28.Februar '15 - Prüfungszeit

The Day of Reckoning has come. The test has arrived!

Today we had a test: nothing fancy, just an end to our unit over comparatives and the simple past.
This took a substantial amount of time, proctoring and then going over the test, which included an essay portion as well.

We did our usual listening comprehension to start the day off, and did part 1 of the test, which we then went over as a class up until lunch.

After lunch, we did the second part, which was the short story portion (a bit more creative than an essay).

The day ended with a comparing game wherein different toys were compared in a team vs. team race.


The homework is as follows:

With the help of the handout from last week, as well as independent research, compose a poem about an ancient Germanic/nordic hero or deity. It may be a fictional one (like Siegfried from Wagner's Ring Cycle) or an authentic one (from the actual myths).

• 15 lines, rhyming in some form or other (pick a poetic form and stick with it) 
• Describe the character you chose, including things they have done (simple past) and comparisons to other characters as to why they are better (e.g. "Thor ist stärker als Loki!" and so on)

21.Februar '14 - der Ritus

Syncretism was the word of the day.

For our opening act, we listened to a reading of Rumpelstilzchen from online, but there were network issues so this didn't go as well as had been hoped, i.e. we had audio only but not the intended subtitles. But in any case, we listened to this and then answered questions about the plot for a listening comprehension exercise.

Our main topic of conversation for the day was comparative Iron Age religion. We discussed the Roman pantheon and everyday state-endorsed ritualism as well as the practice of polytheistic syncretism (altering or adopting indigenous beliefs for the sake of cultural assimilation); this was contrasted to the Germanic pantheon shared with the Nordic regions, and their customs in this religion.

After lunch, we reviewed comparative adjectives and the simple past, because next week there is a quiz over both before we move on to another unit.

Be sure to study the handouts and examples over both comparative adjective formation/phrases and the simple past to be prepared for next time.

Mit Vergnügen

14.Februar '15 - Eichhörnchenangriff

Today began like any other day, and by that I mean it was nothing like any other day because the heat was broken in the school's section of the building, so most classes relocated to the big hall, and our class relocated to the office and spent the duration of the day sitting around the conference table. It was an interesting change of pace, all told. Having everyone around one big table was actually very handy; I can see why King Arthur did it.

We did listening comprehension with "Nichts Bringt Mich Runter" by Ich & Ich, picked out the verbs in their various forms and set them all into the simple past.

Following this we added onto the simple past notesheet with some helpful hints and formulae for guessing what an unfamiliar verb's form in this tense might be.

Also, we had a tea break.

After lunch, we played a game involving spontaneous utterance of adjectives followed by the tossing of a projectile to which the catcher of which had to respond with the comparative adjective form, e.g. "Stark!" (TOSS!) (CATCH!) "Stärker!"

As a reward to those in attendance for having soldiered through the derailment of the morning and the accordingly somewhat altered lesson, we ended the day with a game of cards (auf Deutsch) the prize for which was Valentine's Day chocolate and animal crackers.


And now, the homework: 1 page (typed, 12 pt font, single-spaced!) essay over the following

• You are a stranger in a strange land! Either a Roman legionnaire who just visited a Germanic village, or a German tribesman who just visited Rome for the first time; either way, now you are home recounting to your friends your time spent there.
• Using your knowledge of the differences between the two Iron Age cultures, describe what you saw from the perspective of your character.
• Focus on the differences in the areas we have gone over (areas you have handouts on), such as: clothes, food, homes, technology, jobs, grooming, personal, and shopping habits.
• Since you're doing comparisons, there should be plenty of chances to use comparatives

Mit Vergnügen

7.Februar '15 - Free Elephant with a Purchase of Equal Value

Guten Tag!


We had a rather small class, as many were out either performing in musical events or practicing for a play, but still we had a good time.

First we presented the homework, the for-sale ads from those who did the assignment, and then we went over a previous listening comprehension exercise, "Ein Elefant für dich" by Wir Sind Helden, this time with the aim of highlighting all the adjectives from the lyrics and then putting them into their comparative forms.

We then each took a Roman off the wall and individually came up with a list of adjectives describing them. The Romans were then placed on the board, their adjectives listed out, and then we had a class discussion comparing them, e.g. both "Julia" and "Aurelius" were listed as being "stark," so we discussed who was "stärker" and why. This lasted a while, and then after the break we went around comparing ourselves to one another as well.

Finally, we made back stories for our Romans using the simple past.

Those who were not present in class today, please make an ad (last week's homework) as well as a short back story, about 10 sentences long, about the Roman or German you made and placed on the wall earlier. These should be in the simple past, simple descriptions of how they were as a person, what they would do (job, hobbies, etc.) and how they met their end (we had a statistically anomalous number of bear attacks for ours).

Mit Vergnügen