Michael Flanders

- was an English actor, broadcaster, writer and performer of comic songs
- part of the duo "Flanders and Swann"
- born in London 1922
- attended Westminster School (there he met Donald Swann for the first time)
- studied History in Oxford
- left Oxford to join the Royal Navy
- 1943: gets poliomyelitis and has to sit in a wheelchair for the rest of his life
- 1948-1967: professional partnership with Donald Swann as the duo "Flanders and Swann"
- "The Hippopotamus" is a famous song
- 1975: death because of a stroke

2. There is a hyperbole in line 3 when the author describes the awful circumstances in Britain. “We cower in the economic gutter” shows how the whole situation is overestimated by the foreign countries. They expect the British to panic, because they themselves would do so, but that is exactly the opposite of British behaviour in times of trouble and crisis.

The author uses a simile in line 25 when he answers a question about the British working habits. The “rat race” is a comparison to the daily competition between people in their job. Rats are animals with a negative reputation and the British don’t want to be like all the other nations that spent their life by rushing every day to outdo their rivals maybe even in a deceitful way.

3. The British are very self-controlled people who don't show great emotions. They keep patient in hardly every situation, analyse the things that are going on and decide calmly how to handle it or just wait till problems are solved without their action. Their black humour helps the British in crisis because even the hardest problem creates an occasion for irony and sarcasm.

4. Tea

Tea plays an important role in British life. They drink it in the morning, in the afternoon an in the evening with milk and sugar or just with milk. There are various sorts of tea, for example tea of strawberries, apple, pepper mint, chamomile and other kinds of herbs. Very impressing are teas for the inner rest and relaxation. The best thing is that you just have to go in your garden and pick up some green herbs, cook them and enjoy your tea, but of course it is important to collect just things you do know, otherwise even tea can be bad for your health. Tea is not only the national drink in Britain it caused also a significant happening in America, the Boston Tea Party. One could think that the first ones drinking tea were the British but I think this could have also been the Chinese. The fact that both nations are such patient, calm and friendly ones could lead to the conclusion that it is caused by drinking tea frequently.

I found most interesting when Eliza, Higgins and Pickering come home from the successful ball. The servants praise the excellent work of Higgins and Pickering and sing great hymns for them. Eliza is ignored by all the people and stands alone and isolated in a corner. Nobody says that Eliza did a great job and that not only the two men are responsible for the success. After that, all of them go to bed and don't recognize Eliza. Except Higgins who gives her the advice to switch off the light. This is again very frustrating for Eliza because she is treated like a servant even after her perfect performance at the ball.

1. What is Higgins' view of elementary education?
Higgins thinks that elementary education isn't very effective because the children are locked up in school and aren't often willing to learn something. So they just spend their time there because they have to and don't learn anything. He criticizes that he has to pay for this and at the end of school the pupils can't even speak in an appropriate way. The teachers could also be guilty for this result, if they don't teach the kids the right things or in a very boring and uninteresting or too difficult way.

2. Why is Eliza crying?
Eliza is crying because Higgins threatens to drag her round the room by her hair, if she will pronounce the ABC incorrectly again. He also treats her very rude as if she was an animal or a little stupid girl he can shout at. Eliza is frightend and desperated because she doesn't know what she has to change to pronounce the words correctly.

"Mad Dogs and Englishmen"

1. I think the song is about the colonial time, when England claimed different countries and wanted to oppress them. While the Englishmen lived there they showed strange habits and dindn`t want to conform. In this song the author shows the Englishmen in an ironic and nice way.

2. Such nonsense songs are great to amuse people because they aren't taken so serious. One can deal with a sensitive topic without hurting somebody. Some persons don't think about the song and maybe don't understand it but find it funny and laugh about it. Certain themes can be presented ironically and in a way that only insiders can get the real meaning.  So I think some nonsense songs are only nonsense at the first look.

Email to Tony: Mediation

Hi Tony,

I think I have some interesting places for you to visit, so you can really get a feeling of the Berlin's Cold War history.

The best thing to do is to visit the real Berlin Wall. In the centre of Berlin, there you can find the three last meters, where the Wall is still standing in his original form. One is the memorial Berlin Wall in the “Bernauer Straße”, the other is near the house of Parliament in the “Niederkirchenstraße” and the last 15m are in the “Liesenstraße”. If you want to take a piece of the Wall with you, it is possible to buy one. It is about 2,50€ and the owner promises that it is no face and he saved it before they would have been thrown away.

As you know, there are about 130 people who left their lives while trying to pass the Wall. The museum Checkpoint Charlie commemorates the victims killed by passing the Berlin Wall. It is the most visited museum Berlins', that is located at the border crossing point. The main message the visiters get to know in this museum is the importance of freedom. The house at the Checkpoint Charlie, opened in 1963, was actually a place, where all the refugees were welcome and supported. The task for the museum was to illustrate, how it was made sure that nobody could pass the Wall without a permission. As a result of the friendships to refugees, the museum has a hot-air balloon, cars for a escape attempt and a lot of other spectacular means for a successful escape.

I hope you will like Berlin and I could give you some helpful tips.

See You, Bianca

english homework

Write an email in with you sum up the gist of the interview. then ask for jonathan's opinion with regard to their career plans.

Dear Jonathan
Today I read an interview between the German Minister for Family Affairs Kristina Schröder and the newspaper "Die Zeit" on the Girls Day 2010.
The surprising point is that now boys are the new children with problems, no longer girls. Boys are often worse in school, without apprenticships and A-levels.
Schröder thinks that the reason for this development is that boy grow up with hardly no male influence. For example, there are only 3% male educators in kindergartens and school is dominated by female teachers. The consequence is a cultur of machos with violence especially against women and no realistic male ideal, so they don't know how to behave as a man.
It's important to support the boys in their natural necessity to proof their power, but to control the aggressiveness to be developed rationally. Measures could be homework tutoring, boxing and during this training, the procurement of discipline and rules.
To provide that there are enough male educators, the government has to re-educate jobless men and motivate boys for pedagogic studies on the Boys Day.
Services are the job-related future especially social jobs.
In my opinion it's a very good idea Jonathan if you want to do a social job, because this sector of the working world will develope in the future and will be the most important one. So what do you think about this topic?
greetings Bianca