Thursday, 10 March 2011

Klok kijken (Telling the time) en onderwerpen (Subjects)

_____________Klok kijken - telling the time.

Hoe laat is het?
Het is twaalf uur. Het is vijf over twee.Het is kwart over drie

Het is half vier ( In Dutch 'Half ' means before the hour , so in this case half past 3- half an hour to four....)
Het is tien voor half vier, het is tien over half vier. Het is zeven uur.
Het is al laat ( it is already late) het is nog vroeg ( It is still early).
Het is kwart voor zes, het is bijna (almost) zes uur.

If in doubt when trying to tell someone the time, you may use the digital clock. So you can say 'Vijf uur vijf-en-veertig' instead of  'kwart voor zes.'     Drie uur twintig instead of tien-voor-half-vier.

________________________________

Some important vocabulary for school:

Kring     - circle time
Ochtendkring - morning circle             Boekenkring     - bookcircle                    Nieuwskring-    news circle
Taal   - language
Spelling    - spelling
Rekenen    - arithmetic
Lezen   - reading
Wereld orientatie:       aardrijkskunde en geschiedenis-    geography and history
Tekenen    - drawing (art)
Handvaardigheid    -   craft
Muziek
Drama en Dans
Engels ( from group 7 but now increasingly from nursery)
Gym
Meester, juf, kinderen, meisjes, jongens      -   Sir, Miss, children, girls, boys
Schoolbord   - blackboard
School plein   - playground


A typical day would start with 'ochtendkring'. Most schools work with 'een week plan'. The children partly plan their own work and know what they have to achieve that week. They often work in small groups in various corners of the class. At break time – 'Pauze'- they first have a drink and snack – 'eten en drinken'- and then outside play - 'buiten spelen'-.
There is often an instruction table -'een instructie tafel' - in the class room where pupils -'leerlingen'- can go if they need more explanation on topics or extra support.
Gym, like here, is usually about twice a week.
You already have notes on the school system in the Netherlands. Here is a little simple graph to remind you how it works....







Monday, 7 March 2011

So where are we now?

Last Friday we revised the verbs ( doing words ) covered so far;  hebben ( to have), zijn (to be), willen (to want), spreken ( to speak), mogen ( to be allowed - may) , wonen ( to live), heten ( to be called) en houden van ( to love)

Some of the words describing moods, feelings etc that we have covered so far:
Blij - happy, glad
Groot -  big
Knap - clever
Moe - tired
Aardig - nice, kind
Mooi - beautiful
Snel - fast

We touched on the months of the year which are very similar in Dutch:
Januari
Februari
Maart
April
Mei
Juni
Juli
Augustus
September
Oktober
November
December

A handy online tool is http://www.freedict.com/onldict/onldict.php for instant dictionary help.
For instant translation you may want to consider a version of Babylon.
We have already done a fair amount of nouns and will do more next Friday, with an emphasis on words that reflect classroom situations.

I'm planning to start with the days of the week and telling the time as well and we'll work a little more on how to ask questions.

Wie is dat?
Hoe heet hij?
Hoe oud is zij?
Waar is dat?
Wat is dit?
Waarom heb jij dat niet?
Hoeveel kost dit?
Welke is het?  Welke dag is her vandaag?
Wanneer kom jij?

Spreek jij Engels? Ik spreek Engels, Spaans en Duits maar geen Nederlands.
Wil jij koffie? Nee, dank je. Mag ik thee?
Mag ik een glas water? Ja, graag. Heb je lekker water?
Heb jij een pen? Of een potlood?Of een kleur potlood?
Woont hij in Breda? Wonen zij in Nederland?
Heet jij Jan? Heet zij Lies?

Maandag  -  Monday
Dinsdag  -  Tuesday
Woensdag  -  Wednesday
Donderdag  -  Thursday
Vrijdag  -  Friday
Zaterdag  -  Saturday
Zondag  -  Sunday

Monday, 28 February 2011

Some revision pointers

So far we have covered introductions, numbers, some verbs and a fair amount of vocabulary.
Try to mix and match and write new sentences with the phrases you have so far. I'll happily correct any work on Fridays and you'll find this hands on approach an effective learning tool.
Just a recap on the verbs:

Ik ben     -I am
Jij/ U (polite form) bent  - You are
Hij/Zij  is   -  He/ She is
Wij zijn   - We are
Jullie zijn   - You (plural) are
Zij zijn   - They are
____________________________
Ik ben moe - I am tired       Hij is ziek  - He is sick     Zij zijn blij- They are happy   
Jij bent boos- You are cross      Jullie zijn klein - You (pl) are small      Ik ben twee en twintig- I am 22
Ik ben Nederlander (masculine) Ik ben Nederlandse- I am Dutch.

