Hints: Text G and H


     Text G, "Meine Geschichten hängen in den Pflaumenbäumen . . . ," is from a children's book "für Leser von 6 Jahren an."  Text H, "Sein Name ist Hase!," is from the Easter edition of a daily newspaper.  The "difficulty" of each text varies considerably:

     -In terms of language difficulty, "Meine Geschichten" seem considerably simpler than the other. "Meine Geschichten hängen in den Pflaumenbäumen" has relatively short sentences: all but 2 of which are under 8 words in length, with no subordinate clauses; the 5 compound nouns are built from cognates or familiar words like "Baum", "Kampf", and "Schlaf."  It also has pictures of the plumtree, with the fictional speaker painted into that picture -- a soldier.  In contrast, "Sein Name ist Hase!" is packed with relatively obscure idiomatic compounds  (from "Volksweisheiten" and "fuchsteufelswild" to "Badenixen"), and difficult sentence construction (complex sentences with more than one clause abound).  (Note, however, that this text, in making its point that there are many ideas about the Easter Bunny in different cultures, uses a lot of English-- it gives English idioms about bunnies and their German equivalents.)

     -In terms of gender and sociological variables, therefore, "Meine Geschichten" may be less readable:  it will require student's knowledge about war, and their tolerance of reading about soldiers -- this "children's" story will require students who are willing to confront challenging issues.  In contrast, "Sein Name ist Hase!" is about the Easter Bunny -- a topic that any Christian child in the West will find very accessible. Possibly objectionable for pre-college students, this text about Easter bunnies also has in it the recipe for a mixed drink (which, however, may not register as alcoholic to an audience that does not know what "Calvados" is).

     -In terms of educational variables, particularly, the children's book "Meine Geschichten" becomes even more difficult.  The text was written before the fall of the wall for an audience of East German children.  The text asks the reader to imagine him- or herself in the position of a front-line soldier.  In later chapters, it also has the anti-war and anti-capitalist message that the East German government used to underscore its self-proclaimed identity as an anti-fascist state.  For example, such messages might confound or disturb children in a school on a US military base.  In a real sense, then, this text is a document of a cultural community that no longer exists, and so may be appropriately read as a historical document.  In contrast, "Sein Name ist Hase!" is contemporary, with very popular language.  This simplicity may be both its strength and its weakness:  the language is colloquial, which may be objectionable in curricula that try to teach "proper" German  (e.g. high register, formal expression), and the jokes in it may not be taken in their intended senses (especially the one about the "Sophisten und die Pfaffen" near the end, which treads the fine line between prejudice and humor).

PAIRS 4-6 in Exercise 1
FOLLOW-UP BRAINSTORMING