Kategorie: Thu

Wir als Studenten sind von der Corona Pandemie betroffen. Ein Online-Semester zu haben bedeutet, dass wir nicht verpflichtet sind, zur Universität zu gehen, sondern unseres Studium am Computer schaffen. Hier sind die Tipps, die ich zum Lernen von zu Hause genutzt habe.

1. Ich erstelle Wochenpläne
Das ist das Effektivste, was ich in dieser Zeit getan habe. Normalerweise schreibe ich meine ersten drei Prioritäten für den Tag oder die folgende Woche mit Kästchen zum Ankreuzen auf, so dass ich eine Aufgabe schnell mit verschiedenen Farben abhaken kann, wenn ich sie erledigt habe. So behalte ich den Überblick über die täglichen To-Dos und fühle mich gleichzeitig produktiv.

2. Ich lege mein Telefon aus meinem Sichtfeld weg
Vor jedem Kursbeginn versuche ich, mein Telefon auszuschalten, es in den Flugmodus zu versetzen oder meine Wifi-Verbindung abzuschalten, und schließlich lege ich es an einen versteckten Ort, sogar außerhalb meines Zimmers, so dass ich es während der Vorlesung nicht leicht finden kann. Das hilft mir sehr, da ich Schwierigkeiten habe, mich zu konzentrieren, wenn ich zu lange vor dem Schreibtisch sitze.

3. Ich räume meinen Arbeitsplatz auf
Es ist so verlockend, am selben Ort zu arbeiten, zu essen und zu schlafen, also versuche ich, während der Vorlesungen nicht auf meinem Bett zu sitzen. Ich versuche auch, meinen Schreibtisch hin und wieder aufzuräumen, um Müdigkeit zu vermeiden, wenn ich lernen muss.

4. Ich achte darauf, dass ich genug Licht bekomme
Den ganzen Tag auf den Computerbildschirm zu schauen ist nicht ideal für meine Augen, vor allem, weil ich kurzsichtig bin. Also sorge ich dafür, dass ich genügend natürliches Licht von draußen in mein Zimmer lasse, oder ich besorge mir eine Arbeitsplatzbeleuchtung wie eine Schreibtischlampe oder eine Tischlampe. Ich verwende eine 40- bis 60-Watt-Glühbirne zum Lesen, Schreiben und für die Arbeit am Computer.

5. Ich mache oft Pausen.
Ich verwende die Pomodoro-Technik, wenn ich mich stundenlang konzentrieren muss, weil sie mir hilft, meinen Gehirn zu entspannen und mich an das zu erinnern, was ich gerade gelernt habe. Ich mache alle 20 – 25 Minuten eine Pause.

Ich hoffe, dass ihr vielleicht einige der Tipps bekommt, wenn ihr das gleiche Konzentrationsproblem habt wie ich. Teil mir eure Techniken mit!

Date: 14/12/2020

Duration: 08:55 – 09:20

Location: Room B218, Vorkurs, Grundschule Defter Straße, Bremen

It was 8:55 AM when I entered the classroom and waited for the children to come. A week before that, I had a talk with the teacher, Claudius, and he invited me to spend a morning with the children and observe the class. It was a classroom for children who have immigration background and the kids seldom speak as well as understand German. I went inside the room and sat at the classroom’s left corner, where there is a sofa. The classroom was a small room in a rectangular shape, I suppose it was 20 square meters, was painted in green and decorated with flags from different countries on the right side, pictures of the alphabet with animals above the big blackboard. On the left side, there are two big opened windows. The sofa was located right under the window, on the left corner. In the middle of the class, there is a large blackboard. To the left of the blackboard, the teacher’s desk was located. Papers were neatly laid in the left corner of the desk. The tables are connected to each other and were formed into an opened rectangular shape with only 3 sides. 

At 9:00, four small boys came inside, followed by the teacher. Claudius introduced them to me: Prinz from Ghana, Ahmed and Abdul from Syria and Mohammed from Iraq. All of them gazed at me shortly before they looked again at Claudius. Prinz was wearing a blue T-Shirt, a green trouser, and a pair of dark blue sandals. Abdul was a chubby, round-faced boy. He was wearing a black suit and a black pair of shoes. Ahmed, the tallest boy, had a long sleeves white sweater and navy blue trousers on and Mohammed, the smallest boy among the four, and likely the youngest, was wearing a velvet sweater and white trousers. Claudius told the boys to sit down, the class started with Claudius opening a story.

