Reading: Nina Weger, Die sagenhafte Saubande: Polly in Not, ch 3-6.
Viewing: Let's play Kung Fu Panda, episodes 1, 9, 10 (42 min.)
In the Weger story, Polly is in trouble because she is suspected of poisoning a classmate with deadly nightshade (awesome German name Tollkirsche, "crazy cherry"). J is very interested in poisons and toxins of all kinds (because SNAKES), so of course he wanted to look it up this plant and read about it. He was fascinated to learn that 3-4 berries will kill a child and 10-12 an adult.
Total audio 2015: 20.47
Total video 2015: 38.12
Age 5.5.31
J and I speak mostly English together when we have visitors staying at the house with us. The last two times, this past weekend and mid-March, he has said right after they have left: "Endlich können wir wieder miteinander Deutsch reden!"
The following is approximate and covers the last four days, during which we've had visitors. All of the listening took place during the trips to the Atlanta airport and back.
Listening: Benjamin Blümchen, Benjamin und die Murmeltiere (39 min.); Ingo Siegner, Der kleine Drache Kokosnuss und die Expedition am Nil, (53 min.); Paul Maar, Jaguar und Neinguar. Gedichte von Paul Maar (48 min.); Rita Harenski, Zauberwort. Die schönsten Gedichte für Kinder aus vier Jahrhunderten, 0-23:00.
Viewing: Let's play Kung Fu Panda, probably ten episodes total (c. 240 min.).
J really likes the Maar audiobook and wanted to hear especially the following poems several times each: "Das Dingsda"; "Das Faultier"; "Alles vom Aal". From Zauberwort, which we've heard numerous times already, he loves especially Heinrich Seidel's "Das Huhn und der Karpfen."
Total audio 2015: 20.47
Total video 2015: 37.30
Age 5.5.30
Reading: Milena Baisch, Dorothea Ackroyd, Bildermaus-Geschichten vom kleinen Hasen, 24 - 45 (end).
Listening: Ich weiß was, "Die Welt der Zahlen", 20:00 - 43:00.
Viewing: Let's Play Kung Fu Panda, Episode 2 (20:00) and 3 (24:00).
J is starting to repeat some of the things the video-game players are saying, which is impressive because they speak quickly and at times quite mumblingly and slurred.
In the numbers audiobook he strenuously objects to the idea that number 13 is considered an "unlucky number." I did a little squeaky number-13-voice complaining about how people felt about it; J consoled it and said people were dumb and that HE certainly didn't feel that way.
Total audio 2015: 18.05
Total video 2015: 33.24
Age 5.5.26
Yesterday while we were goofing around J called me a Schmutzblödian, "dirt oaf." I think he picked up Blödian from Der Räuber Hotzenplotz.
Reading: Wieso Weshalb Warum, Wir entdecken Deutschland (skipped around); Silvia Englert, Lorenzo Orlandi, Unsere Erde, 16-17 (first plants), 32-35 (volcanos); Milena Baisch, Dorothea Ackroyd, Bildermaus-Geschichten vom kleinen Hasen, 17-24.
Viewing: Let's Play Kung Fu Panda, Episode 3 (24:17) and Episode 4 (22:00).
App: "Alice im Wunderland" by Teknowledge Software/Story Time for Kids. He went to this voluntarily during his ipad time.
Today with the Germany book J learned about the cold war division of Germany for the first time.
Total audio 2015: 17.42
Total video 2015: 32.40
Age 5.5.25
Reading: Christa Holtei, Astrid Vohwinkel, Damals und heute. Kinderalltag von 100 Jahren und heute; Milena Baisch, Dorothea Ackroyd, Bildermaus-Geschichten vom kleinen Hasen, 8-16.
The first book is a very interesting comparison of children's daily lives in Germany 100 years ago and today.
J found it fascinating. He's starting to ask a lot of questions and make general observations about history. In English he's currently reading Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House on the Prarie with my wife.
For me what is interesting about this book is that the equivalent to the present-day average middle class German family is felt to be a bürgerlich family with a live-in maid and cook, which were in fact quite privileged circumstances in late imperial Germany. The average will have been more like a working-class family. And so in certain ways this book communicates not only a sense of material progress, but also the sense that in certain ways "the German family" had it better 100 years ago.
Ach. The nostalgia of the Bildungsbürgertum.
There are some very cool foldouts:
And also a picture of Kaiser Wilhelm in the classroom, about whom I told J a little:
The bunny story is one of those proto-readers where little images stand in for key words and phrases are repeated over and over.
On the last couple of pages J was able to chime in with a lot of the phrases. The last several weeks of "reading words of the week" are really starting to have an impact.
