Kathryn Why a German slide show ?

I would use a slide show in order to have visual imput in the class. The fact that the pictures are our holiday snaps I think would be good as students love anything that shows a teacher to be human. This would enhance the learning of students who are strong in interpersonal learning and visual learners. If the students are amused by the photographs what I tell them about the photographs will probably be remembered more easily. According to Vygotsky learning happens when the students are active, the teacher is active and there is an active social environment (the Mozart of Psychology, n.d) and I think that there would be an active social environment while looking at photographs I had taken. (Of course I as the teacher would certainly risk ridicule but I think it is a risk worth taking).
As we were looking at the photographs I would be speaking to them in a combination of German and English about what they were looking at.
In year 10 the students do a project on any city or district where German is the language and I think that it would be interesting to share these with them as a taster for their own work.
For students to see photographs that I have taken it will be a 'real-life demonstration' (Gardner, A Multiplicity of Intelligences 2004) as I speak about the experiences I had there.
The students would see the rich historical nature of the culture in Berlin ( the Reichstag building and the German Cathedral for example) as well as see that there is a lot of development and building work being done following the collapse of the Berlin Wall happening in German cities now.
Also seeing the private dwelling of my friend, which is very typically German with many natural fibres and great organization would be informative for the students as it supports the fact that Germans are very strong on environmental issues and I think that the use of natural fibres in their houses reflects this.

Reference
The Mozart of Psychology
Retrieved from HYPERLINK "http://vygotsky.afraid.org on April 3 2007