Thursday, February 20, 2014

Highlights Since Monday/Höhepunkte seit Montag

Organ in the chapel of our college
Orgel in der Collegekapelle

Let's start with today:

I just got back from an organ recital of two of my students.  Both students are getting a B.A. in music, one in applied organ, the other one in music composition.  This is their last semester.  We heard music from César Franck, Bach, Max Reger, Eugène Gigout, Oliver Messiaen, and Carson Cooman.  Very beautiful!  Some of my other students were also there, we could have held our German class right there :).  After the concert we (Charlotte and Jonathan had come with me) briefly went to the reception.  My students' organ teacher is the wife of one of Peter's colleagues and their daughter is Charlotte's friend.  So there were quite a few familiar faces.

My students: C. and N. 
Meine Studenten: C. und N. 



Fangen wir mit heute an:

Ich bin gerade von einem Orgelvorspiel zurückgekommen.  Zwei meiner Studenten machen Ihren Bachelor in Musik, der eine in angewandter Orgelmusik, der andere in Komposition.  Dieses Semester ist ihr letztes.  Wir haben Musik von César Franck, Bach, Max Reger, Eugène Gigout, Oliver Messiaen und Carson Cooman gehört.  Sehr schön!!  Ein paar andere von meinen Studenten waren auch dort, wir hätten eigentlich dort eine Deutschstunde abhalten können :).  Nach dem Konzert waren wir (Charlotte und Jonathan haben mich begleitet) kurz bei einem Empfang der beiden Studenten.  Die Orgelprofessorin der beiden ist die Frau von Peters Kollegen, und ihre Tochter ist eine Freundin von Charlotte.  So gab es also viele bekannte Gesichter.  

Chandelier
Kronenleuchter

Charlotte after the concert
Charlotte nach dem Konzert

What else?  It has gotten so warm that it is raining today, not snowing!  Kind of strange and so messy.  Julius prefers to stay inside when it gets so wet.  He has found two new resting places.


Was sonst noch?  Es ist so warm geworden, daß es heute geregnet und nicht geschneit hat!  Irgendwie komisch und sehr matschig.  Julius bleibt dann lieber drinnen, wenn es so naß ist.  Er hat zwei neue Schlafplätze gefunden.  



We are also doing some work here, right now it is botany for Miriam, Roman history and physics for Charlotte, and fables for Veronika.  Charlotte did an experiment on Goethe's color theory (sorry, I forgot to take a picture of her main lesson book) and after that drew a color circle with primary and secondary colors.  She got a bit carried away with the blues and reds and painted more shades of those than of the others.





Wir arbeiten hier auch, im Moment macht Miriam Botanik, Charlotte römische Geschichte und Physik, und Veronika Fabeln.  Charlotte hat ein Experiment über Goethes Farbenlehre gemacht (habe leider keine Heftseite fotografiert) und mußte heute einen Farbkreis mit Sekundärfarben malen.  Dabei hat sie sich in die Blau- und Rottöne verliebt, so daß sie in ihrem Kreis überwiegen.  

Veronika did a simple color exercise, but my camera made the green look like grey.
Veronika hat eine einfache Farbübungen gemacht, doch hat mein Fotoapparat das Grün in Grau verzaubert.  




Jonathan is studying electrical charges, but today's lesson was hard.
Jonathan beschäftigt sich mit elektrischen Ladungen, aber heute war das ganz schön schwierig.  






On Tuesday we had co-op class with 106 children plus parents.  I am a helper for the classes for the 3-4 year-olds, which is Flora's class.  Miriam and Veronika are doing nature study and art classes.  Miriam is also taking Jonathan's birding class.  Jonathan and Charlotte are doing a class on Animal Farm, a health class, and Charlotte is doing one on service learning, while Jonathan is teaching his birding class.  The classes are held in our local Wesleyan church and are in convenient walking distance.

Waiting before class for prayer to start.
Warten auf das Gebet, bevor die Klassen anfangen.  

Am Dienstag hatten wir Heimunterrichtkooperative mit 106 anderen Kindern und dazu noch den Eltern.  Ich helfe bei den Klassen für die Drei- bis Vierjährigen, bei denen Flora mitmacht.  Miriam und Veronika machen Naturkunde und Kunst, Miriam macht auch Jonathans Vogelklasse.  Jonathan und Charlotte machen eine Klasse über Farm der Tiere, eine Gesundheitsklasse, (welche die vorgeschriebenen Themen für die Oberschule abdeckt), Charlotte macht noch eine Klasse in gemeinnütziger Arbeit, das ist Arbeit für die Ärmsten in der unserer Gegend, während Jonathan eine Vogelklasse abhält.  Die Klassen finden hier in unserer Dorfkirche statt, man kann sie gut zu Fuß erreichen.  

