Changing Language, Part 2

Language changes. This is nothing new. If you doubt me, have a go at reading Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales in the original Middle English from the late 14^th Century. Even texts written in the early years of European colonization of the Americas pose a challenge for native speakers of American English.

One change that is going on in German focuses on being inclusive of the LGBTQIA+ community. It’s not as simple as it once was (and my students would argue that it is not and never was simple), with two biological genders, the linguistic neutral, and the corresponding pronouns (he/er, she/sie, it/es). Until recently a person had only two options in German: “I am a male pilot” or “I am a female pilot,” because there was no gender-neutral word for “pilot.” That leaves out the people who do not identify as male or female. This change is less problematic in English, where most of our labels for people have no gender: cousin, pilot, swimmer, teacher, and so on. In German, however, those labels all have two forms, depending on whether the person is male or female: die Cousine/der Cousin, die Pilotin/der Pilot, die Schwimmerin/ der Schwimmer, die Lehrerin/der Lehrer. Female titles typically end with the suffix -in, and the suffix -er usually indicates a male.

In English we’ve handled changes like this, though on a smaller scale. Instead of “waitress” we should say “server.” Instead of “stewardess” we should say “flight attendant.” “Parent” and “spouse” have long been used instead of “mother or father” and “husband or wife.” This type of change is not difficult for native speakers, or at least it shouldn’t be.

In German nowadays there are several options to officially address people and be inclusive of the LGBTQIA+ community as well as cisgender men and women, none of which are perfect. There’s the Genderstern (Lehrer*innen), the Gendergap (Lehrer_innen), the Binnen-I (LehrerInnen), the Genderdoppelpunkt (Lehrer:innen) and other options fully explored in this pamphlet, which also explains the pros and cons of each approach.

Another method is to find gender-neutral words or phrases for labels and occupations. Instead of using “Studenten” for college students, people have started to use “Studierende,” which translates to “studiers” or “people who are studying.” A teacher, instead of “Lehrer” can be called a “Lehrperson” or “Lehrkraft.” The plural form is “Lehrende.” I received an invitation to an online course the other day from Baden-Württemberg’s Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport, and the target group is “Lehrende and Kursleitende” (persons who teach and leaders of courses).

Some of these newish terms are no problem for language learners. “Lehrperson” is perhaps a bit cumbersome, but combining “lehr[en]” (to teach) with “Person” is no big deal. Both “Lehrperson” and “Lehrkraft” are feminine based on the final part of the compound word, so neither is really gender-neutral. The word “Person” certainly is, but since German requires an article for every noun which then does clearly indicate a gender, I don’t necessarily understand what is gained.

In case I need to say this again, the concept of inclusion and not linguistically ostracizing a group of people is good! I am looking at this from the point-of-view of my students, who are already struggling to learn German. I do my best to make the language as painless as possible for them. 

One of the issues in teaching occupations and titles that adhere to the more inclusive language (faire Sprache) is the sequence in which German learners learn the language, following the books used in the A1 – B1 course. Traditionally, in order for a student to be able to answer the question “What is your job?” with “I am a pilot,” the student must learn:

• Verb conjugation of "to be"  (Ich bin)   [level A1.1, chapter 1]
• The occupation title (Pilot)   [level A1.2, chapter 9]

By chapter 9, which is approximately 105 hours or 5 weeks into the Integrationskurse taught here in Germany, the student can easily say, “Ich bin Pilot” (I am [a] pilot.) Since these are adults, they usually already know their occupation title by the time class starts, so most can already say this in week one.

 

In this Genderwörterbuch (gender dictionary) the title “flugzeugführende Belegschaft“ is suggested for “Pilot,” which translates to “airplane-guiding personnel.” In order to understand and produce this job title, the student would have to nearly finish the 600-hour course. Why?

1. Starting at level A1 students learn about  compound nouns and work on developing their vocabulary. Flugzeug is an A1 word, führen is expected in level B1. I don't know which level Belegschaft is, but I don't recall ever coming across it until today and I've been learning German since 1983.
   
   
2. Adjective endings, the bane of existence for most learners of German because these involve gender and case, are taught in level A2.2, in chapters 9, 10, and 12.
   
   
3. In order to construct "führende," the student needs to learn about participles [verb+d+adjective ending], which are taught in B1.2, chapter 38 (if the chapters for the 6 books of the entire course were numbered 1-42),

      

This same problem applies to the gender-neutral term for a person who is learning German: Deutschlernende. Deutsch and lernen are both A1-level words. But to understand the ending (-de), which looks much simpler than it is, the student needs to understand participles and adjective endings (levels A2.2 and B1.2). Well, for heaven’s sake just teach them in the first weeks to add -de to infinitive verbs to create titles! Ok, so "kochen" means "to cook," therefore "Kochende" would be cooks or chefs, right? But "kochend/e" is already a word, which means "boiling." And what is a notice to all “Fahrende”? One uses “fahren” (to drive) for driving a car, train, bus, etc. but also when one travels with a car, bus, train, etc. So is a "Fahrende" the driver of the bus or a passenger? Who needs to pay attention to that notice?  My point here is that if you think the issue is easy to solve, I promise you it is not.

