A Lesson Design on the Subject of Religion as a Course Unit in Language Teaching

Aim. The purpose of this qualitative research is the preparation, implementation and evaluation of a sample lesson focused on the selection of the subject of religion for the German courses taught in universities. The second purpose of this research is to contribute to international understanding between peoples with different religious beliefs. Methods. This research pertaining to religion is qualitative in nature. In this research , the document analysis technique was used. The research on the subject of religion was taken up during the 2021/2022 academic year in my selective German courses at the Hacettepe University. Results. The successful contribution of the lesson planning model mentioned in this article was also observed in the teaching activities in primary and secon-dary schools conducted earlier. It was also seen that the students who attended the German courses in connection with education or work in Europe. Conclusions. It was observed that the participants talked about Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism and Hinduism. It is important to remark that the interest of the participants in German lessons still continues. Therefore, effective lesson planning models and unique methods should be further developed. Originality. German language courses are offered as a foreign language learning practice in Turkish schools, private institutions and universities as elective foreign language courses. Students from all the departments of the university may attend the elective German language classes. To conduct the German courses effectively, a suitable method should be developed which will help the participants who come from different countries and students with different levels of fluency. related dialogue. of should be a of asks s and come to the board and read the dialogue. The roles are assigned and


Introduction
T he Turks living in Turkey (in Anatolia and Thrace) came to Anatolia in 1071 from Central Asia, triggered by the drought because of climate changes. Rather, they lived in Central Asia as a nomadic people. By faith they were shamanists. Tengrism is a collective term for the oldest polytheistic religion of all Mongolian and Turkic people of Central Asia. This term emerged from the even older Altaic shamanism Vural, 2013). After emigrating, Turks met the Persians and Arabs, among other nations. The people of Anatolia come from different cultures and also spoke relatively different languages. They have embraced the monotheistic religion of Islam. Over time, Turkish has been primarily influenced by Persian and Arabic languages. Then, the Ottoman Turkish developed. Persian still plays an important role in Turkish culture and literature while Arabic is used in religious practices. The influence of French was noticeable in the areas of technology and administration. German and English also had an influence on the Turkish language. After the foundation of the Turkish Republic, efforts were made to establish Turkish as the official language. Arabic and Persian were dropped from the curriculum. French, German and English continued to be taught as foreign languages in educational institutions.
Currently, the importance of Arabic in educational institutions is on the increase. The number of subjects associated with religion has been increased. However, the influence of Persian has diminished. Nowadays, English, German, Arabic, French, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Japanese, Chinese and other languages are offered as foreign languages in Turkish schools. As a preference, English is chosen as the first and German as the second foreign language. Foreign language classes are organised, based on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. Despite the updated textbooks, four-year teacher training and varied lesson planning, the quality of the foreign language lesson is not at the desired level.
Currently there is also great interest for German courses at universities, as many students would like to continue their studies and/or work in Germany. In order for the students to regularly take part in German courses, it is important that the content and methods of the lessons are interesting. For my German courses, I developed an approach in 13 stages (Coşkun, 2018;Demirezen, 2013;Karabıyık, 2018). This article is based on this action--oriented approach.
Religion is also an interesting topic for the German courses. Religion is an important issue in Turkish society. Issues on religion are often discussed in Turkish families, in their vicinity and Turkish workers living abroad. In the elementary schools, middle schools and high schools, religion is taught as a compulsory subject. According to the religious education teacher, religious instruction in Turkey is non-denominational (Aydın, 2000). History of Religions is also taught in Anatolian Imam Hatip High Schools (Kurt & Aykıt, 2021). In the last 20 years, numerous mosques and prayer rooms have been built in Turkey. This is also a sign that faith is given an important place in Turkey. The Bureau of Religious Affairs, which supports Koran courses and religious education, has a remarkable budget. This office also has representatives abroad.
In Germany, the education of religion is practiced in very different ways (Noormann, 2000). In Germany, instruction of religion is the only subject in the Constitution Law that is protected as a regular subject for public schools (Article 7, Paragraph 3 of the Constitution Law). Exceptions are non-denominational schools for which no religious instruction is provided (Wikipedia, Religion Education in Germany, 2022). Students have the opportunity to take ethics and philosophy instead of religious education. In Germany, the topic of Islam is mainly discussed in connection with integration and Islamophobia (El Massry, 2021). Islamic religious education is also offered in Germany. However, participation is voluntary. In Germany, there are courses on "Islamic religious education" which offer certificates for teachers who will teach Islamic religion. Religions are also given a comprehensive place in the book titled "Certificate German -Learning Objectives and Test Format." The catalogue of topics recommends the following words that are considered relevant for communication (Damblemont et al., 1999).