 Helping Jonathan to set up for his class.
Hier helfen alle Familienmitglieder Jonathan, der sein Klassenzimmer vorbereitet. 




Here are two more bird pictures from the GBBC:
Hier sind noch zwei Vogelfotos vom Vögelzählen vom letzten Wochenende: 

 Mourning dove
Trauertaube



Black-capped Chickadee
Schwarzkopfmeise

Now I have to prepare my class for tomorrow.  Last time we read a text about the Weimar Republic.  Our German book had quite a few political posters from that time.  Later during class my students had to form their own political party with a motto and with a program.  I divided the class into two groups and both groups decided to do something funny.  One group was in favor of donuts and coffee in German class (I have a rule that says no food  -- they are allowed to drink coffee, though), the other was in favor of going on vacation in Hawaii.  Needless to say, this was very funny.  Tomorrow we will start with the parts of the body and reflexive pronouns.

Jetzt muß ich noch mein Deutschseminar für morgen vorbereiten.  In der letzten Stunde haben wir einen Text über die Weimarer Republik gelesen.  Unser Deutschbuch hatte viele Wahlplakate aus dieser Zeit.  Später mußten die Studenten dann selbst eine Partei und ein Parteiprogramm erfinden.  Ich habe den Kurs in zwei Gruppen aufgeteilt.  Beide Gruppen haben eine lustige Partei erfunden.  Die eine war für Kaffee und Berliner in der Deutschstunde, die andere für Ferien auf Hawaii.  Wir haben natürlich viel lachen müssen.  Morgen lernen wir Körperteile und Reflexivpronomen.  

One more picture of Flora in her "car."  Charlotte got creative and built it for her.  She has a new voice teacher and has been singing Schubert's "Im Abendrot" with him.  Maybe that has made her more creative.

Noch ein Foto von Flora in ihrem "Auto".  Charlotte ist ganz kreativ geworden und hat es für sie gebaut.  Sie hat einen neunen Gesanglehrer, keine Lehrerin mehr.  Die beiden singen "Im Abendrot" von Schubert.  Vielleicht hat sie das in eine kreative Stimmung gebracht.  



5 comments:

  1. What a busy week ... no more than usual eh?I The co-op classes sound great, are they every week? J looked very professional setting up his teaching area, must admit I felt sorry for him with his science experiment, that last shot of him is precious!

    If I had been in your class I think I would have been on the side voting in favour of coffee and doughnuts in class!! I must be a renegade at heart!!

    Charlotte's paintings and Miriam's pencil drawings are uplifting nothing like an injection of colour on a grey day.

    Hope you have a lovely weekend.

    San and co xxx

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    1. I guess, this was a typical week. We were supposed to have friends over (with six children), but they got ill, so they couldn't come. Also, the ballet schedule was different because of spring break at the public schools. So it was somewhat different, but still busy.

      Jonathan survived his experiment. He even wrote a description of it. This time he has to send away his description to his long-distance school. (It varies what he needs to send in). I hope he did alright.

      I think most students would prefer coffee and donuts over grammar, but that is still no reason to put this plan in action. So we still have no donuts in class, but we do laugh a lot.

      Thanks for your kind words about the children's work. Yes, we do need color around here. No signs of spring, just a long winter.

      Thanks again for calling. Lovely to hear your voice again.

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  2. I agree with you about the food. It's too distracting. But coffee or tea is nice.

    It's very satisfying to see Jonathan putting his class together! I'm sure it went very well. It's so good to learn how to do these things at a young age. Please tell the girls how beautiful their art work and lesson work is. And I always enjoy your bird photos. I would like to have a feeder, but I'm unsure of how sturdy it would be attached to my window . . or if I put one on the fire escape I may get too many pigeons and other residents might complain. We definitely have more birds in the morning (though not this morning, it was too cold), so I know Spring must arrive sometime soon!

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    1. I will let the girls know. Miriam is really enjoying doing her main lesson books right now. Would a hanging feeder work? Pigeons might not be so great to have around in a city. They make everything so dirty. And I do understand about complaints. We had a bird feeder in South Bend, IN. We lived upstairs in an apartment and had a balcony. The people beneath us complained about all the bird seed falling from our balcony onto theirs. Not pleasant. I found this post with feeders very interesting. Maybe there is something you could get.

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