My friends consider me someone who gets a lot done. And in truth, I usually do get a lot done in the course of the day. But for the last couple weeks, I felt like I was spinning my wheels; although I was getting up an hour earlier, nothing was getting done. My to-do list had the same things on it, day after day. I felt like I was wading through molasses trying to do a simple task like putting a new book on the website or returning a phone call.
Then it hit me: I didn’t have a prepared environment.
I had started working in the kitchen on my laptop early in the mornings to avoid waking the children by using the upstairs office. My laptop is nowhere near as convenient to use as the office computer, the kitchen chair is not as comfortable as the office one and I don’t have my files nearby.
I immediately corrected my error, moved back into the office, being extra careful not to make any noise, and I’m back on track!
What is a prepared environment?
The prepared environment is a term from Montessori theory. It means that an environment can be designed and supplied to facilitate maximum independent learning and exploration by a child. In a Montessori classroom, this means having all the materials needed for a particular activity in one place. You might see a tray set up to teach sharpening a pencil (yes, they really do teach this!). The tray would have a pencil, a small sharpener, a little bowl to catch the shavings, and a brush to sweep up any debris that might fall down. In short, everything the child needs to do this activity.
If a teacher is showing a child this activity, she doesn’t have to stop in the middle, interrupt her presentation and go running to get a needed item. Instead, with a comfortable workspace and everything provided beforehand they can focus on the lesson at hand.
If you apply this term to your own environment, you’ll see that having a prepared environment goes a long way toward making your own working / learning/ teaching times as productive as possible.
How can you set up a prepared environment as it relates to your use of German?
Before you can prepare the environment, you need a plan. Once you have a plan, you’ll know that you need certain materials at certain times of the day. For instance, maybe you plan to play a German audiobook during your times in the car with your kids. Don’t wait until you’re walking out the door to make sure your audiobook is handy and ready to play. Similarly, if you want to hold German read-aloud time every afternoon, make sure your German books are handy right next to a cozy spot on the couch. You can collect your kids, sit down, and start reading.
The same goes for your own personal German study – keep all your materials in one place and pick a time and place when you won’t be interrupted (as much as is possible). Have a nice workspace free of clutter. Ahem – I speak from experience when I say that the middle of the house with activity going on all around you is not a good place to concentrate on something 
The prepared environment is a fancy term, but it doesn’t necessarily mean you need to go to a lot of trouble or spend a lot of time creating one.
With just a little forethought and attention to what you want to accomplish, you can make a big difference in how productive and effective your time is.
I’m back to being my old self – getting things done and moving forward with my to-dos and plans. Now that my environment is optimized, I am much happier. And that leaves me free for the rest of the day to concentrate on my family!
Do you have a German immersion plan?
If not, you could feel like you’re treading water and not making any progress. I invite you to check out our free e-book, Creating your German Immersion Plan. How to Plan for Bilingual Success in Your Family.
Hoppe, hoppe, Reiter with CD is a beautiful compilation of children’s rhymes! The illustrations are classic with monochromatic color schemes for each rhyme and full of smiling toys, oven mitts, and moon (to name a few). Each illustration has children, toys, animals, or a combination of them all. It really captures the whimsy of childhood.
The book features 13 wonderful rhymes from classics like “Hoppe, hoppe, Reiter”, “Hopp, hopp, hopp!”, “Backe, backe Kuchen” , “Ri, ra, rutsch”, and “Schlaf, Kindchen, schlaf!” to my new favorites such as “Morgens früh um sechs”, “Heile, heile Segen”, “Es regnet, es regnet”, and “Ringel, ringel, Reihe”.
The CD makes this very good book extraordinary. The rhymes are read so clearly and slowly that it’s easy for children (and adults) to learn and memorize them! Eight of the rhymes are sung, many of them have introductions and tag lines at the end, some are also repeated with musical renditions in between, and most of the rhymes whether read or sung have sounds that match the theme.
The CD and the book complement each other perfectly or they could be used separately. The CD is just the right length to keep the attention of children five and younger. It’s fun for my baby and I to follow the book along with the CD because it’s like Oma is not only reading them but also singing them to you.
