Bilingual Families Wanted!

We'd like to interview several German-speaking bilingual families for the blog. Whether your whole family speaks German or just one parent and the kids, whether you're a native speaker or learned German as a adult (like me) - we want details! How do you manage the languages? What is your biggest challenge? Do your kids ever resist? Come on, it'll be fun! I promise - we'll do all the hard work. You just get to talk. :)

If you'd like to be interviewed on our blog, please send an e-mail to thea (at) alphabet-garten.com .

Danke im voraus!
Sarah

VA Position Filled

Thank you to everyone who applied!

- Sarah

Virtual Assistant Needed

Update 10/22/2008: This position has been filled.

Original post
We are looking to add some help to our team! This is a part-time, work from home position. If you're interested in applying to be our new VA, please see the jobs page for more information.

German Game Night

My friend, Thea, is planning a German game night for her community - how lucky for Seattle! This sounds like so much fun. Families can get together, play German games, (and maybe some American games with German vocab), and have a great time. Thea treated us to a pack of Schwarze Hai cards (a German pirate version of Old Maid) and we have had so much fun with them.

Thea asked me for some ideas on how to make the game night a success.

Photo credit: Firutin

Which Games to Offer?
Many familiar games can be adapted to be a bit more "German."

• Old Maid, for instance, is Der Schwarze Peter (or Der Schwarze Hai if you have the cool pirate cards).
  
• Sorry! is known as Mensch, ärgere Dich nicht.
  
• Chess (Schach) and checkers (Dame) (rules) are old standbys.
  
• Hangman would be a fun addition - kids could have quick rounds of Hangman in between other games.
  
• Memory (Memo) can be easily assembled with any two sets of matching flashcards or pictures.
  
• Twister - great practice naming body parts.

Game Instructions
I suggested she have game instructions written up so people can play with little assistance. If a few parents get a run-down of the game choices beforehand, they can facilitate play.

Game Vocabulary
Here are some words and phrases useful when playing games.

• Jetzt bist Du dran............It's your turn (card game)
  
• Du bist am Zug.................It's your move (board game)
  
• Springen............................Jump
• Gutes Spiel ......................Good game
• Wurfel (Würfel)................die (dice)
• Regeln................................rules
• Brettspiel ..........................board game
• Kartenspiel........................card game
• Konkurrenz.......................competition
  

I love games - we try to use them whenever possible in our learning. Kids get so wrapped up in the game, they forget they are practicing important skills.

I'll ask Thea to let us know how her event goes. Do you have any tips for her? Have you been to a German group game event?