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      <title>German Beginner 2 ISR Padlet - Tom Fawcett by Thomas S Fawcett</title>
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      <pubDate>2019-05-10 22:10:31 UTC</pubDate>
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         <author>tsfawcett1</author>
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         <description><![CDATA[1 – Kinderlied: Mein Weg zur Schule
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XR4f6ll2CVw
I listened to the song several times and attempted to identify words and phrases we had covered in the section of Week 1’s class concerned with directions (‘In der Stadt’):
Mein Weg zur Schule – ‘My way to school’
Aus dem Haus, geradeaus – ‘Out of the house, straight on’
Der großen Kreuzung – ‘The big crossing’
Links und rechts und links – ‘Left and right and left’ (looking both ways before crossing the road)
Die Ampel – ‘The traffic light’
The song lyrics were a little bit difficult to follow at first, but after reviewing some of the vocabulary we had covered in class I was quickly able to identify the important phrases.
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         <pubDate>2019-05-10 22:11:05 UTC</pubDate>
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         <author>tsfawcett1</author>
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         <description><![CDATA[2 – Reading on the distinct meanings of ‘mögen’, ‘gern’, and ‘gefallen’ in German.
https://yourdailygerman.com/moegen-gern-gefallen-difference/
I read the blog post and listened to the author’s curated pronunciations of the vocabulary covered. I aimed to improve my understanding both of the nuance of meaning and of accurate pronunciation. 
Mögen is a literal translation of ‘to like’ and is generally applicable. It conveys something about the speaker’s affective state; their fondness for something as it resides in their ‘inner life’. 
Gern is an adverb used to express fondness for an activity or activities. While it conveys the sense of ‘to like’, it is not at all a literal translation from English.
Gefallen conveys the sense that the speaker is the object, and that which they like is the subject. ‘I like the film’ becomes ‘der Film gefällt mir’. It is the ge-form of the verb ‘fallen’, literally ‘to fall’. The author makes the point that gefallen is therefore used to express the speaker’s sense that they have been subjected to something – some fate ‘befalls’ them – and they like it.
The specific sense of gefallen, in particular, was quite difficult to grasp at first. There doesn’t seem to be an obvious analogue in English, and the translation ‘x pleases me’ feels clumsy. The author’s examples (of a dice game and a knight-errant remarking on his good fortune) were very useful in improving my understanding of this distinction.
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         <pubDate>2019-05-10 22:11:13 UTC</pubDate>
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         <author>tsfawcett1</author>
         <link>https://padlet.com/tsfawcett1/phq8tf31dbcy/wish/359046951</link>
         <description><![CDATA[3 – Pronouncing difficult German consonants
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZLL2cNVA2s
I watched the video several times with a view to improving my pronunciation of more challenging German consonants. The video author is a native German speaker was at pains to make the pronunciation as clear as possible. 
This was especially instructive in my efforts to improve my pronunciation of 
-	ch (nach e und i) as in ich, echt
-	ch (nach a, o, u) as in Buch, kochen
-	d am Ende as in und, Freund
-	j as in ja, Junge
-	pf as in Apfel, Pfanne
-	qu as in Quiz
-	r as in der, rot
I find it challenging to discern when a hard ‘r’ is to be preferred over a rolling ‘r’ in German. The video author provided very helpful advice on this question through the use of examples.
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         <pubDate>2019-05-10 22:19:40 UTC</pubDate>
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         <author>tsfawcett1</author>
         <link>https://padlet.com/tsfawcett1/phq8tf31dbcy/wish/359047465</link>
         <description><![CDATA[4 – Reading short news articles in German
https://www.nachrichtenleicht.de/sport-hilft-gegen-depressionen.2039.de.html?dram:article_id=447164
This website – recommended on the Sheffield MLTC German blog – provides short news articles in ‘leichte Sprache’, ‘easy language’, a simplified version of the German language intended for a readership with low German competency. This article in particular concerns the potential for participation in sport to alleviate the symptoms of depression.
I found much of the vocabulary in the article challenging, but I was nonetheless able to piece together a general sense of the text’s meaning. I then used an online dictionary to learn the meaning of the words I had failed to understand upon first reading. 