Method
This study on religion was conducted through the qualitative method (Kuş, 2007). The document analysis technique was utilized in the research (Karasar, 2006, pp. 183-197). The research on the subject of religion was made during the academic year 2021/2022 in my elective German courses at the university. The words selected and the written texts were discussed with experts in the field of German as a foreign language and in the field of religious education both in Turkey and in Germany. The subject of religion was dealt with during the school internship with candidate teachers together with students at an Anatolia high school for prayer leaders and priests. The implementation and evaluation of the subject of religion was developed by Hasan Coşkun (2020) in accordance with the lesson planning model previously prepared. The teaching materials, which were prepared partially by Burak Ahmet Dilsiz (2021) in tandem with the lesson planning model developed and revised by Coşkun (2020). This gave birth to this lesson on religion for this article.

General information
Each lesson is planned by taking into account the characteristics of the target group. It is therefore important that the reader is informed about the target group. The following is the most important information about the target group.

Rationale of the lesson
Aachen is a lively and international city. Marcel Philipp (2015), the mayor of the city of Aachen, points out the importance of the dialogue between religions in his foreword as follows. It is full of friendly families and has many social activities. More than a third of the residents of the city of Aachen can look back on a history of immigration. People from over 160 nations have found a new home in our city, regardless of their origin, their nationality and their faith. Due to its international importance as, a city of trade and science, the European city of Aachen has been a place of intercultural and interreligious exchange since the time of Charlemagne.
The working group on the "Dialogue of Religions" was founded under the direction of the municipal integration officer. This working group stands for peace and understanding, mutual respect, appreciative interaction and tolerance. The working group has become an important institution in the city when it comes to current issues of everyday life, education and work as well as participation and understanding.
The representatives of the religions act in their communities and among themselves as bridge builders and valuable multipliers. This dialogue at eye level creates an awareness that is based on acceptance, respect and openness and thus preserves and increases the quality of life in Aachen. There are other German cities where people of different religions live.
Paul Kirchhof (2013) writes the following in the foreword to the Lexicon of Dialogue: When two cultures meet, we first seek dialogue among the new neighbours. In our dialogue between Christianity and Islam, however, we find it difficult to understand the difference between cultures and the religions on which they are based, because we lack the concepts. (p. [7][8] Frank Spengler (2005) pointed in his opening speech at the conference on the subject of "Multi-religion coexistence in Germany and Turkey" to the fact that in Turkey in particular all three religions shape history and everyday life more than in any other country. Mehmet Görmez (2005) argues that Europe lacks historical experience in multi-religious life. He also says that the achievements as a result of the immigration policies of the 18th and 19th centuries are still remarkable and that Turks alone have currently built 3,000 mosques in Europe. Mehmet Zeki Aydın (2000) says that Islam lessons are already offered as a selective subject in some federal states and that it is also being seriously discussed in other federal states.
In his opinion, enough experience has been gained abroad. He proposes to set up a commission to develop curricula. These quotes and explanations show how important the subject of religion is in Turkey and abroad. It is therefore appropriate that basic knowledge is also given space in German courses.

The objectives of the lesson
The objective of this study is to promote the desired characteristics by the individual learners through education. The goals are separated into three, as long-term goals, general objectives/general goals, and fine goals. These goal groups must be consistent with one another. In application fine goals are referred to as goals only. Long term goals are related to general education, general goals are related to educational institutions, and fine goals are related to the envisioned courses. Therefore, fine goals are those habits such as knowledge, skill, talent, interest, thrift and habits. These features are divided into three fields such as cognitive, emotional and psychomotor. Fine objectives shed light on learning experiences, the methods and techniques to be applied in the lesson and on measuring and evaluation activities (Bilen, 1993). The objectives intended to be achieved with the weather report listed below were formulated.
The students who take part in this lesson will: • try to remember what they have learned with respect to religion; • know the names of 25 words with respect to religion; • talk about the religion in their area, among their peer groups and abroad; • talk about the impact of religion; • understand the importance of religion; • understand a simple conversation dealing with religion; • understand a simple text related to religion; • write a simple text related to religion; • make some recommendations on religion.

