An old Ukrainian proverb says there’s only one thing better than making a new friend, and that’s keeping an old one.
Old friends aren’t necessarily only those who you went to college or grew up with. Having lived in Germany almost 12 years I’ve found some of my oldest friends here belong to an organisation I’ve been a member of almost as long: MELTA - Munich English Language Teachers’ Organisation.
Yesterday we met up at Gasteig for a day-long workshop, and it was great to catch up with so many fellow expats from Britain, America and Australia, even Zimbabwe. And when expats meet they love to talk! Not only about obvious things like hourly rates, who’s hiring who, and why it’s good to listen to Woman’s Hour on Radio 4 - men like it too apparently! But also what it’s like, for example, bringing up children bilingually in Germany. It was interesting talking to fellow Brits with children of school age. Kids who all seem to answer their parents in German when spoken to in English. I worried for a moment about Matilda, but was reassured this is quite natural in bilingual families. Tower of Babel here we come.
The title of the training, before I forget, was “Ways to motivate and make them talk!“ and we were lucky to have a very experienced expat British teacher trainer from Salzburg guide us through a whole range of communicative methods. These ranged from games, songs, rhymes and raps and story telling to how to use the hilarious video “Rowan Atkinson in Hell“ in the classroom. I won’t be showing that particular clip in my nun-run school, but there was certainly plenty other material there to jazz up my lessons!
We came out looking like kittens licking cream off our lips. And looking forward to trying out some of these ideas in our classes – regardless whether we teach primary school kids or topdogs at Siemens.
And I also felt that for a few hours on a rainy Saturday in Munich I’d had a wonderfully welcome “fix“ of fellow native speakers and all things English to help me survive life in Lower Bavaria. The next big MELTA event won’t be till Christmas but I’m already longing to get in there again!
Sonntag, 17. Oktober 2010
Montag, 9. August 2010
Know Howe for English: Being British in Bavaria ain't easy - Reason One
One thing I miss most about Britain is its daily newspapers.
Just before you missile me with mails saying I can find every single respectable British newspaper on line these days, let me just say, I know. I spend hours poring over www.telegraph.co.uk. I’m also fully aware of several outlets in Munich where you can pick up most quality British dailies on day of publication – albeit at almost thrice the original price.
The point is that I miss spreading my British newspapers over the breakfast table first thing in the morning to the accompanying whiff of freshly-brewed coffee and eat-out-of-bag croissants. Reading the news headlines online or in hard copy later in the day at rip-off prices just ain’t the same.
But ah, I hear you say, what’s wrong with an ex-pat Brit sipping his first cappuccino of the day over a German daily? Truth be told I’ve never been a fan of this country’s press. The “serious“ dailies like the Süddeutsche tend to be far too in-depth, hyper-convoluted and painstakingly long-winded with not even a hint of humour to lighten things up. Reports invariably run for several pages before-the-end-of-the-sentence verb appears, by which time anyone with a life to lead has usually lost interest and gone off to walk the dog. Then there are the ridiculously überparochial local papers, with headlines like „Traktor bleibt im Graben stecken. Feuerwehr rückt aus“ (Tractor gets stuck in ditch. Firebrigade to the rescue) or, even better, and I swear this is true, I read it in our local Hallertauer Zeitung just the other day: „Gestohlene Brieftasche taucht ohne Inhalte wieder auf“ (Stolen wallet resurfaces minus contents).
What all these newspapers lack is a sense of humour. Something which the British press is so good at. Take, for instance, the mountain of daily human-interest stories, with clever wordplay headlines that make you grin before you’ve even licked the first croissant flake off your lips. Today’s Daily Mail has a gorgeous headline: “Nuts! Woodpecker loses out in pecking order after cheeky squirrel steals his home.” OK, so it’s a non-news article. But faced with a choice between non-news nicely packaged and local news with too-logic-for-words headlines, I’ll take the cheeky British option, please.
Just before you missile me with mails saying I can find every single respectable British newspaper on line these days, let me just say, I know. I spend hours poring over www.telegraph.co.uk. I’m also fully aware of several outlets in Munich where you can pick up most quality British dailies on day of publication – albeit at almost thrice the original price.
The point is that I miss spreading my British newspapers over the breakfast table first thing in the morning to the accompanying whiff of freshly-brewed coffee and eat-out-of-bag croissants. Reading the news headlines online or in hard copy later in the day at rip-off prices just ain’t the same.
