Each German student is required to have a notebook for German class. A well-maintained, organized notebook will be one of your most important study tools as you learn to speak and communicate in a second language. You must bring it with you to class every day, and you are required to keep all your German papers in it. If you handle your notebook carefully, it should last several years. Please read the following guidelines carefully:

Your notebook should be a three-ring binder, used solely for German class. It should be in good shape, with properly-working rings and attached front and back covers.

German I students will need 8 tab dividers. These dividiers should be clearly labeled with the following section titles:

• Allgemeine Auskunft (class guidelines & rules, mid-term grade report sheets, class lists & telephone numbers, etc.)
• Tech Info (Information on Lotus Notes, tech-related handouts such as "How to Type Umlauts," web resources, etc.)
• Vokabeln (notes on chapter vocabulary, handy classroom phrases, any supplemental vocabulary from classroom discussion, etc.)
• Grammatik (grammar notes & explanations, verb endings & tenses, etc.)
• Kultur (songs, maps, notes on videos, articles relating to the target culture, recipes, geography-related material, etc.)
• Schriftliche Arbeit (all orginal work, rough drafts, skits, etc.)
• Aufgaben / Übungen (daily homework, practice sheets, quizzes, class activities - filed in order by date)
• Das Rad (Scholastic magazine "auf Deutsch.")

All entries in the notebook (papers as well as list entries) must be dated. Individual papers should be dated in the upper-right-hand corner. Please write the date as a German student would. Follow this example:

4. Januar 1999
             

 Your notebook should be kept up-to-date on a regular (preferably daily) basis.

You may use the filed contents of your notebook for answers to "notebook quizzes." You may not use papers that are stuck in the front or back pockets of the notebook, nor may you use papers that are stashed in your textbook. The grades that you receive on these short (sometimes unannounced) quizzes will count as part of your preparation grade. Click here for a look at a typical notebook quiz.

If you continue on to the next level of German via distance learning or correspondence, information from previous years can be very beneficial. Keep your notebook and its contents for the next year!

 

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