Explanation of the key word and the 24 words used in the lesson on religion
When it comes to acquiring a language, vocabulary is of great importance (Hölscher et al., 2016;Çekiç & Demirezen, 2020). There are several techniques for expanding vocabulary. In the lesson planning model I developed, each lesson uses a keyword and 24 words that are closely related to the topic. The number 24 was found on the basis of the nine stones game (improvised). There are 24 intersections on the board. The space in the middle of the game board is used for the keyword. The word lists are created in three languages (Turkish, German and English). Turkish is usually the mother tongue and/or the official language. German is the target language. English is the second foreign language learned at school.
As a teacher in Germany, I have worked on bilingual and bicultural texts (Coşkun, 1987). I have worked on monolingualism in Turkey for a long time. Recently, university students often ask for multilingual learning materials. Therefore, there are currently three trilingual word lists and example sentences in my teaching units.
According to my own observations, children and adults can learn two or three languages at the same time. The learning process could be supported by some didactic methods. One language can also facilitate the learning process in another language. "It is important that multilingualism be given a place in teacher education" (Rosch, 2005, pp. 121-130). It has been my experience that learners tend to ignore one or a few languages in multilingual materials. Multilingualism does not bother the learners. However, it is important that the teachers themselves are multilingual.             The social and linguistic skills of the learners are expanded through the use of dialogues. Personal experiences, feelings and attitudes are expressed in dialogues. The length and intensity of the sentences should be related to the level of the learners. Both teachers and learners can write dialogues. Each sentence should be short and easy to understand. The 25 words related to the topic should be used in dialogue. If possible, only one of the 25 words should be used in a sentence. The dialogue should start with the introduction of the teacher. The teacher asks three boys and three girls to come to the board and read the dialogue. The roles are assigned and the text read out.

A Reading Text
Dietmar Rösler & Nicola Würffel (2017) wrote that working with texts in the classroom is a matter of course. They said that texts can be composed both orally and in written forms. These texts can be used to handle the treatment of the subjects to be taught. Through the use of text we can carry the discussion in more detail. Working on texts, implicitly or explicitly, it is about promoting various skills. For example, it is about acquiring vocabulary or dealing with aspects of grammar. The treatment also promotes receptive skills. "Receptive skills are understood as reading, listening and hearing and visual comprehension." (Rösler & Würffel, 2017). For example, there are audio texts and film clips written texts in a textbook. Texts written by teachers or learners can also be helpful in the classroom. In this article, a text consisting of 5 paragraphs was written. 25 words related to the topic are used in the text. These words are in bold characters. The text can be converted into a reading text by deleting the boldfaced words (Dilsiz, 2021). Group work is recommended to deal with the reading texts in the classroom. If possible, the questions about the text should be prepared in advance.

Religions and Places of Worship
Today when people speak of religion, they generally mean that they unconditionally believe in a divine being and are guided by its presence. Throughout history, there have been different religions on earth. Many different faiths have emerged. However, there have been reform movements in some of the religions from time to time. There have always been different types of leaders in these beliefs. Martin Luther is a well-known example of this.
Judaism, known as the oldest religion, believes in the Torah as the holy book. The synagogue serves as a place of worship. The clergy working in the synagogue are called rabbis. As in all religions, Judaism has sacred books, worship services, and the way the religion is practiced. The Wailing Wall, the shofar, the Star of David, and the seven-branched candelabrum are sacred to their faith.
The Christians believe in the Bible as a holy book. The Christians who believe in it go to church to worship. They use church bells to call people to worship. There is a holy cross in all the churches. The priests who participate in sacred ceremonies and the religion education are the clergymen of this faith. The tomb of the Virgin Mary is in İzmir and is visited on pilgrimage by many Christians. Thousands of people come to İzmir to visit the tomb of the Virgin Mary. These visits are important as they contribute to social development. In this respect, the municipality of Yapraklı should take the necessary measures for the benefit of the people. Thus, the community of Yapraklı with its mosques, madrassas and churches could be reassembled in a little Harran near Urfa.
The Islamic religion was the divine religion revealed to the Prophet Muhammad by God. The Quran is the holy book of the Islamic religion, which still provides information about yesterday, today, and tomorrow. The mosque is the most important place of prayer of the Islamic religion. The prayer leader, an official of the mosque, is responsible for all kinds of order in the mosque. The prayer leader also participates in events such as ceremonial occasions for the believers living in the area. The Müezzin issues the call in the form of a sung prayer to urge people to pray. Usually, the call to prayer is made from the minarets, which are thin and tall structures standing next to the mosque. On top of the minarets a crescent moon is placed. When the minaret is none existent, the call to prayer is read by standing up on a high stone. In addition to prayer, pilgrimage is one of the five pillars of worship of the Islamic religion. The pilgrimage is performed around the Kaaba in the city of Mecca.
Indian and Asian religions are prevalent in the eastern and southern parts of India and Asia. These religions also have various places of worship and holy places. In Hinduism, the River Ganges is considered sacred for purification from sins. The clergymen known as Sangha in Buddhism represent the oldest known priesthood in the world. Temples are important places of worship in Indian and Chinese religions. The Mahabodhi Temple, an important sacred place in Buddhism, is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. For Buddhists, the Tripitaka is considered a holy book. The prayer wheel, which is sacred for Buddhists, is used during worship (Dilsiz, 2021).

