Implementation of “The Legend of Wilhelm Tell” (SOI-HR-343)
Author: Gordana Dragušica, German teacher
School/Organization: I. gimnazija Osijek, Croatia
According to the curriculum for German language, the learning outcomes include learning German language and the cultures associated with German speaking countries. Since one of the topics is “Way of Life in German-speaking Countries”, I researched learning scenarios on Teaching with Europeana (TwE) and found a scenario related to Switzerland: The Legend of Wilhelm Tell (EN-CUR-619) by Lana Matijaković. This learning scenario covers the topic of the famous Swiss legend Wilhelm Tell. I made some adaptations to it and added introductory activities about Switzerland.
Students working in groups.
Cultural Heritage in German lessons
This is a story of implementation of the learning scenario “The Legend of Wilhelm Tell ” which was carried out with the class made up of thirteen high school students of 16+ age during three German lessons (3×45 minutes) in a secondary school in Croatia. The students are learning German as an obligatory subject as a second foreign language at A2 level. They are familiar with Europeana platform since they usually explore it for materials for their project works. I decided to do this lesson with my students because they learn about geographical and cultural aspects of German-speaking countries as part of the curriculum.
I made a Sway presentation with all activities which I decided to do with my students. And here is the link and QR Code for this presentation.
http://bit.ly/wilhelm_tell_sway
Padlet Activity (10 minutes)
I started the lesson with a brainstorming activity as it is in the original LS. I gave the students the QR Code for Padlet page. Their task was to put notes about Switzerland, what they already know about this country.
Use of QR Codes in the Classroom.
We discussed their posts.
Padlet activity
Reading Comprehension (30 minutes)
I thought that the students needed some more information about the country, so I made an adaptation to the LS. I gave the students additional texts with some facts they didn’t mention in their notes. They worked in groups (four groups). Their task was to read the texts, to answer comprehension questions and some true/false statements.
Text 1 (Global reading comprehension)
https://dich.klett-online.ch/content/a1_02/a1_02_kb/02_01_kb.pdf
Text 2 (Selective reading comprehension)
https://www.grundschule-arbeitsblaetter.de/sachunterricht/laender/
Reading comprehension texts and tasks
At the end of the activity the groups presented in plenum their results.
Europeana (10 minutes)
The next activity was connected to the main topic of the lesson Wilhelm Tell. I showed the photo from Europeana and asked the students to describe it. They had to guess who the people are, and to describe them. Afterwards, I wrote the name of the person on the blackboard and gave them the most important information about the legend. I also gave them some basic information about Europeana portal and information about the photo and copyright.
Zeichnung, Wilhelm Tell mit Walter / Skizze einer orientalischen Szene ?, Kooperationinitiative Museen Baselland, CC BY-SA 4.0
Wilhelm Tell (30 minutes)
The next activity which I chose and adapted the LS was the text about the legend Wilhelm Tell. I wanted them to get some information about the legend before the activity from the LS (The cloze test). The students worked in groups. They had to read the text and answer questions. They presented the results in a plenum.
https://www.derdiedaf.com/idee-des-tages/2018-11-08/wilhelm-tell
Students working on a task.
In the next activity the students were given a text with a short description of the legend of Wilhelm Tell and they had to insert the new words into the text. They were given a list of new vocabulary that will appear in the text. They had to look for meanings in online dictionaries.
After reading comprehension activity the students watched a short cartoon called Wilhelm Tell.
I think it is useful for students to watch the cartoon because they get a more detailed picture of Wilhelm Tell and his story.
Digital Story (40 minutes)
The next and final activity was to make a digital story with photos from Europeana. I gave the students five photos from Europeana connected to Wilhelm Tell. Their task was to make a short story or presentation about Wilhelm Tell. They had to use these five photos and write 1-2 sentences for each photo. I explained the design of the poster. They could choose between Canva, Postermywall, PowerPoint or Sway.
Presentations (15 minutes)
Finally, the groups presented their stories in a plenum and the students did peer- assessment and self-assessment according to the rubric from the LS.
Here is one example of their digital story in Canva.
http://bit.ly/wilhelm_tell_canva
Students presenting their stories.
Outcomes
At the end of the lesson the students were able to talk in German about the cultural heritage of Switzerland, the legend of the national hero, Wilhelm Tell. It was completely new information for them. The students found it especially interesting to work with photos and to create the story with these photos.
Students working with Europeana photos.
They were very creative, and they used their imagination in creating the story. They liked the use of digital tools. The use of digital tools helped students to improve their ICT skills. The students worked in groups to write the stories which required the use of four: C’s collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and creativity.
The students practised all four language skills during the lesson: reading, listening, writing, and speaking skills.
Teacher’s benefits
Teaching with Europeana resources is a big benefit for teachers because culture is integrated in the curriculum of all subjects. And TwE is a place where teachers can find numerous resources and implement them in their learning scenarios that are free to use.
I would advise and recommend other educators to use the precious material from Europeana platform and especially to research the part of the platform with learning scenarios and stories of implementation. They could enrich their teaching with very creative lesson plans. This platform is not only for language teachers but for teachers of all subjects because there can be found materials in 37 languages.
Did you find this story of implementation interesting? Why don’t you read about the related learning scenario? The Legend of Wilhelm Tell (EN-CUR-619), created by Lana Matijaković
Did you find this story of implementation interesting? You might also like:
- Fairy Tales and Imagination: Making Magic Happen (LS-ME-582) implemented by Tihana Turković
- Myths and legends throughout Europe: from England to Sicily (LS-IT-101), implemented by Emanuela Leto
- Connected by Legends (LS-HR-549) , implemented by Kristina Jelošek
Do you want to discover more stories of implementation? Click here.
Public Domain Mark 1.0: the featured image used to illustrate this article has been found on Europeana and has been provided by the Albertina.