]]></description>
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         <pubDate>2019-05-10 22:25:57 UTC</pubDate>
         <guid>https://padlet.com/tsfawcett1/phq8tf31dbcy/wish/359047465</guid>
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         <title></title>
         <author>tsfawcett1</author>
         <link>https://padlet.com/tsfawcett1/phq8tf31dbcy/wish/359048690</link>
         <description><![CDATA[5 – Revising the dative case: the indirect object and definite articles
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6Zu_h8xOWE
A clear and thorough overview, by a native speaker, of the function of the dative case in German and how to identify it. In the course of my German studies, I have consistently struggled to correctly identify the case of nouns. Consequently, I have attempted to revise the cases we have learned so far in class and my overall command of grammar in German through watching videos on grammar from instructors recommended by the Sheffield MLTC German blog. 
In this video, the instructor used examples of escalating complexity to illustrate use of the dative case. I found this to be a helpful strategy when trying to tackle longer sentences in the course of my reading – breaking them down into smaller sections in order to identify the parts of speech.
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         <pubDate>2019-05-10 22:40:07 UTC</pubDate>
         <guid>https://padlet.com/tsfawcett1/phq8tf31dbcy/wish/359048690</guid>
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         <title></title>
         <author>tsfawcett1</author>
         <link>https://padlet.com/tsfawcett1/phq8tf31dbcy/wish/359049117</link>
         <description><![CDATA[6 – Visiting Weimar in Germany
I visited the city of Weimar for a short break. I flew to Berlin Schönefeld and booked train tickets to take me to Weimar, where I stayed at an AirBnB venue. In the course of my stay I attended a concert performance of symphonies by Beethoven and Strauss at the Weimarhalle and explored the historic town. I also took part in midday prayers at St. Peter and Paul Church and took a tour around Goethe’s house. Planning and executing a trip across Germany helped me to develop my practical understanding of the German language. English was not nearly so prevalent among the people I spoke to in Weimar as it had been in Berlin, and the experience of reciting the Lord’s Prayer in German was great fun. This trip helped me to improve my confidence in my ability to speak basic German and be understood, as well as enriching my appreciation of German culture and history.
]]></description>
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         <pubDate>2019-05-10 22:45:43 UTC</pubDate>
         <guid>https://padlet.com/tsfawcett1/phq8tf31dbcy/wish/359049117</guid>
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         <author>tsfawcett1</author>
         <link>https://padlet.com/tsfawcett1/phq8tf31dbcy/wish/359049518</link>
         <description><![CDATA[7 – Quizzes on quizlet.com
I have used the MLTC’s German classroom on the quizlet website to test my developing understanding of German grammar and my vocabulary retention. 
This resource has allowed me to test and reinforce the learning accomplished during classtime and in language labs. I have found it quite difficult to remember the gender of nouns as I learn them in the course of my studies. This has proven problematic when translating from English to German, or attempting to formulate my own sentences in conversation. By using quizlet, I am able to quickly and effectively test myself on my recollection both of the meaning of the nouns I have learned and their respective gender.
]]></description>
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         <pubDate>2019-05-10 22:51:19 UTC</pubDate>
         <guid>https://padlet.com/tsfawcett1/phq8tf31dbcy/wish/359049518</guid>
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         <title></title>
         <author>tsfawcett1</author>
         <link>https://padlet.com/tsfawcett1/phq8tf31dbcy/wish/359050064</link>
         <description><![CDATA[8 – Grammar lesson and exercises on two-way prepositions in German (Wechselpräpositionen)
https://coerll.utexas.edu/gg/gr/cas_09.html
I studied the grammar lessons on this page and completed the relevant exercises in order to assess my learning. I was interested to learn when prepositions take the dative case and when they take the accusative case: accusative when there is a sense of movement, dative when there is no movement or the movement is very localised. 
I memorised the list of two-way prepositions displayed on the page along with their meanings, before completing the two gap-fill exercises. This resource was valuable in its shrewd use of examples of both accusative and dative forms of the same prepositions and in the decision to display them in parallel. I feel that this exercise refined my understanding both of cases and of prepositions in German.
]]></description>
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         <pubDate>2019-05-10 22:58:38 UTC</pubDate>
         <guid>https://padlet.com/tsfawcett1/phq8tf31dbcy/wish/359050064</guid>
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