The importance of the educational game
Educational games promote playful learning. "Experience indicates that learning through playing has an extremely beneficial effect on the student's willingness to learn. This also increases the ability of the student to concentrate on the topic. A higher practice effect occurs along with better learning outcomes." (Tischer & Piepmeyer, 1992).

Instructions of the educational card game
Educational games are usually used to design more attractive activities in class, to reinforce learning. and to encourage creativity. In terms of subject related didactics (specialised didactics), it is important that the rules of the educational game are formulated in an understandable manner so as to develop suitable materials. The caste learning game was developed for teaching and socio-educational activities. The name of the caste learning game is derived from the word "caste." The caste system in India is usually represented in the form of a pyramid.
The word caste is defined as follows: "Caste" (Portuguese/Spanish casta "race," from Latin castus "pure") denotes a sense of religion based on ethnology and sociology. It shows a legitimised social phenomenon of hierarchical classification that is primarily known in India, demonstrating the demarcation of social groups. The division according to social structures mainly concerns status, marriage, and division of labour. The term is also used colloquially or sociologically in general and applied to individual groups and others in modern societies. In a true sense of the word, a caste system can be found particularly in India and Nepal, in the islands of Sri Lanka and Bali, as well as in the ethno-religious group of the Yazidis.
The caste learning game was designed based on the caste system based on the basic shape of the mailbox. In the caste learning game, 25 cards 8x8 cm in size are used. Therefore, the game board (the playing surface) is divided into 25 squares (frames). Each square frame is intended for one card. In the middle of the board, the card with the keyword that symbolises the respective topic is placed. This card for the keyword has the number 00. The other 24 cards are numbered from 1 to 24. The pictures on all cards are written (labeled) in Turkish, German and English. In the middle of each card there is a picture, below the number; the meaning of the picture is given on the left in Turkish, on the top in German and on the right in English.
On one side of the 24 cards there is the pattern of the keyword. During the game, the 24 cards related to the topic, numbered 1 to 24, are lined up one after the other around the keyword card. The two sets (sets) of these cards can also be used for the memory game. The caste learning game has been revised for the topic of interreligious education (Coşkun & Gülnar, 2021). Below are the 25 rules of the educational caste game. For the rules of this game see Coşkun (2021).

The rules of the caste learning game
Johan Huizinga (2019), the great historian and cultural philosopher, writes the following about the rules of the game: The inherent qualities of order and tension in the game lead us to consider the rules of the game. Each game has its own rules. They determine what is to apply within the temporary world that has severed it. The rules of a game are absolutely binding and leave no room for doubt (p. 20).

Materials to be used for the educational caste game
In natural language acquisition, people learn the new language through interaction with their environment. They process the linguistic input. In the classroom, the input usually consists of material that was produced (created) specifically for the classroom. The people learning a new foreign language in class hear, read, or see texts that were not specifically produced for their learning process. Various materials are used for language acquisition.
The use of materials and media depends, among other things, and is based on the time provided. Additional material in the form of worksheets was developed for the subject of religion. These are 24 words related to the topic of religion. A picture was drawn for each word. Five sentences were formed for each word. The religion keyword flashcard contains one picture and five sentences. Cards can also be developed from the keyword and from the words related to the topic, which could then be used for the game Memory.

The Planning of Lesson
There is a close connection between the lesson planning and learning success. The teacher, respectively the lecturer is expected to plan each lesson or unit beforehand. Therefore, lesson planning is an important part of the work of teachers. Lesson planning includes all of the considerations involved in preparing a lesson or a unit. For this reason, concepts are taught in teacher training, where technical, didactic and pedagogical considerations are to be made before a lesson and how these are to be documented. On one hand, a detailed lesson planning serves as orientation for the teacher when teaching. On the other hand, it should justify the desired learning goals against the background of a selected didactic model (lesson planning https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Unterrichtsplanung). The following lesson plan is part of the unit plan. The teacher wants each student to take their place. He distributes the text "Explanation of religion symbols and the catalogue of sentences." He wants students to put the sentences in the catalogue in the correct places. He also wants some students to present their work.
The students take their places. The group leaders distribute the texts "Description of religious symbols with missing sentences". Students inscribe the missing sentences in the right places. Some students present their work.

