Happy Hanukka, Frohes Chanukkafest, Chanukka Sameach - whichever way you say it, we are glad to be able to have and support this Familienfest. And while this is a time of happiness and togetherness (as much as we can these days), it also a time for somber reflection. And because of that we are also proud that Germany has come to light Germany's biggest Menorah in Berlin, where Nazis once came close to destroying everything Jewish. Watch the ceremony here:

Menorah Lighting Berlin 2020

We wish you all safe and happy holidays, be sure to enjoy the little things and reflect on the good in life.

Lustig, lustig, trallallalala - OMG, this song just won't go away, even if Nikolaus is over now! Even if good old St. Nik visited the kids at home AND at school, because their shoes were so....clean??

If you feel it too, and the traditional Christmas songs are starting to sound a little shrill, try this children's CD: "Giraffenaffen 4 Winterzeit". They take the usual holiday songs and give them a more modern twist, and also translate them loosely into German, so that "Jingle Bells" has the refrain "Schlittenfahrt im Schnee" , for example. You can find some of the songs on Youtube. And the best part: even though they are made for children, they are a pleasure to listen to - think Laurie Bergner, but different bands.

You can also find one (yes, not a typo) German eMusic CD at the digital library of the Goethe Institut (it's free to join, and they do have a lot of other stuff). Another good way to listen to German holiday music is is this radio station - it gives you a good insight into what counts as typical Christmas music in Germany (Wham's "Last Christmas", anyone?) and you choose what you like from acoustic to kids to Schlager.

Enjoy listening, and happy holidays!

We heard that some of you are exhaaausted by trying to figure out if it is der/die/das DANK Haus, der/die/das Klasse und der/die/das Verzweiflung! What are the rules? Tell me how to figure it out! Germans are all in for rules, so give it to me!

Well... there are only few rules, but some tricks and tips will help you to decide on the right article.

First of all, separate the grammatical gender from the perceived gender of something: the girl is "das Mädchen" (neuter), the stereotypically very masculine saw is "die Säge" (feminine), while the perhaps rather neutral lawn in front of your house is "der Rasen" (masculine). See, they don't correspond, so don't go down that rabbit hole!

Secondly, while there are only few rules (read this for a more comprehensive collection), a very stable one is that words that end in "-ung" will always be "die" (die Verzweiflung).

And finally, make a best guess: the most used article in German is feminine (used with almost 50% of nouns), your second-best guess is masculine (about 34% of nouns), and least used is the neuter article (only about 20% of nouns require this one).

Oh, and here is a bonus-tip (don't tell your teach!): all plural forms take "die", so if in doubt simply use the plural form: der/die/das Klasse ist super  ➡️ die Klassen sind super!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you. Even if everything is soooooo different, so anders this year.

But, who is better known for grand humor than the Germans?! Uhm... weill, we rounded up some Witze (jokes) anyways, all about food and eating. Smile on! Maybe.

Veganer essen nicht. Sie grasen. (Vegans don’t eat. They graze.)

"Deine Zähne sind wie Duisburg und Bochum." "?"  "Da ist noch Essen dazwischen!" (A word play on the city of “Essen” - don’t make me try and explain!)

‍ "Schatz was gibt es zu essen?"  "Nichts!"  "Das gab es schon gestern!"  "Ich hab auch für zwei Tage gekocht!" (“Honey, what’s for dinner?” “Nothing!” “We had that yesterday already!” “I did cook for two days.”)

️ Ober: "Wie fanden Sie das Filetsteak, mein Herr?" Gast: "Ganz zufällig, als ich das Gemüse beiseite schob." (Okay, another word play, this time on the word “finden”, which can mean to find, but is also used in sentences to show that you (not) like something.)

Fressen zwei Kannibalen einen Clown. Da meint der eine: "Der schmeckt aber komisch!" (Two cannibals eat a clown. Says one cannibal to the other:”This tastes funny.”)

The results are back, and our kids made it onto the presidential honor roll of the National German Exam (NGE) hosted by the American Association of Teachers of German (AATG). How cool is that! Click here to see for yourself! Our teaching philosophy is to have children learn with heart, hands, and brains, and we are so excited to see that this is paying off! Of course, we could not have these results without our parents supporting their childrens’ learning. Vielen Dank!

