Mein Kopf ist rund

I wrote this short rhyme a few years ago as a performance poem. Younger children can recite it in groups or pairs or individually. It works nicely in a class assembly and the rhyming words make it easier for children to memorise.

Wort der Woche: Mohn

 Vivid red, cheeky scarlet and faded pink, you can see these iconic flowers everywhere in the UK during the first few days of November. Yesterday I saw a huge one in the departures area for rail  passengers to look at while waiting for their trains at London's King's Cross Station. They are worn to remember and honour soldiers who died in WWI and WWII.  The British public have supported the Poppy Appeal since 1918 and money raised is used to help soldiers who have returned from war to adapt to civilian life.

In Germany and Austria poppies have a more everyday use. Many people might eat them with their breakfast or for a mid-morning treat. Poppyseeds or Mohnkörner are used to decorate bread rolls. They look delicious, especially on the small white Mohnbrötchen available to buy in bakers and coffee shops in most towns and villages. The tiny blue-grey seeds look pretty and add crunch and a nutty flavour to the white rolls. They are also sold in butchers shops; just ask for a Käsebrötchen or a Schinkenbrötchen and you will soon be tucking into a roll freshly filled with cheese or ham.

Allerheiligen

Towards the end of October some lucky schoolchildren in Germany are getting ready for some time off school. While children in the UK are enjoying their half term holidays and making plans for Halloween and Bonfire Night, across the North Sea in Germany most children are working hard in school.

But for children in mainly catholic regions of Germany there is an extra day off school on November 1st. This day is called Allerheiligen which means All Holies. It falls on the same day as All Saints' Day in the UK, Toussaint in France and Día de todos los santos in Spain.

The day is a special religious holiday when all the saints are remembered and honoured. Many Catholics attend church on this day and light special candles and say prayers for family members who have died. It is also a day when people like to visit the graves of relatives and friends who have died. They bring flowers and candles to the graveyards and light candles when it starts to get dark in the late afternoon. It is quite a magical sight to see flickering candles in their thousands in city cemeteries.

A wet start to the year

Nass ins Neujahr

Click on the link above to hear a very short report about Germans (and others) whose idea of a great start to the year is to take a dip in icy waters. Berliners are disappointed in mild weather as they do not get the chance to hack a hole in the ice before taking the plunge. This traditional dip happens in other countries as well, including the UK.

Some bold Germans braving sub-zero temperatures as they enter the waters of Orankesee in Berlin .

Frohes Neues Jahr 2013

Frohes Neues Jahr 2013. Ich wünsche euch viel Glück und Zufriedenheit im kommenden Jahr.

There are plenty of New Year's Eve traditions that take place in Germany and Austria. Feuerwerke are typically used to welcome in the new year and drive away bad spirits.

At the stroke of midnight on Silvesterabend  people clink glasses filled with Sekt and wish each other Prosit Neujahr!

When they wake up on New Year's Day (Neujahrstag) many people make a Neujahrsvorsatz. This might be a promise to live more healthily or to be friendlier to others.

In dem Park

sprichwort der woche: wenn die katze aus dem haus ist, tanzen die mäuse auf dem tisch

Wenn die Katze aus dem Haus ist, tanzen die Mäuse auf dem Tisch.

I have plenty of experience of this proverb, in its literal sense.

Let's look at it word by word.

Wenn is simply when. A soundalike and lookalike word.

Die Katze is the cat.

Here aus dem Haus means out of the house.

The ist at the end of the first clause means is. So the first clause put together means: When the cat is out of the house.

The second clause begins with a verb: tanzen. This means dance.

Next we have another animal - die Mäuse. The mice.

And finally another preposition plus a place. Auf dem Tisch.  You might remember auf dem means on the: we had auf dem Dach a week or two ago. And Tisch is table.

The second clause means: the mice dance on the table.

The English equivalent of this old German proverb is When the cat's away the mice will play.