Claudius sat on a thin, black office chair in the middle of the class, his back was opposite to the blackboard. Abdul sat down on his left side, opposite to Mohammed on the right side, Prinz and Ahmed sat down together in the middle table lines, face-to-face with Claudius.

The topic was “Do not steal”, which was written on the blackboard by Ms Zimmermann with a long piece of white chalk, a red-haired woman who was wearing a black T-shirt and black pants, all made from satin. She was the illustrator for the story Claudius was about to tell. He started in a languid, deep voice: “Nico was 20 years old, he is from a small town in Switzerland,  and he was going to sell some groceries to the villagers on a van”. He stopped, asked: “What must he have to drive a van?”

Prinz stood up, leaning on the yellow table, his right hand was up in the air. Meanwhile, Ahmed was staring at the blackboard with his hands on the cheeks. Claudius looked at Prinz, nodded. He mumbled a bit, I suppose he forgot what he would like to say. Then he shouted: “Driving license!”

Claudius agreed with his answer by giving Prinz a thumb up and continued to narrate the story. Abdul was staring at the empty table. Mohammed probably was not listening at all, stood up and went to the right corner of the room, where the puzzles lied. Claudius looked into the direction where Mohammed was, told him to go back to his seat. Then he continued the story: “In the van, there is a lot of food…” Ms Zimmermann opened a new package of colourful chalks and started to draw the van with different food products inside. Prinz raised his hand, spoke loudly: “I know, I know! Er-er-er…” He pointed at the board, his eyes opened widely, then he looked again at Claudius: “Please, please!” Ahmed looked aside to Prinz, frowned. I suppose because Prinz didn’t let anyone else but himself answer the question. The teacher made a sign of silence by putting his index finger on his lips, then continued with the story. He asked what kinds of food were supposed to be inside the van and looked at Abdul, who was playing with his pencil case. He gazed at the blue pencil, seemed like not noticing at all. The teacher had to call his name for his attention. He looked up, his hand reached out to the pencil case, squeezed it slightly. He then picked one pencil up and rolled it all on his forehead. Prinz, on the other hand, slid through the table line to where Claudius’ sight was, both hands up in the air, looking eagerly. Mohammed was opening his water bottle and drank out of it. 

Claudius stopped looking at Abdul and called Ahmed for the answer. Ahmed stood up, glanced at the board, put both hands on the table, leaned forward and mumbled. It seemed as though he didn’t remember the German word for those vegetables which appeared on the board. Prinz then interrupted: “Ah-ah-ah-Enten-ah-Gurken-ah-ah-Reis-ah-Tomaten!”

Claudius gave him applause and continued the story. His voice became tense, as he came to the point where some thieves came and broke into the van when Nico was not looking. Ahmed’s hid his face behind his hands, as though he was scared. He made a noisy sound by sliding his shoes on the floor. Mohammed was licking the table, didn’t seem to care about what the teacher was saying. Prinz crossed his arms, let out a small laugh and looked to Ahmed’s side. Abdul was sharpening his pencil, then stood up, took the pencil sharpener to the sink, opened and washed it. 

I could hear Claudius sigh, probably because the boys were not concentrating. He turned around, looked at the board, now full of colours. The thieves had been portrayed by Ms Zimmermann. He looked back at Prinz and Ahmed, told them that Nico came back to the van and called the police. Ahmed stood up suddenly, tilted forward, shouted: „Gefängnis!“ as he saw Ms Zimmermann draw a prison over the thieves‘ body. Prinz looked so happy, maybe because he saw that the thieves had been caught. He turned to me, smiled.

I ended the observation process at 09:20. It was so interesting to see children from different cultures coming to one classroom and spending time together. I also think that the concentration ability of children can be limited if we don’t use all senses to get their attention. The teacher was just trying to tell the story, although there was an illustration from the blackboard, it only drew 2 children’s attention. The rest was either doing their own things, or looking at the board.

Hast du dir Gedanken darüber gemacht, wie wir Weihnachten in diesem Jahr feiern wollen/ dürfen? Vorhersehbar ist: Unsere Art und Weise, Weihnachten zu feiern, wird völlig neu und anders sein, je nachdem, wie sich die Regierung in der derzeitigen Situation der Abriegelung verhält.