Hoppe, Hoppe Reiter (w/CD)
Age recommendation: Newborn – age 3
Fluency recommendation: Beginner and up
Submitted by Rebecca Bluemel
Meine erste Lernspieldose: Spielen und Schreiben
It had to be fun, coming out of a tin can!
Colorful, easy to hold and many of them is a preschooler’s definition of fun cards. Housed in a tin box, there are about half a dozen different ‘types’ of the 50 cards to correspond to various degrees of literacy as illustrated in the picture.
My 3 1/2 year old beginner enjoys figuring out the easier cards (which letter is not like the others, which letters are missing from alphabet (I read them to her now; the cards can be used on her own as she gets comfortable with sight recognition). She also really likes the rhyming pairs, in which she must match pictures (Tanne/Kanne, Haus/Maus). I particularly like the cards which feature 5 letters to which the child is to match drawings (Mit welchem Buchstaben beginnen die Bilder?)
As she progresses, other cards have you combine words with pictures to make new words (the word Wasser followed by an illustration of a rooster for Wasserhahn). Cards ask “Welches Wort passt zum Bild?” and show a picture (such as Fenster) with two like words underneath (Fenster, Fernseher). Answers to each card on are printed on the back.
I find this tin quite a bargain when you realize these cards can be with your child as they begin learning the alphabet, as they begin to read words, and to write and compose sentences. I’ve also found myself grabbing a few cards to keep in my purse to pull out when my daughter and I have a few minutes as we go about our day. And there is something fun and magical about cards for little hands which makes this tangible learning tool a step up from book learning!
Meine erste Lernspieldose: Spielen und Schreiben
Skill recommendation: Beginner and up
Age recommendation: The box says 4 and up, but a number of these cards (in particularly finding rhyming pictures) can be used as soon as your child expresses interest in words and letters.
By Veronica Dzugan
Note: From time to time, we’re going to be featuring reviews from our customers. This is a guest post by Veronica Dzugan. Thanks, Veronica!
 Nadya with her ABC Poster Alphabet letters and children’s’ rooms seem to go together.
The difficulty is finding a good letter poster in which a) your children can actually see all the letters and b) is attractive enough to complement room decor! Fortunately the “German ABC-Poster” has fulfilled my requirements and has proven to be hit with my children.
My typical three year old daughter Nadya’s first reaction was to find the N and exclaim “aber das N ist nicht für Nadya!” And I personally had to get over the shock of A not being for ‘Affe’; indeed, this poster features an exotic world of lettered animals. Along with Gans, Nashorn und Seepferdchen, there is the Arassari and Dromedar (As I was stuck on the avian ‘A’, I very quickly found the helpful listing of animals and their natural habitat on the backside).
As the artistic drawings are realistic in a subdued color scheme, I see no reason this poster needs to be relegated to the back room for educational purposes only. It is a tall and narrow poster (good fit for doors) but we have ours hung up in the hallway as you come down the stairs, which makes it easier see the top animals.
Nadya sits on the stairs and studies it, noting that many animals are doing something typical for them: the Nashorn bores it’s horn through the letter, the Vielfrass is chomping on the V and Loewe looks like he owns the poster.
As I’m gearing up for my children to enter the literary world as active participants, I am finding it very helpful to have various activities scattered around the house to provide ample opportunity for passive and active exposure to letters. My little learners pass this poster numerous times during the day and love it when we sit down to take a closer look at which fascinating creature offers our letter of the day.
German ABC Poster
Age recommendation: Ages 3-6
Fluency recommendation: Beginner and up
Submitted by Veronica Dzugan
A warning before you start reading: This is a rant. I’m mad. I hope you won’t be offended by what I have to say here. It’s important and I think it needs to be said. Maybe it will help someone else avoid falling into the same trap.
 Photo credit: Nicholasro
Are you your own worst critic?
We parents can be so hard on ourselves. Have you found yourself not at the level you had hoped for when beginning your bilingual journey with your family? Did you envision cozy scenes with the children chatting away in German or devouring German book after book, admiring relatives looking on and nodding their admiration at your bilingual prodigies?
I had this vision.
