Learning foreign language vocabulary in year 7

[Tinkers]

It's quite a fundamental point in German that all nouns are capitals, so I'd be surprised if it wasn't covered in a German lesson very early on. So your DS should have known even if you didn't. He will (hopefully) already have had his German teacher correcting his work if he hasn't been writing nouns with capitals.

[BucksBornNBred]

It's quite a fundamental point in German that all nouns are capitals, so I'd be surprised if it wasn't covered in a German lesson very early on. So your DS should have known even if you didn't. He will (hopefully) already have had his German teacher correcting his work if he hasn't been writing nouns with capitals.

He does (apparently) know that, but it didn't occur to him to tell me that was the case! I never studied German so I have no idea, which makes it difficult to help with revision is all I was saying

[JaneEyre]

we always had our trusty Collins dictionary ;-

Collins on line is great too! I am using it often when I am unable to find the English word corresponding to the one I think about in French

Here it is for German:

http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictio ... ish-german" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictio ... an-english" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

When my DS started German a few years ago, I bought the book they were vaguely following at school. It helped a lot and there are a glossary and grammatical lessons at the end. They were using 'Zoom 1'. Maybe you could enquire with your DS's school? Schools nowadays do not have enough money to provide books to their pupils. So it is up to the parents to be pro-active... which -I have to say- is not always easy!

[Guest55]

Schools nowadays do not have enough money to provide books to their pupils.

I don't think that is true in most schools JE -

I've posted this site before but it may be useful to people:

http://www.languagesonline.org.uk/Hotpotatoes/Index.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[JaneEyre]

Schools nowadays do not have enough money to provide books to their pupils.

I don't think that is true in most schools JE -

Maybe I should have written 'Many state schools cannot afford all the books that their pupil would ideally need. There has been definitley a drop in the number aof books given if we compare schools nowadays and schools 10 years ago. Maths books are - I think- always given to students, but in certain others subject, books are not always easily given. I have already bought a geography book in the past to support my DS's learning.

I find it a pity books are often (how often I do not know!) no more provided in languages as I do think they help the learning process, besides all the powerpoint presentations teachers show in class and the vocab handouts.

[Bumblebeez]

Is English really the only (ex)European language that doesn't use genders?

Afrikaans has no gendered nouns, although you might not think of it as a European language. English is an official language of the Republic if Ireland, so it can use that passport to pass as a European language.

[booellesmum]

Did I miss something? What continent are we now in then? Have we become a part of North America or Africa maybe without me realising? Please don't let it be Antarctica, I hate the cold.

[Bumblebeez]

Did I miss something? What continent are we now in then? Have we become a part of North America or Africa maybe without me realising? Please don't let it be Antarctica, I hate the cold.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_l ... al_genders" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; A better answer is that Finnish, Hungarian and Estonian, the Uralic languages, are European languages without gendered nouns. Afrikaans and English are the only non gendered Indo European languages linked to Europe.
As I don't think any of the above are taught at KS3, we're all stuck with learning genders.

In July when our German exchange was staying at the same time as another German guest, they had a funny conversation: they had to consciously agree the gender of sharon fruit/persimmon, not native to Europe. They called it Kaki, and agreed on feminine.

[JaneEyre]

I find this advert of a grandpa learning a foreign language before reuniting with his loved ones living abroad particularly touching and charming:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/christmas/20 ... es-hearts/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Edited due to many typing mistakes. My fingers really got muddled up!

[salsa]

Loved it, thank you for sharing. I did do the post it all over the place too! And I've seen grandparents learning English for the same reason.
However, the linguist in me was screaming "talk to your grandchild in Polish and give her the gift of another language and culture".

Salsa