Die Pandemie hat unseren Lebensstil und sogar unsere Art, Weihnachten zu feiern, drastisch verändert. Dennoch gewöhnen wir uns langsam daran. Allerdings werden die Weihnachtsfeiern in diesem Jahr nicht mehr so sein wie in den vergangenen Jahren: Mit der Corona-Abschottung können wir nicht mehr viel Zeit damit verbringen, draußen herumzuhängen, durch Geschäfte zu streifen und nach Geschenken zu suchen. Wir werden nicht mehr den ganzen Abend mit einer großen Gruppe von Freunden durch Bars und Kneipen strömen; es wird keinen Weihnachtsmarkt geben; Restaurants, Konzerte, Theater und Vergnügungsparks bleiben geschlossen.

Das Wichtigste ist: Wie auch immer die Situation sein mag und wie einzigartig sie ist, jeder verdient es, sich in der Weihnachtszeit besonders zu fühlen. Wie könnten wir also in Zeiten von COVID-19 in festliche Stimmung kommen?

1. Befolge die Regeln.

Für eine wunderbare Weihnachtszeit im Jahr 2020 ist es das Wichtigste, die Regierungsrichtlinien zu befolgen. Was meine ich damit? Du solltest dich über die Neuigkeiten aus der Regierung auf dem Laufenden halten, vor allem über den Ort, an dem du lebst. Du willst auf keinen Fall eine Feier mit 50 Personen ausrichten, wenn die Regierung die Zahl auf maximal 10 Personen aus zwei verschiedenen Haushalten beschränkt. Wenn du an überfüllten Orten einkaufen gehst, solltest du soziale Distanzierung üben, indem du deine Hände desinfizierst, einen Einkaufswagen benutzt und eine Maske aufsetzt. Einige Geschäfte und Läden begrenzen auch die Zahl der Kunden, deshalb solltest du auf jedes Schild außerhalb oder innerhalb der Orte, zu denen du gehst, achten.

‍2. Dekoriere deinen Raum.

Ein Weihnachtsbaum im Wohnzimmer ist der schnellste Weg, um in festliche Stimmung zu kommen. Suche dir einen stimmungsvollen, gut sichtbaren Platz in deinem Haus/ deiner WG aus, um den Baum aufzustellen. Setze das Aufräumen bzw. die Umgestaltung deines Zimmers fort: Es ist nicht nötig, extra dafür einzukaufen. Es reicht völlig aus, nach altem Christbaumschmuck aus den vergangenen Weihnachtsjahren zu suchen und ihn am Weihnachtsbaum wiederzuverwenden. Auf diese Weise kannst du sowohl Geld sparen als auch nachhaltig handeln. Um die Atmosphäre zu fördern, kannst du auch versuchen, mehr Rot- und Grüntöne in deinen Raum zu bringen, indem du Lichter hinzufügst oder Hintergrundbilder wechselst. Probiere einige Duftkerzen mit dem Duft von Zimt, Kardamom, Honig, Glühwein, Ingwer, Vanille usw. aus, um den Raum in ein „Weihnachtsduft“ zu versetzen.

3. Mach eine Liste von dem, was du brauchst und was du gerne haben möchtest.

Du kannst einen Wunschzettel für Weihnachten erstellen, ihn vor deinen Schreibtisch hängen oder irgendwo, wo er leicht zu sehen ist. Dann kannst du die Namen der Personen aufschreiben, denen du gerne Geschenke machen möchtest, und damit eine weitere Liste mit Dingen erstellen, die du vielleicht für sie besorgen möchtest. Wenn du das Gefühl hast, eine riesige Liste zu haben, aber nicht viel Geld ausgeben kannst, kannst du Dinge finden, die noch recht neu und nützlich sind, die du aber schon lange nicht mehr benutzt hast, und sie verschenken. Du kannst anfangen, zu schneiden, zu zeichnen und selbstgemachte Postkarten zu schreiben. Ich bin sicher, dass die Menschen eine handgemachte Karte mit ihrem Namen lieber mögen als eine riesige, teure, aber nutzlose Karte. Die Bedeutung von Weihnachtsgeschenken kommt von unserem Herzen, nicht vom Preisschild der Objekte.

‍4. Klicken und sammeln.

