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Word! The Language Column

Gender-Neutral German: Asterisk or Underscore?

What’s the best way to include all gender identities when writing in German? This question has caused quite a stir in the German-speaking world.

Illustration: Speech bubble with underline © Goethe-Institut e. V./Illustration: Tobias Schrank © Goethe-Institut e. V./Illustration: Tobias Schrank

  • Die Sprachkolumne

    Rettet alte Schimpfwörter!

    Manchmal ist es besser, seinem Ärger Luft zu machen, als alles in sich hineinzufressen, meint Hasnain Kazim – und erklärt, dass richtiges Schimpfen eine Kunst ist. Für die man gutes Handwerkszeug benötigt: gepflegte Beleidigungen mit regionaler oder historischer Note.

    Manchmal ist es besser, seinem Ärger Luft zu machen, als alles in sich hineinzufressen. © Syda Productions/Colourbox © Syda Productions/Colourbox

  • Die Sprachkolumne

    Servus und Salam

    Lieber einmal zu viel als zu wenig grüßen, meint unser neuer Kolumnist Hasnain Kazim, Journalist und Autor. Zwar unterscheiden sich Grußformeln landauf, landab. Aber immer signalisieren sie Respekt und Freundlichkeit – wovon es nie genug geben kann.

    Lieber einmal zu viel als zu wenig grüßen. Zwar unterscheiden sich Grußformeln landauf, landab. Aber immer signalisieren sie Respekt und Freundlichkeit – wovon es nie genug geben kann. Foto: Coloubox / Syda Productions Foto: Coloubox / Syda Productions

  • Tradition

    Karneval – lasst den Spaß beginnen!

    Frühling, Sommer, Herbst, Winter und... Karneval! Man wundert sich auf der ganzen Welt, dass es im sonst so anständigen und geregelten Deutschland nicht vier, sondern fünf Jahreszeiten gibt.

    Karneval © Panthermedia/Salih Külçü © Panthermedia/Salih Külçü

  • Word! The Language Column

    Much ado about spelling: The tumultuous German spelling reform

    The wrangling about the German spelling reform in the 1990s could hardly have been more acrimonious. What caused this heated row in the German press and public administration, in schools and even in barrooms? Our columnist Henning Lobin recaps the tumultuous history of this controversial reform.

    Illustration: An open book, above it a speech bubble with exclamation mark © Goethe-Institut e. V./Illustration: Tobias Schrank © Goethe-Institut e. V./Illustration: Tobias Schrank

  • Word! The Language Column

    Words That Make Waves

    Why do certain words stir up powerful emotions? Needless to say, Duden dictionary editor Kathrin Kunkel-Razum has other worries right now, in the throes of the coronavirus crisis. But  the word in question is about hope for the future.

    Illustration: A jagged red speech bubble without content © Goethe-Institut e. V./Illustration: Tobias Schrank © Goethe-Institut e. V./Illustration: Tobias Schrank

Word! The Language Column

Word! The Language Column © Goethe-Institut e. V./Illustration: Tobias Schrank © Goethe-Institut e. V./Illustration: Tobias Schrank

Berufssprache

  • Die Sprachkolumne

    Achtung, Fachsprache!

    Der Zweck sprachlicher Kommunikation sollte doch darin bestehen, verstanden zu werden. Meint Hasnain Kazim und stellt deshalb vielen Fachsprachen kein gutes Zeugnis aus. Manchmal hilft da nur eines: übersetzen.

    Manche Ärztinnen und Ärzte scheinen hin und wieder zu vergessen, dass die meisten Menschen keine Ärztinnen und Ärzte sind. Immerhin genügt oft eine Nachfrage, dann ist man im Bilde. Foto #236681, Colourbox Foto #236681, Colourbox

  • Die Sprachkolumne

    „Ich versteh bloß Bahnhof!“

    Der deutsche Sprachraum ist reich an Dialekten. Die sorgen für Unterschiede und Vielfalt, was Hasnain Kazim sehr gut gefällt. Auch wenn er als Norddeutscher nicht immer auf Anhieb heraushört, was jemand aus dem Süden des Landes von ihm will.

    Bahnhof in Köln Foto Vichaya Kiatying-Angsulee, Colourbox Foto Vichaya Kiatying-Angsulee, Colourbox

  • Job Application

    Classifying Knowledge of German on a CV

    Language skills, of course, have to be mentioned whenever people apply for a job. But what is the correct way to describe them?

    A knowledge of a language is often a requirement for the job. Photo (detail): © Photographee.eu – Fotolia.com Photo (detail): © Photographee.eu – Fotolia.com

Deutsch im Beruf

Wie spezifisch müssen berufssprachliche Kenntnisse sein, wie kann man sie erwerben und wie weist man sie nach? Das Dossier widmet sich diesen Fragen aus verschiedenen Perspektiven.

