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Original poster

German Corner

627 replies

finknottle · 15/02/2008 09:58

Deutsch or English
Native speakers, expats, anyone
From Brezeln to Bier

Please don't ask if you join in, everyone is welcome

For discussion of schools see separate thread

OP posts:
Kindersurpise · 04/03/2008 08:08

Good luck to Admylin's DH for the interview.

taipo · 04/03/2008 12:50

Anyone else got snow? I'm all excited because it's just started here. Makes me feel like a big kid! Doubt it'll settle though.

chrissi1 · 04/03/2008 13:55

Hi taipo
It snowed here all morning til 1pm but it´s gone now. ( near Mainz)

Kindersurpise · 04/03/2008 14:18

Rain and hail here, but no snow. Gott sei Dank!

trockodile · 04/03/2008 16:17

No, really nice here -we spent the afternoon in the Tierpark. DS finally plucked up the courage to go on climbing frame and down slide ON HIS OWN! Normally he goes off and comes back to tell me 'there were children Mummy!'
He is desperate for snow but as DH is away I am quite glad not to have to build a snowman on our own. Its a Daddy thing[lazy mummy emoticon!]

Kindersurpise · 04/03/2008 16:40

Well done little Trockodile, it is always so good when they do something new.

admylin · 04/03/2008 18:13

Well, dh has phoned from Hannover and he reckons they want him for the job only trouble is they want him soon, and he said he can't leave before July because he has students to get through their thesis work and he's the supervisor so he can't just get up and leave and then they said they would have to interview some other people but if he says he can come they'll take him. We'd hav eto cancel our trip to the US too (I don't mind - I can go to the UK instead for a holiday!) Now it's big decision time and talking to his boss time too - I bet his boss here offers him something better to keep him, I am doomed to live in Berlin ... I should be feeling happy for him shouldn't I?

trockodile · 04/03/2008 18:45

Admylin -well done to him-nice to be wanted! Hope he makes a good decision for you all.Thanks for your reply on other thread by the way-will just wait in (im)patience!

admylin · 04/03/2008 18:50

Yes, atleast it'll have put him in a good mood for the next few days! They thrive on praise don't they (the dh's) so I'll rub it in abit and we might get a meal out or something nice out of it too!

SSSandy2 · 04/03/2008 19:53

That's great news admylin, because he has something in hand now, which as you say, puts him in a better bargaining position here in Berlin. Why does he need to move so soon though? I should think that his wanting to act responsibly towards his students is something they should value themselves in a prospective employee. I suppose he could supervise his students from a distance if he has to, people do. So from the conditions etc, is this move worth it?

Does he want the jo`b?

Kindersurpise · 04/03/2008 19:56

Good news, well done to your DH.

I was speaking to my Mum today, she just met a woman at the gym whose DS lived for a few years in Hannover and loved it. They were British and their DCs went to an International School. They were very happy there.

trockodile · 04/03/2008 20:06

As I said (somewhere!) I know someone who works at the International School(think there is only 1?). She is lovely and is always saying nice things about it(and the children)

Original poster
finknottle · 05/03/2008 19:25

Only seen this - have a default on the Schools thread atm
Good for your dh but lordy, these things are never straightforward, are they?
I've only ever heard good things about Hannover & area tbh. Again a different (in pos way) mentality. Still think our part is nicer mind...
Looooong periods pre-new job are fairly usual here. Am at cancelling your hol. What about those amazingly expensive tickets I was so about? Full refund I hope?

OP posts:
admylin · 05/03/2008 19:39

No idea about the tickets, he might have to pay a small fee even if we cancel but his latest 'idea' is to just go for 2 weeks instead of 3 so he could start in August - but they want July at the latest. No idea how they think people are meant to up sticks and move though, I mean isn't there something like a 3 month Frist for leaving the flat? No way he could start in April or even May. Well, his boss here had better make a good offer and save me from having to move again, the next move I make was supposed to be to the US or UK - I might aswell stay put in Berlin because I'm not confident that Hannover will be much better,it's all Germany.

Kindersurpise · 05/03/2008 22:33

Did anyone see the BBC report on nurseries (about 4 threads on AC at the moment).

