These exercises (and answer sheet) are based on the short story 'Türken pflanzen immer nur Bohnen' by Gisela Schalk. The story is available in: Teichert et al. (2004). Allerlei zum Lesen, Houghton Hifflin. The short story as well as these exercises are suitable for (lower) intermediate students (~AS level). They would fit well into a unit on national stereotypes, character traits or a discussion on tolerance.

A listening comprehension task and answer sheet based on a Deutsche Welle podcast, which is available on youtube (see link on worksheet). The listening task is under 5 minutes long and suitable for (lower) intermediate learners of German (~AS level).

This is a brief compilation of some of the online resources, which may help students to maintain/improve their German during the (summer) holidays.

In this exercise students choose a German magazine/newspaper they would like to investigate. Either, the teacher can bring magazines/newspapers to choose from or students can use the internet to investigate online magazines/newspapers. The exercise begins with an individual reading/short writing exercise, then continues with pair work and ends with a general class discussion. This work is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0 Please attribute Livia Schanze when re-using.

This exercise is based on an article of the 'Frankfurter Rundschau' which is freely available on the internet (link provided in document). Reading the article/looking up unknown vocabulary can be given as homework, so that the class time can focus on the discussion itself. The questions should be used as prompts for discussion (first in pairs/followed by a class discussion). Depending on the confidence/ability of students, it might be helpful to give them 5-10 minutes to think about the questions and make some bullet points before starting the discussion.

In this exercise students plan a short trip through Germany in small groups, which they then present to the other students in class. As such, it is very much a research and speaking exercise. It was written to be used with laptops/computers and internet access available during class time. However, the research part of the exercise could also be given as homework and it could then be used in a more traditional setup. This work is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ Please attribute Livia Schanze when re-using.

This is an exercise that might be useful in putting students at ease during their first lesson with a new teacher. Students have to talk to each other to find out information. While this particular exercise is in English, it would also work well if translated into any other language. This work is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ Please attribute Livia Schanze when re-using.

This is a Vocabulary and Phrase test, which should take around 15 - 20 minutes for students to complete. It is based on the words and phrases introduced in Unit 1 of the Studio D textbook. It includes an answer sheet.

Listening and speaking exercise for intermediate to advanced learners of German (AS level and above); based on a 'youtube' videoclip by 'Loriot', which gives a humerous description of German christmas traditions; speaking exercise suitable for pair work

Pair work speaking exercise aimed at describing contrasting personalities; based on 10 pictures of a German newspaper comic strip (Strizz); can be expanded as a class discussion about stereotypes; suitable for intermediate to advanced learners (AS level and above)