German Lantern Festival

Germany is not all about Octoberfest! A much more popular and common event for children in Germany is Martin's Day. These materials give you all the information you need to introduce any age level to this authentic and fun German tradition.

On Nov. 11, German children celebrate Martin's Day. They learn the story and song of St. Martin, who lived in the Middle Ages and became known for sharing his coat with a poor man in the cold wintertime, and they construct lanterns and take them on a parade through town. The parades may be held before or after Martin's Day, which makes this a good activity for any fall day. An optional brief reference to German carneval season, with starts on St. Martin's Day, is also included.

This product, "German Lantern Festival" is intended for teachers who teach German at any proficiency and age level, as well as for teachers who want to introduce children to a German fall tradition as part of an exploratory German program, a social studies or world culture lesson, or who need materials for a multicultural fall celebrations. It is also suitable for preschool and school-age child care programs.

The materials include two pages of handouts in German, including song texts, the St. Martin's story, information about the traditions, word searches, and an acrostic poetry activity. They are at varying levels of difficulty, so they are suitable for different levels of German and/or multilevel groups.

Six pages of teacher resources are also included. They include references to world language and social studies standards, objectives, background information on the traditions, instructions and explanations for teachers who do not know (much) German, lesson suggestions for teachers of German (from exploratory/beginning to intermediate/advanced), translations of the songs, ideas for activities, instructions for constructing lanterns, and internet links to sheet music, sound files, web activities for German students, and additional information about history and tradition.