Reading: Cornelia Funke, Drachenreiter, 42-153/448. Listening: Die 30 schönsten Kinderlieder, Teil 1 (65 min.); Die 30 schönsten Kinderlieder, Teil 2 (64 min.); Paul Maar, Jaguar und Neinguar. Gedichte (48 min.); Gerd Köster, Die fabelhafte Welt der Tiere: Fische und Vögel, 0-49:00; Ulrich Janßen, Ulla Steuernagel, Die Kinder-Uni, "Warum lachen wir über Witze?" (0-27:00); A. A. Milne, Pu der Bär, (about 20 min.); Pinkus Tulim, Jo Raketen-Po: Ein Pupsbuch (160 min.); George R. R. Martin, Das Lied der Eisdrache (60 min.); Michael Ende, Jim Knopf und Lukas der Lokomotivführer, 0-3.53.
All of the above took place on a roadtrip, that's the reason for all the listening.
The Kinder-Uni nonfiction series is similar to the Albert E. audiobooks we have been listening to for the past two years, but it is a good bit more advanced in terms of both the language and the subject matter. It's also not quite as good in terms of the presentation. Albert E. audiobooks have a nice balance between presentation of the topical knowledge and a little story that exemplifies the material in the lives of children characters. So far (half an hour in), the Kinder-Uni is just straight-up knowledge-presentation, which is a little boring. We'll see. The topics themselves are interesting and reflective.
The George Martin story—wow, just brilliant. And I like that the main character is a little girl. I think J found it a little grim, and it does have a sad ending, but it's the kind of ending that stays with you.
The Tulim story is pretty funny. It's very much in the spirit of Roald Dahl in terms of valorization of lower bodily functions, the utter contemptibility of parental and authority figures, and the nastiness of spoiled children. I would say, however, that it goes on just a bit too long. The frobscottle episode in the BFG was only one episode in a complex story; here, farting does all the work. J found it funny for about an hour, then I think he started to tune out.
The Jim Knopf book is our first encounter with Michael Ende, whom I've been waiting a long time to get to. This is a wonderful, endlessly inventive story and J loves it, wanting to hear many sections several times over and interrupting to give observations and commentary.
I was a bit worried at first that the main character, being a little black boy, would be "essentialized" in a racial way, but apart (so far) from one use of the word Neger (see here for previous commentary), and the fact that black skin is associated with dirt and soot (in the figure of the locomotive driver), that has not been the case. I did pause the story at Neger—J asked what the word meant—and explain about it at some length.
The book is noted for it's coded critique of Nazism; that's in the later sections, in the dragon city, which we have not yet gotten to.
2015
Total audio: 80.33 hours
Total video: 95.26 hours
Age 6.02.31
After losing another kung fu fight, Friedel and Thusnelda spent new year's eve 2014 and new year's morning 2015 in the klink in a hotel in Richmond, Kentucky. It was a high-security affair with lots of guards:
The mousies Ulli and Sabine guarded the piggies from inside the cell. Here J has just brought the prisoners water:
Later he brought them food (pizza), a blanket, some books, and finally the ipad.
We practiced words and expressions like bewachen, unter Bewachung, Wache halten/stehen, Wächter, ablösen.
Roadtrip Dec. 26, 2014 - Jan. 1, 2015
Reading: Roger Hargreaves, Miss Schüchtern, Mister Faul, and Miss Neugierig. David Macaulay, Das große Mammut-Buch der Technik, 10-11 (inclined planes), 12-13 (keys and locks), 14-15 (cutting machines), 16 (plow), 17 (zipper), 18-21 (levers); 26-27 (inside the piano); 36 (gears and belts); 54 (pulleys)
Listening: Albert E. erklärt Freundschaft (46 min.); Ingo Siegner, Der kleine Drache Kokosnuss und die Reise zum Nordpol (46 min. twice) and Der kleine Drache Kokosnuss im Weltraum (53 min.); Benjamin Blümchen, Benjamin auf dem Mond (45 min.), Benjamin als Koch (34 min.), and Benjamin und die Murmeltiere (39 min.); Otfried Preußler, Der Räuber Hotzenplotz 1 (113 min.) , 2 (127 min.) and 3 (111 min.); Astrid Lindgren, Michel aus Lönneberga (137 min.)
The Lindgren stories are about a young rapscallion who plays a lot of tricks and pranks on the members of his household and village. Often it's unclear whether he actually intends mischief. I've been working on the vocabulary of intentionality a great deal with J lately, and discussing these stories (as well as the new year) was a good chance to reinforce that and introduce new words.
un/absichtlich, (nicht) mit Absicht
gute/böse Absichten
in der Absicht
ohne Absicht
(nicht) die Absicht haben, etwas zu tun
etwas beabsichtigen
unbeabsichtigt
(nicht) vorsätzlich, (nicht) mit Vorsatz
den Vorsatz haben, etwas zu tun
mit guten Vorsätzen
versehentlich, aus Versehen
un/gewollt
Total listening: 13:17
Total yearly listening: 5:34
Age 5.3.1
I do a lot of puppetry on long family roadtrips when my wife is taking her turns driving and I'm in the front passenger seat.
Things usually resolve themselves into a single game or basic routine that J wants to repeat over and over. This time it involved the piggies trying to steal J's drawing utensils while he tried to prevent it, with my wife and myself playing various mediator and trickster roles.
Here is a video bit recorded by my wife. The piggies are trying to bribe Eeyore (Eselchen) with thistles so that he will hand over some of J's colored pencils. It was raining, so the sound quality was not great.
During these games I try to introduce new vocabulary and expressions, which then get endlessly repeated and varied. The goal is to have J using some of the material independently by the end of the game. This trip we worked on the following new and newish words and expressions:
aushecken (einen Plan, etc.)
ausplaudern
davon
jemand hat etwas nun davon
geschehen
jemandem geschieht recht
hineinreden
jemandem hineinreden
Hose
in die Hose gehen
Kosten
auf seine Kosten kommen
kurz
(nicht) zu kurz kommen
lohnen
sich (nicht) lohnen
mopsen
jemandem etwas wegmopsen
rechnen
mit etwas rechnen
Schliche
jemandem auf die Schliche kommen
die Schliche von jemandem kennen
tuscheln, Tuschelei
Verrat, Verräter
verraten
den Plan verraten
weismachen
jemandem etwas weismachen
Everglades roadtrip Dec. 18-23.
Reading: Max Kruse, Urmel aus dem Eis, ch. 15; Roger Hargreaves, Mister Schlotter, Mister Unverschämt.
Listening; Ingo Siegner, Der kleine Drache Kokosnuss und der große Zauberer, Der kleine Drache Kokosnuss: Hab' keine Angst; Der kleine Drache Kokosnuss und die wilden Piraten; Der kleine Drache Kokosnuss und der geheimnisvolle Tempel; Der kleine Drache Kokosnuss auf der Suche nach Atlantis (all between 40-50 min.)
Age 5.1.22-28
