Media today 261

Reading: Katharina Neuschaefer, Die nordischen Sagen, 121-132/294 (kindle edition); Roger Hargreaves, Mister Muskel.

J: "Ich liebe die nordische Mythologie!" He also really likes this joke from tonight, of which we have several versions in various collections:

Der Lehrer zu Fritzchen: "Nenn mir mal ein paar Tiere!"
Fritzchen zählt auf: "Häschen, Hündchen, Pferdchen..."
Meint der Lehrer: "Lass doch das '-chen' weg."
Darauf Fritzchen: "Eichhörn, Seepferd, Meerschwein, Kanin." 

Media today 256-260

Viewing: About 5 hours of German Let's Play Kung Fu Panda and Minecraft videos; Benjamin Blümchen, Benjamin Blümchen als Tierarzt (x2; 52 min.).

I was travelling over the weekend, hence all the viewing. I don't like to let a single day go by without J getting a good dose of German. 

2015
Total audio: 56.48 hours
Total video: 92.26 hours
Total narration/description: 4.23 hours (category added 8.25.2015) 
Age 5.12.17

Media today 255

Reading: Katharina Neuschaefer, Die nordischen Sagen, 111-121/294 (kindle edition). Viewing: Various German Minecraft videos (1.20).

2015
Total audio: 56.48 hours
Total video: 86.34 hours
Total narration/description: 4.23 hours (category added 8.25.2015) 
Age 5.12.17

Media today 254

Reading: Roger Hargreaves, Miss Hilfsbereit. Viewing: Rabadabading, Das Leben der Verlassenen #01 (14:30 min); #02  (17 min.); Das Leben der Verlassenen #03, #04 (28 min.),"Meine knuffige Minecraftwelt" (36min.). Die Zehn Gebote: Mose und das Geheimnis der steinernen Tafeln (1:26). 

J was sick home from school today, hence all the viewing. I watched the Moses film with him. He knows the story very well at this point; I enjoy talking about and comparing all the different versions we have read and listened to.

2015
Total audio: 57.33 hours
Total video: 88.16 hours
Total narration/description: 4.23 hours (category added 8.25.2015) 
Age 5.12.19

First parent-teacher conference

Friday we had our first parent-teacher conference with J's kindergarten teacher. One thing in particular struck me as relevant to L2. His teacher praised J's ability to use his imagination with stories they read in class. He's apparently very good at things like thinking up further episodes in a story, further characters, and alternative scenarios to what the characters do. 

I have deliberately worked on the mechanics of this latter skill over the years, primarily in the form of conditional propositions ("If the character had [not] done this, then this would [not] have happened") not least in order to train the subjunctive 2, which in German involves special verb forms. Posts on that are here, here, and here, but I did it (and still do it!) much more than just these times.

The teacher's comments reflect another, larger concern I have had as a teacher and scholar of literature: the idea of all stories as constructed and contingent, subject to endless variation and alternatives. I first talked about that here on this blog. It was very gratifying for me to hear that all this is actually having an effect on how J relates to the world through language, story, and communication with others.

Media today 253

Listening: Katharina Neuschaefer, Nordische Sagen 3: Thor, der Donnergott, 55:00 - 1.23.

Today was the long-anticipated scene where the origins of Jörmungandr as well as the other monsters are told. 

What's bizarre is that J knew exactly when the scene was coming in the audiobook, even though it has been over a year since we first heard this audiobook and we listened to it only once. He said to me: "Jetzt kommt endlich Jörmungandr," and I said no because it really wasn't the place in the story for it (for some reason the mythological chronology is all jumbled up in the Neuschaefer audiobooks, though not in the print/kindle book), but he was right.

2015
Total audio: 57.33 hours
Total video: 85.14 hours
Total narration/description: 4.23 hours (category added 8.25.2015) 
Age 5.12.18

Literary-critical Sunday school 16

Listening: Die Bibel, 1.11 - 1.28 (Genesis 19-20). 

J noticed and pointed out that the story of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah was like the story of the flood. 

I cringed a bit at the part where Lot's daughters lie with him in the cave; I think I saw J's brows draw together a bit when it was said that "Lots Töchter wurden schwanger von ihrem Vater," but I just let it pass uncommented.

2015
Total audio: 57.05 hours
Total video: 85.14 hours
Total narration/description: 4.23 hours (category added 8.25.2015) 
Age 5.12.18

Media today 252

Reading: Katharina Neuschaefer, Die nordischen Sagen, 96-111/294 (kindle edition). Listening: Katharina Neuschaefer, Nordische Sagen 3: Thor, der Donergott, 39:00-55:00.

2015
Total audio: 56.48 hours
Total video: 85.14 hours
Total narration/description: 4.23 hours (category added 8.25.2015) 
Age 5.12.17

Media today 251

Reading: David Macaulay, Das große Mammut-Buch der Technik, 135-136 (water meter; jets and sprays).

Media today 250

Reading: Roger Hargreaves, Mister Pingelig. 