Eine Reihe von sechs Bildern von Menschen im Profil, die Berufe symbolisieren. © Adobe Stock © Adobe Stock

Für Lehrende

  • Pluricentric Cultural Studies in German Teaching

    The Goal Is Just One Possible Approach

    Moin, Servus or Grüezi (“hello!” in North Germany, Bavaria/Austria, and German-speaking Switzerland respectively)? Möhre, Karotte or Rüebli (regional words for “carrot”)? Is it die or das Mail (“email”)? All these words and forms are correct. And they are expressions of how varied the German-speaking world is, both linguistically and culturally – a reality that ought to be reflected in German teaching. But how to go about it?

    The words Hallo, Moin and Servus on a typewriter keyboard © Adobe Stock © Adobe Stock

  • Lastingly boosting motivation

    Developing teachers’ potential

    Teachers face challenges every day at work. Studies show a particularly high level of psychological stress in the teaching profession. Hence the high incidence of burnout among their ranks. So how can we stave off stress while keeping teachers motivated and enthusiastic about their jobs year after year?

    Man jumping over the rocks Alex Radelich © Unsplash Alex Radelich © Unsplash

  • Language learning with video

    Using video in modern-day foreign language teaching

    Is every video suitable for the reception of multimodal texts in a foreign language? What types of video are currently being produced for use in teaching German? This article provides a brief outline of videos most widely used in German teaching and a look at the multimodal presentation of video content.

    Learning with a Video © Adobe Stock © Adobe Stock

  • Out-of-school learning environments

    Let's get out of the classroom!

    German lessons in the local park? A class excursion to a department store or shopping centre? A visit to a library, museum or zoo? A look inside the German embassy, or simply a stroll through the city? Your learners will be grateful, as new learning environments provide a change of scene, arouse interest and curiosity and increase motivation.

    Deutschlernen im Park © adobe.stock © adobe.stock

  • Film in foreign language teaching

    FILM AB! CAMERAS ROLL!

    Films offer a huge potential for the teaching of foreign languages. They have a motivating effect on learners.

    online video player © adobe.stock © adobe.stock

  • Literature in GFL lessons

    The sorrows of young Werther – how to approach a classic

    Goethe’s “Die Leiden des jungen Werther” (The sorrows of young Werther) is a classic of world literature. But it also typifies the sorrows of learners dealing with set books school or university.

    Aktivačný potenciál klasika © adobe stock © adobe stock

  • Video production in the classroom

    Learners behind the camera

    You must have incorporated a video into your lesson at some point? But have learners ever produced videos of their own in your classroom? These tips and tutorial film clips will help you to try this out in lessons.

    Producing their own videos for lessons motivates learners. Photo (detail): Rasulov © Adobe Stock Photo (detail): Rasulov © Adobe Stock

  • DLL – Learning How To Teach German

    “I felt very well looked after”

    If you teach, you have to keep learning yourself. This is something the participants of the DLL training course series are fully aware of. What were they most impressed by? And how did they implement what they learned in the classroom situation?

    Rahel Kuert really liked the modern approach. Photo (detail): © Private Photo (detail): © Private

  • When teachers go back to school

    “Continuing education must be in-depth”

    Anyone who wants to teach schoolchildren needs to go back to school themselves from time to time. But what makes for good continuing education? What can it actually achieve? And how is continuing education changing in the digital age? We put these questions to education expert Frank Lipowsky.

    Feedback phases and teamwork play an important role in good continuing education. Photo (detail): © Woodapple – Fotolia.com Photo (detail): © Woodapple – Fotolia.com

  • Formualic phrases

    Learning in chunks

    When the subject of vocabulary comes up, learners tend to think of seemingly endless lists of individual words that need to be learnt by rote. In fact, however, the foreign language in question often features many formulaic phrases with specific meanings that are well worth looking at more closely, partly because of their cultural connotations.

    Bean counters often do not see the wood for the trees. Photo: © complize – photocase.de Photo: © complize – photocase.de

  • Handwriting

    “A lot of positive transfer effects”

    Many pupils have problems with their handwriting and adults usually type everything on keyboards. When handwriting is properly taught, however, it can bring about many advantages – even for the teaching of foreign languages, says Christian Marquardt, an expert in the field of writing motor skills.

    When pupils write new words by hand, they remember them better. Photo (detail): © Syda Productions - Fotolia.com Photo (detail): © Syda Productions - Fotolia.com

  • Learner autonomy and learning strategies

    Strategies promote learning

    Learning strategies are important tools for controlling and optimising the acquisition and use of a foreign language. Regular strategy training helps learners to become more independent. You can try this out for yourself too, with the help of the specific tips and teaching resources.

    chessboard Photo (detail): © bizoo_n - Fotolia.com Photo (detail): © bizoo_n - Fotolia.com

  • Flipped classroom

    Language learning by video message

    How does the German “ü” sound? How is a passive sentence constructed? German learners find out in specialized books – or in explanatory videos made by teachers.

