"Bodden"

A Poem by Richard Leising

"Bodden" (1975) by Richard Leising (1934-1997) is an excellent poem for practicing modal verbs.

Lesson Plan

Begin by making a simple handout to review the meanings of modal verbs. Students are instructed to fill in the correct modal verb in the correct form. The examples should be related to the context of the poem to help prepare the students for the actual poem.

Next, students are given an excerpt from the poem (lines 10-15), but blanks replace the modal verbs.

The students are instructed to fill in what they think is the right modal verb.

The class then discusses what was filled in.

Next, a copy of the poem should be handed out, and the section from the handout with the blanks for the modal verbs should be highlighted.

The teacher can then ask the students again what "können" means and how using only können affects the poem.

The class could also discuss verb choice. A typical question would be: If Leising were to have used a different modal verb, like müssen for example, how would that change the meaning of the sentence/poem?

Other questions to pose would be, "Wo macht man das?
In New York City? In Kanada? In Ungarn?"