And today our Deutsche Sprachdiplom students are writing a test-like essay to prepare for the real DSD test next year. This will help the teachers and students idetntify in which areas the students already excel and in which we might focus a bit more on. I suspect it might be capitalization, verb placement and prepositions, but who knows! :D

Interested to learn more about the test and how to learn modern, authentic German? Contact us at kinderschule@dankhaus.com, or click here.

If you have followed German news, you know that, just like in the rest of the western hemisphere, Corona Virus cases are surging. And just like everywhere (well, almost), the government wants people to stay home as much as possible. To this end they recently released

 THIS VIDEO CLIP

- watch and see if you can figure out why Germans might think it's funny!

Laterne, Laterne, Sonne, Mond und Sterne! Who has this song stuck in their head? Certainly everyone who takes part in our Kinderschule! Yesterday, we upheld the tradition of Laterne laufen to bring some light into these darker days, and fill the crisp air with joyous childrens' song! It was great fun watching the older Eulen lead the way in song (and running) while the younger Sternenschnuppen watched with big eyes, and even tentatively sang along with the big kids!

Thank you all for coming (and wearing masks, and being socially distanced, and using hand sanitizers)! See you again next year?!

Chicago, IL — November 4, 2020 — 

For over 50 years, the DANK Haus has provided German language classes on Saturday for children of all ages as well as cultural events such as Fasching, Laternenfest and St. Martinstag. 

The DANK Haus Kinderschule is part of the PASCH initiative ("Schools: Partners for the Future“) which is a global network of more than 2000 schools that maintains a close relationship to both, Germany and German language. Amidst our popular preschool, kindergarten and elementary school classes on Saturday, the demand for a weekday German immersion program became apparent in the previous year.  

After several months of working with the Illinois State Board of Education, the DANK Haus Kinderschule is now formally registered as a nonpublic school in the state of Illinois. “The DANK Haus is honored with this news as it sets the framework for expanding our school to the upper grades while being a cost-effective option to our community,” states Monica Jirak, Executive Director DANK Haus German American Cultural Center.

he DANK Haus is happy to provide an alternative affordable option for our community and remains committed to COVID-19 regulations by following the strict guidelines set forth by the Center for Disease Control (CDC), the Illinois and Chicago Department of Public Health (IDPH & CPDH). “The health and safety of our students and our community is of utmost importance and a top priority, “ explains Danica Polanski, Language Program Director at the DANK Haus. 

Polanski further highlights: “People are understanding that raising children bi- or multilingual builds a strong foundation for all learning. Speaking a second language improves memory, problem-solving and critical-thinking skills, enhanced concentration, the ability to multitask, and better listening skills.”

The Kinderschule program is a German immersion program. It is a play- and project-based program where students have time for open play with the other children, along with structured projects that incorporate different themes of the seasons. The students work on seasonal or cultural projects during the year which will cover science, reading, mathematical concepts, music, art, and crafts. All of these activities take place in German.

The kindergarten and elementary school programs also prepare the students for first grade by offering Language Arts and Mathematics in English every day to ensure a smooth transition to first grade. All other subject areas take place in German to foster German bilinguals in the classrooms. 

Our DANK Haus Kinderschule teachers have extensive teaching experience in early childhood and in teaching German as a second language. Their knowledge of child development  fosters our students’  intrinsic motivation in all areas of academic and social emotional development to become a life-long learner!

“Being a registered school by the Illinois State Board of Education truly opens the doors for our transformation efforts at our school and we are thrilled for the future possibilities,“ states Polanski.

Today, we all turned our clocks back an hour, because there's no need to save any more of that beautiful daylight out there. Luckily, our phones do this automatically, so we don't have to agonize over remembering if we should turn the clock forward or backward. Although a wise person once devised this "Eselsbrücke": Since you put your lawn chairs back into the shed in the winter, you also turn the clock back. And vice versa, lawn chairs are brought forward in the summer, hence the clock moves forward, too. Neat, isnt't it, even we don't live in the dark old days of 20 years ago any more, where we actually had to manually change our clocks.

Fun fact: Europe is trying to get rid of "Winter- und Sommerzeit". But, it ain't that easy, as countries have different preferences: some want to stay on "summer time", others want "winter time". Why? Because, assuming that the EU decided to adopt winter time, the sun would be up at 3:45 am in Berlin in the summer. On the opposite end, if the EU would adopt summer time, Mallorca (Spain) would see the sun rise after 9am in the winter. So what to do? As of now, nothing - the idea might slowly die in the EU parliament. But you can read more about it here. ☀️