‘Erdbeere’ is German for a strawberry, and the word means ‘earth-berry’. Old English had an earth-berry too, alongside another name, and only one of the two made it into modern English.
In the PDF are 10 black-and-white cards on ‘Erdbeere’, a sources page and summary pages. The cards laminate and clip onto a ring as a deck, and the summary pages print and are ready.
What’s included
The basket with two halves - which other berry once shared the name.
The market stall - the two names Old English had for the same fruit, and which one won.
Die, die, die - why every berry on a German fruit counter takes the same article.
A sources page and a short guide for the adult.
For personal use in home education and tutoring only.
Who it’s for
KS3 and KS4 German learners on a food or shopping topic
Learners sorting out noun genders, who can use one rule for a whole group of fruit words
Learners who have met ‘Erde’ or ‘Erdkunde’ and spotted the same start here
Dyslexic learners and those in specialist tuition, who keep a word more easily when it splits into parts they already know
Home-educated children learning German
Parents and adults learning German alongside a child
Why this exists
‘Erdbeere’ looks long, but both halves are words an English speaker can almost read already: ‘earth’ and ‘berry’. Once a learner sees that, the word stops being a string of letters to memorise, and the other berry names that end the same way come with their gender settled.
I first made these for my dyslexic son.
How it prints
The deck is the 10 cards and the sources page, printed on one side only, then laminated, trimmed, punched at the top-left corner and clipped onto a binder ring. You’ll need a printer, a laminator and a ring, as the deck doesn’t come ready-made. It goes in a bag or stays on the dinner table, and the fruit-counter card is handy to pull out before a trip to a German supermarket. The summary pages are print-and-go, with no laminating.
Available now as a PDF download.
‘Erdbeere’ is German for a strawberry, and the word means ‘earth-berry’. Old English had an earth-berry too, alongside another name, and only one of the two made it into modern English.
In the PDF are 10 black-and-white cards on ‘Erdbeere’, a sources page and summary pages. The cards laminate and clip onto a ring as a deck, and the summary pages print and are ready.
What’s included
The basket with two halves - which other berry once shared the name.
The market stall - the two names Old English had for the same fruit, and which one won.
Die, die, die - why every berry on a German fruit counter takes the same article.
A sources page and a short guide for the adult.
For personal use in home education and tutoring only.
Who it’s for
KS3 and KS4 German learners on a food or shopping topic
Learners sorting out noun genders, who can use one rule for a whole group of fruit words
Learners who have met ‘Erde’ or ‘Erdkunde’ and spotted the same start here
Dyslexic learners and those in specialist tuition, who keep a word more easily when it splits into parts they already know
Home-educated children learning German
Parents and adults learning German alongside a child
Why this exists
‘Erdbeere’ looks long, but both halves are words an English speaker can almost read already: ‘earth’ and ‘berry’. Once a learner sees that, the word stops being a string of letters to memorise, and the other berry names that end the same way come with their gender settled.
I first made these for my dyslexic son.
How it prints
The deck is the 10 cards and the sources page, printed on one side only, then laminated, trimmed, punched at the top-left corner and clipped onto a binder ring. You’ll need a printer, a laminator and a ring, as the deck doesn’t come ready-made. It goes in a bag or stays on the dinner table, and the fruit-counter card is handy to pull out before a trip to a German supermarket. The summary pages are print-and-go, with no laminating.
Available now as a PDF download.
