W-Fragen in German are questions that begin with the question words--in English:  who, what, when, where, why, and how. To contrast, yes/no questions in German begin with the verb ("Arbeiten Sie heute?" "Kommen Sie aus Bayern?").

To help you remember these question words and to help you work out the tough parts, here's a quick guide to the W-Fragen in German:

The Tough Parts Explained:

One tough part is the false friend of wer, because wer means who, not "where." Memorize the rhyming sentence Wer ist er? (Who is he?) to help you remember that wer refers to a he--a person.

The other tough part is the word wann, because wann is the question word, but wenn also means "when." So associate the 'a'  sound of wann with the 'a' sound of Frage, and you'll remember it every time!

Want a Free, Printable Guide?

Here's an expanded Quick Guide to the W-Fragen using Vorlagen, model sentences. Print and keep this Quick Guide to help you learn German, learn the Vorlagen, and always know which Fragewort to use! You can also email this article to your fellow German classmates or your German teacher.

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How do you remember the question words? Do you have more tips? Please comment below!

Ferien.

Vacation. Holidays.

School holidays. School vacation.

Ferien is always plural! Ferien is pronounced "FAIR-ee-en."

Nicole macht diese Woche Ferien.

Bis nächste Woche!

~Nicole

Herzlich willkommen zurück! Here is the third in a series of methods to help you add German to your homeschool routine.

This week's Homeschool German method involves travel and I've presented a couple of different ways to incorporate Germanic locations into your family vacation--at different budgetary sizes. Of course, it all begins with something the Germans in particular excell at--Geld sparen! (Saving money!) But wait until you get to the end, for something truly and uniquely German!

1. Sparen Sie Geld!

For small children, a Sparschweinchen (piggy bank) will be a great way to help your children begin the journey of saving for a vacation. For older kids, saving up for their vacation expenditures in an envelope or their bank account is a great way to combine this German habit with trip preparation.

2a. Take your family vacation...to a German settlement area like Milwaukee, WI or Fredericksburg, TX

There are so many wonderful cities and regions with German heritage in the US--there is probably one within driving distance for you! Why not make it a road trip and pack your own Brötchen for the trip? Have picnics with a thermos of coffee instead of stopping for fast food--that is some serious, old school German road tripping.

Herzlich willkommen zurück! Here is the second in a series of methods to help you add German to your homeschool routine.

The ideas and things that are personal to you stick with you because they have emotional meaning to them. The same goes for foreign language learning--if it is meaningful to you, it will stick. If you love motorcycles, it's logical that you would remember "das Rad" (the tire) quickly, as the person who loves to cook will remember that "der Schneebesen" is a funny word that means "whisk." So...

Add German Equivalents

If you are learning something in English, it's a great idea to add the same concept in German--you can repeat the same material in a foreign language and acquire vocabulary and ideas in chunks. Plus, there are so many games to play to facilitate learning, I've added a few of them below. (I must confess, being able to use games often in German lessons is one of my favorite aspects of teaching it--there is no need to stick to only exercises when a game will achieve the same learning goal!)

English Grammar / deutsche Grammatik

If you and your children are working on the words and concepts of English grammar, you'll be working on the idea of noun, verb, adjective, etc. So why not add the German equivalent? das Nomen, das Verb, das Adjektiv. Oh, and look--all three of these nouns in German are neuter and have the article "das." How convenient!

For those of you who homeschool your children, adding a foreign language like German is a fun way to work in multiple topics like math, music, and geography. Here is the first in a series of methods to help you develop the routine and how to apply German in other topics.

1. Create the right routine for you.

For you and your children, it might be easiest to have German lessons on a particular day or on different days at the same time. If you use a tablet or a smartphone as part of their instruction, you can set up the time in the calendar for an automatic reminder. This method could also be used if you want to have German learning time, say in the morning, and German practice time later on that same day. Breaking up the learning into small chunks helps you repeat the same material more frequently, so you learn the material  more quickly.

Other homeschoolers might benefit from having a dedicated German room. This is the perfect place for some of the methods I describe below, like using (removable) stickers to label everything in the room. Creating the association between your couch and the German word "das Sofa" is particularly effective for visual learners. When your children are secure in that vocabulary, you could add another room like the dining room and work on "die Gabel," "das Messer," and "der Löffel."

As a German student, you need quality resources and reliable materials and I'm happy to share discoveries I've made and also recommendations from students. One of my students received 501 German Verbs as a gift a while back and I'm happy to say this book has been an excellent addition to this student's study and lesson time!

501 German verbs is an excellent reference book for the most frequently used German verbs and it lists all of the tenses in a clear, easy-to-read format. The verbs are printed alphabetically in the book so you always know where to go to find the verb you're looking for, and since it's only 501 verbs, you're not going to get lost on the way there.

When you reach the point in German learning when you are studying present perfect (Ich bin umgezogen.) or perhaps you are learning the simple past (hatte, ging, war) for the first time, this is an excellent resource.

Simply the fact that the number of verbs is limited helps keep you within the framework of the first levels of German learning, unlike other resources, which throw everything at you from level A1 (beginner) to C2 (advanced/fluent). It's the appropriateness of this book that appeals so much to me as an instructor.