https://padlet.com/valbannister1/ehsq2v3zyrt Independent Study Record for Semester 2 of Level 1 German. en-us 2018-02-22 18:04:54 UTC 2018-05-11 12:12:05 UTC hello@padlet.com valbannister1 https://padlet.com/valbannister1/ehsq2v3zyrt/wish/234385571 22.02.18.
Prepositions.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/german/grammar/prepositionsrev2.shtml 
I used the link above to improve my knowledge of prepositions. I made notes on the information in my German notebook, in order to help me memorise the information better. I needed to revise prepositions as I found my knowledge lacking in this area. I need to be able to use them confidently. Therefore, I went over the Accusative and Dative prepositions, as well as the two-way or "mixed" prepositions. 
A very helpful mnemonic was provided on the website to try and help you remember Akkusative prepositions easily - "FUDGE BOW". This is quite helpful as I think that this name is easy to remember so that when you are under pressure to decide which preposition to use, you will be able to recall the prepositions more easily. ]]> 2018-02-22 18:07:26 UTC https://padlet.com/valbannister1/ehsq2v3zyrt/wish/234385571 valbannister1 https://padlet.com/valbannister1/ehsq2v3zyrt/wish/234385699 03.03.18
Distinguishing between the Cases, especially Dative.
I needed to work more on being able to distinguish when to use the Nominative, Accusative and Dative cases. I have struggled especially with when to use the Dative. I found the link below and read over it (it is a handout with examples).
http://www.nthuleen.com/teach/grammar/nomakkdatexpl.html 
It was very helpful as it provided English examples of when the Dative case would be used like for the verbs "to give (to)" and "to buy (for)", for example. It is all about identifying the indirect object in the sentence and if its being affected by the subject. The Dative case is also used when certain adjectives are being used and when dative verbs are being used too, such as gefallen and schmecken. It is important to consider prepositions as well, as these can be dative, accusative and two-way. 
The handout also provides a very good way of remembering the endings for all these changes in the cases for the definite article: 
"RESE NESE MR MN". 
This mnemonic stands for deR - diE - daS - diE, deN - diE - daS - diE, deM - deR, deM - deN. 


]]> 2018-02-22 18:07:38 UTC https://padlet.com/valbannister1/ehsq2v3zyrt/wish/234385699 valbannister1 https://padlet.com/valbannister1/ehsq2v3zyrt/wish/234385831 10.03.18
Revision of Present Tense and Future Tense, including werden.
https://www.bbc.com/education/guides/zy3qxsg/revision/1
I used the link above to revise the present tense so that I could revise for the upcoming exams as well as help to bind together my basic knowledge of German. I went over the endings for the weak verbs, and wrote out the table that was on Bitesize to help me memorise it. I continued to work through the Present Tense section. This included looking at the verbs haben and sein again, two very important auxiliary verbs. I looked at how to form negatives with kein, nicht and niemals again too. I also wrote out the pronoun table used for reflexive verbs too, which is also the same pronouns used in the accusative case. This helped me massively as I hadn't really registered the existence of reflexive verbs before.
https://www.bbc.com/education/guides/zw23cwx/revision/6
I used the revision page on BBC Bitesize to go through future tense as well, as using the first link to go through the present tense worked very well. I learnt the verb table for the strong future verb werden. I then went over using time expression with the present tense too. I learnt some new vocabulary too, time expressions such as "in der Zukunft" and the difference in between the endings of "nächst". ]]> 2018-02-22 18:07:52 UTC https://padlet.com/valbannister1/ehsq2v3zyrt/wish/234385831 valbannister1 https://padlet.com/valbannister1/ehsq2v3zyrt/wish/234385921 17.03.18
Modal Verbs.
https://www.bbc.com/education/guides/zgkhfrd/revision/1
I used BBC Bitesize again to revise and go over modal verbs. This is fast becoming my favourite way of revising! I read over the revision notes, which are always clear, and also do the exercises which are distributed throughout to check the reader's understanding. I find it really helpful to be able to write notes of my own from Bitesize and then this will serve me well when it comes to exams. I will have something concise to refer to when doing more revision closer to the time. I also learnt about using modal verbs in the conditional tense and in the imperfect tense too. I'm fairly sure this is a bit extra to what I should technically be learning, but expanding my knowledge a bit further than the course can't hurt :)
I consolidated my learning by using the link below to practice the use of modal verbs. This more active learning helps me to remember grammar especially well when I'm learning is quite complex.
https://deutsch.lingolia.com/en/grammar/verbs/modal-verbs/exercises

