Teaching Resource: Pop from Germany
Pop from Germany – Lesson Ideas
The five tracks are from contemporary music artists in Germany and cover different genres from indie, hip-hop and rap. More often than not the genres overlap and therefore invite students to compare them to music they know and like.
The aim of the teaching unit is to encourage students to give their opinion on the individual tracks and express their preferences. A support sheet has been added to enable students to form sentences / paragraphs.
Each track comes with a video clip (you tube) as well as a lyrics sheet with a link to the artist’s website and a listening activity. The individual activities are adaptable depending on group size and can either be done individually, in pairs or in small groups.
TRACK 1 – Namika, Lieblingsmensch (2015)
Introduce the artist briefly. For groups with a more basic knowledge of German focussing on the chorus will yield the best outcome. Distribute pieces of card - one key word from the chorus per student / pair (see prepared cards, list of words can be extended). Introduce these words in class prior to listening to the song, making sure the individual words are pronounced accurately. Then play the video clip, asking students to raise their word(s) once they hear it. As the chorus is played several times, students get more confident about the order of the words and once the clip has finished the order can be agreed in the plenary: e.g. by students lining up and agreeing order amongst themselves. Then hand out the lyrics sheet and compare. Encourage students to sing along when you play the video clip the second time. Extension: Attempt a group translation of the chorus.
For groups that are more confident in their use of German, the listening task can be extended to / replaced by a sorting activity. Each pair / small group receives a pack of 9 laminated cards featuring pictures to represent words or contexts from the song. Whilst listening, students bring them into the correct order as they appear in the song. Discuss in plenary, stopping and resuming the music as necessary.
After the listening: Individuals / groups fill in the ratings sheet and write down sentences to express their opinion on the song and the video clip. This could also be a speaking activity within the groups, with a spokesperson summarising their verdict in a plenary at the end of the teaching unit.
TRACK 2 – JORIS, Sommerregen (2015)
Introduce the artist briefly. The lyrics are very repetitive in nature and a simple activity is to allocate individual words to students so they have to count how many times they can hear them whilst watching the video clip. AUGEN – HAND – TANZEN – REGEN are the obvious words. Then hand out the lyrics sheet and compare. Encourage students to sing along when you play the video clip the second time.
A creative task could be to replace the body parts and activities in the chorus with alternatives, e.g. Dann heb’ die Arme hoch und klatsch’. Please see vocabulary grid for this part of the activity. Opportunities for integrated grammar: separable verbs and imperatives (informal).
After the listening: Individuals / groups fill in the ratings sheet and write down sentences to express their opinion on the song and the video clip. This could also be a speaking activity within the groups, with a spokesperson summarising their verdict in a plenary at the end of the teaching unit.
TRACK 3 – MOOP MAMA, Die Stadt, die immer schläft (2014)
Recommended for GCSE groups+ / higher ability Year 9.
Introduce the artist briefly. It is worth mentioning that the band’s trademark or signature feature is the megaphone. As they tend to perform spontaneously in public spaces, the megaphone has got them into trouble with the police several times.
The video is based on a sequence of everyday activities and therefore lends itself to a verb / sentence based exercise. Prior to viewing: Distribute sentences amongst the group (two per person, several per pair / small group). Ensure the students know the meaning of each of their sentences. Translation by recognition (cognates) is the strategy best employed here. Make students aware of this useful survival technique.
The key is that the students all work together towards reconstructing the sequence of activities as it unfolds in the video. To that end, students add their sentences one after the other to the middle of the table or on the floor to make a whole. It is recommended to play the video twice, maybe halt it in intervals to check the order of sentences so far.
After the listening: Individuals / groups fill in the ratings sheet and write down sentences to express their opinion on the song and the video clip. This could also be a speaking activity within the groups, with a spokesperson summarising their verdict in a plenary at the end of the teaching unit.
Warning: The video shows one young woman smoking a joint and there is one scene of love-making.
TRACK 4 – CRO, Einmal um die Welt (2012)
Introduce the artist briefly. The artist’s trademark is the panda mask he wears in every gig and in every video. A good lesson starter would be to collect ideas as to why the artist wears a mask and why a panda. Encourage students to say which animal they would choose.
As the lyrics are sung very fast (=rap style), the following activity is recommended for higher ability groups in Year 9 or at GCSE level+. Each pair / small group receives a pack of 9 laminated cards featuring pictures to represent words or contexts from the song. Whilst listening, students bring them into the correct order as they appear in the song. Discuss in plenary, stopping and resuming the music as necessary. When discussing the order, students could be encouraged to use sequencing devices, e.g.: zuerst / danach / dann / anschließend / am Schluss / zuletzt.
After the listening: Individuals / groups fill in the ratings sheet and write down sentences to express their opinion on the song and the video clip. This could also be a speaking activity within the groups, with a spokesperson summarising their verdict in a plenary at the end of the teaching unit.
TRACK 5 – VON WEGEN LISBETH, Lang Lebe die Störung im Betriebsablauf.
Introduce the artist briefly. The title and the video lend themselves to exemplify one of the main characteristics of the German language: its compound nature and the resourcefulness associated with it. This linguistic principle is best illustrated by the formation of compound nouns, which in itself mirrors an integral part of German-ness: being technically minded, logical and immensely creative.
Introduce the following compound nouns to the students, encouraging them first of all to guess the meaning in pairs, starting with the individual components of the compound word. Students then watch the video and sort the nouns in the order they appear in the video.
| die Betonlandschaft | 9/6/2016 |
| der Heimtrainer | der Bahnübergang |
| der Fahrstuhl | der U-Bahnhof |
| die Rolltreppe | das Überholmanöver |
| die Flugzeuglandebahn | die Plattenbausiedlung |
| das Brückengeländer | die Mauerreste |
| die Autoschlange | der Fußgängerweg / der Radfahrweg |
| das Kopfsteinplaster | der Baustellenbereich |
After the listening: Individuals/groups fill in the ratings sheet and write down sentences to express their opinion on the song and the video clip. This could also be a speaking activity within the groups, with a spokesperson summarising their verdict in a plenary at the end of the teaching unit.