17 accents

The English Language Journal

for Baden-Württemberg
July/August/September 2007 magazine

Take a byte!

Coming soon: www.accentsonline.de

Photographing climate change
English theatre in intimate spaces
A relaxing vacation? Forget it!

6
Contents
accents’ future
4 A magazine in transition
The publishers explain
the end of accents
as a magazine
5 The move to an
online magazine
What the new accents
website will offer
8 10
News and Events
6 Photographing
climate change
A British Council
exhibition in Stuttgart
6 Dual language learning
An English-German
school expands
7 Viewpoint
The media shift
from paper to online
Cover photo: istockphoto
14
Arts and Culture Labyrinth
8 Smaller and more intimate 14 The stress of going
English-language theatre on vacation
changing with the times 14 “See ya later”
8 “An Almost Perfect
Murder” Regulars
Full house for award
winning play 11 accents choice
9 Book reviews What’s on listings
Summer reading 13 Classifieds

Editorial

There’s no easy way to say this,
so we’ll just get to the point:
we regret to announce that
accents magazine, as you’ve
come to know it in printed
form, is folding. It may be that
accents – as a printed magazine
– will be able to re-launch
next year, under the name of a
new publisher. But the current
publishers are simply unable
to continue production.
Over the page we explain
more fully why we’ve had to
make this decision. However,
we won’t stop ‘publishing’
altogether – accents will
become an online magazine
in the fall/autumn of this year.
Our new website (www.
accentsonline.de) will have all
the news and information
services the printed version
had but it will be updated more
often, have a wider range of
writers and columnists and
will become an interactive site,
allowing you to become more
directly involved in its content
and creation.
This edition of accents is a
rather thinned-out issue, but we
still have a number of interest-
ing stories. We report on a
unique educational experiment
in Sindelfingen – the attempt to
create a truly bilingual (English-
German) primary school. Far
from putting too much strain on
young children, new research
suggests that so-called ‘dual
language’ programs help them
to become better learners.
The British Council, Britain’s
international arts and culture
organisation, rarely ventures
into Baden-Württemberg. But
thanks to a cooperative project
with Stuttgart University’s
English department, the British
Council has brought an exhibi-
tion of photographs on the
theme of climate change to
Stuttgart. We were there for
the opening of the exhibition.
Our international affairs
columnist Gary Anderson tells
us about the changing shape of
the world’s media. And with the
summer holidays approaching
we asked Liz Gaiser to take a
look at the culture of going on
vacation in Germany – how
different it is from taking time
out from work in many other
countries. Liz and the rest of us
will then take a holiday and be
back in touch in a few months’
time, online.
Will accents magazine be
re-launched in the New Year?
We’ll be working hard to try to
achieve this goal. We’ll have
to wait and see.
accents magazine
editorial team

büro brucklacher
visuelle kommunikation

Computer to Plate, Grafik, Scanservice kammweg 46 Steinbeisstraße 11

Vesoulerstraße 4 72762 reutlingen 70825 Korntal-Münchingen
70839 Gerlingen www.brucklacher.de www.walterdigital.de

accents magazine Published by accents media GbR (Bryan Groenjes, Maki Kuwayama, Geoff Rodoreda) Neue Brücke 3, 70173 Stuttgart.
Tel 0711 3102160, Fax 0711 3102161, info@accents-magazine.de Editor Geoff Rodoreda, editor@accents-magazine.de Assistant Editor Alexander
Chavez Arts Editor Stuart Marlow Copy Editor Katharine Schmidt Photographer and Webmaster Chrys Rynearson Contributors Gary Anderson,
Dagmar Fritz, Liz Gaiser, Toni Heyler, Rebecca Perrin, Mark Twigg Advertising Enquiries Bryan Groenjes, ads@accents-magazine.de Website
www.accents-magazine.de (later in the year: www.accentsonline.de) Graphic Design Brucklacher Visuelle Kommunikation Reutlingen,
www.brucklacher.de Prepress CGS Möhrle, Vesoulerstraße 4, 70839 Gerlingen Cost free Circulation 10,000 Distribution everywhere English
is spoken: subscribing firms, cultural institutions, shops, pubs, clubs, theatres, hotels and selected tourist centres Advertisers and Corporate
Subscribers Adolf Würth GmbH & Co. KG, Biddy Early’s Irish Pub, Celesio AG, Deutsch-Amerikanisches Zentrum/James-F.-Byrnes Institut e.V.,
Ernst & Young AG, George and Dragon English Pub, International School of Stuttgart e.V., ISD Business Communication, Open University
Business School, Piccadilly English Shops, Robert Bosch GmbH, Stuttgart Institute of Management and Technology, Stuttgart Marriott Hotel
Sindelfingen, The Open University ISSN 1862-345 X

accents magazine 3
accents magazine to shut down – for now
Looking ahead to accents online

