Interjections, the little words like 'oh' and 'hm', carry a lot of meaning in oral communication in all languages. How often do we focus on them in our teaching? For German, I recently read the poem 'empfindungswörter' by Rudolf Otto Wiemar. It impressed me with its simple juxtaposition of various interjections with the words 'the Germans'. It really has to be read aloud with appropriate intonation for full effect.

empfindungswörter
aha die deutschen
ei die deutschen
hurra die deutschen
pfui die deutschen
ach die deutschen
nanu die deutschen
oho die deutschen
hm die deutschen
nein die deutschen
ja ja die deutschen

Relevant links that might be of interest:

• Wiktionary has a collection of interjections in each language: German and English To find this in other languages, go to the main page of the Wiktionary in that language, and then look for an index of categories.


• The Canoo website has information and examples in German.


• The German Wikipedia site has even more information.

The Goethe Institute has a lesson plan on stereotypes that incorporates the poem by Wiemer.

Labels: all languages, English, german, inter-cultural language learning, lesson plan

The Goethe Institute has a simple boardgame using a number of Bauernregeln (farmers' proverbs). It is called Bauernrallye and the website has the gameboard as well as worksheets and other teaching suggestions.

My own Bauernregeln collection has over 800 proverbs arranged by months and other themes. They are great for cultural discussions in the classroom as they are short insights into attitudes and practices. Here are some more teaching ideas using Bauernregeln.

Labels: farmers' proverbs, games, german, links, teaching ideas, website

Looking for a entry point into the German music scene? The Step into German website offers videoclips, songtexts and extensive worksheets for many of Germany's current bands.

If you are a soccer fan, check the archive for materials from the World Cup in 2006.

Labels: german, links, promotion of languages