Cognates | German

This product features a set of 32 task cards. Each task card in this set features a cognate-heavy, short reading in German about an animal. These readings are simple, and they are perfect for the first weeks of German 1 or for an exploratory class!

Each reading is about a different animal. Readings are 3-4 sentences long and reasonably comprehensible for students in the first weeks of German class.

This set of task cards was created specifically to allow students an opportunity to practice the skill of looking for and recognizing cognates in readings. These questions and sentence frames are used across the resource:

• Was ist das?          
• Das ist ein _______.
• Wie heisst es?      
• Er/sie heisst ______.
• Was für ein Tier ist das?  
• Er/sie ist __.
• Woher kommt es? 
• Er/sie kommt aus __.
• Was isst es?             
• Er/sie isst ______.

This product also includes a one-page note-taking sheet that students can use to record the German word for each animal (plus the English meaning), to note any cognates that they recognized, any words that they could not understand, and if desired a complete translation of the reading.

A brief intro to cognates notes sheet is also included in this file. The intro sheet describes what a cognate is in English, explains what a false cognate is, and gives students a list of German words that are English cognates with the prompt to guess the meaning in English.

We have added a digital component to this product! Each reading is provided on a Google Slide with a space for students to fill in the cognates that they recognize, as well as the words that they do and don't understand in the reading. A digital version of the notes pages are also included!

Other resources in German from The Comprehensible Classroom:

• Das Buffet | Running Dictation
• Wer bist du? | Who are you? German guessing game
• Special Person Interview | German
• Eins mus weg | One's gotta go | Discussion prompts in German
• Cognates | German
• One Word Image Imagination Lab (OWI) | German
• Bei mir zu Hause | Running Dictation in German
• The Unfair Game® | Editable TEMPLATE for GERMAN