    Flipped Learning with videos Photo (detail): © Andrey Popov - Fotolia.com Photo (detail): © Andrey Popov - Fotolia.com

  • Music in the classroom

    Rapping for language confidence

    Rap – Rhythm and Poetry – has huge potential for foreign language teaching. The precise rhythm and clear pronunciation present learners with a challenge at first, but then bring them on. You too can bring the chant of rap music into your learning space with the exercises shown here.

    Having fun with rhythm and sound helps improve presentation skills. Photo: © Matthias Perner Photo: © Matthias Perner

  • Multilingual Didactics

    Thinking Outside the Box

    The Framework of Reference for Pluralistic Approaches to Languages and Cultures serves as the basis for teaching and learning processes in the promotion of multilingual and intercultural skills. How can it be integrated into the teaching of German as a foreign language?

    Intercultural learning processes make the students curious Photo (detail) © Andrey Popov - Fotolia.com Photo (detail) © Andrey Popov - Fotolia.com

  • Worksheets for the Classroom

    Struktur, Form und Inhalte

    Worksheets help learners to engage more thoroughly with specific elements of a foreign language – both in the classroom and at home. This only works if the worksheets are well-designed, however. This is easily achieved with the right structure and a few tricks.

    Selembaran untuk di kelas © Goethe-Institut/Kai-Uwe Oesterhelweg © Goethe-Institut/Kai-Uwe Oesterhelweg

  • Informationsveranstaltung für Studierende

    Deutsch attrAktiv

    Deutsch einfach, schnell und online. Die Veranstaltung Deutsch attrAktiv inspirierte auch in diesem Jahr angehende Deutschlehrer*innen.
     

    Schriftzug Deutsch attraktiv in grün blau © Deutsch attraktiv © Deutsch attraktiv

  • Ten Years of PASCH

    Goethe’s Secret Formula

    2,000 schools, 600,000 pupils and a flourishing network: The PASCH Initiative is ten years old. A success story.

    Munich is the first of 30 stops: Secretary-General Ebert in the PASCH Mobile (Photo: Cordula Flegel) Photo: Cordula Flegel Photo: Cordula Flegel

Aktuelle Themen im DaF-Unterricht

Hier finden Sie monatlich neu Lese- und Hörtexte mit Übungen zu aktuellen Themen aus „Presse und Sprache". Die Materialien können für den eigenen Unterricht frei genutzt und kopiert werden. Wir wünschen Ihnen viel Erfolg dabei!

Zu den Materialien

Deutsch für Kinder und Jugendliche

  • Experiments in GFL lessons

    How does a hot air balloon fly?

    Scientific experiments bring GFL lessons to life. They inspire the curiosity of learners and encourage their thirst for knowledge. With this approach, learners can experiment in your lessons without losing out on the GFL curriculum.

     

    How does a hot air balloon fly? – This question is something GFL learners can look at too. Photo (detail): SE Viera Photo © Adobe Stock Photo (detail): SE Viera Photo © Adobe Stock

  • German for Children

    Films in lessons – more fun learning languages

    Children love films. They ensure variety and entertainment in lessons – and support the learning process. What should teachers look out for when they use them in lessons? Here are some tips and practical examples.

    Children love films © goodluz – Fotolia.com © goodluz – Fotolia.com

  • GFL and GSL

    Multilingualism in kindergartens

    The early years are particularly well suited to language learning. However, in many institutions, the basic conditions still leave a good deal to be desired.

    Children can deal with a second or even third language. Photo (detail): © Robert Kneschke - Fotolia.com Photo (detail): © Robert Kneschke - Fotolia.com

  • Deutsch als Fremdsprache

    „Man muss Lehrkräfte in Deutsch als Zweitsprache schulen“

    Ab einem dreimonatigen Aufenthalt in Deutschland greift für Flüchtlingskinder die Schulpflicht. Zuerst müssen sie allerdings Deutsch lernen. Das stellt Schulen und Lehrer vor große Herausforderungen, sagt Josef Kraus, Präsident des Deutschen Lehrerverbandes.

    Schüler unterschiedlicher sprachlicher und kultureller Herkunft © jovannig - Fotolia.com © jovannig - Fotolia.com © jovannig - Fotolia.com

  • Opportunities for learning German on YouTube

    A friend in front of the camera

    Pronunciation exercises with animal noises? Grammar in the bedroom? Teenage slang in real-life situations? What may be hard to imagine in a conventional German lesson is not at all out of the ordinary on non-institutional GFL YouTube channels.