Each of the options suggested by faire Sprache creates a difficulty for a group of people. Most companies seem to be using the Genderstern (Lehrer*innen) because the Stern includes all gender identities. But it’s problematic for visually impaired people, because the electronic devices that read texts aloud tend to ignore the symbol and the person hears simply “Lehrerinnen” or “female teachers,” which is not inclusive. For people (at least for native speakers) who are blind, the better option is using gender-neutral terms such as “Lehrende” (people who teach). But then non-native speakers may be at a disadvantage because of the complicated phrasing (flugzeugführende Belegschaft). In the 56-page pamphlet I referenced above, non-native speakers were only mentioned once as an aside – so they were mostly ignored as a group who will struggle with this issue.

German companies and publications are faced today with deciding how to handle this change. Ignore it? Adopt one of the more-inclusive methods of gendering? Mix them up and use several different ones? In one journal for Deutschlernende I subscribe to, I noticed they use the gender-neutral term in the plural when there is a fitting one (Lernende), and where there isn't they go new-traditional (Bewerberinnen und Bewerber = female and male applicants). They also used the old traditional, which is the plural form that looks the same as the male form (Arbeitgeber = employers) - all three forms within the same article. 

The German language is in the process of a Sprachwandel – a language change. It’s not an abrupt change, like the Great Spelling Reform of 1996, when teachers had to stop teaching daß in favor of dass, words with three identical consonants in a row became a reality (Schifffahrt) and whether words were written as two or one became more standardized (formerly radfahren/Auto fahren are now both Rad fahren/Auto fahren). 

It will be interesting to see how we are speaking 20 years from now. 

Changing Language, Part 1

Changing Language, Part 1

I’ve been teaching German for 22 years (since 1999), and although I have also taught English (American Literature in the US, informal conversational English in Germany), I far prefer teaching German. One of the things I love about living in Germany is that I am challenged by the language every single day: Listening, speaking, reading, writing, lately crossword puzzles… Although M and I speak mainly English peppered with German words at home, and although I sometimes get quite frustrated when I don’t understand something, I truly do prefer German because it’s a delicious challenge.

I have taught German I-IV in Wisconsin (that is first year to fourth year high school German) and levels A1 through B1 in Germany. Ultimately those equate to the same grammatical topics and levels, but in Germany I’ve been teaching adults, so therefore some of the vocabulary topics have a different focus, such as parenting, day-to-day life in Germany, dealing with government agencies, etc.

Anyone who has started learning German knows it is a challenging language, especially compared to English. Just as one example, where English has one definite article (the), German has 16, and some of those are the same word but have different functions. For example “der” could be any of these: Masculine nominative, feminine dative, feminine genitive or plural genitive. I realize I have already lost my American readers, in part because cases (nominative, dative, etc.) don’t play much of a role* and very few words in English are assigned a gender.

*Case in point, do you know confidently whether you need “I” or “me” in a sentence involving a second personal pronoun? ("This letter is for ____ and ____.")

 

In German every noun is assigned a gender, and although there are some hard-and-fast rules, for learners of German the assigned gender seems absolutely random. Sometimes it is. Read Mark Twain’s The Awful German Language for a more amusing essay than I could write on the topic. A spoon is masculine (der Löffel), a fork is feminine (die Gabel), and a knife is neutral (das Messer). Just for fun let me say here that when a spoon is accusative it is den Löffel, when the spoon is dative it’s dem Löffel, and when it’s genitive it’s des Löffels. Yes, every single one of those examples means “the spoon” (in genitive it’s “of the spoon”).

The gender of a noun depends on the word, not the thing. For instance, that thing I lie on while napping reading is both die Couch and das Sofa. Same thing, two different words, two different genders/articles. Some items have a different gender depending on region and dialect. Butter is feminine (die Butter), but in some regions I’ve heard people use masculine (der Butter). Lastly, sometimes the same word is used for two different things and has two different genders. “Der See” is the lake, “die See” is the sea. Die Paprika is the pepper vegetable and der Paprika is the dried red spice. Oh, and if you want to be specific and say paprika powder, then it’s neutral: Das Paprikapulver.

die Paprika    der Paprika    das Paprikapulver

Ok, that’s my basic intro to the confusing nature of gender in the German language. Here's an earlier one. If you are learning German, do not despair. Some of it will click if you stick with it long enough and really want to learn it, but also we foreigners will never be able to learn all the genders of all the nouns in German and keep up with the new words being added every year. The good news is that when you’re just speaking casually as a non-native speaker, screwing up the gender of a word is just not a big deal.

