Lake Ritom/Ticino

From Piotta, in the Leventina Valley in Ticino Switzerland to the Ritom region by the steepest funicular in Europe

It’s really a very special attraction to go up to the Ritom Lake and its uncontaminated and isolated places in the Val Piora

by one of the steepest funiculars worldwide. (Click here to listen to the sentence. Which word is spoken in German?RITOM1

Once up there you have a great choice of excursions or hiking tours. We, for example, just walked around the lake in approximately three hours, picknick inluded.

(Click here to listen to the sentence and say which word is spoken in German? RITOM2)

The other day there was very little water in the lake so that there were sandy beaches I had never seen before. The surrounding was breathtakingly beautiful

thanks to a big variety of flowers, orchids included. (Click here to listen to the sentence and say which word is spoken in German?RITOM3)

Positive Psychologie/Theorie des Wohlbefindens

Wer jemandem eine Blume sät blüht selbst auf!

Zur Theorie des Wohlbefindens/positive Psychologie

Leseverständnis mit Wortschatzübersetzungen und Audios–Italienisch/Englisch

Ich habe unlängst gelesen, dass der US Psychologe der Universität von Pennsylvania Martin Seligman (English:http://www.ppc.sas.upenn.edu/bio.htm) in seiner neuen

Theorie schreibt, dass es die fünf folgenden Elemente des Wohlbefindens (benessere/wellbeing) gibt:

a)    positive Emotionen/emozioni positive/positive emotions

b)   Selbstverwirklichung/realizzazione di se stessi/self-actualization

c)    gute Beziehungen/buone relazioni /good relationships

d)    Bedeutung/importanza/importance

e)    Leistungsorientierung/orientamento verso efficacia/efficiency orientation

MOTIVATION/D/E

This post is in German, English and Italian/Diese Nachricht ist auf Deutsch, English und Italienisch. Questo articolo è in inglese, italiano e tedesco.

Scroll down and you can see my first PREZI presentation!

Da wir eine gute Portion Selbstmotivation brauchen, um eine neue Sprache zu lernen, möchte ich euch dazu einige Tipps  geben und empfehle auch das folgende

Video anzuschauen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvBHj7YQ5Mo

Also, ich kann mich motivieren, z.B./Allora, posso motivarmi, p.e. /So, I can motivate myyself, for example

-wenn ich ein Ziel habe. (Se ho un obbiettivo/if I have a goal)

- durch eine Prämie, oder Ansehen. (grazie a un compenso oppure  stima/thanks to a compensation or recognition)

- infolge Erniedrigung. (in consequenza ad un umiliazione/as a consequence of humiliation)

- wenn ich das Ziel eher als Frage und weniger als Tatsache sehe./ se vedo un obbietivo più come domanda che come fatto./if I see a goal more as a question than as a

   statement.)

-   wenn ich wirklich den Wunsch habe etwas zu tun. (se ho veramente voglia di fare una determinata cosa/if I really feel like doing a certain thing.)

-   dank der Begeisterung, das Vertrauen oder das Vergnügen etwas mit anderen Menschen zu tun.(grazie all’entusiasmo, fiducia e piacere di fare qualcosa con altre persone./

-thanks to enthusiasm, trust or pleasure of doing sth. with other people.)

-   wenn ich mich bei einem Problem frage: „Wie kann ich es lösen?“ anstatt ” Warum kann ich das nicht und warum schaff ich das nicht”

-(se, di fronte a un problema, mi chiedo: “Come posso risolverlo? invece di ” Perché non posso risolverlo?”/

-(if I ask myself in face of a problem:”How can I solve it? instead of:” Why can’t I solve it?”)

-  wenn ich mich frage: “Wer kann mir helfen z.B. eine andere Sprache  zu lernen?” oder “Welche Resourcen habe ich.”

- (se io mi chiedo: “chi può aiutarmi nell’imparare una lingua nuova?”"oppure ” Quali sono le  me risorse?.“/ if I ask mayself : “Who can, for example, help me so that I learn a new

- language?” or “which are the resorces I posses?”

- indem ich mich frage, wie ich früher ähnliche Probleme  gelöst habe./ chiedendomi come ho risolto nel passato problemi simili./by asking myself how I solved similar problems

   in the past.

