Anna learns a poem

Der Herbst steht auf der Leiter

We're often asked how the kids are progressing with their German. And the answer is . . . well, it depends on which day we're asked.

Hannes, who had a big head start on the girls, is becoming more and more fluent by the day. After a slower start, Lara is also increasingly beginning to try out her spoken language, and she understands much of what she hears in school. But Anna, who came to Germany speaking and understanding absolutely no German, has spent nearly two long months in school during which she's still understood . . . practically nothing!

However, last week all the children in her class were assigned a poem about fall to memorize. She worked and worked on it, and on Monday she recited it proudly for the class and for her teacher--and got an A+! Oddly, it seems to have been a breakthrough for her general language, as well: she suddenly seems to understand much more and I hear her babbling to herself and trying out new phrases with us in German, too. Success is so sweet!

If you crane your neck to the left and press on the play button below, you might be able to see and hear the maestro recite her poem in person. (She's asleep as I'm posting this, but maybe by tomorrow I'll have filmed her horizontally so you won't get a neck ache as you watch! Who knew?)