It’s not much fun writing your own shut down? The short answer is because, way off.
obituary. But as the publishers of accents unfortunately, it no longer pays its way and Late last year, it began to be a major
magazine, we wanted to use this space because it’s become way too much work struggle just to cover the basic costs
to inform you, our readers, about why for the three publishers ultimately respon- of graphic design, digital plate-setting,
we’ve had to stop producing it and what sible for producing it every two months. printing, distribution and so on for each
you can look forward to from accents accents began as a community maga- new edition. Over the last year, some
in the future. zine, produced by members of the English- editions did better than others financially,
speaking community. It was not the brain- but now the magazine is being produced
The first edition of accents magazine in child of a rich publishing house that was at a loss.
October 2004 had a picture of a ripe, looking to plug a gap in the magazine We’re a publication that relies on advert-
green apple on the cover and invited you market. In other words, it wasn’t set up to ising income to survive and the simple fact
to “take a bite,” to get your teeth into a make anyone a lot of money. Still, it was is that in three years we’ve found no one
new English-language magazine for Baden- envisioned that in order to survive as a who would reliably be able to sell advert-
Württemberg, to digest and enjoy its professional, quality journal it would event- ising for us. The responsibility for acquiring
contents. A bite has certainly been taken ually have to provide a minimal, part-time ads has remained with the three publishers,
out of that apple but it’s important to note income to two or three staff members who and with full-time, paid jobs of our own,
that it hasn’t been all eaten up. put time into producing it. Also, an enthus- our editorial, administrative and ad-chasing
We deeply regret that we are no longer iastic team of volunteer writers, research- energy has been sapped. We’ve run out
able to sustain production of a printed ers, photographers and administrators of steam.
version of accents, but come October or would eventually have to receive some Many people believe that a simple
November this year we’ll be inviting you to form of payment in order to maintain pro- financial solution for a free magazine is to
“take a byte” of accents online. (See article fessional standards. We’re now into our put a cover price on it. Many readers have
on opposite page.) third year of production and it’s become told us they would gladly pay two euros or
Why does accents magazine have to clear that achieving this goal is still a long more to buy our magazine. (“Two euros per

Bittersweet recollections
A word from the Caribbean

Mark Twigg was serving as British
consul-general in Stuttgart when he
organised a meeting in early 2003
to discuss the idea of “establishing
a magazine of some sort” for the
English-speaking community in Baden-
Württemberg. Eighteen months later,
accents magazine was launched. In
2006, Mark (pictured right) moved to
the Caribbean to become the head of
the Governor’s Office on the British
island-territory of Montserrat.
It is extremely bittersweet to have
received an e-mail from the editor inviting
me to contribute to this final printed
version of accents.
The e-mail instantly reminded me
of early accents planning meetings in
smoke-filled pubs. Several well-meaning
but financially ill-disposed people sat
around debating how a publication
of some sort might benefit the English-
speaking community in Stuttgart and
beyond. What should our new magazine
look and feel like? How much would it
cost to produce and what might it be
called? More importantly, how on earth for the three publishers of accents:
would we find the start-up capital for the Geoff, Bryan and Maki. They produced
project as well as the right mix of people accents in their spare time, with remark-
with the skills, energy and enthusiasm able determination and innovation,
to breathe life into this idea born on the turning that beer-mat idea into reality.
back of a beer mat? As the Guinness Every cloud has a silver lining, and
flowed at O’Reilly’s Irish Pub, we I am pleased to hear that work is fairly
decided that a quality periodical which well advanced on an online version of
was informative yet fun to read, and accents. Please support it as you have
that was inclusive of non-native English supported accents magazine. And maybe
speakers as well, should be the brew – just maybe – we’ll see accents re-
from which accents would be created. launched as a magazine in the New Year
The many, many hours that went into under the name of a new publisher.
the planning of accents were worthwhile
and I hope that you have enjoyed reading
the magazine. Let me heartily thank
those businesses which responded to
some gentle arm twisting from me and
became initial sponsors of the project,
and to those businesses which consist-
ently advertised in the magazine. To
those volunteers who gave of their time
to work on accents I also offer my
sincere thanks.
There was always plenty of material
editorially but time and finance were the
twin, omnipresent spectres – especially

