Horst Gunther
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The two groups have now combined and in the next months there will be only one meeting weekly on Tuesday. I notice good progress in all participants and the amount of work so far can be inspected on the U3A Weebly website - simply click on the 'Lessons' button in the right hand column.
Horst Gunther
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The advanced German group shows the benefit of our keeping in touch through correspondence throughout the lock down periods in previous years. It is a happy and studious group and has tackled quite advanced correspondence, which you can see on our ‘Lessons’ web page (see top of right hand column) if you are interested. It gives me pleasure to help group members advance in the German language and it is a 70 year review of my own school days. It`s amazing how much we have stashed away in the back of our brains.
Horst Gunther In 2022 both Advanced and Beginners courses are being held - with the Advanced Course offered by Horst Gunther offered on weekly from 12.15 to 1.30 on Tuesdays in U3A Classroom 1, and a nine week Beginners Group offered by Pauline Bailey on Wednesdays 12:15 to 1:30 pm (Feb/March), also in U3A Meeting Room 1
This web page will continue to be used for German, but will focus on the Advanced course reports and news, while the Beginners short course has its own webpage at German - Beginners. The German group met for lunch at a cafe in Benalla for its last session for the year.
Next year a beginner group will be offered again after none this year due to Covid. The group has decided to meet weekly in 2022. Frӧhliche Weinachten und Frӧhliches Neues Jahr! Pauline Bailey Where would we be without internet and email in these times? Horst has directed us to good resources and advised us on where to focus our private study to overcome deficiencies in our German expression. With good weather and as permitted, a few members have been meeting weekly in the open air. Altogether, everyone is progressing at their own pace.
As I write this, we are about to meet to discuss plans for next year. I should be able to report on this next newsletter. Pauline Bailey Having not met face to face in August and the more contagious Delta variant ravaging the Shepparton community, a decision was made to move to remote interaction. Predictably, no sooner than this was arranged the emergency abated. Nonetheless, rather than be left frustrated again, the intention is that we shall not meet for the remainder of the year.
The format is similar to that when Covid restricted U3A at the beginning of last year. That is, the phone is the medium for spoken expression and email for written expression. The difference is that all communication is to Horst, whose first language is German. All members have elected to write in German and most have taken the opportunity to have work corrected. This is akin to have individual tutoring and is wonderful for having individual needs addressed. Participants write about anything of their choosing. Half the members have taken up the option of speaking by telephone. Often hearing difficulties have been the reason for not doing so. We are sticking to the usual fortnightly structure, making times for the next phone call before hanging up. This seems to be ticking along well. We are indebted to Horst for his willing commitment to the group. If there are others out there who would like to be involved, please let me know. Pauline Bailey 0434 147 605 The German group did not meet once in August. The first time we had decided we couldn‘t and at the very last minute we could have. This was all too rushed. The next time we definitely could not!
By way of revision, we tackled a word find related to the vocabulary explored at the end of semester one. Pauline Bailey German will resume after a Semester break on Tuesday 10 August. Anyone with an understanding of the German language is welcome to join us then. Contact me on 0434 147 605 if you are interested.
Pauline Bailey Due to another Covid restriction, we only met once during June.
Having revised all our songs during the semester, we increased our repertoire with the German version of “My Island in the Sun“, as popularised by Caterina Valente in the late 1950s.Then we brainstormed all words related to agriculture, having done the same for horticulture the previous month. Again, the ensuing discussion was very interesting and time was quickly up. We are taking a semester break during July and resume again on Tuesday 10 August. Anyone with an understanding of the German language is welcome to join us then. Contact me if you are interested. Pauline Bailey The first session this month began with a conversation in German about the need to speak the language more often. We agreed that the understanding and thinking of the words is there, but it is at times difficult to “say” the words out loud. The only way to do this is to gain confidence with conversation, which we are doing more and more. Our vocabulary continues to grow, with new words including many different types of plants, herbs, vegetables and garden tools.
During the second session we individually read garden stories, different gardening words and a song out loud. This enabled Pronunciation to be corrected and new words to be learned. Janet Martens We are now halfway through the first semester. The small size of the group means that it is run as an informal tutorial. Each time we have conversation in German. One of our members whose first tongue is German has a particular interest in our pronunciation. Pleasingly, there is now often just one or no correction required.
Our comprehension lags somewhat, but our vocabulary is ever expanding. This month the theme was around major life events, particularly death and dying. The focus emanated from discussion around the many POW camps around Tatura in the 1940s, the video and photographic records in the Tatura Museum and the subsequent German War Cemetery there. Members contributed a piece about the train numbering system for reading and translating and another by T. S. Eliot for dictation and translation. By way of revision, we did a large word find puzzle on new words thus far. Two more songs have been re-visited. Pauline Bailey The topic for the second session of the year was written communication. We began with a piece of dictation, which proved to be unanimously challenging. Members self corrected against the original. The goal is that by year’s end the number of errors will be greatly reduced or eliminated!
