How was the morning of Valentine's Day 2025 for you?
Mine seemed to be going well! Not in the "chocolate and flowers" department, but in the field of "preparing teaching materials for my private German class with an aspiring Japanese ballerina," who I mentioned in this post:
@hirohurl/preparing-to-teach-a-japanese-ballerina-german
Yes, I spent a good few hours preparing German teaching materials for my student who wants to go to Germany to study ballet full time. To do that, she needs to pass a ballet test that will be conducted in German - and she is a complete beginner in that language.
My brief was to give her a series of German lessons to get her familiar with the basics of German, and especially with the language of ballet training and body parts. Oh, and her exam was supposed to be later this month!
No pressure! 😅
Our second class is scheduled for the afternoon of Saturday 15th February, so I spent this morning preparing two modules - one all about body parts, and the other a ballet lesson dialogue, and posted them both on my German language learning blog for Japanese students: https://german.siterubix.com/
Then I Checked My Line Messages...
After publishing the two lessons, I checked my phone only to find this message waiting for me on my Line app:
Hi David
Unfortunately, [the student] couldn't pass her ballet test with the German school. So her mom is asking for English lesson tomorrow. [sic]
WTF!! 🤬🤬🤬
Well, the material is my material and will be good for any other ballerinas who want to learn German who come my way, I suppose... And I already have the English translation so I'll use that instead!
But I have to wonder...
What is it with the dreadful sense of timing that Japanese women learning German seem to exhibit?
- My first student decided to start German classes with a bun in the oven and already in her third trimester...
- My second student managed three German classes to get her from zero to just above zero before moving to Germany...
- My third German student's mother brought her to the school in time for just ONE German class before her supposedly all-important Ballet in German test, and suddenly decides to switch to English!
How was the poor girl meant to pass a German ballet class when she'd only had ONE lesson in German...? I ask yer.
Here's the Lesson on Body Parts
Okay folks, here's a couple of things I put together to help ❤︎ my ballerina ❤︎ learn German body parts!
First we were going to go over body-part vocab in English and German. Then I was going to give her this worksheet to fill in:
Then we would have done a Question and Answer session about the said body parts.
Next, we would have done the main lesson, in which a Japanese ballerina attends her first ballet class in Germany and responds to various ballet instructions... etc.
At some point in the lesson, probably towards the end or whenever my student started to flag, I was going to play this kids' video - the German equivalent of "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" - and do the actions with my student:
Kopf, Schulter, Knie und Fuß, Knie und Fuß,
Kopf, Schulter, Knie und Fuß, Knie und Fuß,
Und Augen, Ohren, Nase, Mund,
Kopf, Schulter, Knie und Fuß, Knie und Fuß!
Ah well, "shou ga nai" (it can't be helped") as the Japanese say! It will be interesting to check out my student's English level tomorrow, assuming she comes to class!
Cheers!
David Hurley
#InspiredFocus ??