Here you can also see my first PREZI presentation with sentences you can combine some fotos with and a video

about motivation due to failures!

http://prezi.com/bin/preziloader.swfMOTIVATION1 on Prezi

Ich verweise auch auf meine Beiträge auf www.langdi49.ch/, die sich mit dem Thema Motivation, “YES I CAN” oder dem Erfolgsrezept beschäftigen./I also recommend you my

contributions concerning motivation, “YES I CAN” or with the success recipe on my site www.langedi49.ch./Ho anche scritto su motivazione, “YES WE CAN”  or sulla ricetta del sucesso

su mio sito www.langedi49.ch

Zu Swissinfo.ch

Deutsch und Italienisch siehe unten/Italiano e tedesco vedi giù.

I would like to recommend www. Swissinfo.ch to language learners. On this website you have the possibility to read  articles, listen to them  or watch videos in various languages

such as, German, Italian, English, Spanish, French, Portuguese. Chinese and others  which, unfortunately, I ‘m not even capable of reading..

There are  also reports about national and international topics on sport, culture, economics, politics or science.

This video, for example, is about Mr Christoph  Zürich who brought skiing to Afghanistan.

Skiing in Afghanistan – swissinfo, posted with vodpod

To the vocabulary:

Bamian is a save haven: B. è un posto/rifugio  sicuro/ein sicherer Ort

to be driven out/ essere spinto fuori/ausgewiesen werden

ski challenge/race/gara da sci/Skirennen

sth. can be rented/qc.p uò essere noleggiato/etwas kann gemietet werden

equipment/equipaggio/die Ausrüstung

Last but not least here is a link for people interested in Swiss emigrant to Utah in the 19th century http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/culture/How_the_Swiss_founded_a_Mormon_town.html?cid=29937810

FOREIGN LANGUAGES/YOUR CAREERS/MY BLOG!

A penfriend of mine who eaches at the Ural State Pedagogical University, Institute of Foreign Languages in Yekaterinenburg, Russia

http://www.u.arizona.edu/~geissler/Ural State Pedagogical University.htm

has asked me to write her a paper for their conference they are holding about the importance of the knowledge of foreign languages in our careers and about the means by which

professional language skills can be obtained through self-study and in what way I integrate the material I publish on my blog into my lessons.

It would also be intersting for me to hear your, the readers, opinion on this topic!

Here below is the part of the report  where I write about the importance  of  language knowledge  for us here in Switzerland because on my blog you can find enough

ideas of how to achieve the goal by self-learning.

2.Why is the knowledge of a foreign language important for your/our career?:

In Switzerland we have 4 national languages or  more precisely German, French, Italian and Romantsch.

Beyond that approx.25% of the inhabitants are foreigners in our country .This shows very quickly how important languages are in order to communicate with one another and,

of course, to understand the cultures of the others better.

To acquire language knowledge belongs to our everyday life. People who work for banks or at international companies, in general, or for  travel agencies wouldn’t have any chances

to get a job without this knowledge. The languages represent our „natural resources“ which we do not possess.

In our globalized world languages have become more and more important. Only through communication and comprehension of the other can  we improve the world or at least avoid many misunderstandings. Imagine also that you go on a trip to a foreign country and what use this is if you can’t even speak to the people there!

I teach English and German at an international company and for some of the employees the knowledge of these languages is a must.

Besides this, I teach the above mentioned languages to people who work for the security services and for them too, the languages are essential in their jobs because of the many contacts they

have with tourists or partners.

On this video I’m explaining why I set up a blog and why I think it is useful for adult learner/students, also for those who study on their own because I give answers to questions or explain or

translate vocabulary.

Here the video you aksed me to prepare; I’m, of course, not a movie star, but I hope it will give some hints of why I do this work here!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONxpI-TCgyI

ENGLISH FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES, posted with vodpod

Downlaodable report about “ENGLISH FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES ” ENGLISH FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES

Included you can read a compostion in this sense by one of my students.

CHRISTCHURCH

Christchurch/map/interactiv

The following article is in English with vocabulary explanation in English, German and Italian.

The folgende Artikel ist auf Deutsch mit Worschatzerklärungen auf Englisch, Deutsch und Italienisch.

Il seguente articolo è in inglese con spiegazione di vocaboli in italiano, tedesco e inglese.