Fang an, nach Artikeln zu suchen, mit denen du dein Haus schmücken und Weihnachtsgeschenke bei Amazon oder anderen Online-Shopping-Plattformen bestellen kannst. Zeit damit zu verbringen, durch die Website zu scrollen, könnte dich in ein Meer von Gegenständen treiben, bringt aber auch eine Menge Spaß und hilft dir, dich in festliche Stimmung zu bringen.

5. Erstelle eine Wiedergabeliste für Weihnachten.

Musik ist ein integraler Bestandteil des Lebens. Wenn wir an Weihnachten über Musik sprechen, haben wir wahrscheinlich unsere eigenen Lieder im Kopf. Es gibt Hunderte von Weihnachtsliedern aus den 50er Jahren bis heute. Warum fügst du sie also nicht in verschiedene Playlisten ein, zum Beispiel „Weihnachten beim Kochen“, „Weihnachten beim Dekorieren“, „Weihnachten beim Chillen im Wohnzimmer”? Auf diese Weise kannst du sie einfach im Hintergrund abspielen, während du verschiedene Dinge tust. Wenn du dich einfach nur entspannen und ein Buch lesen möchtest, kannst du auch ein Weihnachts-Jazz-Hintergrundvideo von YouTube abspielen. Das würde deine Stimmung auf jeden Fall heben und deine Arbeits-bzw. Lernstimmung um 300% motivieren. 

Hier findest du einige Vorschläge:

• ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ – Mariah Carey
• ‘Last Christmas’ – Wham!
• ‘White Christmas’ – Bing Crosby
• ‘Driving Home for Christmas’ – Chris Rea
• ‘Santa Claus is Coming to Town’ – Jackson 5
• ‘O Tannenbaum’ – Vince Guaraldi Trio
• ‘The Little Drummer Boy’ – Bing Crosby and David Bowie
• ‘Jingle Bell Rock’ – Bobby Helms

Wenn du Lust hast, diese Lieder jedes Jahr zu hören und die Atmosphäre auffrischen möchtest, kannst du nach einer neu veröffentlichten Musik suchen und sie auswendig lernen, so dass du dieses Weihnachten mit der Melodie mitsingen kannst!

‍6. Filme anschauen.

Hier folgt meine Lieblingsliste mit Filmen zu Weihnachten:

• Elf
• Der Grinch
• Allein zu Hause
• Tatsächlich lieben
• Ein Charlie-Brown-Weihnachten
• Stirb langsam
• Authur Weihnachten

Und ich bin sicher, wenn du es einmal googelst, wird es eine Menge verschiedener Filme geben, aus denen du jeden Abend einen Filmplan erstellen kannst! Also, schnapp dir eine Schüssel Popcorn und bereite dich auf die Filmnächte vor!

Die soziale Distanzierung hat die Menschen voneinander getrennt, aber das bedeutet nicht, dass du nicht mit deinen Mitbewohnern einen Film sehen oder mit deiner Familie neue Kekse-Rezepte ausprobieren kannst. Weihnachten ist eine Zeit des Wiedersehens, also warum nutzt du diese kostbare Zeit nicht, um die Bindung deiner Beziehungen zu deinen liebsten Bekannten und Freunden zu verbessern?

Autorin: Thu

Author: Thu

As I finished my Herbology class on Tuesday morning, I went down the stairs and headed towards the library. It was a rainy day, and the rain was dashing down every window of the entrance hall.

‘Thu!’

A familiar voice made me turn. Harry was right behind me. ‘Look what I found last night!’ He muttered while pulling something from inside his cloak. ‘Hedwig dropped it on my bed as I came back from the common room. Don’t know where she got it from, though.’

It was a palm-sized, off-white, carved bishop figure with a mitre on top, crozier held in the right hand and book in his left hand. The model had two large, widely-opened eyes which were unblinkingly staring ahead; his lips had an expression of contemplative thinking, perhaps thinking of something significant, but has yet to find the answer.

‘What is that? How did you get it?’ I seized the nine-centimetre-height object, took a closer look, and felt the material while turning it around. ‘Walrus ivory. Look how meticulously it was carved!’ I pointed at the backside of the sculpture, there I could see sharp lines used for the intricacy of his hair. The throne, which the bishop was sitting on, was decorated with two panels of leaf scrolls. ‘Let’s see where it originated. Aparecium!’ I raised my wand, exclaimed.