Viewing: Let's Play Kung Fu Panda, Episode 4 (22:00) and 5 (23:00)
Total audio 2015: 17.42
Total video 2015: 31.52
Age 5.5.24
Today J and I took a two-hour-long chatty walk at a nearby park. I had my vocabulary notebook; we worked the following:
Practice with previous material:
schaden + Dat
genügen + Dat
Vorteile / Nachteile
einen / keinen Zweck haben
das Nachsehen haben
reichlich weit
sich täuschen
sich verschnaufen
sich gewöhnen an + Akk
Bescheid wissen
rumhocken
auf den ersten Blick
seine Kräfte übersteigen
jemandem gehen die Kräfte aus
Woran liegt es, dass ...
wohl oder übel
Das ist nun einmal so.
Das lässt sich nicht ändern.
New material:
Stubenhocker
und zwar
dem ist nicht so
jemanden für etwas halten
Was gäbe ich drum, wenn
Listening: Ich weiß was, "Albert E. erklärt Internet, Handy & Co", 28:00 - 44:00 (end), Ich weiß was, "Die Welt der Zahlen", 0 - 20:00
Viewing: Ratatouille video game (1.30); Let's Play Kung Fu Panda, Episode 8 (20:00) and 3 (24:17)
Yep, another mommy (in "Internet") in the kitchen serving the kids food and cleaning up dishes. Yep, J wanted to watch the video game video yet again.
Total audio 2015: 17.42
Total video 2015: 31.07
Age 5.5.23
Listening: Ich weiß was, "Albert E. erklärt Internet, Handy & Co." (14:00 - 28:00).
Viewing: Ratatouille video game (1.30)
My wife tells me that when J asked to watch this video game video this morning and she said not now, he said: "But it will help make my German better!" (She still didn't let him, since he had already watched something earlier, but allowed it later.)
Total audio 2015: 17.02
Total video 2015: 29.53
Age 5.5.22
8.1 aus
8.2 Maus, Mäuse
8.3 Haus, Häuser
8.4 Laus, Läuse
8.5 Baum, Bäume
8.6 Raum, Räume
8.7 Traum, Träume
J's piano teacher has been trying to get him to perform at a recital. So far he hasn't wanted to. Today however I proposed performing the German Volkslied "Alles neu macht der Mai," which he loves, and he seemed to warm to the idea.
I told him that most of the other students probably don't know many, if any, German songs, so this would be a chance to share something very special and unique with them. I found a version in the key of C, printed it and gave it to his piano teacher today, who was very excited and worked out the fingerings with J at the lesson.
Viewing: Die Schönheit der Schlangen, 0-30:00.
Pretty much all snake shows are rather sensationalistic, concentrating on hunting, killing, and venom and its effects, but that said, this is a great video with fabulous photography and very good, very clear narration. Here's J watching it this afternoon with his snake friends:
Total audio 2015: 16.34
Total video 2015: 26.58
Age 5.5.16
Today J and I took an hour-long chatty walk in the neighborhood. I had my vocabulary notebook; we worked the following:
Practice with previous material:
sowohl als auch
sich auskennen
sich herausstellen
sich täuschen
sich seiner Sacher sicher sein
sich gewöhnen an + Akk
große Stücke auf jemanden halten
insgesamt
Bescheid wissen
in Frage kommen
mit jemandem ein Wörtchen zu reden haben
jemandem nicht hineinreden
jemandem etwas nachmachen
New material:
ablenken
auf den ersten Blick
alleine auf sich gestellt sein
reizen
reizbar
rumhocken
Nina Weger, Die sagenhafte Saubande: Polly in Not, ch. 1.
I've barely spoken to J in German in five days; we've had visitors. It feels good to get back to the language that feels most natural between us.
This is the second book in this series. The first was a big hit. Today the slang idiom in der Kacke stecken came up, which J liked.
Listening: Ich weiß was, "Albert E. erklärt die Eisenbahn," 38:30-52:00.
I have to partially take back what I said about sexism in my last post on this audiobook. At about 40:00, the mother takes over the explanation of the freight yard to the children. So there is some gender balance in the representation of technical knowledge. But only partial. For why does the mother know so much about freight yards? Because her grandfather worked in one and took her there as a little girl. So her knowledge is secondhand experience of male primary experience with technology.
Total audio 2015: 16.34
Total video 2015: 26.28
Age 5.5.8
Yesterday J used this expression for the first time spontaneously-independently, at least as far as I can recall. I've been actively seeding it for months.
A couple of days ago J corrected a major mistake on my part. We were talking about somebody sick who had to vomit. I said: "_____ musste sich ergeben." I knew it was wrong as I was saying it, but couldn't immediately think of the right word. "Übergeben!" J said.
7.1 ein
7.2 kein
7.3 nein
7.4 mein
7.5 dein
7.6 sein
7.7 fein
Reading: Reading: Geronimo Stilton: Das Phantom der U-Bahn, 75-92.