I know that you’ve all heard about the terrible earthquake by which Christchurch, the largest city in the South Island New Zealand, was struck (explanations of how to use this

word see below) on 22 February  2011 and that due to this catastrophe many people died and  many buildings were destroyed. Some parts of the city still seem to be without

drinking water or electricity.

Christchurch is a very nice city and has approximately 350’000 inhabitants. There are beautiful parks and excellent schools and the cosy tramway usually takes you on a

sightseeing tour around the city.

Unfortunately, the very famous ChristChurch Cathedral, which was built in the 19th century and  finished in 1904 has been very badly damaged. Its spire which reached 63 metres

above Cathedral Square  is in ruins and left only the lower tower standing.  The many buildings nearby are also ruined. The cathedral is in the centre of the city and is surrounded by

Cathedral Square. The tower had offered a good view over the centre. The cathedral also had a very impressive organ. I only hope that it still exists.

Last but not least the cathedral used to be the best known and most visited building in New Zealand!

What’s the name of the capital city of New Zealand?

I’m sorry for all this and  wish youl  good luck!

Hier noch ein Link zu einem Artikel auf Deutsch:http://www.focus.de/panorama/welt/christchurch-bisher-145-erdbebenopfer-in-neuseeland-geborgen_aid_603590.html

Worksheet:Christchurch

Kunstdenkmäler/Sights/monumenti

Deses Jahr möchte ich euch einige wichtige Kunstdenkmäler aus verschiedenen Ländern mittels meiner Fotos, Beschreibungen , Fragen oder Quiz, sei es auf Deutsch wie auf Englisch

vorstellen. Es soll sozusagen eine interdisiplinäre Arbeit werden, die ich mit der Zeit auch erweitern will, sofern ich Zeit finde und jemand interessiert ist. In der Klasse könnten

die Lernenden darüber sprechen, warum sie lieber an den einen Ort, anstatt an einen anderen gehen würden. Versucht auch selbst mehr herauszufinden über die verschiedenen

Kunstedenkmäler. Am Ende dieses Artikels gibt es ein kleines QUIZ auf Deutsch zu den verschiedenen Sehenswürdigkeiten.

Quest’anno vorrei presentarvi alcuni monumenti culturali  importani che ho visto in diversi paesi, tramite foto, testi, domande o anche quiz. Vorrei farvi fare un piccolo lavoro

interdisciplinare sia in tedesco che inglese. Spero di potervi motivare di andare a visitare qualcuno o qualche paese straniero . Col tempo vorrei ampliare il lavoro in questo senso, se trovo il tempo.(Traducete dall’italiano in tedesco oppure in inglese.) Si potrebbe anche discutere sul perché piuttosto vedere un luogo invece di un altro. Cercate anche voi stessi di trovare ulteriori inform-

mazioni in merito ai monumenti indicati.

This year I would like to present you some important cultural monuments which I’ve seen in the hope to motivate you, too to go and visit them. I’m going to show you pictures, texts

with some questions and also a quiz and it’s intended to be an interdisciplinary work in German, English and Italian. I would like to slowly  add some more articles in this sense, if I find the

time and if you should be interested in this. In class students could also discuss why they would rather visit one place instead of another. Try to find more information on the monumnets

shown here.

You can do a drag & drop exeercise if you click on this link monuments trying to match the pictures with the sentences on the right.

Unjumble the words in bold letters.

The Alhambra is located on a strategic point, with a view over the whole city of Granada/Andalucia and the a) wodaem (la Vega), and this fact leads to believe that other buildings were already

on that side before the Moslems arrived. I have, however, to say that this castle with its great gardens and fountains or its b) strapmar belong to the most beautiful cultural sights

I’ve ever seen. I would like to mention „Il Patio de los leones“ The first historical documents c)nwonk about the Alhambra date from the 9th century.

It was only after the fall of Cordoba, in 1236, that the centre of Moorish power was transferred to d) adanarG – bringing a massive influx of nobles, architects and money which led to the construction of a fabulous new castle on the hill across the river valley. It seems that the e) dirsaN Dynasty founded this castle in order to avoid persecution by Ferdinando III of Castile and

his Reconquista.

Yusuf I (1333-1353) and Mohammed V (1353-1391) are responsible for most of the constructions we can still admire today.

