcards CD).

Geradeaus, die Salzstraße entlang.

Straight ahead, along Salzstraße.

Dann rechts....

Then right.... ...und das Rathaus ist an dem Rathausplatz. ...and the Town Hall is on Rathausplatz.

Planning your lessons Young learners will most easily understand directions in German to “left”, “right” or “straight ahead” if you reinforce them with physical gestures. If you face in the same direction as the pupils, it will be easier for them to mirror your actions.

Understanding and giving directions will use the words for places learnt in the last three chapters. Start with a little revision as a reminder.

Many of the games involve moving around the room and so it is worth making sure that you have plenty of space from the start.

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Film 4: “Goetheplatz” - sign with potted biography.

PAUSE - part 3 looks at giving simple directions:

Directions on a map 1: an animated person standing in Maximilianstraße asks for directions to Beethovenstraße: Entschuldigung, wo ist die Beethovenstraße?

Excuse me, where is Beethovenstraße?

Geradeaus, die Maximilianstraße entlang.

Straight ahead, along Maximilianstraße.

Dann links und das ist die Beethovenstraße.

Then left and that is Beethovenstraße.

Activities 1. Warm up

Children will need to remember the names for places in the town, which you’ll use in later activities. Your warm up could include games from Ch. 2.1 to practise naming places.

2. Watch film 4, part 1

❑ Watch part 1 of film 4: “Links, rechts, geradeaus” to introduce the new words for directions.

3. Get used to the sounds

❑ Echoing: You say “links”, pupils put out their left hand and echo the words. If you say “rechts”, pupils put out their right hand and echo the words.

If you say “geradeaus”, pupils take one step forward and echo the words.

You might find the Flashcards CD helpful:

Film 4: Animated map 2: “Wo ist das Rathaus?”

Map directions 2: someone in Salzstraße asks for directions to the Town Hall: Entschuldigung, wo ist das Rathaus?

M

DVD MARKERS

1. Directions - introducing new words 2. German street names 3. Giving simple directions 4. Written words Use the skip key on your remote control

Ask pupils to echo and gesture as above.

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2.4 Links, rechts, geradeaus “geradeaus 3”- take three steps straight ahead; “links... 5” - pupils take 5 steps to the left; “rechts ... 7”- pupils take 7 steps to the right. ❑ Give each pupil one of the arrow-signs from the activity sheet. You move around the room, asking pupils where different places are, e.g.

“Wo ist der Markt?”, “Wo ist die Salzstraße?”

Add “bitte” or “Entschuldigung” if you wish.

Pupils reply according to the arrow-sign they hold, also pointing in a matching direction.

KEY SOUNDS Listen and enjoy copying these typical sounds: where have you heard them before?

as in... geradeaus

heard before in Maus,

Haus

wo ist? heard before in Wohnung as in... rechts

heard before in ich ; compare with as in nach as in...

❑ Play “I’m lost!”

Platz heard before in Zug, Holz, Zimmer as in...

Straße, Entschuldigung heard before in Stadt, Stadion, Straßenbahn, Schule as in...

(Listen to the native speakers try to copy their typically German sounds.)

Flashcards CD 4

Make 2 sets of picture-cards of the places in town from Ch. 2.1. Mark out a simple floor map, with a straight road, three streets off to the left and three streets to the right.

Ask five children to place themselves on the side-streets, and a sixth at the top of the “main road”; each holds one of the pictures.

Select a “lost” child, who blindly picks a card from the second set to be their destination e.g. the Town Hall.

S/he stands at the edge of the map, and asks, “Entschuldigung, wo ist das Rathaus?”

The rest of the class point to the correct picture, and offer directions, e.g. “geradeaus”.

The lost child moves slowly, and changes direction on further commands, e.g. “nach links”, “nach rechts” or just “links”, “rechts”.

Every so often, ask pupils to swap pictures.

4. Respond with understanding

❑ When pupils are confident with “links”, “rechts” and “geradeaus”, turn the previous activity into a game.

Call out the phrases at random, gradually increasing speed. This time, pupils do not echo the words, but either put out their left or right hand or take a step forward as appropriate. ❑ Play “Robot” Direct pupils around the room by calling out “geradeaus”, “links” and “rechts”.

EXTRA WORDS bitte - please danke - thank you (thanks) danke schön - thanks very much

To practise German numbers as well, tell pupils how many steps to take in each direction:

Flashcards CD 4

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Early Start German Pack 2 1

cards so each practises asking the question and giving the reply.