Listening: Ich weiß was, "Albert E. erklärt die Eisenbahn," 15:00-38:30.
As I've said numemous times before, with one exception so far, these Albert E. audiobooks are fantastic in terms of substance and realization. But there is one thing that is really starting to get to me. So far without exception, whenever the children-characters are getting an explanation of something technical, it is always from a male character (usually the father), and whenever they are getting an explanation of something else (not technical!) in the house during lunchtime or after school, it is always from the mom character.
Today's listening contained a scene that encapsulates the problem perfectly. The four-person family that provides the plot action are taking a train trip from Germany to London. On the way, the children (a boy and a girl) get all kinds of technical and historical explanations from their father and also from the conductor. After the father has explained something, the mother speaks up. We are told:
Sie hat interessiert zugehört. Und sie kennt sich mit Lokomotiven fast noch besser aus als Papa. ("She was listening with interest. And her knowledge of locomotives was almost greater than daddy's").
Then she plays a little word-guessing game with the kids, which lasts a minute or so, then the father continues with his explanations.
So if the mother knows so much about trains, why doesn't she get to play a bigger role in imparting the knowledge to the kids? The word choice here is telling. It's almost as if the script writers are aware of and trying to redress the clichée of the female who knows nothing about science/technology. So this mommy knows a lot about trains! Her knowledge is almost greater. What does that mean? Does it mean that she knows just as much? Or does it mean that she doesn't know quite as much, thus legitimating the status of the father as the one who gets to impart all the knowledge? Somehow with the phrase almost greater the writers manage to have it both ways: the symbolic suggestion of a technically knowledgeable female, even one whose knowledge is "greater." But the "almost" leaves the traditional gendered hierarchy intact.
The sum total of these constellations is just sexism, pure and simple. Not that this problem is confined to this series specifically, or German children's stories as opposed to those of other cultures.
I make sure to point out to J on a regular basis that 1) a lot more women know more about machines and work more with machines than we hear about or see in stories; 2) a lot more daddies stay home with their children while their mommies are out working than we hear about and see in stories.
One good show in this regard is "Lauras Stern" (many episodes on YouTube). Very often it's the father at home with the children (especially in the kitchen) and involved in their domestic dramas while the mother is out working.
Total audio 2015: 16.20
Total video 2015: 26.28
Age 5.5.2
Speaking of trains, J loves the app "Der kleine ICE" from the Deutsche Bundesbahn and has spent many hours over the last year and a half playing it.
Basically you build track connecting cities in Germany, then drive your train from city to city picking up passengers and dropping them off. As you accumulate points, your character gets nicer uniform bits and your trains get faster and more elaborate:
For education purposes, a child can learn a lot about basic German geography. Where the big cities are and the names of the rivers:
I personally have not spent a great deal of time with J on such things; he has learned them from the game, and when in some other context he hears the name of a German city, he will often say that he has "gone there in the ICE game."
For L2 purposes, there is a nice clear voice-over speaking the directions and other little commentaries. For the more advanced child the language part is not terribly rich, but it does work the idiomatic German prepositions for travel von ____ nach ____. After he began playing this game, I noticed a measurable decrease in J's propensity to say von ____ zu _____ when speaking of travel.
Reading: Reading: Geronimo Stilton: Das Phantom der U-Bahn, 26-47.
This book is a big hit, not least because of clever design ideas, including the highlighting of selected words. Some of them are given a graphic form that reflects their content, which J really likes:
J has rejected learning to read up until just a couple of months ago, but now he's really interested and learning very fast. This book is very fun for him in that regard. It's also very slangy in a proto-youth-jargony way (though harmless) and lexically very creative.
Reading: Geronimo Stilton: Das Phantom der U-Bahn, 7-26.
Listening: Ich weiß was, "Albert E. erklärt die Eisenbahn," 0-15:00
Viewing: Two versions of the "Bremen Town Musicians," 1959 film (75 min), 2009 film (60 min).
The audiobook was very exciting for J because he has been to Germany twice and has experienced a lot of the German railways system. He kept interrupting with commentary. Then when we got home he wanted to draw trains.
Total audio 2015: 16.56
Total video 2015: 26.28
Age 5.5.2
Listening: Nina Weger, Kommando Känguru (Die sagenhafte Saubande 1), 2.11-2.45 (end); Ich weiß was, Albert E. erklärt Taschengeld: Umgang mit Geld, 36:30-46:30.
At one point when some non-ideal use of money was being discussed J interjected: "Wenn das passiert, dann gehst du nicht mit Geld um, sondern das Geld geht mit dir um!" I was impressed; he heard that statement two weeks ago and obviously understood my explanation of the rather complex social meaning. Plus the German idiom!
Total audio 2015: 16.41
Total video 2015: 24.13
Age 5.5.2
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