Listen for the clues

When I was observing a German class a couple of days ago, I could see clues in sentences that some of the class could not see (they were year 7). I think they soon understand ich mache das Bett and the clue was in the title of the lesson 'what I do to help at home' and Bett is bed. It doesn't take much to work out that the sentence means I make the bed. Ich wasche ab has a clue with waschen very close to wash. You still have to know it is washing the pots and not clothes.

If you can see the clue that Auto is car then you will know that ich wasche das Auto is I wash the car. Garten is close to garden but if you don't know the verb then you have to learn the sentence 'I work in the garden' - Ich arbeite im Garten. One method of getting the class to learn the vocabulary was through mime. Later in the hour there was a game, and some of the class would mime the answers to their team members. It was great to see because I think that I can concentrate quite well but I still need to hear new things three times. The mime gave them one more chance to learn the vocabulary. There are lots of clues in German. It's just a case of hearing (or seeing) them.

Bis bald