Media today 249

Reading: Katharina Neuschaefer, Die nordischen Sagen, 92-96/294 (kindle edition); Roger Hargreaves, Miss Zwilling; Lisa-Marie Sonnenschein, Die lustigsten Häschen-Witze, loc. 1-91/319 (kindle edition). 

So I don't know whether it is coming up in the above collection, but this bunny joke, albeit very strange, is somehow incredibly funny. J laughs like a loon:

Häschen kommt in die Kirche und fragt den Pfarrer:
"Haddu Möhrchen?"
Der Pfarrer antwortet:
"Nein, hier haben wir keine Möhren."
Am nächsten Tag kommt Häschen wieder in die Kirche und fragt:
"Haddu Möhrchen?"
Etwas gereizt antwortet der Pfarrer:
"Langsam gehst Du mir mit deinen Möhren auf den heiligen Geist. Wenn Du so weiter machst, nagel' ich dich neben Jesus ans Kreuz!"
Auch am drauffolgenden Tag kommt Häschen in die Kirche und fragt:
"Haddu Möhrchen?"
Der Pfarrer rastet aus und nagelt Häschen neben Jesus ans Kreuz.
Häschen wendet sich an Jesus:"Haddu auch nach Möhrchen gefragt?" 

A version of it is in this audiobook: Kennst du den schon? Witze von Kindern live erzählt.

Media today 239-248

Reading: Kathryn Lasky, Die Legende der Wächter 2. Die Wanderschaft, loc. 2493-2997/2997 (kindle edition); Katharina Neuschaefer, Die nordischen Sagen, 75-92/294 (kindle edition); Roger Hargreaves, Mister Lustig, Mister Unverschämt, Miss Sonnenschein, Mister Weihnachten, Mister Kitzel, Miss Tipptopp, Miss Kicher, Miss Prinzessin, Miss Ärger; Erin Hunter, Warrior Cats. In die Wildnis, loc. 1-350/3553 (kindle edition). Listening: Katharina Neuschaefer, Nordische Sagen 2: Die Erschaffung der Welten, 1.29 - 1.48 (end); Nordische Sagen 3: Thor, der Donergott, 0-39:00; Lewis Carroll, Alice im Wunderland, 1.25 - 1.50. Viewing: Benjamin Blümchen, "Benjamin Blümchen als Lokomotivführer" (26 min.); Benjamin Blümchen bei den Eskimos (26 min.); Benjamin Blümchen findet einen Schatz (26 min.); Janoschs Traumstunde, Post für den Tiger (30 min.); Honeyball Games'n'Stuff. Not a Vampire, "Let's play Minecraft," #006 (16 min.), #007 (14 min.), #008 (16 min.).

The above represents ten days worth of L2 media. Our internet connection was out for over a week in the wake of a storm, and then I was temporarily too busy to transfer my notes onto this site.

So we've finally finished with the Lasky. I'm not sure we're going to make it to the third volume. J says he wants to read it, and we were about to download the next volume, when he caught sight of the Warrior Cats series on Amazon: 

So we got that and read the first two chapters. He really liked it at first, but then he got scared after a scene where a house kitty character is threatened by the wild warrior cats, after which he wanted to go no further.  

2015
Total audio: 56.32 hours
Total video: 85.14 hours
Total narration/description: 4.23 hours (category added 8.25.2015) 
Age 5.12.13

Media today 238

Reading: Kathryn Lasky, Die Legende der Wächter 2. Die Wanderschaft, loc. 2384-2493/2997 (kindle edition); Roger Hargreaves, Mister Schlotter. Listening: Roald Dahl, Matilda, 40:00 - 1.25 (end); Lewis Carroll, Alice im Wunderland, 0-1.25. Narration/description (Minecraft): 10 min.

There was a long pause since we started Matilda because for a long time my wife made only desultory progress on the story with J. Once the fearsome Miss Trunchbull appeared on the scene, he alternately hated and loved it, and generally did not want to read it at bedtime.

2015
Total audio: 55.10 hours
Total video: 82.40 hours
Total narration/description: 4.23 hours (category added 8.25.2015) 
Age 5.12.03

Media today 237

Reading: Kathryn Lasky, Die Legende der Wächter 2. Die Wanderschaft, loc. 2384-2493/2997 (kindle edition); Roger Hargreaves, Miss Glanz; several old jokes from Imke Stotz, Sagt Ulf zu Gnulf... : Die 500 besten Kinderwitze.  

The last couple of weeks I've actually been reading jokes to J at breakfast, after we park the bikes at his school in the morning, and then in the evening during bedtime reading. Also, I've done it several times when he has been in a sad or sour mood, in order to cheer him up. This works very well. Now, even when it is me who has caused his sadness or sourness—namely when I chew him out—a few minutes later he will come to me, with still tear-streaked face, and say "Papa, kannst du mir ein paar Witze erzählen? / Daddy, can you tell me a couple of jokes?"