Now there's the sort of review a person likes to hear. Clearly properly raised children. 😉 Yeah, the recognition factor definitely skewed heavily in favour of the parental set. 😆
It was a day spent quietly carving, which counts as good in my book, and torturing children on how to say "Trick or Treat" in something vaguely resembling English. I'm mean and bribe them with an extra candy bar. So far, when faced with the prospect of missing out on a treat, everyone gave in and at least tried. (My favourite responses this year: One boy who, while making fun of his friends not knowing the answer to "what's 'Süßes oder Saures' (Sweet or Sour) in English?", proudly informed me they were learning that in their current chapter in English, and then proceeded to do no better than his friends. (Hint: no, the answer is not 'um'.) Obviously I rectified that situation. 😉 And two very little girls who kept trying until they got it, and then ran off down the path calling "Mummy! We can speak English!" which was adorable and made me laugh.)
Hope your family is enjoying your Halloween as well. ❤️🎃🦇
Ha! It makes this homeschool mama's heart happy to know that you were teaching them something via candy bribery 😂 In the past 3 days we've dropped about 40°F, so as I type this I am putting on as many layers as I can before we head out. We are going to a Trunk or Treat this year. I'll try to snap some pics to send to you later.
> "Trunk or Treat" pix excellent as I don't believe I've ever registered that phrase before. I assume it's like a car boot sale, only with more calories and less money exchanged. 😉
> teaching My mother was a foreign language instructor; I come by it naturally. 😉 I did have a lot of children balk, but as they come in groups, you only need to find the more confident child and get them to try saying it, and soon the rest follow, unwilling to miss out on that extra candy... And I can be very patient if need be. I had one group where the children hesitated (admittedly they were preschoolers 😆), and the mothers jumped in to inform me of this fact and say 'they couldn't possibly'. I pointed out that even the dog understands English commands, and soon I had all of the little buggers repeating after me. I only let one guy off the hook, baby Yoda (Grogu), in his PJs, barely old enough to walk and still sucking his thumb, so I figured he shouldn't be made to try. Naturally I still docked him a candy bar (in part because his older sister was most likely going to be the beneficiary anyway). One girl scored an extra candy bar yet by coming up with an English Halloween poem I hadn't heard before. (The best I can do spontaneously would be something from Shakespeare's cauldron scene from Macbeth or the decidedly less posh "trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat".)
As a whole, German children are regularly tortured subjected to events where they must recite something, even if they're imported holidays and no such custom existed in the original. It matters not. Never miss an opportunity for rote learning! (I have no idea if that's actually a good thing, but it's definitely a cultural phenom either way.)
It was a day spent quietly carving, which counts as good in my book, and torturing children on how to say "Trick or Treat" in something vaguely resembling English. I'm mean and bribe them with an extra candy bar. So far, when faced with the prospect of missing out on a treat, everyone gave in and at least tried. (My favourite responses this year: One boy who, while making fun of his friends not knowing the answer to "what's 'Süßes oder Saures' (Sweet or Sour) in English?", proudly informed me they were learning that in their current chapter in English, and then proceeded to do no better than his friends. (Hint: no, the answer is not 'um'.) Obviously I rectified that situation. 😉 And two very little girls who kept trying until they got it, and then ran off down the path calling "Mummy! We can speak English!" which was adorable and made me laugh.)
Hope your family is enjoying your Halloween as well. ❤️🎃🦇
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In the past 3 days we've dropped about 40°F, so as I type this I am putting on as many layers as I can before we head out. We are going to a Trunk or Treat this year. I'll try to snap some pics to send to you later.
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excellent as I don't believe I've ever registered that phrase before. I assume it's like a car boot sale, only with more calories and less money exchanged. 😉
> teaching
My mother was a foreign language instructor; I come by it naturally. 😉 I did have a lot of children balk, but as they come in groups, you only need to find the more confident child and get them to try saying it, and soon the rest follow, unwilling to miss out on that extra candy... And I can be very patient if need be. I had one group where the children hesitated (admittedly they were preschoolers 😆), and the mothers jumped in to inform me of this fact and say 'they couldn't possibly'. I pointed out that even the dog understands English commands, and soon I had all of the little buggers repeating after me. I only let one guy off the hook, baby Yoda (Grogu), in his PJs, barely old enough to walk and still sucking his thumb, so I figured he shouldn't be made to try. Naturally I still docked him a candy bar (in part because his older sister was most likely going to be the beneficiary anyway). One girl scored an extra candy bar yet by coming up with an English Halloween poem I hadn't heard before. (The best I can do spontaneously would be something from Shakespeare's cauldron scene from Macbeth or the decidedly less posh "trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat".)
As a whole, German children are regularly tortured subjected to events where they must recite something, even if they're imported holidays and no such custom existed in the original. It matters not. Never miss an opportunity for rote learning! (I have no idea if that's actually a good thing, but it's definitely a cultural phenom either way.)
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