In 1492 Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinando of Aragon concluded the  Catholic Reconquista in the victory over the battle of Granada. Does this date remind you of another very important event? I would like to get a comment on this!!

We know that the Catholic Monarch  http://www.andalucia.com/cities/granada/alhamhistory.htm f) selrahC V ordered the demolition of a part of the

complex in order to build his palace which is nearby and which looks horrible and bulky in comparison, at least, according to me.

IDIOMS/phrasal verbs/PROVERBS

The knowledge of English idioms and phrasal verbs obviously enriches the language. (See also on www.langedi49.ch)

Es ist natürlich klar, dass Idiome/Redensarten in einer Fremdsprache sehr wichtig sind und deshalb hoffe, dass ihr welche studiert.

E’ chiaro che le espressioni idiomatiche sono molto importanti quando si studia una lingua straniera, perciò buon studio!

Here an idiom as an example:

The captain of the ship was tried in court because during the shipwreck he was only interested in saving his own

A) hair

B) skin

c) head

d) body

e) soul

For the right answer see below.

You can do a drag & drop exercise on idioms which you can correct directly online. Drag the answer on the right hand side to the corresponding part of the

sentence on the left hand side.Click here: IDIOMS

Answer: skin  (He was only looking after his own safety or interests.)

On this link:http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/theteacher/ you can find very intersting idioms connected with different sports,(ice skating

athletics, football,boxing) colours, food or the body. The videos can often be watched with or without subtitles. Sometimes, you need to have a finger in many pies.

Never put all your eggs in one basket! (Don’t risk everything all at once.)

As you learn these idioms look out for their use in English newspapers, magazines and novels and, of course, in any spoken English that you may hear. In this way you will find

out how to use them yourself in speech and writing. Try to become more aware of idioms in general and use them with caution. Good luck!

Brücken/Bridges

DEUTSCH: Wortschatz, Grammatik, Bildbeschreib

FOR ENGLISH LERNERS SEE BELOW

Wie erreicht man diesen Ponte Romano im Centovalli, Tessin? Zuerst fahren Sie nach Intragna, oder gehen zu Fuss dorthin. Man muss das Dorf durchqueren und geradeaus in Richtung Re gehen. Beim Grotto du Ri gehen wir vorbei und wandern weiter bis zur Abzweigung nach rechts. Nach weiteren 5 Minuten geht es nach links . Man muss  über die Gleise der Centovallibahn gehen und  dann durch den Wald wandern. Es geht so hinunter zum Ponte Romano. Diese hübsche Brücke stammt aus dem Jahr 1578 und ist die älteste in der Region.

Nicht vergessen nach Präpsitionen, nach, aus, zu, mit,bei, gegenüber,seit, von =immer den Dativ anwenden!

Nach den Präpositionen, durch, bis, entlang, für, gegen ohne, um= immer den Akkusativ anwenden!

Dativ und Akkusativ nach an, auf, hinter, in, neben, über, unter, vor, zwischen, ja nachdem, ob es sich dabei um ein Verb der Bewegung handelt, oder um ein Zustandsverb.

Einige Erklärungen

nach- verso-towards

zu Fuss-a piedi-on foot

Nach dem Grotto-dopo il grotto-after the grotto

nach rechts-a destra-to the right

nach links-a sinistra-to the left

durch-a traverso-through

Die wunderschöne Römerbrücke steht im Verzascatal, oder genauer in Lavertezzo.

Die führt dort über den Fluss Verzasca, Das smaragdgrüne Wasser fasziniert die

Menschen immer wieder, so dass die umliegenden Steine im Sommer von vielen

Touristen belagert werden. Die Steinbrücke mit zwei Bögen, wurde im Mittelalter ge-

baut. Nach der teilweisen Zerstörung im Jahre 1868 wurde sie 1960 neu aufgebaut. In ihrer Nähe befindet sich auch eine Kapelle aus dem 18. Jahrhundert.

in-a-in

über-a traverso-over

im Sommer-in estate-in summer

aus-dal -from

THE TOWER BRIDGE

THE TOWER BRIDGE/LONDON

Unjumble the words in bold letters

This bridge is a combined bascule and 1.noisnespus bridge. It crosses the river Thames and is close to the Tower of London, which gives it its name. It has become

an iconic symbol of London. The bridge consists of two towers which are tied together by mean of two horizontal walkways which are designed to withstand

the 2.latnoziroh forces exerted  by the suspended sections of the bridge on the landward sides of the towers.