Some sort of light came out of his large eyes. The sculpture moved, looked down into his book. Letters started to fly out from the book, up into the air and rearranged themselves:

‘This bishop chess-piece is one out of the series Lewis Chessmen which was created around 1150-1200. The chessmen, found in 1831 at Uig Bay on the Isle of Lewis, Scotland, were made from elaborately worked walrus ivory and whales‘ teeth in the form of human figures. When found, the hoard contained seventy-eight chess pieces, fourteen tablemen and one belt buckle. The details of how they were found remains a mystery, but the style from the carve is certainly from Scandinavia. They likely belonged to a merchant travelling from Norway…’ A male voice suddenly came out of the model, reading the paragraph monotonously aloud. 

‘So, it is a chess piece. But this is just its historical information. Hedwig must have got it from a museum. Do you know how to work it? I hope it isn’t jinxed, though.’ I asked nervously.

‘Well, I tried to talk to it. It didn’t move. I shook it vigorously, but nothing happened. I even took a bite from its head, but the material was so solid that my teeth hurt. So, I stared at the bishop, eye-to-eye, racked my brains trying to think of what else I could do. About two minutes later, his eyes shone brightly, and a strong light beamed from the figure. I tilted forward and felt that my whole body was lifted in the air and sucked into the light. A few seconds later, my feet were on the ground in the middle of a room covered with a dim light. But it was not a Hogwarts’ room, it was a square room filled with different chess figures, four feet in height. The ground was divided into eight parts, resulting in a total of sixty-four squares. The squares were arranged in two alternating colours, red and white. This must have indicated the chessboard in which they were used is in these two colours, rather than black and white. Each was standing or sitting above one square and seemed to have its own personality. Their roles are obvious by their clothing and equipment. In total, there are six of them in the room.’ explained Harry.

‘And?’ I asked curiously.

‘One of them bowed slightly and started talking to me. Regulus was his name. He was the king with a big beard. He was wearing a floriated crown, tunic, mantel, and brooch, where he sat on a high-backed chair, holding a sheathed sword across his knees. He told me, since March 2016 until now, they are all being presented at the British Museum in London. Before that, they lived in Rome, Italy for a few months, but they would love to return to where they had been found. They are tired of being seen by Muggle tourists all over the world and would love to have a temporary vacation in Scotland. They said that I am the only person who can help them, so they sent their bishop to me. There are, well, seventy-eight at the museum. All are in the form of human figures, except for the pawns.” said Harry. ‘He promised to reveal the greatest chess tactic and show me the ten best chess moves in the world, which I could use to win every chess competition if the museum agreed to set them free for some time. It would be a perfect birthday gift for Ron, wouldn’t it? He is planning to participate in the Wizarding Chess Tournament next year in July.’

‘That sounds great! But how do we help them? Shall we go to the Ministry of Magic?’ I asked impatiently.

‘I have sent a letter to the Ministry of Magic, and Mr Fudge agreed to help us, but we still need to figure out some information before we get there. We are planning to visit the British Museum next Tuesday if you would like to go with us. But remember, we will have to disguise ourselves in Muggles’ clothing and arrive without being seen by anyone. The Ministry will be sending a car to Hogwarts.’ Harry further explained the plan.

‘I bet some Oblivitors will be there to modify the people’s memories.’ I made a guess.

‘They have collected all the information about the museum, and the Oblivitors will be modifying the museum staff’s memory after we take the chessmen away. We only need to devise a plan to retrieve the chessmen without being noticed. There are a total of seventy-eight chess pieces which need to be taken away, and after that, we need to figure out which objects we could use to fill up the empty space at the museum when they are gone.’ Harry continued his plan.

‘I think we will have to use a Portkey once we get them out of the museum.’ I calculated. ‘They will all become bigger to their actual size and if we want to take them back to Scotland, we…’

There was a knock at the door. ‘Thu? Are you in your room?’ said a familiar voice quietly. I realised at once that it was my roommate’s voice. I opened my eyes.

‘Where is Harry?’ I asked her. ‘We were in the middle of our plan to rescue the chessmen.’

‘Which Harry? Harry Potter?’ She gave me a blank look, then started to giggle. ‘You have been sleeping for three hours, and we planned to go to the supermarket today.’

So, all of this was just a dream? I looked at the clock. I was lying on my table for almost three hours, dreaming in my sleep of a discussion with Harry Potter. On my desktop, there is a picture of a small, off-white, carved chess-piece in a bishop form with a crozier in his left hand and book in his right hand, the image from the British Museum I was researching on…