Exercise A, Grade 12 :

Concept Building with Introduction of New Vocabulary


     The teacher wants to prepare students to read the initial scene of the play.  Anticipating the cognitive problem from the main action of that scene, Beckmann's leap into the Elbe and his subsequent conversation with her, the goal of this exercise is to introduce metaphorical conversations.  This activity corresponds to demands made in the connections standard; it is cognitively demanding, since it requires students to link the concrete to the abstract.  A map of central Europe is brought into the classroom, and students are asked to identify two or three major rivers and the important cities on which these rivers are located, introducing a concrete activity furthering the culture standard, as well.  Students are then asked to speculate about these rivers.  "Was glauben Sie?  Sind diese Flüsse sauber oder schmutzig?  Riechen sie gut oder stinken sie manchmal?  Wenn ein Fluß sprechen könnte, würde er eine männliche oder eine weibliche Stimme haben?"

     The point would not be to have "right" answers.  The objective is solely to introduce key German language and cultural facts that could contextualize the action in this scene, as well as in many German texts that deal with rivers: the location of the Elbe, the Rhein, and possibly the Danube, their associations with major cities of Germany and Austria, and the fact of their names' genders (der Rhein, die Donau).  Students armed with this orientation, the "what" of the scene, can now be prepared for the potentially puzzling "wer spricht" of this eerie scene.  After all, the "who" of this scene involves two speakers usually not able to speak at all, far less to one another: the spirit of the Elbe and the drowning Beckman.

 Exercise B
 Grade 12 Exercise Introduction and Brainstorming