Zoe Keck: TEC 912 Project
The topic that I researched was "Using music in the German language classroom." I was searching for ideas, and more particularly for specific lesson plans for using songs to help teach the language. My search was centered around songs and lessons appropriate for the secondary classroom.
While I found some excellent sites that were exactly what I needed, I also came upon resources that I thought would be very useful for my teaching, but not necessarily for teaching with music. I've included some of those here, because they will prove to be especially beneficial to my teaching.
Works Cited
Balsano, C, ed. "Incredibly Useful Websites - Foreign Language." 10 Oct. 2002. Downers Grove North High School Library. 9 May 2007 <http://www.csd99.k12.il.us/NORTH/LIBRARY/reference/fl.htm>. This site is, indeed, a library of important and useful websites for foreign language teachers. I love the hierarchical structure: first links to collections of lesson plans are given, then sites of particular interest to foreign language teachers, and then to collections of links by particular language. I find this very useful, because a lot of the pedagogy and even exercises and ideas are adaptable from one language to another. When I want something specific to German, however, I can access that very easily here too.
Becker, Jim, comp. "Super German Websites." University of northern Iowa. 11 May 2007 <http://www.uni.edu/becker/German2.html>. A huge collection of every kind of site imaginable having to do with learning and teaching German. Some of the links are categorized according to subject: history, food, travel, etc. However, there is a big miscellaneous category here that takes a long time to look through if you're looking for something specific. This is a great place to spend an evening browsing around every now and then, just to get some new ideas.
Caplan-Carbin, L. "Web German." The Language Webring. 11 May 2007 <http://www.webgerman.com/>. A very high quality site that directs students or teachers to sites appropriate for their needs. There are web exercises, Powerpoint lesson plans, interactive and animated grammar exercises, as well as links to information about German and Germany. This is a real find, because any help at all to make grammar presentations a little more interesting is greatly appreciated. Visiting the Germany Online Interactive section leads one to so many links about every subject of interest to language learners. There's even an easy link to music videos! A great site to visit often with students.
Chanda, P. "Download German Songs and Music." www.indianchild.com. 5 May 2007 <http://www.indianchild.com/Music/download_german_songs_music.htm>. A small, but useful collection of links to free German songs, music downloads, lyric sources, and even German song lesson plans.
Klapouchy, B. "Music Connected with the German Language." 29 Aug. 2005. 8 May-June 2007 <http://www.hudsoncity.net/culture/german/music.htm>. An unusual collection of important German music from a wide spectrum of times and genres. These are links to audio files, often with links to accompanying lyrics or further information about the artist or the time period. Very nice set of links to other related German language indices at the bottom of the page.
"Language by Language - German." World Language Center. 30 Jan. 2005. Language Learning Solutions. 11 May 2007 <http://www.edgateteam.net/wl/WLLanguage/wl_languages_german.htm>. An absolutely basic site for German teachers. This site covers all the topics: art, culture, food, travel, history, language learning, etc. Within each category is a very comprehensive selection of very high quality links. One topic among these many is Music and Songs, with links to all the best downloadable tunes, lyric databases, lesson plans ideas, and so on.
Lixl, Andreas. "German Study Trails on the Web." May 2001. University of North Carolina. 5 May 2007 <http://www.uncg.edu/~lixlpurc/german.html>. This is the Jackpot, the site that makes me wonder how I have been teaching without knowing about it. There are links here to hundreds of "interdisciplinary German resources on the World Wide Web," arranged so well that this site is super easy to use. Some of my favorites include links to German radio stations, to language exercises, and to German search engines.
"Music." 7 May 2007 <http://music.simpleresearch.info/germanmusic/>. On the left side of this site page is a list of every kind of music imaginable! The German link takes you to a page that links you either to free sheet music, free ringtones, or free downloads of music. The downloads are of particular interest to me for the classroom, as well as access to the lyrics in the sheet music.
"Music." abmmusic.com. 6 May 2007 <http://www.abmmusic.com/germanmusic/>. A fantastic list of links to everything you need to know about all kinds of German music. The links include commercial sites, blogs, listserves, free download sites, etc. There is enough material here to sort through for weeks.
"New Releases German Music." German Music Express. 11 May 2007 <http://www.musicexpress.com/bin/nph-main/wMeacSUeC1Nd.b>. A commercial site, simply a source for buying German CDs. Included here simply because it's often difficult to find the music one wants, if it's something that amazon.com doesn't have and one doesn't want to pay the shipping from amazon.de.
Putnam, C B. "C. B. Putnam's German Page." Foreign Language Teaching on the Internet:. 28 May 1996. Episcopal Academy. 6 May 2007 <http://www.ea1785.org/htm/Units/Upper/modlang/putnam/german/german.htm>. An older, but still good assortment of links to foreign language (and specifically German) newspapers, magazines, travel information, and other resources useful to the German language classroom. Nicely arranged for easy use by teachers.
"Resources and Lesson Plans for World Languages." 15 Mar. 2006. 6 May 2007 <http://www.cloudnet.com/~edrbsass/edwor.htm#german>. This site contains links to lesson plans in many different languages, including ones for German. Of particular interest are sites for cultural lessons - history, German Americans, German embassy information, etc. The links are very good, and take one to a large variety of lesson plans sites.
Schrock, Kathy, comp. "Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators." 6 May 2007 <http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/>. Discovery.com has long been a respected resource for teachers to access ideas and material. This page links back to the Discovery main page, but also presents Kathy Schrock's compilation of best links for teachers, and lots of information and links about judicious use of web resources. A great place to search for lesson plans and ideas on how to use music in the classroom.
"Teach with Movies." 28 Jan. 2007. Teachwithmovies.com. 7 May 2007 <http://www.teachwithmovies.org/age-index-11.htm>. An interesting collection of movies, with learning guides! This is just what teachers need in order to make good use of movies as a real learning experience for students. They are handily arranged by age appropriateness, subject matter, and alphabetically. These are not specifically German, but there are several movies included that would fit nicely into our curriculum.
"Virtual Foreign Language Classroom." 10 May 2002. VA community College System. 8 May 2007 <http://www.nvcc.edu/vflc/german.htm#language>. If I could suggest only one website to a German teacher, this would be it. This is the most comprehensive collection of good links imaginable. All the links are organized by topic - newspapers, professional organizations, geography and maps, cultural topics such as music, media, art, and so on. Included are useful links to working with German music, although no specific lesson plan sites are mentioned.
"Vistawide World Languages and Cultures." Vistawide.com. 10 May <http://www.vistawide.com/german/german_music/german_music.htm>. An extremely useful site for the German teacher who wants to incorporate music into the classroom. According to the site, this is compiled by people who have advanced degrees in foreign languages and who have all studied abroad. The quality of the material is exceptional, as is the easy organization. The links to music by genre include links to audio clips, to reviews, to biographical information, to information about specific CDs by specific groups, etc. It is a real motherlode site for serious work with music, including a lot of pop music.