My family’s use of German unfortunately does not look like this fairy tale vision. We have lost ground these past 12 months, and I began to feel very sorry for myself at our “failure” to become a true bilingual family. I heard myself thinking things like “my kids don’t understand any German” (so not true), “it’s a pointless to keep at this” (also not true) and “it’s the same thing with each kid – we start out great and then little by little, the German fades away.” I was beginning to think it was a lost cause and I should just give up on having kids who grow up sharing my and my husband’s love of German.
I had fallen into the trap of being my own personal bully.
I was beating myself up, being incredibly hard on myself and us without any consideration for our circumstances or the successes we did have. For goodness sake, the situation wasn’t nearly as bad as you would have believed had you listened to me on one of my unhappy days. I was exaggerating the bad and ignoring the good.
Luckily I recognized this. Once I saw it for what it was, I was able to take action.
Here’s what I’ve learned about my own inner bully and how I’m fighting back:
1. Bullies need to be put in their place.
Those negative thoughts weren’t doing me or my family any good. They certainly weren’t getting me any closer to my goals for bilingualism. Once I realized this, I was able to refute those negative statements with the truth about our German. Yes, we weren’t speaking as much German as I wanted. I needed to make a plan to get us back on track. Self-pity wasn’t getting me any closer to my goals; planning would stop the backslide and get us moving forward again.
Sure, we did great when each kid was a baby – it’s easy to talk to a baby in German (at least it’s easy for me). My challenge is when they approach the age of 3. I needed to acknowledge the challenges and look for strategies to help.
2. Bullies back down when confronted…
… even when the bully is you. Tell your inner bully that you won’t be pushed around. If you’re not where you want to be, start setting goals and working on a plan. Even one small change a day can add up over time. Especially if you have a plan, you can start making progress. Once you build up momentum, you’ll feel so much better about the whole issue. Your personal bully will be silenced.
3. Bullies are afraid of a crowd.
If you have some friends by your side, your inner bully won’t taunt you with lies. That’s why it’s so important to have a good support network, either through friends and family, or through an online support group like our Bilingual Parenting Forum.
Bullies like to hit you when you’re down.
Your inner bully knows when you’re most vulnerable. That’s why I was succumbing to negative thoughts about our German when other things were tough. Whether it was a bad school day with the kids or illness in the family, those were the days when I felt the worst about our prospects for German. And those were the days I should have known to ignore the negativity about German. A bad day is not the time to make big decisions. Sometimes it’s as simple as a good night’s sleep to put everything in a different light.
Instead of letting the bully drag you down, just tell him (yourself) you’re not going to listen and you’ll consider the problem in the morning. Maybe by then it won’t even be a problem! How many times have I despaired over something in the evening only to have a totally different perspective in the morning!
Can you ever get the bully to leave town for good?
I’m not sure if you can completely banish him; he’ll always be looking for opportunities to throw a punch. But since bullies are cowards, it’s not hard to fight back. A good dose of perspective, a plan and good support will ensure you don’t succumb to his influence.
I’ve spent some time battling my own inner bully by making new plans for German in our family.
We’re already reaping the results! It’s exciting to see changes taking place. I know it won’t always be easy but at least we now agree about what we want and we have a plan for how we’ll get there. It’s a whole lot better than letting that bully call the shots. I’m done with him. He has no control over me any more.
Do you have a plan for your family’s German immersion efforts?
If you need some instruction or inspiration, we invite you to look to our free e-book Creating your German Immersion System: Planning for Bilingual Success. There’s support waiting for you in our Bilingual Parenting Forum. I’ll be there. I’ll hope you’ll join me.
My youngest son turned 3 last week and one of his presents was Das grosse Vorschul-Paket. I needed something to keep him busy while his brothers are doing schoolwork and I thought this might do the trick. I’ve not been disappointed. What fun we’ve had! I took lots of pictures because you really have to see this book to understand what it’s about.
This book is actually a set of pages packed with pop-ups, cards, flaps and such that teach different concepts in German. The book covers colors, numbers, abcs, sorting and order, comparisons, counting, und, und, und. Honestly there is a ton of stuff packed in here. It’s all very colorful and attracted this 3 year old’s attention.
Below you see the board game page. The child is supposed to move the mouse piece along the path, counting or using the pop-up die from the next page to determine how many steps to take. Along the way there are flaps with shapes and colors underneath that the child must identify in order to proceed. The little house is really neat.
