Wir Sprechen Deutsch!

I don't think I've mentioned it on the blog... have I? We are going to Austria next Christmas to visit my family who is still over there (that's most of them). I'm SO excited! We have always talked about going when the kids get a little older, when it's a little easier, when we have more money. The problem is, my grandparents are in their 80's now, my cousins are all grown up, my children are missing out on so much. When my uncle and his family died in October, I realized, we all took for granted that we would see them again. It's time.

SO, in preparation, it's also time that I finally get my act in gear to teach the kids German. I of course intended to raise bilingual kids... but I didn't. My little nephew Wilson, who is by the way a total genius (he's in kindergarten and reading above a 2nd grade level!) wants to learn German so he can read German books about World War II aircraft. Seriously. I love that kid! And a friend's daughter will be joining us as well - her grandmother is German and she has wanted to learn. I'd actually love to find one more... maybe we'll come across another wanna-be-German-student this year.

Here's something you probably don't know about me - part of me always wanted to be a teacher, because I love making bulletin boards and lesson plans and worksheets and having lots of stickers and binders and stuff. I mean really, that is the stuff of dreams! The only problem, I can't really handle a bunch of kids all day long. Thankfully I knew that about myself before I picked a career. BUT one hour a week of teaching four sweet kiddos? Perfect.

And yes, I have a binder. With a German flag on it. And 12 weeks of neatly made out lesson plans. And stickers. But no bulletin board - that's sad.

We had our first little lesson on Wednesday. I started off by, of course, teaching them basic greetings. Hello, good bye, what's your name?, how are you?, etc. And then, I got out a big pile of capes and hats and let them dress up and pretend to be different characters walking down the street, introducing themselves and saying hello.

They had so much fun, and it was pretty funny!

Next week we'll work on greetings some more and also learn numbers 1 through 10. I have a soft ball, and we're going to stand in a circle and toss the ball to each other as we count out the numbers (when you catch the ball, you call out the next number). It's been really, really fun coming up with activities to make this fun!

Henry showed up to dinner with one of the hats on that day :)

Auf Wiedersehen!