wort der woche: mohnbrötchen

If you happen to be in Germany for breakfast and are offered Mohnbrötchen then snap them up. They are tasty white bread rolls (Brötchen) sprinkled with poppy seeds (Mohn) and are often eaten at breakfast spread with jam (Marmelade) or Nutella. Many Germans prefer a savoury start to the day and take their Brötchen with ham (Schinken) or cheese (Käse). In Austria and southern Germany these rolls are known as Semmel.

As well as Mohnbrötchen you may see weiche Brötchen on the menu. These are soft rolls and much easier to chew. What do you think is sprinkled onto a Sesambrötchen?

Can you spot any of these delicious morsels in the picture below?

Orangensaft
Käse
Müsli
Tee
Kaffee
Joghurt
Honig
ein gekochtes Ei
Tomatensaft
Knäckebrot
Äpfel

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.

wischi wischi waschi wischi

Once heard, never forgotten, this foot-tapping tune will keep your hands busy as you try to remember which part of your body you are supposed to be washing next!

Winterwetter auf Rügen

Es ist sehr, sehr kalt im Winter. Das Meer friert und es schneit sehr viel.

Rügen

Rügen is Germany's largest island. It lies in the Baltic Sea near the northeastern province of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The island has been popular with visitors since bathing became fashionable in the nineteenth century.

Painter Caspar David Friedrich's picture Kreidefelsen auf Rügen made the chalky white cliffs on the island famous and today there are numerous seaside resorts around the island. The cliffs at Rügen are as high as 161 metres above sea level (about as high as the Blackpool Tower) and you can follow a clifftop coastal path to enjoy wonderful sea views and enjoy some delicious German fare in the Waldhalle Gaststätte.

Weiße Felsen auf Rügen

Caspar David Friedrich's painting: Kreidefelsen auf Rügen

Gasthaus Waldhalle

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

In meinem Koffer

Unscramble these words to find items to pack in your suitcase. Click on the pdf icon to link to the puzzle.

Clothes.pdf Download this file

Puzzled Pets

Can you solve this crossword? Small reward if you print it off and bring it to me at school! Click on the pdf icon to link to the puzzle.

Pets.pdf Download this file

Das Alphabet

If you want to spell out your name or address in German you need to know the names of the letters in the German alphabet. Many of them are the same as they are in English, and this makes life easier for you. But there are also a few which are called "false friends" because they look as if they are the same as English letters but are actually not. Until I can record the sounds of the letters I will write out a phonetic pronounciation of each letter for speakers of English.

A  (ah)    B (bay)    C (tsay)    D (day)    E (eh)    F (eff)    G (gay)    H (ha)    I (eee)    J (yot)    K (car)   L (ell)    M (em)    N (enn)    O (oh)     P (pay)    Q (koo)    R (air)    S (ess)    T (tay)    U (ooh)    V (fow)    W (vay)    X (eeks)    Y (oopsilon)    Z (tzed)

To listen to a native German speaker pronouncing the letters of the German alphabet click here.

Try saying the letters aloud. Can you spell out your own name or the name of the place where you live?

German also has an extra letter ß ,called sharp s, scharfes ess or esszet.

Wie ist das Wetter?

You can watch this video clip to see more about how to say what the weather is like.