It made me very glad that the DCs are in a fab kindergarten. I think I might just snog our Erzieherinnen tomorrow.

taipo · 06/03/2008 09:52

Ds is also in a fab kindergarten, but standards vary widely here as well I think. At the first KG he went to he seemed to spend all morning doing puzzles.

admylin · 06/03/2008 10:13

My ds went to a rubbish KG, the Erzieherin was the type to have favourites so if you were her fave of the day OK but if it was someone else then she was horrible to the others. They also had that silly mixed age group system so when ds was 5 and 6 he also had 2 and 3 year olds in his group - they were of course really cute as 2 and 3 year olds are and in the end ds and his friend weren't allowed to play pirates, monsters or anything boy-ish because it might give the cute little ones bad dreams also lego bionicles (which were the passion of ds and his friend) were forbidden as they were to scarey for the babies. He couldn't wait to leave as it was so boring for him, oh well atleast he could speak German by the end of it.

taipo · 06/03/2008 10:25

I think it's quite common here for the older ones at KG to be bored out of their minds and irritated by the younger ones, but woe betide you if you suggest that 6 is pretty old to still be at KG and mention that in the UK they'd be in their 2nd year of full time education.

admylin · 06/03/2008 10:27

Maybe it's all in teh plan - bore them to tears so that they all go willingly to school without a fuss! Only after the first half year at school they realise they've been conned!

SSSandy2 · 06/03/2008 10:29

that would be stealing their childhood

dd didn't mind the diff age groups because when she started kg nr 1, all the bigger girls cooed over her and there was a lovely half-Asian 6 year old boy who she loved more than anything and he was very kind to her. I think it helped her ease her way in.

We had to move kg though and the next one (same structure) was really abysmal, horrible place. They were so nasty to the dc, it was soemthing else. Third kg was ok again. Nothing great but she didn't mind the smaller kids except they kept breaking all the lego constructions she and her best friend spent all day building.

She is a frustrated big sister though, so she quite likes having little ones around to look after. She'd be helping them on and off with their jackets, tying their shoe laces, consoling them if they got hit, that kind of thing.

franke · 06/03/2008 10:35

I think comparing the system in England and Germany is irrelevant really. The system here is that they go to school when they are in their 7th year. I certainly balked at that when I arrived here as an uptight English mother 4 years ago but now I've decided to send dd, who's a Kannkind, when she just turns 7 rather than when she turns 6. BUT she's at an excellent, small KIGA where, although they have the full range of ages from 3-6, they separate them into age-appropriate groups and do different stuff with them eg dd will be part of the Vorschule group from September. I'm not saying this would be the right decision for everyone, but I'm confident it's right for dd. I'd probably think differently if she was in a crap KIGA, and there are plenty of those I know. I don't think the system is wrong here, but I think that whoever runs the KIGA can get away with doing very little for the kids if they feel like it.

franke · 06/03/2008 10:36

x posts. SSS that's what I like about the system here - when it works it really breeds and atmosphere of tolerence amongst the kids.

admylin · 06/03/2008 10:49

You made the right decision Franke, believe me! I sent dd to school early because all her friends went to school so she would have been bored in KG and I totally regret it because she suffers at being one of the youngest in her class now. She is doing well and is at the top of the class but she would have had a nicer time of it if we had waited a year. wish I'd known that then. The system is wrong though, instead of making a new group for the kannkinder they all come together in one group so now dd is 8 and some of her classmates are nearly 10 and that shows with the girls especially, dd is still a little girl but the nearly 10 year olds are into the latest pop music, boys and fashion.

taipo · 06/03/2008 10:56

I think comparing systems is interesting. I don't have a problem with starting school at 6 or 7, in fact I think most children start far too early in the UK and there's too much pressure from the start to achieve certain targets when children of that age are simply not ready to start reading or writing and it just puts them off learning. It was quite strange for us though to have ds start reception last Jan, then leave after 6 weeks and go to KG for another 1 1/2 years. We also considered sending him to school a year early here but am very glad we didn't and that he's had this extra year to settle in and get used to the system more gradually than dd.

Original poster
finknottle · 06/03/2008 12:11

Comparing may be irrelevant but that's what we do And when your child is unhappy at school or kg then you ask why, and when the why is even partly to do with how the child is getting on with the system in place - then you head over

here

OP posts: