wort der woche: fahrrad

I remember my first Fahrrad. It was passed down to me from my sister and had solid tyres. I spent hours riding it round the garden and perfected the art of cycling with a cardboard box over my head. Until one day I steered the bike right over the edge of the lawn and dropped four foot, landing in a flower bed.

Fahrrad comes from das Rad which means the wheel and fahren meaning to go or to drive.

Germans often talk about their Rad just as we in England shorten bicycle to bike.

In German towns you will see dozens of bicycles. Most cities have constructed cycle ways which are called Radwege. These safe cycling routes often have their own traffic lights and cyclists in Germany are generally more noticeable and treated with more respect by motorists than they are in the UK.

The Donauradweg is a beautiful cycling route which runs beside the river Danube through Germany and Austria.

If you want to hear more about cycling in Germany why not listen to Annik Rubens' podcast on Radfahren (cycling)?

meine haustiere

You may already know the words for pets pretty well. When you say which pet you have you need to remember whether you use einen, eine or ein before the name of the pet.

All nouns in German belong to one of three groups. These groups are called masculine, feminine and neuter.

In all my teaching resources I use blue with masculine nouns, red with feminine nouns and green with neuter nouns.

Click here to view my powerpoint to help you practise talking about pets you have.

wort der woche: regenschirm

You might need to take a Regenschirm along with you if the weather forecast predicts Regenschauer. It would also be useful in a Schneeschauer or a Hegelschauer.

Another German compound word, Regenschirm is made up of two words. Regen means rain and a Schirm is a shield or a mask. So, put together a Regenschirm will shield you from the rain. What do you think a Sonnenschirm might be?

Rain being very widespread in Germany there are other compounds beginning with Regen. A Regenjacke can easily be packed in a bag and taken out with on excursions. And in the garden you might want to collect Regenwasser in a Regentonne.

After a period of Regenfall you might spot a few Regenwürme wriggling around on the earth in your garden.

American writer and humorist Mark Twain wrote of bankers « Ein Bankier ist ein Mensch, der seinen Schirm verleiht, wenn die Sonne scheint und der ihn sofort zurückhaben will, wenn es zu regnen beginnt.»

Radfahrer im Regenschauer

zwanzig zwerge

Can you get your mouth round this tricky tonguetwister?

 

Zwanzig Zwerge zeigen Handstand, zehn im Wandschrank, zehn am Sandstrand.

Click here to hear the tonguetwister.

battenbergkuchen

Many of us have tasted the sweet, almond-infused delights of Battenberg Cake. The distinctive sponge, coloured pink and yellow, has an outer shell of marzipan.

It was created by British chefs in 1884 to honour the wedding of Viktoria von Hessen-Darmstadt (Queen Victoria's grand-daughter) to Prince Ludwig Alexander von Battenberg. The four pink and yellow squares in the cake represent the Battenberg Princes Ludwig Alexander, Alexander Joseph, Heinrich Moritz and Franz Joseph.

During World War One anti-German feeling grew in Britain and Prince Ludwig von Battenberg changed his name to Mountbatten. The cake continued to be called Battenberg and thanks to Mr Kipling and his exceedingly good team it remains a popular tea-time treat today.

Next week chefs in Year 5 will be following a German recipe for Battenberg cake and creating their own versions to be frozen and kept for the Jubilee picnic to be held at school in June. 

wort der woche: pumpernickel

A dark, chewy, moist and slightly sweet mouthful is Pumpernickel. A very German treat, and some say it is an acquired taste. The bread is made with coarse rye flour and its dark colour comes from a very long baking time.

In the USA Pumpernickel has become popular and is usually sweetened and darkened with cocoa powder, molasses or coffee. In the States and parts of Europe the bread is available in delis and chic eateries, although in Germany and Poland it is still everyday fare. Here in the UK it can be bought at German supermarkets like Lidl and Aldi.

Pumpernickel tastes delicious on its own, toasted, or with cheese, cold meats, smoked salmon. To make your own version of the bread try the recipe by Deb from Smitten Kitchen.

wort der woche: das treppenhaus

Treppenhaus is one of scores of German compound nouns, that is a noun made up of two or more nouns. Treppe means stairs and Haus means house. Put together they describe the hallway of a building shared by multiple occupiers. If the building has several Klingelknöpfe (doorbells) then you can expect to walk into a shared Treppenhaus on entering the building.

In many old town houses which have been divided up into apartments the Treppenhaus might contain several lockable letterboxes. The Briefträger (postman/woman) can then easily deliver mail to all the residents of a large house without having to climb five or six sets of stairs in each building.

Another feature of German Treppenhäuser is the light switches. There is a light switch on each landing so that anybody entering or leaving the building can switch on the stair lights. After two minutes the lights then go off automatically, saving electricity and cutting down on waste. Legendary German efficiency.

Elegant art nouveau staircase in Vienna

german and english words 1

German and English words can sometimes look quite similar. Look at these German words and see if you can guess what they mean in English. Scroll down the page when you have had a go and see if you were right.

1.    hier
2.    das Bier
3.    der Wein
4.    der Sommer
5.    die Zigarette
6.    der Hund
7.    das Papier
8.    lang
9.    braun
10.  der Fisch
11.  das Insekt
12.  das Schwein
13.  der Garten
14.  die Lampe
15.  das Bad
16.  die Idee
17.  die See
18.  der Balkon
19.  das Feld
20.  das Gras
21.  der Kanal
22.  der Reis
23.  der Honig
24.  der Traktor
25.  der Apfel

1.   here
2.   the beer
3.   the wine
4.   the summer
5.   the cigarette
6.   the dog (hound)
7.   the paper
8.   long
9.   brown
10. the fish
11. the insect
12. the pig (swine)
13. the garden
14. the lamp
15. the bath
16. the idea
17. the sea
18. the balcony
19. the field
20. the grass
21. the canal
22. the rice
23. the honey
24. the tractor
25. the apple

How did you get on? Did you notice that if you are trying to work out the English meaning of a German word you might only need to change one or two letters? Sometimes the English word is very old - like swine and hound.