The creators of the German language did, at least, do us one favor and made job titles and names for people pretty logical and easy. Females are feminine (die Mutter, die Tante) and males are masculine (der Vater, der Onkel).* A male pilot is der Pilot, and a female pilot is die Pilotin. The female version of the job title often has a slightly different form (der Arzt/die Ärztin), and my students haven’t had much trouble learning those.

But the German language is changing in an effort to be more inclusive and to move with our changing society and embrace the trans community and gender fluidity. The concept is good, though it poses a significant challenge to learners of German (Deutschlernende). More on that in the next post.

*Yes, das Mädchen (the girl) is genderless or neutral, but that’s because all words ending with the suffix “-chen,” meaning “small,” take the neutral.

das Pferd and das Mädchen - both genderless or neutral
Never mind that the horse, Cyrano, is male and my daughter is female.

Benefits of Learning German

The answer to the question "Why should I learn German?" may seem obvious when the person asking is living in a German-speaking country. Apparently it isn't, though, judging by the number of people from various countries who post questions on expat-Germany forums asking, "Can I find a job in Germany that pays a good salary if I don't speak German?"

Such a person may be able to find a job here in a company or school where speaking only English works for that person, but what about all the time spent not-at-work?

Horb am Neckar

On the surface or basic level, anyone can come up with reasons for learning and speaking confidently the language of the country in which they live. Grocery shopping is easier, you can ask for help when you need it, you can follow signs in a department store to find what you need... But there are other benefits that reach to a deeper level, which one might not think about - especially before moving to that country.

These are areas in which I benefit - almost daily - from being able to speak and understand German. My inspiration for writing this post is #10. In case I've been too long-winded and dull, you can just skip to the end.

1. Driving - Fahren

If you've followed me for a while, you know I hate driving here, at least out of our community. However, when M and I go somewhere, he drives because he likes public transportation about as much as I like driving on the Autobahn and country roads. For those who drive here, being able to understand the Verkehrsfunk is helpful essential! You're on the A8 driving from Pforzheim to München, and you just heard there's an accident involving two semis and six cars just shy of Stuttgart, and the Autobahn is shut down. Get off the Autobahn and find another way! If you can't, then make damn sure you form a Rettungsgasse!

"Cool! No Stau!"
Think so, do ya? Wait for the Verkehrsfunk.
Bet there's one just around that bend.

The Verkehrsfunk will tell you how long the Stau is and often how much extra time you need to factor into your Fahrt (drive - giggle giggle). If you don't understand German, when the Verkehrsfunk busts into your favorite song you'll be left wondering what the hell is going on - both why some dude has interrupted your radio program, and why suddenly all the cars are slowing down, pulling way off to the sides of the road (left lane to the far left, everyone else to the right). Here's a hint - they are not clearing the way for you to get a free lane to Singen.

2. National News / Nachrichten

I can understand the news (most of it, anyway) from German sources, which expands my exposure to what's going on in the world. This is especially important for events that take place in Germany and Europe! I would not want to have to rely on English/American news to find out details about what is going on here.

3. Local News / Lokalnachrichten

I can read and understand the local (news)paper and online reports (Blaulicht), which are simply not available in English. If I want to know about events scheduled and happening in my small community - many of which are opportunities for meeting people! - I need to be able to read and understand German.

4. Information about Cities & Attractions

When I visit a town I haven't been to before, I want to be able to read about it to learn what I should see and do. Before I go to see a major attraction or a castle, I'd like some information about it beforehand so I know what is special about it. There is much more detailed information available about things and places to see in Germany in German. Compare the lengths of these two Wikipedia articles about the town of Esslingen - here's the English, and here's the German. Yah, yah, size doesn't matter. But information does.
This article about the Swabian Kehrwoche isn't even available in English!

Bamberg

5. Problems / Probleme

I can deal with most of my problems (appointment making or rescheduling, health insurance issues, shopping, returning a defective item...) myself without having to ask M for help. This is huge for someone who wants to be independent and not helpless!

I can also apply for a job, quit a job, and communicate with my colleagues.

6. Train Announcements / Ansagen

I can understand unexpected announcements on the train and not panic. For instance, on a trip to Esslingen once, the conductor announced that the track between Herrenberg and Böblingen was shut down because of "Personenschaden" (someone had thrown himself onto the tracks in front of an oncoming train), and she told everyone where to find the Ersatzbusse (replacement buses) that would transport us from Herrenberg to Böblingen via a detour.

I can also explain to other confused passengers when the conductor announces on the approach to Eutingen that the train we're on is going to split in two, and if anyone is on the wrong half of the train, there will be time to switch at the next stop - in case they didn't understand this sign:

The front half of this train is going to Rottweil.
The back half is going to Freudenstadt.