I live in an old house with plenty of tiny little gaps in the walls. Mice find it very easy to squeeze in and out of these gaps. A few years back when my dear old ginger cat Ollie died we were quite slow to find a replacement for him. Gradually we noticed increasing numbers of mice scurrying around the house. Gnawing their way through food containers and nibbling little holes into paper packages. As the winter got colder the mice got more numerous, and seemed quite well fed. We even hung Christmas chocolates up from the ceiling so the mice couldn't get at them. We now have a lovely sleek black cat who does an excellent job of keeping the mice at bay. Her name? Mouser!

sprichwort der woche: eine schwalbe macht noch keinen sommer.

junge Nestlinge

I've found another German proverb that makes good sense to me. What I like about it is that it uses everyday language, like many proverbs, and continues with the bird theme I've started. Because I am a bit of a bird brain.

Eine Schwalbe macht noch keinen Sommer.

Eine Schwalbe
OK, the bird in question. Die Schwalbe ist etwa 17 cm lang. Der Rücken ist metallisch glänzend blau-schwarz. Die Unterseite ist rahmweiß. Die Schwalbe verbringt den Sommer in Europa und den Winter in Afrika.

Have you guessed what it is yet? You're right, it's a swallow.

macht 
This is an example of a word where German ch becomes k in English.There are a number of these, including Milch (milk), Buch(book), Koch (cook). Macht means makes.

noch keinen Sommer
You probably know that Sommer means summer. The noch keinen is a little trickier. Literally kein  means not a or none. And here noch is used to mean yet.

The whole proverb then means roughly one swallow makes not yet a summer.

The English equivalent of this proverb is one swallow doesn't make a summer. This wise old saying is generally used to warn people not to get too excited about the smallest hint of good things to come. Swallows usually arrive in Europe when the weather begins to get warmer at the end of spring. They come to Europe to breed and food is plentiful for them during our summer months. After the breeding season they fly with their young to Africa in search of warm weather and food. To find out more about swallows you could read Dear Olly by Michael Morpurgo, the story of a swallow called Hero and his journey of thousands of miles to catch up with his family. Are there any swallows' nests near where you live?

Still not sure how to identify a swallow? Look at this little clip of a female swallow looking after her young.

sprichwort der woche: der spatz in der hand ist besser als die taube auf dem dach

Drei junge Spatzen

Many German proverbs have a direct equivalent in English. Proverbs are short and well known sayings and usually  they are very old and nobody is quite sure about their origin.

Look at this German Sprichwort (proverb).

Der Spatz in der Hand ist besser als die Taube auf dem Dach.

Der Spatz is a common bird in Germany as well as Britain. Small and brown with a cheerful call ,you may already have guessed it is a sparrow. So der Spatz in der Hand is the sparrow in the hand.

The next part of the sentence ist besser als is one of those German phrases that sound very like what they mean in English. Ist  means is; besser means better; and als means than.

Another common bird is die Taube. Visitors to British cities can see dozens of these birds, and Trafalgar Square in London is known for its huge numbers. They are large and grey and their call is like a soft hooting. Yes, eine Taube is a pigeon.

Now we come to auf dem Dach. This simply means on the roof.

So literally our German proverb means The sparrow in the hand is better than the dove on the roof. In English we have a very similar proverb - A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

Both proverbs mean roughly the same thing; it is better to have something for certain than to try and get something which may be more valuable if it is out of your reach.



die olympischen Sommerspiele

This alphabetical list of the Olympic sports played in the summer games is in German. How many can you name in English?

• Badminton
• Basketball
• Bogenschießen
• Boxen
• Fechten
• Fußball
• Gewichtheben
• Handball
• Hockey
• Judo
• Kanusport
• Leichtathletik
• Moderner Fünfkampf
• Radsport
• Reitsport
• Ringen
• Rudern
• Schießen
• Schwimmsport
• Segeln
• Taekwondo
• Tennis
• Tischtennis
• Triathlon
• Turnen
• Volleyball

Look below to see if you were right.

Badminton Basketball Archery Boxing Fencing Football Weightlifting Handball Hockey Judo Canoeing Track and Field Modern Pentathlon Cycling Riding Wrestling Rowing Shooting Swimming Sailing Taekwondo Tennis Table tennis Triathlon Gymnastics Volleyball

For more information about Leichtathletik events click here.