Self & Friends

Basic phrases

Read and listen to words and basic phrases (for example Guten Tag, bitte, danke, Sprechen Sie Englisch?). You are given their English translations as well.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/german/quickfix/basics.shtml

Greetings

Good as a basic introduction: here you are given expressions to say hello and goodbye in German. (Of course, the times given are no set times but just given as a guideline.)

http://www.education.vic.gov.au/langu agesonline/german/sect01/no_2/no_2.htm

Greetings & short dialogues

Gap-fill exercise to practise short dialogues (ask somebody how he/she is, ask somebody for his/her name). Type the missing words into the gaps. For an introduction of expressions (with explanations and English translations) click on the second link here.

• Note that the verb heißen and its various forms are written with an ß and not with ss (you find the latter way of writing in the links given here).

http://www.babelnation.com/german/courses/01_01_exerca.html

http://www.babelnation.com/german/courses/01_01_1.html

Simple questions about a person

Seven simple questions about a person (for example Wie heißt du? and Treibst du gern Sport?). You can either type your answers in or use the questions for pair work in class.

http://webgerman.com/german/webexercises/fragebogen.html

Questions and answers

Find the right answer for five simple questions. You are given an example sentence at the top. Choose the right answer from the scroll-down menus. Click on Feedback to check your answers: right answers are marked with an R, wrong ones are marked with an F. Try again if an answer is wrong.

• Note that not all of the answers are whole sentences.

http://www.passwort-deutsch.de/lernen/band1/lektion1/aktivitaet02.htm

Questions and answers

Match answers with the corresponding questions. On the left you find a photo showing a situation in which a person is asked something or introduced to another person. Above each of the photos you find a greeting or a question. In the middle of the page for each of the situations you find five possible answers. Choose an answer by clicking on a letter. If your answer is right, an R appears, if your answer is wrong, an F appears – try again.

• Note that not all of the answers are whole sentences.

http://www.passwort-deutsch.de/lernen/band1/lektion1/aktivitaet03.htm

Introductions

Listening exercise to practise introducing people. Click on the arrow under each of the four small exercises to listen to the sentences (for example Das ist meine Freundin Petra. Sie ist dreizehn und ist sympathisch.) You are given these sentences in written form with gaps in them. You then have to fill the gaps with what you heard. Check your answers by clicking on Prüfen under the exercise. Right answers become bold, wrong ones stay as they were. If you get stuck, click on Tipp under the exercise for a correct letter. Note that since this is an Italian site, you are given the instructions in Italian as well. However, as you find the German instructions under/next to the Italian instructions, you can just ignore the Italian ones.

http://ospitiweb.indire.it/ictavagnacco/deutsch/Test_1.3/05.htm

Introductions

Quite challenging exercise to practise introducing people. Click on the arrow in the box on the left to listen to an example of introducing (a girl named Sabine introduces her friend Brigitte to her parents). You are given a picture and a description of a similar situation on the right and have to fill in gaps in a text in a similar way to what you heard before. You can check your answers by clicking on Prüfen under the exercise. Right answers become bold, wrong ones stay as they were. If you get stuck, click on Tipp under the exercise for a correct letter. Note that since this is an Italian site, you are given the instructions in Italian as well. However, as you find the German instructions under/next to the Italian instructions, you can just ignore the Italian ones.

http://ospitiweb.indire.it/ictavagnacco/deutsch/Test

Introducing oneself

In this audio (1:33 min.) a 15-year old girl introduces herself. She speaks about her family, pets, hobbies and future plans too.

http://www.audio-lingua.eu/spip.php?article1222

Information about a person

Write short information about a person in whole sentences. You are given a picture showing the name and the age of a person as well as the city he/she lives in and the flag of the country. Fill in the gaps. Use the correct form of heißen for giving the name of the person; use the correct form of the verb wohnen to tell where the person lives (give the city and the country). Click on Check to check your answers: right answers become bold, wrong answers stay and you can try again. Since solutions are not provided, teacher's guidance might be necessary.

http://www.yjc.org.uk/greetings/steckbrief_hotpots/

Favourites

1-page PDF file with gaps to fill in your favourite animal, favourite game/activity, favourite sport and favourite colour. This could be printed out and used for a class activity: everyone fills in the form and hands it out to the teacher. Your teacher can then read out the favourites on each of the sheets and you can try to guess whose favourites your teacher is reading out.

http://www.education.vic.gov.au/languagesonline/german/

Du or Sie?

The following three links are quite challenging and are suitable for more able learners. Learn about and practise the use of du and Sie through the exercises.

(1)

Here you find a text containing information about in which situations to say du or Sie. Under the text you'll find an exercise about the text:

You are given eight statements. For each of the sentences you'll find the beginnings of the sentences on the left and the second parts of the sentences on the right. Match the corresponding parts of the sentences.

http://www.multikultura.org.uk/german/u6/gr_u6_main.php?c=2

(2)

Click on this link for a gap exercise. In each of the eight tasks there are two sentences using either du or Sie. Read the sentences and choose a verb from the list above the exercise (the verbs are given in the correct grammatical form, you just have to drag them into the gap). Click on Prüfen to check your answers.

• Note that in this link sind in the box with the verbs at the top should be spelt with a capital letter. Note also that in the fifth sentence the verb should rather be begrüßen/begrüßt (which is more appropriate than grüßen/grüßt in the context of the sentence following). Note also that in der deutschen Sprachen in the first sentence of the eighth task should be in der deutschen Sprache.

http://www.multikultura.org.uk/german/u6/gr_u6_main.php?c=8

(3)

The link below gives you a listening exercise (a dialogue spoken rather quickly) in which a German girl who has moved to England a year ago and a German boy talk about the use of you in English and the use of du and Sie in German. Click on the play icon to listen to it. Click on the book icon to read the transcript at the same time. You could discuss the aspects raised by Marie and Max in class: What do you think? What are the advantages and disadvantages of having/not having formal and informal forms of address?

• Note here that Is in Max' first utterance is colloquial for Ist and that the order of dann and denn in Marie's last utterance is changed in the audio, where it is denn dann; both uses are correct.

At the bottom of the page you'll find questions about the dialogue. You are given eight sentences: for each of the sentences you find the beginnings of the sentences on the left and the second parts of the sentences on the right. Match the parts of the sentences and click on Prüfen to check your answers.

http://www.multikultura.org.uk/german/u6/gr_u6_main.php?c=5