The construction started in 1886 and it took eight 3.sraey to finish it. 432 construction workers were employed.. The two massive piers, containing over 70’000 tons of concrete, were sunk into the riverbed to support the construction. The bridge was opened on 30 June 1894 by The 4.ecnirP of Wales (future King Edward VII) and his wife The Princess of Wales (Alexandra of Denmark)

The bridge’s present colour dates from 1977 when it was painted red, white and blue for the Queen’s Silver Jubilee. Originally it was painted a chocolate brown colour.

The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate. the opening

of the San Francisco Bay into the pacific Ocean. The bridge connects the city on the northern tipp of the San Francisco Peninsula to Marin County.

Before this bridge was built the only possible short route from San Francisco and what is now Marin County, was by boat. Ferry services began

as early as 1820. In the 1920s, engineer and bridge-builder Joseph Strauss became convinced that a bridge should be built across the Golden Gate.

The construction began in 1933 and it was completed in 1937. Strauss was a pioneer in building safety, making history with innovations, including hard

hat and daily sobriety tests. The Swiss engineer Ammann was a consultant in this project.

Unfortunately the bridge in not only the most popular place to commit suicide in the USA but also the most popular place in the entire world.

One can cross the bridge on foot or by bicycle. Just do it!

ARBEITSBLATT7WORKSHEETBrücken-Bridges

FISH EXTINCTION

The words in bold letters are desribed at the end of this text.

You have certainly heard about the drammatic situtaion as far as the emptying of oceans is concerned. It’s alsmost unbelievable but once thriving populations of deep sea fish have been driven to the brink of extinction, because of the expanding fisheries.

Various species of sea fish are at such low levels that they qualifiy for the World Conservation Union’s  list. More and more associations, among them GREENPEACE or polititians ask urgently for  internationally protected reserves to place vast areas of the deep seas out of bounds to fisheries. The trawlers ( fishing nets that is dragged along the seabottom)especially should be checked and pirates arrested. Unfortunately, many, many fish end in their nets without being wanted and die without being eaten. They are called the by-catch fish. These  slow growing fish which reach a length of more than a metre long and live more than 6o years and some become sexually mature only after 30 years. So you can imagine how important it is not to eliminate this kind of fish. It seems that this by-catch fish have also become much smaller in the past 15 years.

a)On the brink of extinction means to be at risk of being extinct.

b) to be out of bounds to fisheries means that fishing is prohibited in that place.

c)Unfortunately wants to say that you wish something was not true.

Click on this link FISHEXTINCTIONand you can do an exercise dragging the word from the right and drop on the left side.

Some  of  the endangered fish species which we shouldn’t eat are:

cod/ – North Sea/il ;merluzzo/der Kabeljau;

sharks/ in the North Atlantic/ i squali/die Haie;

Chinook salmon– Pacific Nothwest / il salmone/der Lachs;

steelhead trout/ la trota-California/ die Stahlkopf Forelle;

swordfish/il pesce spada/der Schwertfisch;

bluefin Tuna- Atlantic/il tonno da pinna blu/der Blauschwanztunfisch;

Metkong Giant Catfish/il pesce gatto/der Wels;

Russian Sturgeon/il storione/der Stör;

skate/razza/der Rochen; (on the above foto)

and last but not least don’t forget the little seahorse, which is also on this red list.

Fish parts:

By the way, fish have fins to steer while travellling in the water, gills to breathe with, guts which you take out after having killed the fish, fishbones

you can’t eat, because they would choke you and eggs, of course.

If you click on the following link you can see many more fish species in danger of extinction

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2008/feb/19/endangered.sharks#/?picture=349300137&index=13

Fish extinction, posted with vodpod

-How can pirates or overfishing be stopped?

-How often do you eat fish?

-Is fish a popular food in your country?

-What kind of fish do people eat in your country?

-Do you intend to reduce fish consumption?

Please stop eating shark-fin soup, because the flavour seems to come from the broth and not the fins! Each year up to 73 million sharks are killed for these fins

which are sliced into noodle-like strips and added mainly for texture!

FISH-WORKHEEET

Please check out also on my homepage blog/E (www.langedi49.che) about Chile’s Salmonfarm eco-horror!