7. Vocabulary / Wortschatz

When I'm reading an English book and come to a new and unfamiliar word, I can often look up that word on my dict.cc app (the only app I actually use on my smartphone) to find the German translation, which usually makes the meaning clear. I do this not infrequently; just the other day I came across the word "apostasy," and the German translation (Glaubensabfall) cleared it up for me.

8. Cooking / Kochen

I can cook with German recipes, which means I always find the required ingredients. I learned early in my expat life that American recipes usually do not work in Germany. Everything tastes different, and some ingredients just can't be found here.

It was in this magazine that I found our now-favorite Lamb Stew recipe...

...and also this crazy-delicious venison meal.

I can also take part in Kochkurse (cooking classes) here!! M and I have enjoyed doing those together.

9. Helping Others / Anderen Helfen

I have had several opportunities to offer assistance to someone who was struggling and confused because they didn't speak German, and the person to whom they were appealing for help did not speak English (at least not confidently). Despite what you've heard, everyone here does not speak English. Many people do, and at typical tourist attractions employees are likely required to, but there are no guarantees. I do not generally approach or speak to people here who are speaking American English, but if someone clearly needs help, I'm happy to offer it. 

This is also how I came to know some very special people, whom I am honored to call my friends. In 2015-16, many refugees came to Germany being able to speak English, but no German. I got involved locally and have had some of the greatest teaching experiences of my life.

10. Books / Bücher

Being able to read and understand German has allowed me to read books that are only available in German! A new one arrived yesterday noon about photographing owls and birds of prey, and I read all 320 pages by this afternoon. The craziest thing is that I have struggled to understand and retain a few certain camera functions and settings - having read plenty of explanations and books in English - and finally with this book it's sinking in!

The book on the left is a new one about Falknerei (falconry), and also fascinating. 

This series is also a favorite of mine - "Secrets of Home." The writers explore 50 different lesser-known stories or secrets of a town, revealing very interesting details - and the books are not available in English! I first came across the one about Esslingen three years ago, then the one for Tübingen, and seem to keep adding to my collection. Without this book I would not know some fascinating details, which I now include in the tours I give.

Bonus Benefit

I can follow the conversation M and his English mother are having, even when they randomly and unconsciously switch back and forth between English and German!

What about the rest of you? 

What benefits have you seen from learning the language of the country in which you're living?

Book Review: The Awful English Grammar

"If I looked like Mr. Bean, I would cry myself to sleep every night."
"Too true."
"This is an example of the second conditional."
"It is?"
"Yes, it is. We use the second conditional when we're talking about a situation in the present that is plainly untrue or very unlikely."  

I have written before about how much I love bookshops and how important I think it is to shop locally rather than always using the convenience of Amazon. This week I took the bus to Nagold to have coffee with an English teacher friend of mine who had just returned from the US with students, and since I had an hour to kill before my bus back, I treated myself to a wee peek in the bookstore. I left the store with four new books and had finished one before the afternoon was over.

The Awful English Grammar/Die schreckliche englische Grammatik, by Jeremy Taylor, is a bilingual book with the English text on the left-hand pages and the German text on the right. I added the book to Goodreads, and you can read my description and review of it there. The book is a conversation between a British guy (Barry Buggins) who wants to teach English in Germany but realizes he doesn't know how to teach English despite being a native speaker, and a teacher trainer (Mr. Sully) who helps him prepare to teach.

I find this to be a brilliant book for anyone who teaches English to German speakers, a German speaker who wants to brush up on her English, and English-speaking expats living in German-speaking countries. Since Goodreads doesn't allow half-stars, I gave it four because of a few glitches I would consider mistakes: 2-3 typos, an incident of "There's a bunch of students...", and the translation of "No, really" as "Nicht unbedingt" (not really). Those are minor, but in a book about language, I'd rather there were no mistakes. And yes, I realize that is pedantic.

The conversations are mildly amusing at times, realistic in that they get off topic briefly now and then, and enlightening. The teacher's explanations are simple and easy to follow, and I like the way he leads Barry to his own understanding by asking "checking questions" and making mistakes Germans commonly make, getting Barry to correct him. Then they discuss why something is correct or incorrect.

The genius of this book is in its bilingualism. I have taught German to many Americans who are not experts in their native language. For a student of German reading this book, when he comes to a complicated construction ["If I had known how difficult English grammar was I wouldn't have taken this bloody course."], he can look on the right-hand page and find that sentence in German [Hätte ich gewusst, wie schwierig die englische Grammatik ist, dann hätte ich diesen verdammten Kurs niemals belegt."] That construction is called "third conditional," by the way, which is something a TEFL teacher (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) needs to know!

Yeah, I'm one of those who highlights and makes notes in my books.
M calls this "vandalizing," but please don't judge me. It's how I learn.

