Help with ds's German homework please.

[admylin]

aAfter helping the Wolf get a bone out of his throat and after not being rewarded the stork says "Undank ist der Welten Lohn" something along the lines of:
Ingratitude is the worlds wages from Aesop.

Ds has got to explain what the stork means with this sentance. I can't figure it out in English let alone in German. Can anyone explain? He is 9 and normally gets no homework or atleast nothing more than abit of reading and now his teacher turns up with this!

Could it mean something like 'ingratitude is the best you can expect from the world'? ie, don't expect much, and you won't be disappointed?

I found this translation:

A Wolf who had a bone stuck in his throat hired a Crane, for a large sum, to put her head into his mouth and draw out the bone. When the Crane had extracted the bone and demanded the promised payment, the Wolf, grinning and grinding his teeth, exclaimed: "Why, you have surely already had a sufficient recompense, in having been permitted to draw out your head in safety from the mouth and jaws of a wolf."

In serving the wicked, expect no reward, and be thankful if you escape injury for your pains.

Not sure it helps, though.

Yes that's the story he's got but in German and considering they never do much in the way of literature, it's a bit much asking him to explain that moral all of a sudden. I can feel a long afternoon with my dictionary coming on. Actually it's his homework but he's stuck on that bit so if I can help him abit I don't mind.

We have the same saying in Danish and the direct translation is "ungratefulness is the World's pay", and yes it really just means that you should not expect anything in return when you do something nice for someone else.

Please type up the whole answer admylin, so I can put in dd's file ready for year 3!

I wouldn't take it too seriously as I've got a feeling ds's teacher desn't go along any curriculum lines at all. Before this text he had a text that was really below 3rd class level. This one is above it I think. Anyway, he convinced me to let him off yesterday as the homework doesn't have to be handed in 'til tomorrow.
Ds has also discovered MN! I told him I'd ask on the internet if anyone could give us a hand and he watched over my shoulder and when he saw teh MN site come up he said "MN, what's that got to do with homework" I confessed, explained that it was a forum of mums and they help out with whatever questions you have about anything. He thought it was great and can't waitto se eif we've got any answers today after school!

admylin, I also think it's 'don't expect thanks if you help' and 'don't expect much and you might be pleasantly surprised'
I always hated essays like that because my philosophies and opinions always varied a great deal from what teach thought...

If he does the essay in english I can try and translate making it sound like a 9 year old

upps just realised it's probably too late now

Thanks MrsBigD, he's handed it in and it was only about 3 sentances long, will wait and see how the teacher marks it. today they're starting to work on Stadtmaus und Landmaus so that'll be a good subject for him to write about as he knows both sides of living in city or village.
I got a big shock at the weekend, a friend came to visit who works with school kids in south of Germany and she looked at some of ds's work in German and said in the south he'd have a struggle to reach the standard for his age but in Berlin he's top of the class so the difference in teaching and curriculum must be huge but I'm quite worried about it.

That is worrying, admylin. Wish we had some kind of a Saturday school for English speakers at German schools so we could bring them up to scratch - like the Russians and Japanese do. But maybe it would just be too much school.

I'm sure you are doing a very good job working with them from home and what more CAN you do?

A friend of mine told me at sport on Friday that she sends her dc to regular school in London when she goes back in the holidays, since the school holidays don't coincide. Means they don't get a break really. Wouldn't have thought it would be possible but apparently the school in London is fine about it. They go every year for a few weeks here and there.

I have thought of that but when we go home they always have 1 or 2 weeks of term left at the most and they honestly don't do much except end of term plays, church services and tidying up so it wouldn't help.
I am still worried, I mean what if dh got a job back in the south of Germany, we'd get a shock if ds had to reapeat a year and it looks as if that'd be the case. A new family from Bonn also said they found the level to be alot lower than in Bonn and their ds in dd's class is having a great time coasting and getting bored because he knows it all but that won't last long. Anyway, now he'll be doing extra German every weekend with a teacher and we'll see how it goes.

I'm afraid I can't get my head around this federal system and how it applies to education. As far as I know, everyone agrees Bavaria has the highest level of attainment in school education. Is it Bavaria? So if that's the case, wouldn't common sense dictate that the other federal states adopt the same system and then you can move within Germany and your dc have fewer problems changing schools.

He "may" be behind with normal schoolwork. But I'm not convinced he is, however his English for one thing is way ahead and he's bright. If he were at a school that challenged him more, I think he would catch up fairly fast.

You know you aren't moving to the south of Germany though, so don't worry about that too much. Wouldn't do it myself after reading NN's school experiences!

You will get dh a job overseas. I really think it will work out.

how true! If he even contemplates taking a job in Munich I'll be on the next plane out of here!!
Job applications running in Australia and Cardiff now!

Munich, Australia & Cardiff? what a slection LOL

I'm from Munich, nice place and yes school is a bit tough but we're cleverer for it . Then again we are a strange bunch as we're still of the opinion that we're an independent country and monarchy LOL

yes Bavarians are 'different' to Germans aren't they?! They must be doing something right though because even though most of the dc are out of school by 12 or 1pm at the latest they have the best nationwide results.
My main worry about Munich would be finding a place to live, it's a nightmare to find a place and I don't want to live miles away from dh's work place (which would inevitably be in the city) or we would never see him with his crazy hours! Just the thought of it scares me, and the accent - have enough trouble with Hochdeutsch!