But ah, I hear you say, what’s wrong with an ex-pat Brit sipping his first cappuccino of the day over a German daily? Truth be told I’ve never been a fan of this country’s press. The “serious“ dailies like the Süddeutsche tend to be far too in-depth, hyper-convoluted and painstakingly long-winded with not even a hint of humour to lighten things up. Reports invariably run for several pages before-the-end-of-the-sentence verb appears, by which time anyone with a life to lead has usually lost interest and gone off to walk the dog. Then there are the ridiculously überparochial local papers, with headlines like „Traktor bleibt im Graben stecken. Feuerwehr rückt aus“ (Tractor gets stuck in ditch. Firebrigade to the rescue) or, even better, and I swear this is true, I read it in our local Hallertauer Zeitung just the other day: „Gestohlene Brieftasche taucht ohne Inhalte wieder auf“ (Stolen wallet resurfaces minus contents).
What all these newspapers lack is a sense of humour. Something which the British press is so good at. Take, for instance, the mountain of daily human-interest stories, with clever wordplay headlines that make you grin before you’ve even licked the first croissant flake off your lips. Today’s Daily Mail has a gorgeous headline: “Nuts! Woodpecker loses out in pecking order after cheeky squirrel steals his home.” OK, so it’s a non-news article. But faced with a choice between non-news nicely packaged and local news with too-logic-for-words headlines, I’ll take the cheeky British option, please.
Mittwoch, 21. April 2010
The air ban across much of Europe has been lifted today. For many many souls - including Europeans stuck in far-flung exotic locations needing to return home a mighty relief of course. But for 5 or 6 days wasn't it nice to take a step back - rather than forwards for once. Someone on the radio today was talking about a "pause for thought", stopping to reflect on the hectic lives we lead.
How much we're at the mercy of nature though!
How much we're at the mercy of nature though!
Mittwoch, 20. Mai 2009
Baby Rules
If you're wondering why I've not blogged for half a year - no, make it half a century, it feels that long ago - reason is the new addition to the family. She's absolutely adorable and full of personality, is our little Matilda. But boy does she call the tune in the Howe House! All the self-help book tips about how to "manage your child" e.g. the baby has to fit into yóur life and not you into hers) are fine in theory, but a load of dunkum when it comes to practice. The truth is when baby cries you just drop what you're doing and run!
Freitag, 26. September 2008
Save Our Foreign Languages!
Tomorrow is European Languages Day. Let's hope the event raises awareness of the importance of protecting minority languages: 50% of some 6700 languages spoken in the world are in danger of disappearing.
More alarming though is that foreign languages are in danger of disappearing right on our doorstep. Foreign language learning has been marginalised to such an extent that secondary school pupils are no longer required to speak a foreign language. Written course work alone now earns them a pass grade in the language of choice.
When I taught German in the UK, kids told me it was far easier for foreigners to learn English, because they were more exposed to English-language music and films.
From what I see here in Germany though, most kids seem far happier watching programmes dubbed than in the original language. And when quizzed, few of my students appear to understand the lyrics of their "faves". A popular radio show in Bavaria even encourages listeners to phone in and suggest what they think they hear English artists are singing in German. This morning a pupil amused us all, swearing she heard "Wir wollen Socken" (we want socks) in a song by The Clash.
Of course lack of exposure to foreign tongues is no longer an excuse for British learners either. Thank God for You Tube and satellite TV!
Many schools in the UK are planning their own European Languages Day. A primary school is mounting its answer to the Eurovision Song Contest. And CILT, the National Centre for Languages, is challenging teenagers to create a 2-minute clip to highlight the benefits of language skills. See my favourite clip about a lad who would certainly have found a girlfriend if only he'd learnt a foreign language or two!
The results are encouraging and show that at least some Brits are taking language learning seriously.
More alarming though is that foreign languages are in danger of disappearing right on our doorstep. Foreign language learning has been marginalised to such an extent that secondary school pupils are no longer required to speak a foreign language. Written course work alone now earns them a pass grade in the language of choice.
When I taught German in the UK, kids told me it was far easier for foreigners to learn English, because they were more exposed to English-language music and films.
From what I see here in Germany though, most kids seem far happier watching programmes dubbed than in the original language. And when quizzed, few of my students appear to understand the lyrics of their "faves". A popular radio show in Bavaria even encourages listeners to phone in and suggest what they think they hear English artists are singing in German. This morning a pupil amused us all, swearing she heard "Wir wollen Socken" (we want socks) in a song by The Clash.
Of course lack of exposure to foreign tongues is no longer an excuse for British learners either. Thank God for You Tube and satellite TV!
Many schools in the UK are planning their own European Languages Day. A primary school is mounting its answer to the Eurovision Song Contest. And CILT, the National Centre for Languages, is challenging teenagers to create a 2-minute clip to highlight the benefits of language skills. See my favourite clip about a lad who would certainly have found a girlfriend if only he'd learnt a foreign language or two!
The results are encouraging and show that at least some Brits are taking language learning seriously.
Samstag, 9. August 2008
8-8-8 or no such luck?
It's a field day for numerologists. A once-in-a-century century occurrence, pinballing towards its orgasmic climax at 8.08 PM, as all eyes focus on Bejiing.