]]> 2018-02-22 18:07:59 UTC https://padlet.com/valbannister1/ehsq2v3zyrt/wish/234385921 valbannister1 https://padlet.com/valbannister1/ehsq2v3zyrt/wish/234386032 24.03.18
Learning the Articles for all Cases.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ureYGtdHCfE#t=307 
I know I should already have mastered all of the articles by now but truth be told, I'm still struggling to learn and remember them despite multiple attempts. I actually found this video by accident whilst I was looking for videos on distinguishing between the cases on YouTube. The video introduces all the articles first in an easier table format which has the order masculine, neuter, feminine and plural going along the top. Believe it or not, this already made the articles easier to memorise. Then they but the articles into a really beautiful song with the melody played on the piano. After one listen to the video I have the lyrics stuck in my head - and so the articles for all the cases! I hope that now I wont ever forget the articles for the German cases, all thanks to that video :) 
To consolidate this new knowledge, I also drew out the new table for my notes so that I always have a back-up.


]]> 2018-02-22 18:08:06 UTC https://padlet.com/valbannister1/ehsq2v3zyrt/wish/234386032 valbannister1 https://padlet.com/valbannister1/ehsq2v3zyrt/wish/234386189 04.04.18
Cases...again. Working on More Complex Sentence Structures.
https://www.thoughtco.com/the-four-german-noun-cases-4064290
The link above gave clear ways of telling the Nominative, Accusative and Dative cases apart. I will now start trying to think about distinguishing between Accusative and Dative by thinking about the indirect and direct objects. So with Accusative, there is a direct object which means there will be 2 elements to the sentence. With the Dative, there is a indirect object so there will be 3 elements to the sentence i.e. someone gave something to someone else. The person being given the thing (direct object) is usually the indirect object so the Dative case will be used for that person. I think the whole concept now makes more sense to me. My next job is to just combine all my knowledge of the articles for the cases and the cases themselves so that I can actually stop worrying about getting the Accusative and Dative confused! This has been something I've struggled with for quite a while.

]]> 2018-02-22 18:08:23 UTC https://padlet.com/valbannister1/ehsq2v3zyrt/wish/234386189 valbannister1 https://padlet.com/valbannister1/ehsq2v3zyrt/wish/234386506 20.04.18
Revision of Past Tense - Perfect.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5G2MZDW8wA
I used this video that I found on YouTube to begin my practice of the perfect tense. This video was actually really helpful as it provided an introduction to the weaker regular verbs of the perfect tense and also how to form the perfect tense. The person presenting the video was a native German speaker and pronounced everything she said clearly - it also gave you a chance to try and repeat the phrase after she said it too. This was a great way of practicing both my concept of grammar and my speaking skills.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rX1av7mPUl8
I found another good video on YouTube so that I could consolidate my knowledge of the perfect tense. This was a much more challenging video as it was all in German! There were pictures to help you out but it was definitely harder to understand than the previous video! However, in many ways this was good as it forced me to practice my listening and understanding of German.

]]> 2018-02-22 18:08:53 UTC https://padlet.com/valbannister1/ehsq2v3zyrt/wish/234386506 valbannister1 https://padlet.com/valbannister1/ehsq2v3zyrt/wish/234386741 23.04.18
General Revision - Working on what I'm least confident about.
http://i.pinimg.com/736x/0e/c2/03/0ec203bbcba7084bc193b1f193ed8cd2.jpg
This table I found was so so helpful - I copied it out and restructured it so it didn't have the genitive in it. I'm hoping I will be able to have like a "one-stop" table now which I can use as a reference for my Essential Homework and for my revision. Along with working on the pronouns for the cases, the table also included Accusative, Dative and Two-way prepositions - another area that I needed to work on.
I decided to watch another couple of videos on German grammar in general and also practice pronouncing the alphabet, as well as speaking. The links are below. They were quite helpful, especially since my speaking really needs some more work before the oral exam in a few weeks. I will also be going to the diamond in the next couple of weekends to practice speaking with my friend outside of class :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBXIyWpOirg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3MeDOYgeO4 ]]> 2018-02-22 18:09:15 UTC https://padlet.com/valbannister1/ehsq2v3zyrt/wish/234386741