Die Artikel!

I’ve never been so confused in my life, and I’m not sure there is an easy solution to clear that confusion. Have you come across German articles for nouns? If you haven’t,  rejoice! And if you have, well you’ll know that there’s a whole tangled jungle lurking behind the innocent looking: der, die, and das.

Last week, we started to learn German and we were full of confidence and eagerness. Then we stepped into the dark tangled jungle of articles, any confidence and comfort we gained with German was quickly snuffed out. We literally have to remember which articles go with which noun, there’s no partner or rule, and then we need to remember how they change according to the verb in the sentence (that’s what the image below is demonstrating).

Everyone in class is hoping for a saviour, a rule, a tip, a trick, anything!! But alas, the only thing we can rely upon is our memory. Thank goodness our teacher is patient, she also has handy games and exercises to help us become more familiar with ‘die Artikel’ (the articles).

On a positive, apparently even Germans struggle with this. Yay, misery is company.

 

You know Uno?

So class is not just about sitting at your desk and remembering what you’ve been told, we’re often spilt into little groups to tackle exercises and practice what we’ve learnt. Well, as well as this, we play games! Ok I won’t lie, I wasn’t really a believer that these games would be fun but actually they are a really effective way of reinforcing what we’ve learn and of course fun too.

In the beginning it was tossing a ball around the class, we’d have to either answer a question or recite an noun+article. Then came UNO! I haven’t played UNO for years, let alone in German! Gosh, we had a lot of fun. I was really sceptical about the « fun » factor, but as we got the hang of saying things in German and remembering the rules, we couldn’t stop playing. In a span of 20mins, we played 4 rounds. I plan to make my partner and friends play this in German, and perhaps the penalty for not keeping to German will be shots (shots, shots, shots, everyb… yeh you know the song) or maybe just picking up more card; because let’s face it games are more fun when the stakes are high.

I suspect there’s another game around the corner, as I see our teacher pull out a bag of dice and chess pieces from her bag whilst she is arranging what she needs for the lesson. Scepticism has been thrown out the window, I’m looking forward to more games!

 

1st Week Summary

Hi there, thank for coming back!

The first week of German school is over! Yes, it’s over and actually it was a very good week. For me it was a week of new beginnings. It is the first time I ever go to any language school, I met new friends, I study new language… I can actually make sentences and even understand when people talk to me. It feels much better to know the language of the country you live in and I recommend you to do the same!


(Picture: My new friends from DeutschAkademie, Spain, Portugal, Argentina, Israel).

In DeutschAkademie I feel very good. It’s very quiet, the teacher always starts on time, and end on time(…), it is very accessible, I think all the transportation options go through Alexanderplatz so it’s really easy to get there. In the school there is a coffee area where you can have a snack or drink a coffee, yesterday I wanted to have a coffee and realized it’s all for only 1E!! And it’s acceptable price for machine coffee 🙂

I like the way we advance and study. I can see my improvement on a daily basis. The key is repetition. At the beginning you don’t need much, just 15 minutes a day! Even if you will do less its good because as many times as you’ll get across the study material mean you will remember it better. And so, you can see it in class. The people who had no idea about German can actually say sentences and find sense in what the teacher say..

 

 

Wishing you a happy birthday, with some jam in your shoe!

If mum hadn’t called me I would have completely forgotten my Birthday. The sunny weather and warm temperature today made me feel not so far away from home (Sydney) and perhaps Berlin was giving me birthday greetings with a beautiful day.

Our teacher opened the lesson today with a funny birthday song for me, it’s not your classic Happy Birthday song (see the picture below). Apparently all children learn this in kindergarten. Wait, have we English speakers been using a German word, Kindergarten, without realising it? Cool! Ok, back to the funny birthday song, how cute would it be to hear little children sing « Marmalade in the shoe and apricots in the pants, » mean but cute. Is this an example of German humour being taught from a young age?

