LESSON NOTES

Upper Beginner S2 #4
A German Numbers Game

CONTENTS

Dialogue - German
Main
English
Vocabulary
Sample sentences
Vocabulary phrase usage
Grammar
Cultural insight

# 4
GERMANPOD101.COM UPPER BEGINNER S2 #4 1
DIALOGUE - GERMAN
MAIN

1. Frau Weber : Guten Morgen!

2. Klasse : Guten Morgen, Frau Weber!

3. Frau Weber : Heute möchte ich mit Ihnen über das Wetter sprechen. Wie ist das Wetter heute?

4. Paul Martens : Es ist warm und die Sonne scheint.

5. Frau Weber : Ja, es ist nicht nur warm, es ist sogar heiß. Wir haben 30 Grad.

6. Frau Weber : Im Buch gibt es eine schöne Übung zum Thema Wetter. Schlagen Sie bitte die Seite
57 auf. Wir machen die erste Übung. Die Aufgabe ist es, die richtigen Wörter
einzusetzen.

7. Chuck : Entschuldigung, welche Seite sollen wir aufschlagen? Können Sie das bitte
wiederholen?

8. Frau Weber : Ja, Seite 57, Übung eins.

9. ... (später)

10. Frau Weber : So, jetzt haben wir keine Zeit mehr, aber gucken Sie sich die Vokabeln noch einmal
zu Hause an. Am dritten Oktober ist ein Feiertag und am vierten Oktober
schreiben wir eine Klassenarbeit.

11. Paul : Ist die ganze Klassenarbeit nur über das Thema Wetter?

12. Frau Weber : Nein, Sie brauchen auch die Vokabeln zum Thema Essen. Lesen Sie die Texte dazu
noch einmal. Und machen Sie zu Hause vielleicht noch mal die Übungen zur
Zukunft.

GERMANPOD101.COM UPPER BEGINNER S2 #4 2

ENGLISH

1. Mrs. Weber : Good morning!

2. Class : Good morning, Mrs. Weber!

3. Mrs. Weber : Today I'd like to speak with you about the weather. How is the weather today?

4. Paul Martens : It's warm and the sun is shining.

5. Mrs. Weber : Yes, it's not only warm, it's even hot. It's 30 degrees.

6. Mrs. Weber : In the book there's a nice exercise on the topic of weather. Please turn to page 57.
We'll do the first exercise. The task is to fill in the correct words.

7. Chuck : Sorry, which page should we turn to? Could you repeat that please?

8. Mrs. Weber : Yes, page 57, exercise 1.

9. ... (later)

10. Mrs. Weber : So, now we don't have any time left, but look over the vocabulary again at home.
There's a holiday on the 3rd of October, and on the 4th of October we'll write a
test.

11. Paul : Is the whole test just about the topic of weather?

12. Mrs. Weber : No, you also need the vocabulary for food. Read the texts about that once more.
And maybe do the exercises about the future again at home.

VOCABULARY

GERMANPOD101.COM UPPER BEGINNER S2 #4 3

German English Class Gender

Zukunft future noun; feminine, die feminine

Wetter weather noun neutral

wiederholen to repeat verb

aufschlagen to break open, open a book verb

warm warm adjective, adverb

Grad degrees noun; masculine, der

Aufgabe task, assignment, mission; give-up noun; feminine, die

sogar even adverb

Wort word noun; neuter, das neutral

angucken to look at verb

heiß hot adjective

einsetzen to put in, fill in verb

Feier celebration, party noun; feminine, die

Thema topic, theme noun; neuter, das

SAMPLE SENTENCES

zukünftige Entwicklung In der Zukunft wird die Menschheit zum Planet

Mars gehen.
future development
In the future, man will go to the planet Mars.

Seine berufliche Zukunft ist interessant. den Wetterbericht prüfen

His professional future is interesting. check the weather report

Die Familie genießt das schöne Wetter. Nachmittags wird sich das Wetter ändern.

The family is enjoying the fine weather. In the afternoon, the weather will change.

wöchentlicher Wetterbericht Wetterbericht

weekly weather report weather bulletin

Das heutige Wetter ist sonnig mit gelegentlichen Das Wetter ist ziemlich bewölkt aber warm.
Wolken.
"The weather is quite cloudy but warm."
Today's weather is sunny with occasional clouds.

Das Wetter heute ist sehr schwül. Kannst du den Satz nochmal wiederholen?

"The weather is really humid today." "Can you repeat the sentence once again?"

Ich wiederhole mich sehr sehr oft. Schlagt bitte eure Bücher auf Seite 42 auf.

I actually repeat myself a lot. Please open your books on page 42.