 - Board game page
Below you see the page on numbers, shapes and sorting. So much to see and do on this page. Things to count, colors to find, comparisons to make. This is a page that works well with a parent. The directions indicate you should engage your child by asking questions like “Wer ist größer: Der Schmetterling oder der Bär?”, “Wer ist erster?”, “Was ist auf dem Tisch?” Was ist unter dem Tisch.”
 - Numbers, colors, and order
We spent the most time with the dominos today. Very cute idea – easy for his little hands to hold. He got some good counting practice in here!
 - Dominos
And more domino work.
 - More dominos
This page has a tear-out clock and a memory game. Also pattern cards that you can use to make beautiful mandelas.
 - Telling time
The last page has a “Schnelligkeitsspiel” – a game to encourage fast reflexes. You pull the monster’s arm up release it quickly. The elastic on the arm pulls it down to the monster’s mouth. The child is supposed to catch the arm before the monster “eats” the cake he’s holding. Very fun, especially for wiggly little boys
 - “Schnelligkeitsspiel”
He liked it!
 - Fun!
I like this Paket a lot. There’s a lot to do and I think my son could play with a lot of the work it independently after I explain it to him. My 6 year old has been begging to have a turn as well.
Age and Fluency Recommendation
I think some of the activities are a bit too advanced for a young 3 year old. Telling time is way beyond Jack right now and we’re just starting with the ABCs and counting. But it is a great introduction and will get him interested. Since it’s such an interactive book, it will work for a beginning German speaker all the way through a native speaker. The parent should be able to read and speak German in order to read the directions and help the child with the activities.
Preview this book alone!
One caveat: I suggest you take some time looking through this book without your child so you understand how the pages work and you can tear apart the cards and dominos beforehand. My little guy was so eager to open all the pockets and flaps, and I had to slow him down for fear that he’d rip something open.
This is a fun book and I think we’ll get a lot of use out of it!
This way to the store page for Das große Vorschul-Paket
Stay tuned for more reviews of more German preschool titles. Viel Spass!
My little man has turned into a total book lover. Oh, joy! It does this mother’s heart such good to see him pick up a book and look through it. The examples his big brothers set are very powerful for him and he sees a lot of reading going on these days. 
His room is full of books. He likes to take them all out and look through them one by one. Unfortunately at the end of these reading sessions, his room looks like this:
Even the chair is covered with books!
So we organized a bit.
Ahh – that’s better! I put away some of the books that were either too young for him or had just fallen out of favor. I repurposed a few baskets from the rest of the house to help with storage. Now his books are sorted into a few baskets.
There’s a sweet little basket for the Pixi books and there’s plenty of room for everything.
Will it stay this way? Welllll, probably not but it’s really easy to clean up
How do you store your kids books? I’d love to hear if you’ve got a clever idea to share.
I’ve just put all the holiday and Christmas titles on sale at 50% off! If you were eyeing a particular Christmas book or that wonderful Weihnachtslieder Family Set with CD, now’s the time to act!
Plus, if you’re a newsletter subscriber, check Wednesday’s newsletter for an additional coupon.
Sale items may not be returned and the sale is only good on in stock items.
Browse all sale titles now.
I’ve become a planning junkie. It started innocently enough with putting a few deadlines in my calendar and has spread to meals, finances, schooling, business, and … interestingly German! The amazing thing I’ve discovered is that when you plan, you get a whole lot more done! (OK, maybe you already knew this but it was a bit of a revelation for me.)
I’m preparing a series on how you can plan ahead and set goals for your children’s (and your own) progress with German. As I put this together, I’m interested in your thoughts:
- Do you currently plan out goals for German in your family?
- Have you found a method you find particularly effective?
- Do you have any questions about planning for bilingualism?
Please leave your thoughts in the comments or email me directly if you prefer at smueller (at) alphabet-garten.com.
Danke!
Sarah
Note: the download giveaway is over. Thanks to all who participated!
Heute ist Nikolausabend! (It’s St. Nikolaus Eve!) It’s our tradition that we give away our popular St. Nikolaus Day Unit Study on December 5 every year. So read the story in the download, set out your shoes, make some yummy treats, turn on the Weihnachtsmusik and enjoy a favorite German holiday!
Here’s the download. Leave me a comment if you enjoyed it!
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