Geschichte (German)
£2.00
A German child uses one word for the history of a country, for a bedtime story and for a spilt bowl of cereal. That word is 'Geschichte', and it is one of the first a learner meets on a German timetable.
The etymology comic: black-and-white illustrated panels, one idea each, with short captions. The school subject, the bedtime story and 'mach keine Geschichten!' appear side by side, so the three living meanings are seen as one word.
A word-history breakdown from Old High German to modern German, with a century at every stage the record allows.
English words that look related and are not - 'history', 'story' and 'happen' - drawn as a panel of their own, since this word has no everyday English relative.
A gender picture for 'die Geschichte', built on the word's own '-e' ending.
Pronunciation respellings with IPA, a sources page, and a short guide for the adult.
The file prints two ways. The large pages, one idea to each, can be printed single-sided, laminated, trimmed and clipped onto a binder ring, and then it becomes a deck a child turns over at the kitchen table. You put the deck together yourself: you'll need a printer, a laminator and a ring. The last page has the whole word on one sheet, which needs no laminating and can go straight on the fridge.
For personal use in home education and tutoring only.
It suits a wide range of learners:
KS3 and KS4 German learners, and anyone meeting 'Geschichte' on a timetable for the first time
home-educated children learning German
children in specialist tuition, including dyslexic learners and those with weak working memory
parents learning German alongside their child
adults coming back to German after school
anyone who likes to know where a word came from
It isn't a first-lessons resource. It assumes the learner can already read a short German sentence aloud, such as 'Wir haben heute Geschichte', even if they need help with what it means.
A learner who has met 'Geschichte' on a timetable hears a German parent say 'Mach keine Geschichten!' and assumes they misheard. They didn't. The word has three meanings - history, a story, and a bit of trouble - and this puts all three in front of the child at once, so they meet one word rather than three.
I made these for my son when he had a German test coming up.
German once had another word on the same root, 'schiht', meaning an event or a stroke of chance. It sounded exactly like the mining word 'Schicht', a layer or a work shift, which comes from somewhere else entirely. The event word died out around 1700; the mining word is still in everyday use.
The rest of this set is built on the same word: the verb 'geschehen', 'to happen'; the adjective 'geschichtlich', 'historical'; the compounds 'Geschichtsbuch', 'Geschichtsunterricht', 'Kurzgeschichte', 'Lebensgeschichte', 'Vorgeschichte' and 'Weltgeschichte'; and the phrases 'Geschichte machen', 'mach keine Geschichten!' and 'die unendliche Geschichte'.
Available now as a PDF download.
A German child uses one word for the history of a country, for a bedtime story and for a spilt bowl of cereal. That word is 'Geschichte', and it is one of the first a learner meets on a German timetable.
The etymology comic: black-and-white illustrated panels, one idea each, with short captions. The school subject, the bedtime story and 'mach keine Geschichten!' appear side by side, so the three living meanings are seen as one word.
A word-history breakdown from Old High German to modern German, with a century at every stage the record allows.
English words that look related and are not - 'history', 'story' and 'happen' - drawn as a panel of their own, since this word has no everyday English relative.
A gender picture for 'die Geschichte', built on the word's own '-e' ending.
Pronunciation respellings with IPA, a sources page, and a short guide for the adult.
The file prints two ways. The large pages, one idea to each, can be printed single-sided, laminated, trimmed and clipped onto a binder ring, and then it becomes a deck a child turns over at the kitchen table. You put the deck together yourself: you'll need a printer, a laminator and a ring. The last page has the whole word on one sheet, which needs no laminating and can go straight on the fridge.
For personal use in home education and tutoring only.
It suits a wide range of learners:
KS3 and KS4 German learners, and anyone meeting 'Geschichte' on a timetable for the first time
home-educated children learning German
children in specialist tuition, including dyslexic learners and those with weak working memory
parents learning German alongside their child
adults coming back to German after school
anyone who likes to know where a word came from
It isn't a first-lessons resource. It assumes the learner can already read a short German sentence aloud, such as 'Wir haben heute Geschichte', even if they need help with what it means.
A learner who has met 'Geschichte' on a timetable hears a German parent say 'Mach keine Geschichten!' and assumes they misheard. They didn't. The word has three meanings - history, a story, and a bit of trouble - and this puts all three in front of the child at once, so they meet one word rather than three.
I made these for my son when he had a German test coming up.
German once had another word on the same root, 'schiht', meaning an event or a stroke of chance. It sounded exactly like the mining word 'Schicht', a layer or a work shift, which comes from somewhere else entirely. The event word died out around 1700; the mining word is still in everyday use.
The rest of this set is built on the same word: the verb 'geschehen', 'to happen'; the adjective 'geschichtlich', 'historical'; the compounds 'Geschichtsbuch', 'Geschichtsunterricht', 'Kurzgeschichte', 'Lebensgeschichte', 'Vorgeschichte' and 'Weltgeschichte'; and the phrases 'Geschichte machen', 'mach keine Geschichten!' and 'die unendliche Geschichte'.
Available now as a PDF download.
