Warum bin ich auf der Welt

WDR Lachgeschichten (Stories to Make you Laugh)

From the beloved TV Kids' Show: Die Sendung mit der Maus

A very cute 3 Minute Film: Die große Frage (The Big Question)

An adorable child posts the question: WHY (IN THE WORLD) AM I HERE? (or, We might say instead: WHY AM I HERE ON EARTH?)

It's worth taking a look!


You'll need to select the film, titled: "Die große Frage."

THE SHORT FILM


---> Which answer might you have contributed?


About those answers: Did you notice that most of the them feature the German construction: "um...zu", which means "in order to"? Sometimes these two prepositions are separated, and sometimes the sentence is so simple that they can't be separated, because there's nothing else to fit between them.

Let's look at the first answer we hear to the question: Why am I here on Earth?

---- "You're here on Earth ..... in order to .... celebrate your birthday."

In German that becomes:

---- "Du bist hier auf der Welt, ... um ... dein Geburtstag ... zu ... feiern."

Using German word order, it looks like this in English:

---- "You are here "on Earth", ... in order ... your birthday ... to ... celebrate."



• I'm not sure how many times I've watched this short film. Maybe you're like me, and would like to see it again. There's plenty to watch for, artistically, too.

• When you want to focus on the German language, my suggestion is that you read along with the voices. The outline below can help. Before long, you could become the film's narrator, which would be awesome, of course! But I must admit, along with the drawings and the overall message, I also love the soundtrack.

------- > WARUM BIN ICH AUF DER WELT? < ---------

(Who do you think the speaker is in each case?)

1. .......... um Geburtstag zu feiern.
2. .......... zum schnurren . . höchsten, um zu Mäuse fangen.
3. .......... um ein Lied zu singen.
4. .......... um Geduld zu haben.
5. Natürlich...damit ich dich verwöhnen kann.
6. .......... zum bellen, zeitweise um den Mond an•zu•heulen.
7. .......... um die Meere zu bewahren.
8. .......... um zu vertrauen.
9. .......... um früh aufzustehen.
10. .......... weil wir dich lieb haben.
11. Ich habe überhaupt keine Ahnung.
12. ......... um das Leben zu lieben.
13. ......... um da zu sein.
14. ......... um die Wolken zu küssen.
15. ......... um dich selbst lieb zu haben.
16. ......... um zu kämpfen.
17. Weil ich dich lieb habe.


Warum bist DU auf der Welt? Ich denke: UM DEUTSCH ZU LERNEN!

OK! Was hast Du gelernt?

Let's see if you can find which numbers above correspond to these answers!

____ a. in order to sing a song.
____ b. in odrer to purr, and at least catch a mouse.
____ c. in order to bark, at least partly at the moon.
____ d. in order to protect the seas.
____ e. in order to kiss the clouds.
____ f. in order to love yourself.
____ i. - because I love you.

• Did you get them all right?

Let's see what you've learned. See how many of the words below you know.

--- In German, this is how they say:

--- 1. a song = ___ _________

--- 2. the moon = ___ _________

--- 3. the clouds = ___ _________

--- 4. a mouse = ___ _________

--- 5. because = ____________


• Take a look at the verbs in German. Are some of them familiar?

--- Familiar or not, do the endings all make sense to you?

--- Which verb is plural?

--- Which two verbs are used more than once? ____________ ____________

COOL!

Now, let me know if you liked any of the other videos in that digest!!

BUT: Don't just check out the vidoes. See, there are also games (or Mouse Spots); songs (LIEDER); and an introduction to the program itself (MAUS & FREUNDE). You might find that, like many German kids, you return to this web address many, many times. It's WONDERFUL!

PS. On the main MausSpots page, if you click on the pink paper sailboat, it turns itself into something else, right? Well, clicking again takes you to the BASTELN (crafts) menu. You won't be surprised, will you, to learn that one of the offerings on this page is how to make Schultüten?!