Ik heb   -   I have
Jij hebt   -  You have
Hij/Zij heeft   -  He/ She has
Wij hebben   -   We have
Jullie hebben   -   You (pl) have
Zij hebben   -   They have
_______________________________

Ik heb een huis -   I have a house      Jij hebt geld  -  You have money  Zij heeft een taart  -  She has a cake
Wij hebben een auto  -  We have a car     Jullie hebben een boek  -  You (pl) have a book
Zij hebben een pen   - They have a pen
If you want to say you don't have something:   Ik heb geen potlood - I don't have a pencil
Zij heeft geen zin  -  Shedoesn't feel like it ( She has no inclination)
Heb jij, voor mij, van de serie ' in de keuken', een mes?
_________________________________
Remember to go over the numbers so you don't need to look at them to remind yourself.
Once you get to 'twintig' you continue by counting up one and twenty, two and twenty and so on. Exaggerate the 'g' sounds, it actually makes your pronounciation more authentic!
twee-en-twintig (22), drie-en-twintig (23)   dertig (30) vijf-en-dertig (35)  veertig (40) acht-en-veertig (48)
vijftig (50), zestig (60), zeventig(70), tachtig (80), negentig (90) negen-en-negentig (99) honderd (100)  honderd-veertien (114) honderd-drie-en-veertig (143)

Some background information on the Netherlands


The Netherlands is often called 'Holland'. This is an inaccurate name. North and South Holland are just 2 of the 12 provinces which make up the united kingdom of the Netherlands.
Historically, those 2 provinces have been very important as they house the Capital, Amsterdam, and the seat of government, den Haag. Calling the Netherlands 'Holland' can be compared with calling the UK 'England' though most Dutch people don't feel as strongly about it as Scotts might do and often make the mistake themselves.
Things you probably know about the Netherlands; almost everyone has a bike and cycle paths make life easier and safer for cyclists. Its 16.000 sq miles are densely populated and the polders are well known abroad as they've been reclaimed from the sea and have been turned into agricultural land and livingspace.
Amsterdam has some very famous museums among them the van Gogh Museum and het Rembrandt Huis.
Many tourists also visit the famous 'Achterhuis' where Anne Frank wrote her diary during the war years and which has been preserved as a memorial to her and all the Jews who perished in concentration camps.
Amsterdam has many some 160 canals criss crossing the city. It is sometimes called Venice of the North. A canal trip is well worth taking as you get a real feel for the city from the canal boat vantage point.
The diamond industry is big in Amsterdam and it's worth  visiting a diamond factory.
We watched a couple of youtube films on the country last Friday. This is the link to one of them: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYGKuwqksz0

If you are going to be absent for lessons for any reason, please e-mail or text me, but remember, we only have 10 weeks in this course, so please make a point of being at classes.
I was impressed with the level of understanding of Dutch last Friday. It's really an achievement after 4 weeks.
Keep up the revising as I'm keen to introduce more vocabulary and verbs next week...





Thursday, 10 February 2011

Nijntje Pluis / Miffy....

Nijntje is everywhere in The Netherlands and you'll see  Dick Bruna books in all the schools.
If you'd like to hear the books read, have a look at http://www.nijntje.nl/
There are other kid's activities on the site as well.

Nijntje Pluis'was born' in 1955 and is probably Dick Bruna's most famous creation. The books have rhyming text in Dutch. There is a Bruna House which fans can visit in Utrecht and a statue of 'Nijntje' on her very own square ' het Nijntje Pleintje'...



Monday, 7 February 2011

Week 2

Another good week where we covered a LOT.
I hope you remember to go over the stuff we covered for 10 or 15 minutes each day.
Try and play about with the numbers so you won't need to check them on the hand out anymore but will know them. Just saying the sentences with the verbs we have done, will help you remember them.
And if anyone wants to have another look at the 'happy families' game, here is the link for the pdf file:  http://www.jufsanne.com/spellen/leeskwartet.pdf
You may find some useful resources on jufSanne.com for your classes too.

week 1

Het Nederlandse Alphabet

A= as in aaah
B= as in bay
C= as in say
D= as in day
E= as A in dAy
F= same
G= gutteral as the ch in loCH
H= as Haah
I= as ee in mEEt
J= as in yay
K= as ca in Cabin
L= as in elle
M= same
N= same
O= as in Oh
P= as in PAY
Q= as in Scotts KUH
R= rolling, but short, as in ER
S= as in mESS
T= as in TAY
U= as in Scotts kUh
V= as in conVEY
W= as in WAY
X= as in mIX
IJ= as Y in mY
Z= same but with clear 't' at the end.

De nummers:

1 een
2 twee
3 drie
4 vier
5 vijf
6 zes
7 zeven
8 acht
9 negen
10 tien
11 elf
12 twaalf
13 dertien
14 veertien
15 vijftien
16 zestien
17 zeventien
18 achtien
19 negentien 
20 twintig