Don't know what it is they're doing right in Bavaria but they definitely are doing things better by the sound of things. No idea what they do differently though.

TBH admylin I am really scared of Schreibschrift.

Last week we hung about after school waiting for ballet to start and kicked a ball about with some 4th years. They were nice dc. Anyway they got out their homework at some stage and asked me if it was right. I COULDN'T READ IT AT ALL!

That has me really worried now

admylin, travel to work in Munich isn't that bad LOL well at least not in comp to London . If it ever should be on the books let me know and I'll tell you which areas to check out for living quarters

As for the dialect... don't worry they'll be talking more slowly and loudly at you if you don't understand them . tbh I have problems with the bavarian woods dialect myself. Munich accent is harmless in comparison

sssandy, ah yes Schreibschrift... i still shudder at the thought. When I was in school we also had to learn how to read old German... which looks very pretty and gothic but I had right problems with it. Never understood why we had to learn it, unless of course they were hoping we'd be finding some treasures in our lofts from great-grandfathers time and it would help us decipher their diaries???

Admylin didn't see this before. Ds1 did all the fables before Easter - I'd no idea there were so many. Sick to death of them by the end. Next time you need quick help with homework you can always e-mail me if you like. You too SSSandy Having now been through Y1 - Y4, am v happy to help out with homework - know only too well how stressful it is for the children and the mums. Bloody homework takes up half the afternoon. Hate it.

He's in Y3 and gets hardly any homework? Blimey, Y3 here was hell. German, Maths, Sachunterricht, Music, Art & Crafts sometimes. Average 2 subjects a day, on prob 2 days a week, 3 subjects. Ds1's at the end of Y4 now and hardly has any since Easter thankfully. Just finishing off class work or 5 pages of Maths spread over a week.
Contrast ds2 in Y2 who gets German, Maths, reading & mental arithmetic practice every day. Any classwork which wasn't finished also has to be finished. I spoke to his teacher about it and she said she knows it's a lot but they won't cope with Y3 if they don't up the tempo now

SSSandy - thought the Schreibschrift thing was crackers. The children learn to write in Druckschrift parallel to learning to read & once they've done the whole alphabet, they start again and learn to write each letter in Schreibschrift. Here they use the "lateinische" which is v old-fashioned; some states are using more modern ones. That said, the boys managed it and once they're in Y3 they are allowed to develop their own style more. Flipping annoying though that whilst they're struggling with learning to write anyway (nouns & verbs & stuff), they also have to watch how they write & lose marks for it in dictations. Those loopy curly bits that must be millimeter exact. Grrr

Sound raging but am cross because all this rain means I'm still stuck in the house & can't go in the garden.
Also a bit fed up atm re homework/German as we'll have to do loads of work with dd's German or they won't let her start school next year. Had a talk with her Kindergarten teachers. They're really good and also confided that they would ordinarily have had more time to help her but they've now got 7 2-yr olds in the group and they've noticed it means they're shortchanging the older children. If she were to stay another year in kiga she'd only be with 1 other 5 yr-old and 20 2/3/4 yrs.
Have decided the easiest thing to start with is to teach her myself as though it were a foreign lang like French! Odd though, never had to do it with the boys. Dh's input is too little too late at night.

Finknottle, thanks for that offer, you could be getting regular emails from SSSandy and me in future!
That really scares me when I hear how much homework your dc had to do. Here it's nothing compared to that. Ds was off school for 1 week and when I asked for the work he had missed he got 1 maths sheet and 1 German Arbeitsblatt, honestly don't think he missed anything. Schreibschrift is also a pain here as they use the old fashioned one and when I gave ds some plainer worksheets to copy (from the internet, more American style) he refused saying that he had to do it exactly as the teacher said - at least it's good news if they are allowed to have their own style later, I don't know any German adult who has readable handwriting. I used to have a pen- friend when I was 12 or 13 from Germany and I had to stop writing to her in the end because I couldn't read a single word of her letters!

DD had exactly the same situation at Kindergarden, I didn't see the point in those mixed groups and that's why I pushed for her to start school early. Wish I hadn't now because it has been abit stressfull for her with her sensitive side and being the youngest in the class etc. She keeps up on the academic side, infact she's top of the class but I should have just enjoyed an extra year at home with her. Enjoy it anyway, and as for German she should be OK if she hears her brothers (do they also play in German after school?)and plays out with the local kids.

Wouldn't worry enjoy it! Each state here seems to have wildly differing standards. Maybe cos we're so rural they frantically over-teach to help the children cope when they go to t'big city Honestly, the teachers can only follow the Lehrplan I thought. Do they write essays (Aufsatz) - 8 or 10 I think in Y3?

no ds hasn't written an essay yet in yr.3, OMG, stop telling me anymore it's too shocking when I think ofthe difference in standards.

Maybe your lot build up to it more slowly in Y4. Ours seemed to go from low in Y2 to high in Y3 and then taper off in Y4. So much of what ds1's done in 4 has been a repetition, or building on what they did in 3, IYSWIM.
Sorry to scare you