As you can see from the picture, there was a grammar lesson hidden within the song. Is this an example of German practicality? Our teacher is the sweetest, she just wanted to ensure we learnt more than just new vocab from the song.

 

Everyone wants to learn Deutsch (German)

It’s really amazing that the people enrolling at Deutsch Akadamie are from all over the world, and I mean All Over! Just have a look at the map below, look at all the little flags the students have placed and all the holes where previous students have come from. It’s just incredible.

In my class, there are 11 of us, we are from: Brasil, Colombia, Egypt, Portugal, Scotland, USA, and of course Australia! There’s a sense of international companionship amongst us.

It’s really interesting to note the points where we English speakers get stuck in learning Deutsch differs to where other language speakers get stuck. Deutsch, though complex and unusual, has patterns that can match with another languages which really helps the learners.

Seeing the map with all the little flags sticking out from everywhere, gives a sense of the multiculturalism that exists in Berlin. I feel Berlin is a melting pot of different cultures. Very cool.

 

Hello everyone! Nice to have you back here!

I wan to recommend you about my favorite place in the city! I can’t remember if I already told you about my love for coffee. So yes, I am a coffee lover and a professional barista, so my favorite place in terms of cafe’s is a small coffee shop in Mall of Berlin, at Potsdamerplatz. The name of the shop is « der Kaffeeladen » (the coffee shop). I can highly recommend to those who loves good coffee to go and have one there, because they have very good&tasty coffee served very nicely and professionally and they also have some small pastries of course. If you want to go, as I said, it is located in the Mall of Berlin at Potsdamerplatz at the ground level right next to the U-bahn station of U2 Mohrenstrasse.


(Picture: My coffee at der Kaffeeladen with a small glass of water and the best Florentiner I know 🙂 )

Yesterday we had a night-out with the DeutschAkademie school! At the end of our first week of German course in DeutschAkademie we had a night-out not only of our class but more classes at the « Cancun » restaurant next to Alexanderplatz. It was organized by the school and it was very nice evening. We got to know more people and our classmates better and it was very nice is funny evening! I would definitely recommend you to also go because you can meet new people and make new friends and basically it’s fun! At the end every table (we set in mixed tables as we chose..) had to make a pasta tower and put a Marshmallow on top of it without the tower to fall. Here, as you can see, is our piece of art, and it called « die Piraten » (as we also added a flag that unfortunately you cannot see in this pic) :

First week summery: I am happy with my decision to go to German school and choosing DeutschAkademie school. I’ve learned a lot of important things and I can already see the change in my German!

I wish you happy weekend! The forecast says it’s going to be sunny so enjoy every second of it!!
Thank you for following and see you next week!!
bis nächste Woche!!

 

Tal

Fotos vom Stammtisch im Oktober

Liebe Teilnehmer,

es war gestern ein sehr lustiger und unterhaltsamer Stammtisch. Bei unserem Gewinnspiel „Spaghetti-Turm“ wart ihr mit vollem Ehrgeiz und Motivation dabei. Viele von euch haben bei diesem Geschicklichkeitsspiel ihr volles Können gezeigt und haben als Team überzeugt.

Anbei noch viele schöne Erinnerungen an diesen Abend.

Euer DeutschAkademie Team

#DeutschAkademie #Stammtisch #DeutschLernen #MitSpaßzumErfolg #Berlin #Alexanderplatz #Cancún

 

Why Did I take German Course?

Hey again and welcome back!

I don’t know but maybe you are wondering weather yes or not to take a German course? So, I think this is pretty normal question and that it depends on your needs or you will or your interest or your maybe a matter of time? I don’t know you will have to ask yourself. Well, in my case it is a combination between will and interest. Since I was a kid in Israel that I wanted to learn this language. Even before I knew I am a quick languages-learner. And now, when I’m in Berlin for, at least, few months, I felt like it’s a good idea to learn German and I also felt that it is necessary.