We then dissected the piece and discussed strategies for making sense of the writing. Everyone in turn then read successive paragraphs aloud, having pronunciation corrected at the end and a group discussion about the translation. In an effort to extend our vocabulary beyond the basic, the topic of the built environment was chosen for the second session of the month. We began with housing, then different other buildings and finished with a historical piece about the construction and subsequent opening of the Mont Blanc tunnel in 1965. Mt Blanc is the highest mountain in Europe and the 11.7 km tunnel crosses the border between Italy and France. Our next session is on Tuesday 13 April, 12.15 - 1.45 pm. Pauline Bailey The German language group reconvened for the year on Tuesday afternoon 23rd February in the U3A room. The topic was oral communication.
Two new members were welcomed and a group conversation ensued. The group is now conducted in German as much as possible. We looked at the Bright‘s Peace Pole, on which German is one of the 6 languages written. Strategies and nuances relating to different ways of speaking and understanding the spoken word were discussed, be it face to face, by phone, radio or television/internet. To finish, we revisited two of the songs from 2019. There is no beginner group this year. Pauline Bailey Some knowledge of the German language is required, but all levels, from beginners to fluent speakers, will be accommodated. This year the German classes will be held on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays from 12.15 to 1.45 pm in the U3A Meeting Room. Classes begin on Tuesday 23 February.
Pauline Bailey 0434 147 605 The German language group met 3 times within a 4 week period from late October to read the comedy ‘Romulus the Great‘ by Swiss playright Friedrich Dürrenmatt.
The final activity for the year has been the collation of personal experiences about Covid-19. Contributors received two copies in their inbox: one containing the original contributions and, to help our learning, another edited version. Looking back on the year, there has been plenty of German presented to members despite all the difficulties of isolation. This is due in no small part to the enthusiasm of co-convenors Janet Martens and Horst Gunther, as well as of members of the group. Danke schӧn. Frӧhliche Weinachten und Frӧhliches Neues Jahr! Pauline Bailey As I write this, the group are looking forward to meeting up as a whole for the first time in person since February. We will be taking parts in reading the 4 act play ‘Romulus der Grosse‘ by Friedrich Dürrenmatt. Such an ambitious venture would not have occurred without the social deprivation of the pandemic, but we have been gradually preparing between May and August at a rate of one act per month.
It will be good to meet our new member, Graham Pickering, but sad to farewell Bronwyn Forman. Bronwyn has been a conscientious participant since the inception of the group. Notably, Bronwyn was one of the main people to open our eyes to the volume of the material on the internet and to typing and proof-reading the play. Her pleasant and friendly personality will be missed and we wish her all the best for her new life in W.A. As the final contributions regarding our personal experiences coping with coronavirus come in, Janet will shortly collate them and deliver them to each contributor‘s inbox in November. Pauline Bailey The German language group are indebted to Horst for his enthusiastic leadership over winter. After re-planning and delivering a second programme for remote learning, Janet and I were indeed grateful for a break, even though our original reasons for unavailability were no longer relevant.
We are glad Horst enjoyed re-visiting his native tongue so much. Janet had a good response for a third request for written contributions of our personal experiences of isolation under coronavirus restrictions early in the month. As we are still unable to meet, Horst is continuing with his instruction into September. Pauline Bailey I started as a pronunciation coach just as Covid-19 hit and now another month has passed without the opportunity to properly speak face to face with each other. However, we seem to make progress with the help of good U tube lessons which are abundantly available if one looks for them. I hope I was able to match appropriate lessons to the various beginners or advanced members. We are now beginning to listen to and read full stories. When we can finally meet again it will be interesting to see how well members can converse in German with each other. A trip to Germany may be a while away, but when it`s possible again, travel certainly helps to be able to converse. It amazes me how much I have relearned, after 60 years of living in Australia, during these last 8 months.
Horst Gunther During July members received a lot of new topics on normal life with new vocabulary, reinforced by selected You tube lessons to acquire good pronunciation of the written material. The advanced members will have a good knowledge of proper pronunciation and should have no problems to read Romulus with Pauline in the Spring, if motivated to follow the suggestions provided. It takes motivation to teach one's tongue to acquire the different sounds of the ABC in German. It has been an interesting month for me to find the required URLs in YouTube. If I have encouraged some members to spend some time looking at the suggested URLs or to investigate further to find more, I will be very happy to have been of some help. It is a pleasure to do this job.
Horst Gunther Building on the good work of Pauline over the last years, I have attempted this month to make class members aware that there is a distinct difference in the pronunciation of the English and German ABC.