The grammar topics covered in the book are:

• verb tenses: forms of future, present and past
• conditionals, or the subjunctive mood
• prepositions (only a few because they'd require a whole book)
• countable vs. uncountable nouns
• mistakes commonly made in English by German speakers 

Lastly, the two characters use idioms throughout the book that are interpreted very well, which language learners can adopt. Idioms are fun! "You're pulling my leg!" Every native English speaker knows what that means, but a learner of English would picture the action literally. The German equivalent is (this was new to me) "Willst du mir einen Bären aufbinden?" An English speaker learning German would see that as "Do you want to untie a bear on me?" 

Both characters are British, so there are several moments where American readers will wonder. Here's one example where Barry corrects a "mistake" Mr. Sully makes:

  "Does [your sister] go to school on the weekend?"

  "You mean AT the weekend!"

Americans say "on the weekend" and Brits say "at the weekend."

If you are an English speaker learning German, a German speaker learning English, or a native English speaker considering teaching English to Germans, I encourage you to read this book. It doesn't take long - I read the English half in a few hours with interruptions - and it's a fun read for a linguaphile.

I even learned some things I didn't know before. For instance, English is one of the few languages with two forms of the present tense (p. 60). Can you name them or give examples? I also learned how to explain the subtle difference in meaning between "I work at McDonald's" and "I am working at McDonald's," which is something I'd never thought about before. 

"I think you'll find [German learners of English] are very smart people, and many new English teachers get eaten for breakfast by German students who know a lot more about English than their English teachers." ~Mr. Sully (p. 198)

Tipps zum Deutschlernen

One of the American exchange students I taught recently asked if I could share some tips for learning German so he could improve his language skills as quickly as possible. I started writing a handout on the topic and then decided to do it as a blog post I could share.

Although I'm focusing on German, most or all of these tips would work for any language.

Building Vocabulary

• Learn 15 new words every day. Choose a topic and learn words in logical groups. Learning leads to remembering the words - just writing them down once isn't enough.


• Always learn the article/gender (der/die/das) together with all nouns.
  It is also a good idea to learn the plural form right away.


• Never say any word or phrase in your native language that you can say in German.


• Keep a small notebook with you for writing down new words and phrases you come across.

• Make flashcards to practice. Keep them with you and practice on the bus or train.
  It is better to draw a picture on the other side rather than translate it into your native language. For "der Hund," for instance, draw a quick picture of a dog rather than writing "the dog."
  Color-coordinate the nouns on your flashcards according to gender. (der/die/das)


• Stick Post-it notes on things around the house or apartment (with the article!). Remove them only when you're sure you have learned the words.


• Search online for flashcard drills like these shared on Quia.


• Go to Osiander's bookstore in Esslingen and buy a vocabulary dictionary. Most are organized in topics. Picture dictionaries are most effective (less or no English).

• Wherever you find yourself, look around you. Can you say in German everything you see that you can say in English? If not, ask someone "Wie heißt das auf Deutsch?" or jot down the English word and check in a dictionary later.

Can you name in German everything you see here?

Deutsch on your own

• Learn some common prayers in German (das Vaterunser, Ave Maria, table prayers)
• If prayer is not your thing, memorize some poems or Zungenbrecher (tongue-twisters)!
• Set your social media platforms to German! You already know where everything is...
• Learn and sing along with Kinderlieder - children's songs!
• Learn German pop songs popular now.
• Listen to the radio and watch German TV.
• Write your shopping lists auf Deutsch!  

Deutsch in Deutschland

These are opportunities not to be missed while you're in Germany because they're probably not possible back in your home country.

• Just talk! When you are unterwegs (out and about), don't fuss about grammar and don't worry if you make mistakes. We all do! Don't panic if someone doesn't understand you right away; take a deep breath and try again.


• Find a Sprachpartner/in! This could be your exchange partner, but chances are you've already established your friendship in English, and it's hard to switch. I recommend you find someone at school or in your neighborhood. A Sprachpartner is a native speaker of German who wants to practice his/her English with a native speaker. It's not about grammar, but rather about getting together for a chat. Speak for the first half of your time together in German and the second half in English. Meet at a café! Meet during a break at school. Go to each other's houses. Go on an outing! But make sure you speak half the time in German.


• Find and read children's books - at the bookstore, library, or on your family's bookshelves.

The Kasimir books are my favorites! They teach how to do simple projects
along with helpful vocabulary words with pictures!

• Buy a young reader's magazine - comic books are great! Read them until you understand them.


• Do you have a favorite young adult book? Find the German translation!

• Watch movies in German! Start with ones you are familiar with (Disney movies are great!) When you know the story, you can focus on the language. Avoid English subtitles (it's ok if you don't understand every word!), but German subtitles are fine.