    Boy in front of a camera Foto: Syda Productions © Fotolia.com Foto: Syda Productions © Fotolia.com

  • Jugendwort des Jahres

    I bims. Teilzeittarzan, Merkules! Ja, wirklich!

    „Hallo, Ich bin’s!“ Haben auch Sie diese Phrase fleißig in der Schule gelernt? Dann vergessen Sie sie gleich wieder! Wenn Sie jemandem sagen möchten, dass Sie es sind, versuchen Sie es mit „I bims“.

    I bims. Teilzeittarzan, Merkules! Ja, wirklich! © Valentin Fanel Badiu © Valentin Fanel Badiu

  • Young people learn differently

    Reference to Germany is crucial

    If young people have German friends, learn a lot about Germany at school and their lessons often involve German music and films, then their motivation to learn German increases.

    Young people learn German differently Photo (detail:) © Goethe-Institut/Daniel Seiffert Photo (detail:) © Goethe-Institut/Daniel Seiffert

Digitale Medien

  • Artificial intelligence in foreign language learning

    AI Can’t Cut It: Correcting Language Learners’ Writing Still Has to Be Done by Hand

    Many providers of AI writing assistants promise “high-quality writing at the push of a button”. Proofreading and editing software is now capable of instantly correcting reams of text and providing suggested improvements. But how good are these AI editors, and do they help foreign language learners learn to write well themselves?

    Hand with a red pencil correcting a text © Getty Images © Getty Images

  • Online Language Teaching

    New Medium, New Opportunities: Error Correction in Virtual Teaching

    Teaching online poses a number of new challenges for teachers. Teachers feel they have to be careful about correcting mistakes for fear of discouraging, or even losing learners in the new medium. But do you really have to correct mistakes at all? If so, how can you do it without causing frustration?

    Correcting mistakes © Adobe Stock © Adobe Stock

  • Language learning goes digital

    Online learning before, during and after the coronavirus

    How do you teach a foreign language effectively online? What are the challenges involved in “all-digital” learning? Here are the latest research findings on the subject of e-learning. Digital tools are needed in traditional language instructions, but now language teaching has gone completely virtual.

    Online learning during Coronavirus Photo: Guido Hofmann, © unsplash Photo: Guido Hofmann, © unsplash

  • Language learning in the future

    “New technologies will change the way we learn”

    Will we still bother to learn foreign languages in the future? Or will we simply have programs that translate languages for us simultaneously? How will digitization change the way lessons are designed? In our interview, trend researcher Peter Wippermann talks about possible ways in which (language) learning will develop in the future.

    VR glasses in a library © Asya Finn © Asya Finn

  • Homework

    So why does no-one actually talk about ... homework?

    Homework still appears to be seen as the “poor relation” in foreign language lessons: everyone knows about it and uses it, but no-one wants to think seriously about it. And yet homework, especially when digitally supported, offers freedoms that can be used in a motivating and beneficial manner for foreign language acquisition.

    Homework is an integral part of the lesson. Photo (detail): asife © fotolia Photo (detail): asife © fotolia

  • Virtual reality

    A subjective experience

    Visual and motoric immersion plunges learners into a computer-generated environment – a virtual reality – in which they can communicate in a foreign language. Their experiences in the digital world remain highly subjective, however, which is why the virtual reality has to reflect the users’ expectations and have a proper didactical basis.

    In the virtual world, learners can communicate and interact with characters in the foreign language. Photo (detail): © contrastwerkstatt - Fotolia.com Photo (detail): © contrastwerkstatt - Fotolia.com

  • Mobile learning in GFL lessons

    Smartphones, tablets and the like

    Many teachers and parents take a generally dim view of mobile phones in school. And yet such mobile devices can provide educational opportunities and enrich GFL lessons. Here are some practical examples and application scenarios.
     

    Since mobile phones and tablets are an integral part of life for many young people, teachers and parents should give mobile learning in the educational context a chance. © Syda Productions - Fotolia.com © Syda Productions - Fotolia.com

  • (Informal) learning in the age of digitisation

    Google as an education facility

    Learning is still almost exclusively associated with classrooms and exams. But you can also learn by researching on the net: Google, YouTube and Wikipedia are education facilities.

    Using digital media in lessons Photo (detail) © Rawpixel- Fotolia.com Photo (detail) © Rawpixel- Fotolia.com

  • Digital Textbooks for Schools

    Wikipedia For Teachers

    In the digital classroom of the future there is also going to be a need for digital teaching and learning materials. Open Educational Resources (OER) are going to provide the key for this.

    Schulbuch-o-mat Foto (Ausschnitt): © H. Wedenig (CC BY-SBOM-SA) Foto (Ausschnitt): © H. Wedenig (CC BY-SBOM-SA)

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