“... it’s on X Street.”

In film 4, you hear another preposition: (...it’s on Rathausplatz) “...das ist an dem Rathausplatz” “...das ist an der Salzstraße” As in English, you can phrase this differently (e.g. ‘it’s in X Street’), with subtly different meanings. Like ‘in’, ‘an’ is followed by DATIVE* endings:

M | F | N the der | die | das on the an dem | an der | an dem

6. Watch film 4, part 2

❑ Watch part 2 of film 4: “Links, rechts, geradeaus” to introduce some Freiburg street-names. You could also see part 3 in one sitting.

7. Get used to the sounds

❑ Echoing: Show street-names on the interactive whiteboard. Pay particular attention to “key sounds”; pupils echo.

* ‘in’ and ‘an’ are followed by the DATIVE when indicating position in a particular place, as in this context; by the ACCUSATIVE when indicating a change of place.

NOTE: ‘an dem’ is often abbreviated to ‘am’.

❑ Play “draw the route” Each child has a sheet of paper, on which they follow your instructions to draw a route, e.g. from the school to the library.

Beginning at the bottom of the page, they draw a school symbol. If you call “geradeaus”, pupils draw a straight line slowly up the page.

If you then say “links und geradeaus”, they turn their line off to the left and then carry it on in the same direction. For “rechts”, they draw a line turning right, and so on.

An alternative is to ask the children to dictate a route for you to draw on the blackboard. You could add places that you pass as the journey progresses, e.g. der Markt, der Tiergarten.

❑ You could make flashcards for street names: e.g. those shown in the film, from near your partner school, or make up streets named after famous people.

Colour them blue and white for an authentic look. Show each street sign, say the name e.g. “der Rathausplatz”. Pupils echo the words.

8. Respond with understanding

❑ Play “where’s the street?”

Make flashcards for street names, and mark out the same floor map as for the previous game “I’m lost!” Again place children on the side streets, each holding a street sign.

Pupils take it in turns to reply to the question “Wo ist die Salzstraße?”, etc. They point to the correct street sign and say whether the street is “links”, “rechts” or “geradeaus”.

5. Working in pairs

❑ Make multiple copies of the picture cards from Ch. 2.1. It is worth sticking these to card if they are going to be used regularly.

One pupil has a set of the places, (ideally two of each ); the other has a set of the “left”, “right” and “straight ahead” road-signs cut from the activity sheet.

Each pupil shuffles his/her set of cards and places them face-down in front of them.

The first pupil selects a card from the top of the pile. If s/he selects “das Rathaus”, s/he asks, “Entschuldigung, wo ist das Rathaus?”

The other pupil selects a card from his/her pile and says “links”, “rechts” or “geradeaus” as appropriate. At a given signal, pupils swap

❑ Play “I’m lost! 2” Give the children standing on the side streets a picture card of a place (e.g. die Schule) as well as a street sign flashcard (e.g. Salzstraße), as described above.

This time the question relates to a place, e.g.

“Wo ist die Schule?” Some may be able to say what street it’s on, as in the film, e.g. “Die Schule ist an der Salzstraße” or “...an der Goetheplatz”.

Then they direct the “lost child”: “Geradeaus und nach rechts... die Salzstraße entlang”.

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2.4 Links, rechts, geradeaus possibilities for a correct response.

CROSS CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

❑ PE: the “Robot” game: You can adapt the game in a variety of ways: (i) If you are in the playground or on the field with plenty of space, ask pupils to run in the direction you call out, e.g.

“Geradeaus” - straight ahead as fast as they can. “...rechts” - turn and run to the right. “...links” - turn and run to the left. (ii) Agree a particular physical activity for each word (e.g. running, jumping, hopping). Pupils follow the directions you call out, using the appropriate physical movement, e.g.

“Geradeaus, 20” - run 20 steps straight ahead. “...rechts, 5” - take 5 hops to the right. “...links, 7” - take 7 jumps to the left.

❑ Copy activity sheet “Stadtplan 1” (above) for the OHP/ interactive whiteboard; or draw it on the blackboard. Choose your starting point on the map, then ask pupils to direct you to different streets, e.g. “Wo ist die Bertoldstraße?”

Pupils answer initially as a group, e.g.

“Geradeaus und nach links”. You can then ask individuals; pupils could also play in pairs. ❑ You can add pictures of places from activity sheet “Stadtplan 2”; and ask the class to similarly direct you to one of them. Follow the examples shown in the film, e.g.