• Even strangers can be friendly and helpful. If you're in the bus/train and have a question, say, "Entschuldigen Sie bitte. Ich lerne Deutsch und habe eine Frage. Könnten Sie mir helfen?" Avoid this in a line (die Schlange) at a store, though. That's not generally a time when Germans are feeling patient. :-)


• When someone responds to you in English, answer in German. They will eventually take the hint if you are consistent.

This is just a start of my recommendations for learning a language, and I have used every one of them myself. There's no doubt and no getting around it - learning a language (really learning it) is hard work. No one ever became fluent in a second, third, or fourth language by sitting around and waiting for it to happen.

The rewards of your hard work, though, are endless.

Viel Spaß und lern(t) schön!!

Dad's Visit

Goodness gracious, it's been nearly three weeks since I last published a blog post. It's a good thing I don't have self-imposed deadlines for these, because I'd fail miserably.

You might have seen on my last post that my dad arrived in April to spend four weeks with us while taking a German course at the local language school. That time flew by, and he's gone again, sort of. At the moment he's in Esslingen with a delegation from my hometown including the mayor, members of the Mayor's International Committee, and People to People members who have come to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Städtepartnerschaft (Sister City relationship) between the two cities. The group, which also includes my mother, arrived yesterday and was treated immediately to a delicous lunch with Esslingen's Oberbürgermeister (Lord Mayor).

After lunch the group was taken to the Merkel Park for the planting of a Sugar Maple tree (the state tree of Wisconsin) in honor of the Golden Anniversary.

Sugar Maple

the mayor of Sheboygan, Esslingen's Oberbürgermeister,
and Esslingen's mayor of culture and education

the delegation, warm and jetlaggy

So that's what we were up to yesterday. Oh, and I was seated at lunch next to the Oberbürgermeister to act as a translator as needed (not often) while he chatted with Sheboygan's mayor, who was seated on his other side. My Schwiegermutter, who usually sits there to help, gave me the honor this time so she could concentrate on her other duties for the group.

But what about the four weeks my dad was staying with us?

My dad's class schedule was Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday 9:00 - 15:00 with an hour lunch break, and Wednesday & Friday 9:00 - 12:30. Most days after class he spent anywhere from one to four hours doing homework and studying beyond what was covered in class. He was a very determined student! I was able to answer every grammar question and most of the vocabulary questions he had, and he surely learned a lot in those weeks - including that it takes longer than three weeks to become proficient in German. A woman who joined his class several times actually dissolved into tears one day!

He's reading - and agreeing with - Mark Twain's essay,
"The Awful German Language"

I had started out this post with the title "All the Things We Didn't Do," but during the time when he wasn't in class, doing homework, or catching up on news from the Homeland, we actually did do quite a lot!

We didn't need to do any touring or sightseeing because he's been to southern Germany often, but having not spent a ton of time in our local area, there are some lovely little villages I'd intended to show him - Herrenberg, Nagold, and maybe Rottweil. I also meant to take him for several walks around our home - through the valley, along the Neckar, around the perimeter of our village, to the Biergarten and back, and to the bakery in Eutingen.

The weather during almost his entire stay was typically German crappy, cold, and wet with several mornings of frost, and it didn't inspire us to feel the walkies. We did hoof it to the bakery once and took a long walk through the valley on the first nice day, but that was it for real walks. We did also stroll to one end of the village to take photos of the gorgeous Rapsfelder, because we'll walk anywhere for beautiful photos.

Besides that, though (in May because I already covered what we did in April), we drove to Esslingen to meet this year's exchange students from Sheboygan, went to the Sprachcafé twice, went out for dinner a few times including to the Eisenbahn in Nagold and of course our favorite restaurant (Straub's Krone), ate most of our meals at home because M and I love to cook, and went for a Mother's Day stroll to get photos of Horb and our little piece of the Neckar Valley.

My dad also joined us for a Kochkurs at Straub's Krone! Here he is schnibbling herbs for the Wan Tan (wonton) filling.

We made these!

He and I watched the musical "Elisabeth" together, which is about the life of Kaiserin Elisabeth ("Sisi") of Austria-Hungary, and all three of us watched "The 13th Warrior" and "Idiocracy." My dad was shocked and dismayed by all the correlations between that last movie and what's going on in the Homeland today. The movie, which came out in 2006, was supposed to be a satire, but it turns out to have been more of a documentary of the future.

Finally, we enjoyed many a Feierabend together, outside on the terrace when the weather played along, and in our Wintergarten when it didn't.

Now M and I have Sturmfreie Bude, which is a term normally used when teenagers have the house to themselves because the parents are away for the weekend. In a bit over a week (after my parents return from Salzburg and Vienna) my dad and I will chaperone the three Sheboygan exchange students on a short trip to Berlin, and then both my parents will come back here for five days before returning home to Wisconsin.

What has been keeping you busy lately?!?

Sometimes it's the Little Things

It's fitting that my first blog post in a while is about teaching, since teaching is what has kept me from blogging. I'm not complaining - I spend a lot of my free time preparing lessons and creating worksheets, but I enjoy that!