Forget the Olympics for a moment though. The Chinese are celebrating today for another reason. Their pronunciation of "8" sounds very much like the word "fah" or "fat" - an expression for fortune, wealth, and good luck. Convinced today's date will guarantee eternal love and romance, 9,000 Chinese couples will have been
herded through registary rooms in the time it takes you to read this blog.
What is it about certain dates and numbers that make people try to etch them into their life, in the belief that they will bring good fortune? Asians pay large fortunes for lucky telephone numbers, household addresses and license plates.
Alarmingly, thousands of women closer to home have been fine-tuning their pregnancy calendar, to ensure their child is born with the trendy 8-8-8 tag. Many have even been trying to delay childbirth till this hour, and maternity wards are inundated with caesarean bookings.
Can we influence are lives positively by scheduling key activities on specific days, or is it simply an atheist cop-out; a substitute, if you like, for prayer and the belief that we can achieve happiness and success only if we work hard for it?
Later today I'll be signing a contract for a new job starting next month. Seriously, I've not been putting it off all week. But it's lovely to think the date on the dotted line might just put my career under a lucky star.
Good lucky today, whatever you're planning!
Forget the Olympics for a moment though. The Chinese are celebrating today for another reason. Their pronunciation of "8" sounds very much like the word "fah" or "fat" - an expression for fortune, wealth, and good luck. Convinced today's date will guarantee eternal love and romance, 9,000 Chinese couples will have been
herded through registary rooms in the time it takes you to read this blog.
What is it about certain dates and numbers that make people try to etch them into their life, in the belief that they will bring good fortune? Asians pay large fortunes for lucky telephone numbers, household addresses and license plates.
Alarmingly, thousands of women closer to home have been fine-tuning their pregnancy calendar, to ensure their child is born with the trendy 8-8-8 tag. Many have even been trying to delay childbirth till this hour, and maternity wards are inundated with caesarean bookings.
Can we influence are lives positively by scheduling key activities on specific days, or is it simply an atheist cop-out; a substitute, if you like, for prayer and the belief that we can achieve happiness and success only if we work hard for it?
Later today I'll be signing a contract for a new job starting next month. Seriously, I've not been putting it off all week. But it's lovely to think the date on the dotted line might just put my career under a lucky star.
Good lucky today, whatever you're planning!
Coffee mad
Coffee is my passion. I simply can’t start the day without an espresso, rapidly followed by a café au lait. I love my coffee machine.
Caffeine gets me going, revving me up as I contemplate the challenges of the day ahead.
Mostly I enjoy my early-morn fix online. I also love it when travelling – especially on the train or at the airport, listening to last-minute calls for far-flung destinations. Would Mr. Howe please make his way to Air Tropical’s flight to Madagascar? Certainly, just let me finish my latte please. Best of all though is the first cup sipped from a flask, and at one with nature; ideally after a morning swim at a local woodside lake.
So imagine my excitement on hearing about the world’s very first portable espresso machine. Coffee to go – not just any old high-street skinny-latte a la Starbucks, but fresh, aromatic – and anywhere you like. With “handspresso” just slip the coffee pod into the slot, pump up to 16 bar and you’re away.
Well almost. This pistol-like gadget – Retail price 79 quid – doesn’t make hot water. That you have to boil yourself and carry around in the same old battered flask.
So the price of about 20 cups of Starbucks froth buys you coffee wherever you wish to sip, but you still have to faff around the kitchen heating up water before taking off.
Funny. Man has the technology to split the atom or fly to Mars, but he can’t stitch together a simple hand-held coffee maker with built-in water boiler.
Personally, I’m just going to keep taking my fix the way I’ve always done. Pass the battered flask please….
Caffeine gets me going, revving me up as I contemplate the challenges of the day ahead.
Mostly I enjoy my early-morn fix online. I also love it when travelling – especially on the train or at the airport, listening to last-minute calls for far-flung destinations. Would Mr. Howe please make his way to Air Tropical’s flight to Madagascar? Certainly, just let me finish my latte please. Best of all though is the first cup sipped from a flask, and at one with nature; ideally after a morning swim at a local woodside lake.
So imagine my excitement on hearing about the world’s very first portable espresso machine. Coffee to go – not just any old high-street skinny-latte a la Starbucks, but fresh, aromatic – and anywhere you like. With “handspresso” just slip the coffee pod into the slot, pump up to 16 bar and you’re away.
Well almost. This pistol-like gadget – Retail price 79 quid – doesn’t make hot water. That you have to boil yourself and carry around in the same old battered flask.
So the price of about 20 cups of Starbucks froth buys you coffee wherever you wish to sip, but you still have to faff around the kitchen heating up water before taking off.
Funny. Man has the technology to split the atom or fly to Mars, but he can’t stitch together a simple hand-held coffee maker with built-in water boiler.
Personally, I’m just going to keep taking my fix the way I’ve always done. Pass the battered flask please….
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