Partner work
Explanation of religion symbols

11
He asks the students to create a word list (German and Turkish) with nouns, adjectives and verbs. He asks the students to answer the questions related to the text at home.
The students form groups of five and create the desired German-Turkish word list with nouns, adjectives and verbs. The students note the homework.

4 min.
The teacher summarizes the activity, thanks the participants and assigns them homework for the following week.
The students take notes while listening to the teacher. They thank the teacher for the activity.

Oral statement
Total period: 120 minutes Homework: The teacher asks each student to write a text (about 200 words) about the differences and similarities between religions and bring them to the class next week.
Source: own research.

Evaluation of teaching
Evaluation is a broader concept than "test" and "measurement" in terms of scope. The terms measuring and evaluating are often confused. The reason for this confusion is probably due to the fact that measurement and evaluation are carried out together. Evaluation is a process of judging, comparing, evaluating and interpreting based on the comparison of two things. In other words, the evaluation process consists of drawing subjective conclusions by using mental judgments from the measurement results obtained through observation or objective measures. The notion of evaluation encompasses the more subjective judgments derived from the use of judgments, as well as the values obtained through the use of objective techniques.

Conclusion and recommendations
At the beginning of this article, it was pointed out that foreign language teaching had already a certain tradition in the Ottoman Empire. All cultures, languages and religions were permitted in the Ottoman Empire. In the Ottoman Empire, Ottoman Turkish was developed under the influence of the Persian and Arabic languages. Persian has shaped everyday life while Arabic is active in the sphere of religion. After the foundation of the Republic of Turkey, the aim was to reduce the influence of Persian and Arabic so as to promote the spread of the Turkish language. For this purpose, the Institute for Turkish Language and History was founded in 1931-1932. The Yunus Emre Institute was set up in Turkey in 2007, based on the Goethe Institute principles. This institute currently (in 2022) has 64 branches in 52 countries. Yunus Emre was an Anatolian poet and mystic of the 13th-14th centuries. Yunus Emre is considered a symbol of humanistic values, philanthropy, and social peace. He is said to have spoken and written "pure" Turkish in his poetry.
In Turkey, French, German and English are still offered as foreign languages. There are now schools in Turkey where Arabic is given more space. In curricula, the number of subjects related to religion has been increased. The importance of religion and Turkey's trading relationships with Arab countries play an important role here. In addition to French, German, English, and Arabic, other foreign languages such as Spanish, Italian, Chinese, Japanese and Russian are also offered.
Because of the close relationship with Germany, German has gained a second place as a foreign language in the Turkish educational institutions, both state and private. Due to the high unemployment in Turkey, there are many students, professionals, and academics who want to study, work and live in Germany. They therefore learn German at formal educational institutions, at adult education centers, in private courses, in online courses, through self-study and in courses at universities. It is important that the German lessons are action-oriented based on current topics. Regional studies give learners the opportunity to acquire basic knowledge of cultural life in German-speaking countries. The subject of religion is part of regional studies.
According to my own experiences, both in Germany and in Turkey, religion is one of the topics that people want to talk about. At the same time, it can be seen that the students do not acquire sufficient knowledge about world religions in school lessons. Both in formal educational institutions and in my courses at universities, I have found that pupils and students are interested in the subject of religion when it is treated comparatively.
The Ottoman Empire was a diverse country in three continents (Africa, Asia and Europe) in terms of languages, cultures, and beliefs. Turkey is also a rich country in terms of languages, cultures and religions. In Turkey, participation in religious education is compulsory. According to official regulations, the instruction of religion in Turkey is based on a supra-religion concept. Also, all world religions are given a place (Kurt & Aykıt, 2021).
In Germany, the children of Muslim families have the opportunity to take part in Islamic religious education. Turkey sends teachers for Islamic classes to Germany. At the same time there are efforts to train teachers for Islamic classes in Germany.

Recommendation for the unit religion
• This study covers two thematic areas. They are religion and German as a foreign language. Therefore, the recommendations should be formulated in relation to these two subject areas. • Arabic and Turkish are two different languages in terms of syntax and semantics. Most people do not learn Arabic in Turkey. There are, however, various translations of the Qur'an, although translation is not highly recommended. • One reads texts from the Koran without understanding them. This topic should also be discussed from the point of view of pedagogy (compare Schmiede, 1997). • Teaching units are to be developed for German lessons. These teaching units should be enriched with various dialogues, reading texts, puzzles, types of exercises, flashcards, multilingual (Turkish, German, English and possibly other languages) word lists, videos, films, and educational games.