GERMANPOD101.COM UPPER BEGINNER S2 #4 4

 Ich bekomme ein warmes Gefühl, wenn sie den
Raum betritt.
I get a warm feeling when she enters the room.
warmer Wind
warm wind
warmes Wetter
warm weather
Es sind heute 35 Grad im Schatten.
Today it's 35 degrees (Celsius) in the shade.
Unsere Aufgabe erfordert höchste Konzentration
und schwere Arbeit.
Our mission requires great concentration and
hard work.
Die Erkundung des Weltalls ist eine der
spannendsten Aufgaben dieses Zeitalters.
The exploration of space is one of the most
exciting tasks of this era.
Du wirst jetzt 25 Wörter lernen.
You will learn 25 words.
Deutschkenntnisse in Wort und Schrift.
German knowledge in word and writing.
heißes Getränk
hot drink
Es ist sehr heiß, also fass es nicht an.
This is really hot, so don't touch it.
Die Sonne erhitzt die heiße Wüste.
The sun is heating the hot desert.
GERMANPOD101.COM
ein warmes Gefühl
a warm feeling
Es ist schon Herbst, aber es ist zur Zeit noch
immer warm.
It's already fall, but it's still warm these days.
Im Süden Europas wird es früher warm,
deswegen reisen viele Deutsche im Frühling
dorthin.
In the South of Europe it gets warm earlier,
therefore many Germans travel there in spring.
Du kannst mich nicht zur Aufgabe zwingen.
You can't force me to give up.
Ich habe eine der wichtigsten Aufgaben
bekommen.
I was given one of the most important
assignments.
Du hast wirklich gut gespielt, sogar deine
Gegner mussten das anerkennen!
You played really well, even your opponents had
to recognize that!
Ich gebe dir mein Wort darauf.
I give you my word on it.
Kommst du mit, um dir die neue Wohnung
anzugucken?
Are you coming along in order to look at the new
apartment?
heißer Teller
hot plate
Das Essen ist heiß.
The food is hot.
Bei dieser Aufgabe müssen Sie die Verben in den
richtigen Formen einsetzen.
In this exercise you have to fill in the verbs in the
right forms.
UPPER BEGINNER S2 #4 5
 Sie sind herzlich zu unserer Feier am zwölften Ich habe hier mal alle relevanten Aufsätze zu
März eingeladen. diesem Thema aufgelistet.

You are cordially invited to our celebration on Here I have listed all relevant essays on this topic.
March 12th.

VOCABULARY PHRASE USAGE

1. aufschlagen = to open a page; schlagen = to hit someone
2. einsetzen = to fill in, put in; setzen = to put down
3. angucken = to look at; gucken = to look
4. "der Feiertag" (holiday) is a combination of "Feier" (celebration) and "Tag" (day). A festive day or
holiday. "die Klassenarbeit" is a less obvious combination. "Klasse" means "class" and "Arbeit" means
"work", but "Klassenarbeit" refers to a written exam.

GRAMMAR
The focus of this lesson is ordinal numbers
Am dritten Oktober ist ein Feiertag.
"On the 3rd of October there's a holiday."

Today you've seen some ordinal numbers. Ordinal numbers are numbers like „first“, „second“, „third“
instead of „one“, „two“, „three“. In German, these numbers end in -ter in their base form. „first“ is
„erster“ and „third“ is „dritter“, but all the others are regular - just take the German number word and
add -ter. So you get zweiter, vierter, fünfter, sechster, siebter (same shortcut as for „siebzig“), achter and
so on. These are also written as „2.“, „4.“, „5.“ and so on, with the dot indicating that it's an ordinal
number.

So to read a date, just say the ordinal number for the day, and then you could say another ordinal
number for the month or you could say the month name. 1st of April would be "erster April" or "erster
vierter" (01.04.).

Now the problem is that when you want to say "on the 1st of April", you need the Dative. This means two
changes. One is that "der" changes to "dem"... and this sets off a chain reaction because "an" and "dem"
melt together to form "am". The other change is that adjectives suddenly end in -en, and ordinal
numbers behave like adjectives. So the correct form is "am ersten April" or "am ersten vierten".
Fortunately all month names are masculine singular, so you don't have to worry about any other
changes.

By the way, the same thing happens with "von" and "bis zu" (from and to). You have to say "vom ersten
bis zum dritten April", "vom sechsten August bis jetzt", "ich lerne die Vokabeln bis zum vierten Oktober"
(I'll study the vocabulary until the 4th of October).

CULTURAL INSIGHT

GERMANPOD101.COM UPPER BEGINNER S2 #4 6

In Germany, kids enter primary school at the age of 6 or 7. Primary school lasts 4 years. After that, there
are basically three different types of secondary school.

1. Hauptschule for students who had difficulties with learning in the elementary school.
2. Realschule for students who had average grades in the elementary school.
3. Gymnasium for students who had good grades in elementary school. Gymnasium takes 9 years, while
the other schools are only 6 years, and upon graduation you get a certificate called the Abitur. This
certificate is the only entrance requirement for studying at any German university.

The advantage of this system is that classes are more homogenous and expectations are more suited to
the students. At the Hauptschule, the pace of learning is rather slow and teachers spend a lot of time
explaining things and repeating themselves. At the Gymnasium, the pace of learning is fast and students
are expected to figure out a lot of things on their own as well. Another advantage is that the schools can
better prepare people for their future career - for example, at the Realschule you may learn how to
apply a certain math formula in everyday life, but at the Gymnasium you learn how to prove it right or
wrong... basically the Gymnasium teaches you scientific methods whereas the other types of schools
have a more practical focus. Still, when there's high unemployment, many jobs are only open to people
with the Abitur.

The disadvantage is of course that we're trying to tell good students from bad students quite early, and
people may still change. If they get worse, they may be forced to repeat a year, and if that doesn't help,
they may be forced to attend a different type of school. If they get better, they can switch to a better
type of school, but it is an immense amount of work to catch-up to the class due to the different
curriculums.

Because of this, Germany now also has the Gesamtschule (comprehensive school), which allows people
to take more advanced classes where they can and more basic classes where they can't. The
Gesamtschule can also give you the Abitur certificate, but in practice companies don't value it as much.

GERMANPOD101.COM UPPER BEGINNER S2 #4 7