Wort der Woche: Silber

Silber is the colour of the medal for the second best competitor in a sporting event. It is the precious metal used to make Schmuck ( rings, necklaces, bracelets, earrings, brooches). A Silberschmied uses traditional techniques to make items from Silber.

An German proverb claims that Reden ist Silber, Schweigen ist Gold. Although speaking (Reden) is deemed valuable enough for silver, it comes second place to silence (Schweigen). And a married couple who reach the dizzy heights of 25 years of marriage may celebrate their silberne Hochzeit.

Silberweiß could be used to describe moonlight, and the white willow is known in German as die Silber-Weide.

paul klee: burg und sonne

Paul Klee was born in Switzerland in 1879. He trained as a painter in the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich. His father was a German music teacher and his mother a Swiss opera singer. Although he was trained musically and played the violin well he rebelled against his parents' wishes and decided to study fine art in Germany.

His style of painting was very distinctive. He liked to turn objects into simple geometric shapes when he painted them. As you can see, the above painting is made up of diamonds, squares, rectangles, triangles and one circle.

Klee's use of colour and shape makes his works very striking. I find the painting above Burg und Sonne (Fortress and Sun) quite compelling to look at.

Brauner Bär

This wonderful book by Eric Carle is great for helping children learn the names of colours and animals in German and makes a marvellous resource for a performance poem.
The book can be read aloud and repeated by children as young as seven, and my Year 3 class have thoroughly enjoyed repeating the words and taking on different roles, as well as creating some original artwork for the different creatures in the book.
Take a look at the pictures and see if you can match them up to the words below:
      weißer Hund
      goldener Fisch
      lila Katze
      gelbe Ente
      brauner Bär
      roter Vogel
      blaues Pferd
      grüner Frosch
      schwarzes Schaf

Wort der Woche: grün

In the German language green is the colour of politics, inexperience and jealousy. A green-fingered gardener is said to have eine grüne Hand and if you have grüne Augen you are grünäugig or jealous.

A person who lacks experience might be grün hinter den Ohren or wet behind the ears as we would have it. A Grünschnabel is a young whippersnapper, a delightful term in both languages.

Green places are much loved parts of the German landscape and the outside of cities is often surrounded by a grüner Gürtel,  a green belt of farmland, parks and open country where development is not allowed. In the middle of a motorway the Grünstreifen separates traffic flowing in opposite directions. The traditional village green of England, however, is known in German as the Dorfanger.

Other expressions:
                                           

die Grünen	the Greens/Green Party
die Ampel steht auf Grün	the lights are green
der Bauplatz im Grünen	greenfield site
der Grünfink	greenfinch
grünes Licht geben	to give the green light/go-ahead
er hat mich grün und blau geschlagen	he beat me black and blue
ich bin ihr nicht grün	I don’t care much for her
die Grünanlage	green space, park
der Grünspecht	woodpecker

willy puchners farbenlehre

The Austrian artist and illustrator of children's books always has his paints at hand on his travels round the world. You can see more of his fascinating creations on the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung website.

Brauner Bär by Eric Carle

This wonderful book by Eric Carle is great for helping children learn the names of colours and animals in German and makes a marvellous resource for a performance poem.
The book can be read aloud and repeated by children as young as seven, and my Year 3 class have thoroughly enjoyed repeating the words and taking on different roles, as well as creating some original artwork for the different creatures in the book.
Take a look at the pictures and see if you can match them up to the words below:
      weißer Hund
      goldener Fisch
      lila Katze
      gelbe Ente
      brauner Bär
      roter Vogel
      blaues Pferd
      grüner Frosch
      schwarzes Schaf