Sweets in class at Deutsch Akademie!

Learning a new language is pretty hard, and sometimes your brain feels so full of new information it feels like it might leak out from your head. Thankfully the lovely people at Deutsch Akademie have prepared for this, and combat the inevitable information overload with the best weapon possible: sugar!

There are always sweets (or ‚lollies‘ as we say in Australia) on the table, and there is a surprisingly good coffee machine in the break area to keep you sharp and focused. There is also a vending machine for snacks, and figuring out how it all works is a good exercise in german conversation!

Sweets at Deutsch Akademie

Deutsch Akademie drinks!

Wednesday night was the Deutsch Akadamie drinks! People from both schools across all level met in a Beer Keller in Hackescher Markt and socialised and drank beer and most importantly for me – spoke German!

It was so much fun putting in to practice all that we had learnt over the last few weeks, and it was far less intimidating to talk to other students that it was to speak to fluent german strangers. I would definitely recommend it to anyone in the course – or anyone thinking of signing up. Being able to make yourself understood in another language – even with mistakes and poor grammar – was so exciting!

Sorry for the terrible pictures, My phone could not handle the lighting there!

Homework in the Tiergarten

Homework can be boring, and it sucks When Summer has gone and you do not want to waste any of the precious few sunny days left in the year! So today I Decided to compromise and take my homework to the park to DO. Much more fun that way!

The Tiergarten is in the Middle of Berlin, and it is massive. The canal runs through it, so there are ducks and boats to look at There are many tourist attractions there -. Including the Brandenburg Gate, Berlin’s Government and diplomatic district, The Berlin Zoo, and right in the middle is the Victory Column – the Victory Column ,

Definitely a good place to spend a sunny afternoon!

Homework is better in the sun! Hanging out at the Tiergarten

There are worse places to spend an afternoon – homework under a tree in the Tiergarten

Humana Thrift Store Alexanderplatz

If you have time before or after class, and you like shopping, you can go across the road to the massive Humana thrift store in Alexanderplatz. It is a thrift shop like you have never seen before! It goes on forever and has men’s, women’s and children’s clothes, as well as costumes, lingerie, military clothes, coats, jackets, evening dresses, – you name it it’s there! Go with a friend / classmate and leave yourself sometime Because You will want to try everything on!

The Humana thrift store at Alexanderplatz

Liebe Teilnehmer,
es wurde wieder viel gelacht, köstlich gegessen und getrunken im Weihenstephaner Brauhaus am Hackeschen Markt. Vielen Dank für euer zahlreiches Erscheinen und die tolle Stimmung!

WIr freuen uns schon jetzt auf den nächsten Stammtisch mit Euch im Oktober :)

Euer DeutschAkademie Team

Fun and Games at German Academy!

A German language course sounds like it Should be fairly boring. Sitting out in class learning dry grammar tables, endless vocab lists, and exercises until your eyes fall. But it is Actually way more fun than that! I was pleasantly surprised at how many games we play in class. Our teacher works pretty hard to make sure our classes are varied and interesting, so you never get bored!

games in class at German Academy

Temple Feld

A few days ago we visited Tempelhof Field – the former Templehof Airport, Which has now been converted into a public park.

Templehof Airport which built in the early 1920s, and the grounds around it were oft used as parade grounds for military and major public events. This airport has seen so much of Berlin’s history. It was used through WWII, and then by the US Air Force through the Cold War. Most Recently is has been in use of solely as a commercial airport up until it closed down in of 2008.

Now it is a public park, and there are many jogging / biking / walking trails through the park, a massive BBQ and picnic area and a special dog park. There is therefore an old plane used by the airport fire brigade for training, the main runways are shut intact, and the old airport terminal is quiet a magnificent building. It is a strange place, a mixture of the old and the new, to eerie combination of history and architecture, and of wide-open spaces and play. It an excellent representation of what I love about Berlin.

How to get there:

You can take the U6 and get off at Place de Lüftbruke, Parade Street, or Templehof. So Templehof connects to the S-Bahn on the ring line.

Like everything in Berlin You can therefore ride your bike there!

Be warned it is a big place, so make sure you use the entrance is the one Closest to the part of the park you want to visit – otherwise You Could Be in for a long walk! It therefore gets very busy on hot days and weekends.

Temple Hofer field with Fionn and Lucy

Today in class – Descriptions

Today in class we were learning about how to describe people. EC. she has long hair, he has a beard, etc.

Part of what did in exercise where one person in our class Described a figure, and the rest of the class had to draw did figure. It turns out That the person Describing our figure had an overactive imagination, so out pictures turned out to be hilarious!

Horse-Man! The results of todays description exercise.