Mrs Bronsert

The Year 2 students had a wonderful time talking to Mrs Bronsert earlier this year in Term 1.  Her husband is German and she herself is fully fluent.  The students sang some songs for her and then we tried asking some questions in German.  Later Mrs Bronsert told us about her travels in Germany, which was fascinating.  It was a lot of fun for us – vielen Dank!!

Mrs Moody

Mrs Moody has spent a lot of time in Switzerland and speaks very good German, amongst other languages.  She came to visit 4R  in Term 1 and spent a lot of time telling us about Switzerland and Germany.  She and her son Zac showed us quite a few photos, including some of a famous crusader statue in Covent Garden.  Mrs Moody’s mother is Swiss and can speak four languages: French, English, German and Swiss German (which is very different!).  She lives in England and her husband, who has unfortunately passed away, could speak a total of seven languages: Turkish, Greek, Latin, Italian, German, English and Spanish!  This is partly why Mrs Moody is so good at German, and we are very grateful for her coming in to spend some time with us.

Miss Dorner

Chrissi (Miss Dorner) is a lovely German girl from a little town called Grossenseebach.  She explained to the students that Grossenseebach is in Baveria, which the Germans call ,,Bayern”, about one hour away from the state capital, Munich. She has been in twice in Term 1, working with the Year 5 students and some other Junior Primary classes.  We appreciate Chrissi giving up her time like this, as the students all learned a lot from her visits.  We thank her very much and wish her all the best, for when she returns home later this year.

 

Mr & Mrs Gerken

Mr & Mrs Gerken, who are both German, are the grandparents of Tait (4R) and Declan (5FH) Kilgariff.  During the 1950s they both left Germany to come to Australia to live.  Mr Gerken comes from the state of Niedersachsen or Lower Saxony in the north of Germany, from a famous district called the Lüneburger Heide (also known as the Lunenburg Heath in English). 

 According to Wikipedia,”The Lüneburg Heath has extensive areas of heathland, typical of those that covered most of the North German countryside until about 1800, but which have almost completely disappeared in other areas. The heaths were formed after the Neolithic period by overgrazing of the once widespread forests on the poor sandy soils of the geest, as this slightly hilly and sandy terrain in northern Europe is called. The Lüneburg Heath is therefore a historic cultural landscape. The remaining areas of heath are kept clear mainly through grazing, especially by a North German breed of moorland sheep called the Heidschnucke. Due to its unique landscape, the Lüneburg Heath is a popular tourist destination in North Germany.”  

Mrs Gerken comes from nearby states of Saxony or Saxony-Anhalt, and has lived near the cities of Halle and beautiful Dresden.  Dresden is a very famous and once beautiful city which was completely bombed at the very end of World War II. but which today has been largely restored to its former beauty.

Tait’s grandparents kindly answered questions in both Year 4 classes and joined in 4R’s morning devotion.  They helped us to say the Lord’s Prayer in German.  We are very grateful for them giving so generously of their time and look forward to perhaps seeing them in the future.