Are You Smart Enough to Be German?

- take the citizenship test

One good way to learn English is to read English articles about subjects you know well. For example, you could read an English book which you had already read in German. So you know the plot (the story) already. This means that even if you don't understand ALL the words, you can still understand what you are reading.

One subject you probably know very well (if you are one of my German readers)
is ... Germany!! So reading about Germany in English should be quite easy for you.

Try this and see. How well DO you know your country?!!

http://www1.spiegel.de/active/quiztool/fcgi/quiztool.fcgi?id=33093

Gardening Leave and other articles

The 'Business English' articles in the Financial Times Deutschland (FTD) are a very valuable resource for students at intermediate level and above. The topics are all very relevant and interesting, and new items of vocabulary are highlighted - just use your mouse to hold the cursor over the word and the German translation will appear.

The latest article has an interesting title - you've heard of maternity leave, and today it is very popular for men to take paternity leave, if you are ill you can take sick leave, but I'm sure you've never heard of 'gardening leave'!!

http://www.ftd.de/karriere_management/business_english/index.html