View Content #18548

by Renee Marshall

The goal of this activity is to expose language students to a valuable language learning tool, Mind-Mapping, in order to help them expand their vocabulary in the target language. Mind-Maps provide a way for students to synthesize new vocabulary in a non-linear way. For the example activity, I use a German listening activity from the video series JoJo such das Glück from Deutsche Welle (http://www.dw.de/deutsch-lernen/jojo-staffel-1/s-31564); however, I have written the activity in English so it can be easily modified for other languages and for use with other audio/video sources.

Objective: Students will be able to create a mind-map using words taken from a listening exercise on the topic "arriving in a new city."

Resources: Vocabulary Mind-Map handout

Procedure:

1. Pass out Vocabulary Mind-Map handout to all students. Play the video once for students and have them complete #1 and #2 on the handout.
2. Have students discuss what they wrote for #1 and #2 with a partner. You may want to have students share out ideas with whole class as well.
3. As a whole class look at #3 on the handout together. Clarify the Mind-Map concept if needed: A Vocabulary Mind-Map is a diagram of vocabulary words based on a main idea and should mainly be comprised of one-word items (not sentences) as in the example provided. If the target language has gendered words, it could be useful to instruct students to include the word's gender on the Mind-Map (e.g. "der Dom," "la cartera," "le café").
4. Have students work on their own on #4 on the handout, creating their own Mind-Map for the topic "arriving in a new city," looking up new words as necessary.
5. For #5 and #6 on handout play the video again, the second time handing out the transcript of the video so students can read along. Students add more vocabulary to their Mind-Maps each time.
6. Have students share their Mind-Maps with a partner, #7 on handout, and then complete #8.

Note: After listening to an audio/video file a few times, it can be useful for students to see a written transcript as well. Often websites and podcasts offer free transcripts of their audio/video resources, such as Deutsche Welle's JoJo sucht das Glück (http://www.dw.de/deutsch-lernen/jojo-staffel-1/s-31564) video series. Radio France Internationale's Le journal en français facile (http://www1.rfi.fr/lffr/statiques/accueil_apprendre.asp) news podcast offers free transcripts and so do many of TV5Monde Enseigner's (http://enseigner.tv5monde.com/) videos and audio files.