Why did I peak DeutschAkademie? Well, I have few reasons: the first that when I was here for the first time, I met a friend of mine, who was living here, in Cafe Einstein, and she told me she is studying German right here across the street and was pointing the DeutschAkademie building in front! I liked the fact that it is right in Alexanderplatz, right in the center, right next to everything you need, if you need or may need. The second reason is I live very close and it is very convenient for me, just 10 min away with the metro! The third reason is the price. I felt that the prices were very fare and I could afford it so I singed up!


(Picture: 1+5=6 : Eins plus funf ist sechs!)

It’s a matter of numbers. Today was my 3rd day of German course and we learned die Zahlen (the numbers)! It was not so easy for the majority of my classmates. But one thing I liked was that Rudi, our teacher, gave us game dice (Würfeln) and we had to cast the dice between us and than say the numbers and the summary of the numbers and it was a nice way to learn in my opinion.

A tip: If you intent to take German course try to learn some vocabulary and numbers at home before or during the course – even if just to enrich your vocabulary and knowledge but it will make it easier for you later on at class 🙂

OK! That’s it for today, again- thank you for following my German blog! I hope I can help!
Have a great time in Berlin!

Tschüss!!

Tal

My favourite golden tea house

Ok, to be honest I only know one golden tea house but it’s my favourite! The grounds around the palace in Potsdam are so beautiful, and this royal tea house is definitely worth a visit. There are golden statues decorating the tea house depicting Chinese musicians, each one is mesmerising. If you’re on a tight budget or with friends who have short attention spans for roaming inside palaces, the palace grounds are free and on a nice day a picnic would be perfect.

I just wanted to share this favourite spot, as it’s one of my cherished memories from my backpacker travels 9 years ago and more recently since my move to Berlin this year.

On a side note, today I came out of class feeling more comfortable with Deutsch, well more accurately, less uncomfortable. Let’s face it, German is a tough language. I was trying to inconspicuously listen to people on my way home and I the only word I understood was « meine », it was a small but mighty victory!

 

My First Day!

Hello again and thanks for keep following!

Yesterday was my first day at German course A1.1 at DeutschAkademie in Alexanderplatz, Berlin.
Although I speak 4 languages, in German I am a very beginner, and so I can say I was very excited to start German course in DeutschAkademie! I have to admit that I imagined the class room biger, but it is very cozy and it gives a good feeling and confidence.

I have very nice classmates from all over the world and a very nice teacher! My classmates come from Hungary, Portugal, Chile, Argentina, Italia, France and Nigeria and all of them are very nice! We were all shy at first but with the help of our teacher Rudi (German) we started to talk German at the very first day! Rudi is very nice and patience and shows a lot of knowledge in other languages too which I find as a very good thing because that way he can also show us where the words in German are coming from and make it a little less scary and a little more nice to learn this Language.

We learned the ABC and some more basic things like « what is your name and where are you coming from? » You say in German: Wie heisst du und woher kommst du? These questions are very common when you are a traveller, so the next time someone will ask me these questions I will sure know to answer: « ich heisse Tal und ich komme aus Israel! ».
So for the next time somebody asks you you’ll know what to say! 🙂

 

Today was the 2nd day and we learned about the verbs and how to ask for drinks in a restaurant. After greeting each other in German (it was easier than yesterday..) we learned verb conjugations (ich bin/du bist/wir sind/ihr seid) and later we practiced full sentences with each other. The sentences were mainly about coffee and other drink and I really liked it because I’m passionate about coffee so it’s cool that I know how to ask for coffee now! When the lesson was over I went with Sofia, my Portuguese classmate, to have a frozen yogurt in Alexa (big shopping mall just next to DeutschAkademie) and to get to know each other better. She is very nice and and we had really nice time together!

So, that’s it for today.. I will go to practice some of what we’ve learned today! I hope you enjoy your stay in Berlin and that maybe I can help you with some of the info I share here!

Auf Wiedersehen!

Tal 🙂

(picture: my study book and notebook, some of my classmates and Rudi our teacher who listens very carefully)