If you were hoping for something about Christmas, I can refer you to these posts from previous years:

 Advent in Deutschland
 Heiligabend (How we spend our Christmas Eves)
 Christmas Eve to Boxing Day (Plan ahead, because everything's closed!)
 Supermarket madness around the holidays
 Staying warm in the winter despite Lüften

I'm also planning to write more in the next two weeks about whatever holiday topics I haven't covered yet.

What I want to write about today, though, is something fun that happened in class yesterday during a grammar lesson. "Fun? And Grammar?," you say? Absolutely! We were combining two concepts we've learned in the last few weeks - adjective endings and comparatives/superlatives. For those of you who haven't learned German and have therefore never had to live through the horror of learning about adjective endings, consider yourselves lucky. The creators of the German language came up with this system to torture foreigners. I'd still like to know what they were smoking. It's widely believed that suspected criminals in Germany during the Middle Ages were tortured with sharp instruments heavy wheels, and frightening devices. No, no, no. That wasn't necessary at all. The sadistic beasts just locked their charges in cold, dark, solitary cells until they could correctly say "The nice man in the blue suit gave the pretty lady at the noisy party a large bouqet." Few survived.

Yesterday my students needed to learn how to say and write sentences like the following:

That is a big book.  This is a bigger book.  This is the biggest book.

Sounds fun, no? And super easy! Yeah....in English.

However, in German, most articles and adjectives - and even some nouns! - have special endings which are determined by the gender and the case of the noun they modify. The German sentences look and sound a bit like this:

That is a biges Book.  This is a biggeres Book.  This is thes biggste Book.

To prepare for this lesson, I stuck three books of different sizes into my schoolbag (visuals are always helpful). My smallest book, which was going to be used for the "That is a biges Book" sentence, was a only slightly larger than a normal-size reading book. For "thes biggste Book" I used our textbook.

Here you see my biges Book and my biggeres Book.

Having already been a teacher for 16+ years, I can anticipate questions and comments that will likely arise. As a teacher you also know there is going to be some wise ass (and I say that with great affection) in the class who is going to try to throw you off or disagree with you, especially when you make it easy for them. (I know that isn't a big book.) So I armed myself with a perfect come-back and then hoped for the best.

I introduced the subject with way too many words and gestures, and then I brought out my first prop.

"This is a biges Book!" I said.

No kidding, as if on cue, one of my Kasachstani ladies looked skeptical and said, "Nein!"  With great drama, I looked shocked and said, "This is NOT a biges Book?"  She insisted it wasn't. I reached into my bag, pulled out another book, and said, "But it's bigger than THIS book!"

Thank you, Lilliputians!

She and the other students had a good laugh, I could feel terribly proud of my cleverness, and we went on with the lesson.

It's little moments like this that make teaching so much fun. Seriously, any time I can make my students laugh or smile while they're learning grammar... those are good moments. I like being able to anticipate my students' questions, mainly because the lesson goes smoothly when I can answer them without faltering. It's also fun to be ready to stay ahead of the wise guys - but that takes years of experience!

I wish you a very Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a festive season!

Activities for Integration Classes

During my Mittagsschlaf this afternoon I dreamt the idea for this blog post. It won't become as famous as that other work of art which came from a dream ("Kubla Khan"), but Coleridge had the benefit of opium to boost his creativity.

I know it looks like I'm sleeping,
but I'm actually lesson planning.

I've been teaching German for quite a few years now, and along the way I have come up with ideas for short review activities and learned of other activities from my language-teaching colleagues. I thought I'd share a few of them in case any of my readers are also teaching Integrationskurse or are taking a course from a teacher who is open to suggestions. These activities also work well for language classes with younger students.

I'm going to focus on warm-up and cool-down activities for starting and ending class. I tell my students that warming up with a language is just as important as warming up for a sport. Start with something that is very do-able though it might hurt a little (stretching) but will spare you serious pain later. In a language class it is important to get the new language in your head and on your tongue in the first few moments. Use what you learned yesterday in today's warm up for practice and reinforcement.

These activities are also good for winding down at the end of a tough class (especially when the emphasis has been on intricate grammar).

Fragekarten

This is by far my favorite activity. It can take as little as five minutes or as much as 30 - the teacher and students decide how long to keep going.

On regular sized index cards, write conversation questions your students should be able to answer. I have done this as early as Day 2 of class, by which we have already learned and practiced basic intro questions:

  Wie heißt du?  Wie geht's?  Wo wohnst du?  Woher kommst du?

Every day I add new questions, and the stack of Fragekarten keeps growing throughout the course. It takes no time at all to come up with more than 100 questions - just look at the topics and grammar points your books cover. 

When we do modal verbs, I use the Fragekarten with modal verbs:

  Was musst du heute Abend machen?  Welche Sprache (außer Deutsch) möchtest du lernen?

