European Day of Languages

Es war am Freitag viel los!

Das Beste war, Deutschland hat das Fussballspiel gewonnen!

Auch kamen viele Schüler von den Grundschulen, um Sprachen zu feiern. Sie haben europäische Märchen gelernt; es hat viel Spaß gemacht! Catriona Ruane ist auch gekommen, um mit uns zu sprechen. Das war sehr interessant.

German stuff on teachertube

Wow! German, science and balloons - all my favourite things all at once. Christmas has come early...

There seems to be plenty more German videos on there - expect more posts as I find other interesting ones! Hey, perhaps we'll do some of our own...

München 2009

Plans are afoot to have a group heading off to München (Munich) in February. This is a very exciting opportunity for our German students, especially those preparing for exams: a great chance to be immersed in German language and culture.

Munich is the capital of Bavaria, in the south of Germany. The Bavarians are proud of their distinct identity and the city offers lots of interesting things to do. We will be staying in a very high-quality hostel close to the city centre and, while we'll certainly be soaking up the culture and history, everyone will be sure to get a chance to practise their German!

If you're interested you need to let us know soon - if you don't already have a letter, speak to Herr McMillan as soon as possible!

Willkommen (zurück)!

Schön, wieder in der Schule zu sein, nicht wahr?

Nice to see so many happy faces, all glad to be back in school again! And a special welcome to all our new students in first year. Wir hoffen, ihr seid sehr glücklich!

And congratulations to our German GCSE and A-level students who did so very well in their examinations - we are very proud of you. Well done!

Noch eine neue Schuluniform!

More great uniform designs from Mrs McKinney's P6 class in Kilkeel. Well done folks!

(click on the title of this post to listen!)

Die neue Schuluniform!

Classes in some of our local primary schools have been working with Herr McMillan - recently they have designed new school uniforms. Here Mrs Russell's p6 class are telling us about the different uniforms they have designed in teams. Well done everyone! Gute Arbeit!

[click on the title of this post to listen, or use the widget to the right!]

Der Erlkönig

OK, we know this isn't everyone's cup of tea, but hey all the big oral exams are over - well done all - and it's time for a wee change. Here's a poem from Goethe which Herr McMillan was introduced to when he was in Berlin. It's very famous - the podcast is one of many versions of it already available on the Internet.

Rammstein even did their own version, which you can read about here.

Here are the words:

Original German

English Translation

Wer reitet so spät durch Nacht und Wind? Es ist der Vater mit seinem Kind; Er hat den Knaben wohl in dem Arm, Er faßt ihn sicher, er hält ihn warm. "Mein Sohn, was birgst du so bang dein Gesicht?" "Siehst, Vater, du den Erlkönig nicht? Den Erlenkönig mit Kron und Schweif?" "Mein Sohn, es ist ein Nebelstreif." "Du liebes Kind, komm, geh mit mir! Gar schöne Spiele spiel' ich mit dir; Manch' bunte Blumen sind an dem Strand, Meine Mutter hat manch gülden Gewand." "Mein Vater, mein Vater, und hörest du nicht, Was Erlenkönig mir leise verspricht?" "Sei ruhig, bleib ruhig, mein Kind; In dürren Blättern säuselt der Wind." "Willst, feiner Knabe, du mit mir gehn? Meine Töchter sollen dich warten schön; Meine Töchter führen den nächtlichen Reihn, Und wiegen und tanzen und singen dich ein." "Mein Vater, mein Vater, und siehst du nicht dort Erlkönigs Töchter am düstern Ort?" "Mein Sohn, mein Sohn, ich seh es genau: Es scheinen die alten Weiden so grau." "Ich liebe dich, mich reizt deine schöne Gestalt; Und bist du nicht willig, so brauch ich Gewalt." "Mein Vater, mein Vater, jetzt faßt er mich an! Erlkönig hat mir ein Leids getan!" Dem Vater grauset's, er reitet geschwind, Er hält in Armen das ächzende Kind, Erreicht den Hof mit Müh' und Not; In seinen Armen das Kind war tot.

Who rides so late through night and wind? It is the father with his child. He has the little one well in the arm He holds him secure, he holds him warm. "My son, why hide your face in fear?" "See you not, Father, the Erlking? The Erlking with crown and flowing cloak?" "My son, it is a wisp of fog." "You sweet child, come along with me! Such wonderful games I'll play with you; Many lovely flowers are at the shore, My mother has many golden garments." "My father, my father, and do you not hear, What the Erlking quietly promises to me?" "Be calm, stay calm, my child; The wind is rustling the dry leaves." "Won't you come along with me, my fine boy? My daughters shall attend to you so nicely; My daughters do their nightly dance, And they will rock you and dance you and sing you to sleep." "My father, my father, do you not see there, Erlking's daughters in that dark place?" "My son, my son, I see it definitely: It is the willow trees looking so grey." "I love you; I'm charmed by your beautiful shape; And if you are not willing, then I will use force." "My father, my father, now he has taken hold of me! Erlking has hurt me!" The father shudders, he rides swiftly, He holds in arm the groaning child, He reaches the farmhouse with effort and urgency; In his arms, the child was dead.

Müllmondmänner und Müllmartianer!

Year 10 were learning how to describe people, but let's face it - people are boring!!

Much more interesting to describe Aliens. First, though, we had to make some:

Er heißt Oskar. Er ist zwölf Jahre alt. Er hat ein Bein. Er hat sechs Augen. Er hat einen Hut, fünf Zähne und einen Schnurrbart!

Berlin!

Well, Herr McMillan was away for a training week in Berlin and he went up this:

(but it was raining!).

Then he went to see this:

(it rained then, too!)

There was a single good day and he went here:

The Spreewald is where the gherkins came from in Goodbye Lenin!, remember? It's very beautiful and has a surprising amount of wee canals!!

He did a lot of work and research on literature and film criticism, too - sign up for A-level German if you're interested!

Young Germany

Check out the Young Germany website! (Click on the title above) They have a wide variety of interesting things going on. I particularly want to recommend their podcast to, which features young Germans talking about a range of issues which will be of interest to anyone doing A-level German!

Here's the link for the podcast:

Young Germany Podcast

Viel Spass!

Montanalingua 2

The Return of Montanalingua!! Last year we took a group of German students to Greenhill YMCA to work with some of their German staff; it was such a success that we did it again!

Sixteen students and two staff participated in a variety of exciting activities with the four Germans who are currently working as instructors at Greenhill. We all spoke lots of German along the way, and even learnt a thing or two:

Wir waren klettern! - We were climbing!
Das Wetter war schlecht! - The weather was bad!
Wo ist die Kokosnuss? - Where is the coconut?
Wer hat die Kokosnuss geklaut? - Who stole the coconut?

GCSE oral - Meine Stadt!

More ideas for topics you might swing the conversation round to in your oral exam! Watch this space for the transcript - i'll get them up soon!

Keep revising everyone!GCSE Oral - Meine Stadt