Hey guys! Well, this post is going up a little later than I had expected this evening – being back on a normal schedule means that I have a not so much busy as awkwardly full Monday and, well, I should really start prepping these things the day before.
No matter, though. Let’s go!
Home. So this covers a lot of topics for your GCSE; for AQA it’s supposed to include special occasions, town, neighbourhood and region, where your home is and what it is like… It doesn’t seem to be mentioned explicitly in the Edexcel specification but for OCR it covers most of what’s in the AQA spec too, though relationships are also included there.
Again, it’s a necessity. Chances are you’ll talk about your home at some point in the future, no matter what language you’re learning. So let’s see how you can practise, shall we?
Listening
BBC Bitesize – Daily Routine [foundation] [higher]: Daily routine is probably included in this topic, right? There are also foundation listening activities on the topic of ‘My Family’ and ‘Finding Your Way’ that might be useful, no matter what your German level is.
Deutschlernerblog – Übung zum Hörverstehen Deutsch A2 – Heimat: This might be a little advanced, depending on your level, but it also seems pretty thorough. It’s all in German when you click through, but basically it’s four different people talking about what Heimat (home, homeland) means for them and there are interactive exercises for you to do after you’ve listened.
Reading
Deutsch Perfekt – Was ist Heimat?: Okay, so this article does say schwer at the top – but don’t let that put you off! It’s not too long and, to give you a hint, it’s just one guy talking about where he feel is home to him. See how much you can understand – and don’t be afraid to break out the dictionary if necessary!
Writing
nthuleen.com – Schreibprojekt 4: Meine Stadt: For this task, you should imagine that you have a friend coming to visit from Germany and you need to make plans for what you’re going to do with them. It’s all explained when you click the link and it’s suggested that you write 60-70 words – but I would recommend 100. I don’t know what the ballpark is for your exam, but it’s usually better to practise writing a little more, because at least that way you’ll write enough and you can cut some out!
German Resources – House: Much like for the post on free time, this site has a lot of useful resources for the topic of home. (It also has a lot of useful resources in general and is definitely worth checking out!) For writing, I recommend the bottom two links (they’ll download as .doc files): Writing a letter and writing task. There are also some reading/vocabulary activities you can do here.
Speaking
hometutorsuk – GCSE German questions and answers: Like I found before, here’s another document that’s been set up to help with German tutoring. If you scroll down to page fifteen, there are some questions that you can use to practise the home topic. The rest of the document will be useful for your revision too!
Again, sorry this one was a bit late! As always, if you have any comments/questions, then leave them here or feel free to send me an email. I hope this is useful – and see you next time!