Activities for German classes

Zahlen von eins bis zwanzig

These games practise the reading skill. They are card games for students to play in groups of 4 or 5 students. Using coloured card, make five sets (or however many sets you need) of 20 cards each. A good size for each card is 8cm by 4cm. Each set of cards then consists of the numbers from eins to zwanzig.

E.g.

Game 1:

In each group one student shuffles and deals out the cards until each student has two cards, and places the remainder of the pack upside-down in the middle of the group. The first card on the top of the pile is turned face up and put near the pile. The player to the left of the dealer has to see if she/he has a card which is numerically immediately below or above the number of the card which is facing up in the middle of the group.

If he/she has such a card, she/he puts it down in the appropriate spot, above or below the "start" card, and his/her turn is over.

If he/she does not have such a card, he/she picks up a card from the top of the pile, and her/his turn is over.

The next player takes her/his turn and lays down a card if possible, or picks one up from the pile as described above.

If the pile in the middle runs out of cards, then students have to pass, if they cannot put down an appropriate card.

The arrangement of cards in the middle will extend in the following manner:

Imagine vier was the "start" card.

The winner is the first student to have no cards left. The remaining students can play for second and third place etc.

Game 2:

This game involves each team competing against the other teams. Tell each team to shuffle their set of cards and place the pack upside-down in the middle. Tell the students to put their hands on their heads, so that you can start all teams fairly. In each of the variations listed below, you give them a specific task to do once you give the starting command, and the first team to finish and who all have their hands back on their heads is the winner, provided they have laid out the cards correctly. You can allocate points for first, second and third team finished in each round.

Activity variations:

• lay out all cards in numerical order

• lay out only even numbers, in numerical order

• lay out only odd numbers, in numerical order

• lay out only numbers that are multiples of three

Students will hopefully realise that they finish quicker if they work as a team.

Compiled by David Nutting

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