It's raining cats and dogs!
Your turn: Turn to the person beside you. In one sentence, tell them what that saying really means, without saying the word rain.
What picture do the words paint in your head? Why would anyone say that?
These sayings sound like nonsense until you know the secret meaning. Listen first. Do not worry about the spelling.
Your teacher will say each saying aloud. Imagine the picture the words paint in your head. Then hear what it really means.
Use the cards with your teacher. One saying at a time.
Ich verstehe nur Bahnhof
A German child might say this when a lesson has gone right over their head.
Il pleut des cordes
French chooses ropes where English chooses cats and dogs.
You have just met sayings from German and French. Other languages keep picture-sayings too.
You do not need a new saying. Just listen for which language it sounds like.
Listen to each short clip. Your teacher will play it twice. Then decide together which language you heard.
Your only choices: German · Spanish · French · Irish
Open your copy. Write one saying from home that would puzzle a visitor, and what it actually means.
It can be one you heard today, one your family uses, or one you have always said without thinking. Write the saying first, then the real meaning underneath.
Here is a quick key before the map:
Open the map of Europe together. Find Germany. Find France. Say which saying belongs with each country (use the key). Everyone else: thumbs up if you agree.
Notice how close these languages sit to one another on the same small continent. You can also find Spain and Ireland, whose languages you heard in the listening game.
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