Published by Roslyn Green in November 2022
Unit: Christmas 
Bildlexikon: Weihnachten 
- das Geschenk → present, gift
- die Bescherung → the present-opening
- Wann ist bei euch Bescherung? → When do you open your Christmas presents?
- der Weihnachtsbaum → Christmas tree
- den Weihnachtsbaum schmücken → to decorate the Christmas tree
- die Weihnachtskugel oder die Kugel → bauble
- Wir haben den Weihnachtsbaum mit Kugeln geschmückt. → We’ve decorated the Christmas tree with baubles.
- der Nikolaustag
- Am Nikolaustag stellen die Kinder ihre Schuhe vor die Tür. → On St Nicholas’ Day, the children put their shoes in front of their house door.
Useful Links 
- Download the unit booklet as a PDF (also embedded below)
- Leo Online Wörterbuch
- Two episodes in the excellent Slow German Podcast by Annik Rubens: Weihnachten | Weihnachtsmarkt
- An audio and text from Deutsch-to-go.de: Der Weihnachtsmann → PDF of audio provided here
- A short video from Die Sendung mit der Maus → How Advent Calendars are Made
- An episode from the engaging Grüße aus Deutschland podcast is embedded below. Click on the word “DESCRIPTION” to read the text.
Online Activities
Match the Pin and Label Puzzle
The pins are based on the gender of the noun: blue for masculine nouns; red for feminine nouns; green for neuter nouns. Click on the ⓘ symbol on each label to hear the noun pronounced. For English translations of each expression, click on the lightbulb
.
This Kahoot is based on the vocabulary on pages 2-4 of the unit booklet. The quiz is entirely in German, but most of the questions are quite simple.
Quizizz: Mein Wunschzettel → paper version on right
This quiz focuses on the correct accusative endings after sentence starts such as:
- Zu Weihnachten wünsche ich mir…
- Ich hätte gern…
This quiz provides many pictures to help you recall the Christmas-based vocabulary. It has some more challenging questions towards the end but there are several ⓘ symbols with translations.
Worksheet in PDF form: Weihnachten
This handout is based on a very simplified version of Annik Rubens’ excellent description of Christmas in Germany, which is embedded on the left.
You can read the full text of this podcast episode here .
This game is best printed on an A3 piece of paper for each group of 2-3 students.
This is a set of more detailed instructions for students who can handle a range of sentences and are fairly independent.
Students can play this game with dice and buttons. Wherever they land, they must try to make up a sentence using the infinitive expression on that square.
Another option could be for the first student to ask a question based on that square’s expression. The second student could answer the question.