  Was dürfen wir in der Schule nicht machen?

When we review present perfect (das Perfekt), I use those questions:

  Was hast du gestern Abend gemacht?  Was hast du heute früh getrunken?

  Was haben wir gestern gelernt?

When we're in the middle of adjective endings, I encourage them to use adjectives when answering these questions:

  Was hast du neulich gekauft?  Beschreibe die Person neben dir.  Was findest du schön?

That's the only teacher preparation - just write questions on cards to create the Fragekarten, preferably with a marker and large print so they're easy to read.

At the start of class, each student gets one Fragekarte. Everyone stands up. The teacher starts by calling on a student and asking the question on her (the teacher's) card. The student answers the question with help or correction from the teacher as needed. Then the student calls on another student (but not one standing directly next to him) and asks the question on his card. After the second student has answered the question successfully with help if needed, the first student may sit down.

There's a reason for everything. Why does everyone stand? Because the it's easy to see who has not yet answered a question. The students don't call on those who are seated. Why can a student not call on his neighbor? Because the neighbor can easily peek at the card and read the question himself rather than relying on his listening skills. This also leads to students calling on a different classmate every day rather than always the same friend sitting next to him. Why does the asker of the question stay standing until the person he asked has answered? Because he is more likely to listen to the answer while he's standing (and he might have to repeat the question).

Skills practiced:

  listening, reading, pronunciation

Benefits:

• If students trickle in late, this activity gets everyone else started on time, and as the late ones arrive, the teacher can just hand them a card.
• If the teacher finds herself with 5-10 extra minutes at the end of class, which is not enough time to start a new activity, this is a great way to end on a positive note. 

Nenne 3 Dinge

I often do this activity right before or after the Fragekarten, and the students also respond well to this one. Teacher prep is again minimal: Write a list of vocabulary topics (Essen, Getränke, Schulsachen). I have 40 topics on my original sheet, but the possibilities are endless. My list looks like this:

1. Nenne 3 Getränke.
2. Nenne 3 Sachen in deiner Schultasche.
3. Nenne 3 berühmte Deutsche.
4. Nenne 3 deutsche Bundesländer.

This activity then has several variations.

1. The teacher calls on students one by one and gives each a different question/topic.
2. The students have notebooks and pens ready, and the teacher reads the question to everyone. Each student writes down answers, and after a minute the teacher calls for responses.
3. Partnerarbeit - everyone gets the questions, but students work with a partner to come up with answers.

Don't forget the articles when appropriate! ("DAS Bier", not just "Bier")

Skills practiced:

   articles/genders of nouns, vocabulary, pronunciation, genders

Benefits:

• Appropriate for all levels and mixed classes! Level A1 come up with the basics, but level B2 can push themselves further.
• Flexible in time - can take 4 minutes or 10.
• If the teacher has to take care of something else - attendance, etc. - a student can take over the teacher's role.
• Topics can be added with each chapter.

Fünf Finger

This more advanced activity works very well for reviewing past tense or the subjunctive mood (Konjunktiv), but could also be adapted for other grammar points.

Everyone holds up one hand, fingers and thumb extended. This is the party game "I have never...", and the goal is to be the last person with one or more fingers still up.

Practicing Perfekt:

  The teacher starts with a sentence: "Ich habe nie ein rotes Auto gehabt."

  Anyone who has ever had a red car puts one finger down.

  The teacher gives another example: "Ich bin noch nie nach Frankfurt gefahren."

  Anyone who has driven to Frankfurt puts a finger down.

  Then the students give sentences about things they have never done.

  "Ich bin noch nie in die USA geflogen."

  The American teacher puts a finger down...  😊

Sentences for Konjunktiv:

  "Ich würde nie AfD wählen."    "Ich würde nie Bier trinken."  

  "Ich würde unsere Lehrerin nie anlügen."

Sentences for A1 level practicing haben and Akkusativ:

  "Ich habe einen Hund."     (Everyone who doesn't have a dog puts a finger down.)

  "Ich habe zwei Söhne."      (Everyone who doesn't have two sons puts a finger down.)

Sentences for A2 level practicing adjective endings:

  "Ich habe einen blauen Pulli an."

  "Ich habe heute eine schwarze Katze gesehen."

This activity is more challenging because the students have to come up with sentences on their own.

Skills practiced:

   speaking, listening, pronunciation, creative thinking

Benefits:

• This works best with smaller groups; large classes can form two or three groups.
• Flexible with time and works well for the last 5-10 minutes of class.

For those of you teaching language classes, which activities work well for you and our students during warm up and cool down?

For those of you who are taking or have taken classes langauge classes, what have been your favorite activities?

If the activity explanation is too long for a comment, send it in an email and I'll publish another post with guest suggestions (giving credit of course!).