Because of the limited time I was acquainted with the members and due to the Corona virus non meeting restrictions, I had no knowledge of how advanced different members were. So I sent my weekly coaching lessons via E-mail in two parts, for beginners and advanced members, making good use of German lesson YouTube contributions and my weekly general German writings, so members could pick according to how advanced they felt. I have heard no complaints, so I assume everyone is satisfied with that approach. The second act of Romulus was issued by Pauline, giving members an enormous amount of new vocabulary. Hopefully my pronunciation coaching will help to achieve a nice clear reading of the comedy in the spring time. It`s a pleasure to help out as much as I can. I learn a lot, too, doing this. Horst Gunther May has been another very busy month in the six activity streams.
1. Individual tutorials. These will conclude at the end of May. Elementary group members who elected to pursue this avenue when we went into lockdown will then have sufficient grammar to articulate into the other streams to improve their language skills. 2. & 3. Phone friends and e-penpals were changed for the new month. General everyday spoken or written conversations are the theme. 4. An original article delivered into inboxes most weeks continues to be very popular. The English translation arrives a couple of days later to those who want it. It is also used as a medium for pronunciation practice by phone. 5. The perpetual sentence has the theme of our personal experiences around the coronavirus. Most members have contributed to it now. 6. The play. Act 1 went out at the beginning of the month and parts have been allocated. People who would benefit from pronunciation coaching are honing their parts before the next act comes out at the beginning of the next month. The play reading will proceed in September. I would like to acknowledge the reliable support and friendship of Janet Martens, who has made it fun to deliver a programme together under challenging circumstances. We extend to Horst Gunther our ongoing support and best wishes as he takes on the role of convenor over winter. Pauline Bailey The German Conversation Group has continued to be very active during April. Group members have been allotted a phone friend and an email friend. Weekly emails have been sent and phone calls have been made in order to improve our German writing and speaking skills. The month of May will see us changing communication partners so that we can continue emails and phone calls with a new group member.
We have started a Perpetual Sentence which will gradually reach each group member over the next couple of weeks. This should be an interesting story when we all get together again. Horst has written and emailed some pieces for us to read in German. This is an excellent learning opportunity for all of us. Reading, spelling and grammar can be learned from these pieces. The Play will be a highlight for the group. Act 1 is on schedule to come out at the beginning of next month. Most importantly, we are still communicating, learning and keeping in contact. Stay safe everyone. Janet Martens There were no classes in March, due to the public holiday and then the sudden closure of all U3A. This means that there is a poor base on which to do any distance learning. Most students are going to work alone, with a few being tutored individually.
Pauline Bailey The first class for the month fell on the public holiday. Undeterred, those who were not otherwise committed travelled to view musical shows at a member‘s home theatre in great comfort. Thank you Horst for the invitation and drinks, also Lin and Judy for the food. We all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and will think of our last time together longingly, even as we look forward to repeating the experience at the end of the year.
The second class was abruptly cancelled due to the U3A directive. We have quickly set ourselves up for many months of distance learning. Firstly, there is a ‘phone a friend‘ set-up to speak German on a weekly basis to a different person month by month. Secondly, we have a different ‘pen pal‘ every month with whom to practice our written communication weekly by email. Thirdly, a written piece will be circulated weekly to expand our comprehension, vocabulary and pronunciation. Perhaps our most ambitious project is to study a 4 act play, so that we can do a play reading at the end of the year when we are together again. The main challenge is how to get the material to everyone. We will also have a perpetual sentence, in which everyone will contribute. At the end of our confinement, we will have a story to tell. Lastly, several members will be individually tutored. It‘s almost as if we were a group travelling down a road when this blockade set us another route, one by which we are travelling in different pairings. Our plan is to be so mentally busy doing our German that we get our minds off this coronavirus angst. Just keep well everyone! Pauline Bailey Report on German Language 10th February 2020
The topic for the first conversation group of the year was the weather. Starting with ordinary day to day conversation and a quick review of the pronunciation of the German ABC, the dialogue did move into more extreme weather events, such as heavy rainfall, floods and storms, followed finally with a German to English translation exercise. Report on German Language 24th February 2020 Starting with ordinary day to day German conversation, the topic for the day was writing a postcard in German to each other. Every postcard was read by the writer and positively improved and corrected, much to the delight of the members. I enjoy the group work. Horst Gunther |
German - Home PageHorst Gunther is offering weekly German sessions in 2024. Some knowledge of the German language is required, but all levels, from beginners to fluent speakers, will be accommodated. Mentors will work with beginners during the sessions.
Convenor Contact DetailsHorst Gunther
0447 595 059 Meeting TimesWeekly Sessions
Tuesdays 12:15 - 1:45 pm, with sessions extending to 3.15 pm on the 5th Tuesday. U3A Meeting Room 1 Archives
March 2024
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