“Entschuldigung, wo ist der Tiergarten?”

“Links... die Beethovenstraße entlang”.

❑ Drama: Pupils can use their puppets to practise asking directions and giving replies.

Encourage them to use greetings, and to end by saying thank you and goodbye. ❑ Language skills: Having given simple directions in German, ask pupils to describe the same journey in English to a non-native speaker of English (e.g. a foreign visitor).

This will help them notice the incidental language they use; also how speaking slowly, and using intonation, gestures and facial expressions helps make their meaning clear.

8. Look again at sounds

❑ Play “Find the sound” For this game (described in Ch.2.1) choose typical German sounds that you feel able to pronounce accurately. This is a variation.

Place a selection of picture-cards on the floor. (e.g. pets, places, colours and one or two street names introduced in this chapter). The children stand in a circle around the cards.

Call out a particular sound, e.g. “ (ch) as in rechts”. Pupils take it in turns to run to the cards and find a picture of a word containing the same sound - possibilities for “ ” might be Küche, Kaninchen....

This encourages children to listen carefully and discriminate between sounds; they process lots of information as they think through all the

Town Guide project

❑ Geography: Pupils could prepare a map/ plan of your locality (or the German town of your partner school is), and use this for asking and giving directions.

Recording and assessment

Children can record their achievments to date with “can-do” statements (after Ch.2.18).

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Early Start German Pack 2 Cultural awareness

Talking point 1

■ You could talk with children about streetnames in your town or district, and where these names come from.

Some are named after people who were famous or important locally when the street was built. Others are named after a place along the road, or where it leads to: “Station Road”, “Church Street”, “London Road”) You could swap information about street names with your partner school.

EVERYDAY LIFE IN GERMANY Street names and addresses

The word Straße is used wherever British people would use ‘street’ or ‘road’. Many streets in German towns are named after famous people; in film 4 we see Beethovenstraße , Goetheplatz and Maximilianstraße .

These street signs give information about the person; for Beethoven, we see the dates of his birth and death -1770-1827 - and his occupation - Komponist (composer).

When writing addresses, German people always write the house number after the street name, e.g. Beethovenstraße 26 . You may also see the words “Weg” (“der Weg ” meaning ‘way’) and “Allee” (“die Allee” meaning ‘alley’) instead of Straße.

There will always be a postcode followed by the name of the town, e.g. D79105 Freiburg. The “D” is only added when the letter is being posted to Germany from abroad, as you add “UK” to British postcards when writing from overseas. The system of 5-figure postcodes was introduced to help automate sorting and delivery in post offices. The first figures represents a particular part of Germany: e.g. 1 for Berlin, 79... for Freiburg.

■ Children could word-process a real German address e.g. your partner school. Select one to attach to a postcard of your town, and post.

Film 4: “Der Beethovenstraße” with potted biography.

The sign for Goethe also has his dates and lists two occupations - Dichter (poet) and Staatsbeamter (civil servant).

The third sign commemorates an important event in the history of Freiburg - in 1498 the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I held the Reichstag (Parliament) in Freiburg.

The other streets featured in the film get their names from the local area. Salzstraße was once the centre of the salt trade; Rathausplatz is where the town hall is, with a street sign written in old German Gothic script, see Pack 1, Ch. 1.10 “Das Alphabet”.

In many smaller towns, the most important shopping street is called die Hauptstraße literally ‘Main Street’, or ‘High Street’.

Film 4: “Die Rathausplatz” in Gothic script (see Ch.1.10)

RECORDING & ASSESSMENT

Should you translate street names?

Children can record their achievements to date on a “can-do statements” sheet (Find them after Ch. 2.18.)

Each child could add his or her completed sheets to their European Languages Portfolio.

In Early Start German Pack 1, Ch.1.4, we cautioned against translating people’s names, especially surnames. The same applies to street names; it’s helpful to know e.g. that Salzstraße is to do with ‘salt’, but many names will don’t have exact equivalents, and the street is really called ‘Salzstraße’.

Writing an address in German

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Links, rechts, geradeaus links

geradeaus

This page may be photocopied for classroom use

rechts

Š 2010 Early Start Languages

Stadtplan 1

Ich heiĂ&#x;e ...........................

Stadtmitte

1 km residential area

This page may be photocopied for classroom use

Š 2010 Early Start Languages

Stadtplan 2

Ich heiĂ&#x;e ...........................

This page may be photocopied for classroom use

Š 2010 Early Start Languages