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This evening, I watched the film "Inglourious Basterds". There were multiple parts that included German dialect. I found that I recognized many words, especially numbers and verbs. I did struggle with the speed at which the characters talked, as it was very fast and fluent. This indicated to me that I need to listen to more German dialect and conversation at more natural speeds, rather than slowed down versions that I am used to in apps that I use such as Duolingo. Duolingo is extremely helpful to me however, as it aids in learning and remembering new vocabulary, and gives examples of complex sentence structure. I continue to use Duolingo every day which helps to keep new vocabulary fresh in my mind.

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From my week 4 lab, I noticed that I struggled with the correct use of subordinate clauses, especially when using separable verbs. I took time out to come up with some complex sentences that included dependent clauses and separable verbs. I also used modal verbs within these sentences which helped to strengthen my conjugation skills. I now feel much stronger using the subordinate clause, however I need to continue practising and learning more complex sentences.

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Today I decided to take a look into some German pop culture. I particularly liked the song "Traum" by CRO. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WQMBv2deYQ
I had a look at the lyrics and annotated them- highlighting words I didn't know. I also picked out some grammar usage that I have become familiar with, such as subordinate clauses, imperatives and modal verbs, which helped with my grammar skills. I was surprised that I could identify most of the words, and could infer what the song was saying. On reflection I believe looking at the lyrics was really beneficial- as I got to see German being used by native speakers, using contractions and such. The German pop band also have a few other songs that I enjoyed; hearing these songs has helped improve my listening skills as the words are sung quite fast, and helps me to identify certain words in a different context than I am used to.

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'Wann fahren wir nach Spanien?'
Using pg. 85 and 86 of the textbook, I translated the conversation between the two participants. I didn't find it too difficult to do, except for a few words and genders I was unsure of, such as 'student halls of residence' and 'single/double rooms'. It did help me to pick up certain phrases related to travel, such as 'wann fahren wir nach...', 'Wie viel kostet...', Ich werde kaufen...'.

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In class this week, I found the introduction of past tense challenging due to the change in  verb forms and sentence structure. I found some websites particularly useful in helping me learn the past tense form of verbs- such as 'Vocabulix', 'Pons' and 'Leo'. I used these websites, as well as resources on MOLE to practice using and remembering the verbs. I started off with the most common and used them to form sentences.
Each day I will learn 3 new common irregular verbs and their past conjugation from the document on MOLE, to help me to form similar sentences more easily in the future.

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Today, I researched popular German dishes. 'Käsespätzle' caught my eye as it was a vegetarian dish that I have already tried and loved when I visited Berlin last summer. I found a German youtube channel 'Tirol' that included many videos about German dishes, travel etc. The video on Käsespätzel was spoken completely in German and included a recipe in the description. I copied and pasted the recipe into a word document. I then went through, identifying words I did and didn't recognize. Those I didn't I looked up using dict or pons and wrote the meaning next to the German word. I found that this task helped me to identify more German words for food as well as imperatives as it was an instructive recipe. The video also exposed me to more verbal German- though there were still many words they spoke that I did not understand.

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After learning about some of the different parts of the body in class, I decided to research more so as to expand my vocabulary. I found a really useful website that included diagrams and the German translation of the body part with it (https://www.enchantedlearning.com/languages/german/subjects/body.shtml). The website also contained similar pages that included categories such as food, verbs, weather, clothing etc. This will be a useful revision tool as it contains many of the topics I have previously studied.
While writing the essential homework 2, I found difficulty conjugating the ending of adjective words such as colours. I looked back over my notes and found a useful flowchart from one of my lab sessions. I used this to form a number of descriptive sentences which helped to strengthen my use of adjectives

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Today I decided to look at a German news article from nachrichtenleicht.de . The website is written in easy to understand German which helped to introduce some more commonly used German words that I was not yet familiar with. The article also had an audio clip that allows to hear the article spoken out loud. This has helped to improve my pronunciation and recognition of words. I also used deutsch-perfekt.com which had grammar exercises such as identifying noun gender. I did a couple of these exercises which helped to strengthen my grammatical skills. It also had listening and reading exercises that were at an accessible level. I took note of some useful words and tried using them in sentences. I found both of these websites very helpful as the content was not too difficult. They are constantly updated with new articles, so are good resources to access new pieces of written German.