4 accents magazine
 Photo: Chrys Rynearson
Faces behind the
scenes: Bryan
Groenjes, Maki
Kuwayama and Geoff
Rodoreda (l to r),
publishers of accents.
copy, at 10,000 copies: you’ll have 20,000
euros!”) We appreciate the thought,
but the financial benefit of a cover price
doesn’t come as readily as it seems. We
don’t have the space here to explain the
business of magazine markets, suffice to
say that we actually investigated the cover-
price option a year ago and found it would
not work for us. In short, we would have
higher expenses on the distribution and
accounting side and less revenue from
advertising, due to a lower circulation rate
and the fact that, most significantly, we
wouldn’t be reaching our target readership
(which attracts advertisers). You can’t
distribute a cover-price magazine to pubs,
clubs, churches, cafes, cultural organ-
www.accentsonline.de
Linking English speakers in B-W
Chrys Rynearson, the webmaster of
accents’ new website, explains what you
can look forward to seeing, reading and
contributing to when the site is launched
later this year.
The new accents website will consist of
the usual articles you’ve come to expect
from the printed magazine, but with a
twist. Instead of downloading files of a
complete magazine, as you’ve been able to
do up until now from the current website,
you’ll be able to read and then comment
on individual articles online, and create a
virtual discussion around important topics.
But it doesn’t stop there.
Once you register as a user, you’ll be
able to post up your own discussion topics
in discussion forums and be notified by
e-mail when new topics or comments are
posted by other users. Granted, these
concepts have been around on the Web for
years, but we will also be enriching our site
with many of the newer, socially-inclusive
aspects of websites like MySpace, Face-
book, Flickr and Wikipedia.
For example, some of our current
writers as well as new authors will become
“bloggers” or columnists. What is a blog?
accents magazine
isations, libraries, play groups, language
schools, high schools, universities, busin-
ess reception areas – these are among the
places where accents has been distributed.
In other words, if accents were to have
a cover price, it would not be delivered
directly to places where English speakers
gather. With our limited resources we
couldn’t make a cover-priced accents work.
But others might find a way.
We believe there is a market niche for
an English-language magazine like accents
in Baden-Württemberg. It’s a magazine
read not only by native-English speakers
(51%), but by Germans (44%) and that
makes it attractive to advertisers. But the
work of producing, marketing and manag-
ing it needs to be done by a company –
a publisher of newspapers or magazines –
with more resources than we have. This is
why we’re going to spend the autumn and
winter months looking for a local publishing
house to take over accents. We and our
team of writers would be able to supply
the editorial content; a new publisher
would be able to manage the magazine
and make it pay its way. That is our hope.
In the meantime, we’re sure you’ll also
enjoy reading and contributing to our new
website, accents online. See you in the
autumn (or fall, if you prefer).
Geoff Rodoreda
Editor and co-publisher
accents magazine
It is a frequently updated journal, often pro-
viding a personal point of view on a topic.
The subject matter of a blog could be a
concert review, local tips or recommend-
ations, political comments or simply a
specialist interest of the blogger. There
are also plans to integrate classified advert-
ising, Expat resources, Google Maps and
Google Earth into the website, as well as
multimedia such as podcasts and videos.
An added feature of our service will be
an online version of accents guide (www.
accentsguide.de) which will function as a
directory of information, and will allow
local businesses, community groups and
organizations to have a place on the Web.
Wikis, as these sites are known, allow
anyone to sign up and post or edit content
on topics they have some knowledge of or
have researched.
The aim of introducing these features
to our new website is to provide a better-
connected community and to encourage
the use of participatory media. Content
is created not just by staff writers but
through the active participation of the com-
munity. We hope you’ll join us in helping
to enrich the English-speaking community
of Baden-Württemberg.
5
News and Events
Global warming, captured in photos
A British Council exhibition in Stuttgart
By Alexander Chavez
We’re bombarded nowadays with climate
change terms and numbers: tons of CO2
emissions, kilowatt hours, species host
per square kilometer, glacial melt rates,
rising sea levels, and so on. And then the
economists get in on the act. The British
government’s Stern Review on the eco-
nomics of climate change puts the price
tag for climate change, if left unchecked,
at a staggering 5.48 trillion euros.
But how does one translate this jargon
into understandable images? How can one
communicate the extent of the problem
and propose solutions?
The photo exhibition NorthSouthEast-
West, organized by the British Council and
on display in Stuttgart until the end of July,
provides some answers to these questions.
The British Council is the UK’s official
organization for promoting British arts and
culture around the world – or at least, that
used to be its role. It’s now changed its
focus to working with European cultural
organizations on global concerns. One of
these concerns is climate change.
NorthSouthEastWest is a collection of
photographs by ten of the world’s top
photographers who traveled to 12 locations
‘Dual-language’ school to expand
English-German program, now for Fifth Grade kids
The International School of Stuttgart (ISS)
plans to expand its ‘dual language’ elemen-
tary (primary) school program at its BaSICS
campus in Böblingen-Sindelfingen. Begin-
ning in September, the school will offer
English-German dual language teaching
from kindergarten through to fifth grade.
Dual-language learning involves teach-
ing young children in both German and
English, and is designed to help native and
non-native English and German speakers
become proficient in writing and speaking
both languages. Classes are taught by
teams of German- and English-speaking
teachers. ISS BaSICS is the only one of the
20 members of the Association of German
International Schools that has introduced
such a program.
“Nowadays, it is not only English-speak-
ing parents living in Germany who are look-
ing for a school that offers their children
6 News and Events
around the world. Their images document,
among other things, the repercussions of
the melting of the polar ice caps on coastal
communities, and desertification and its
effect on wildlife. But there are also images
that show how renewable energy tech-
nologies, such as wind and solar power,
which help combat global warming, can
also help improve people’s lives in poor
rural communities. The climate change
buzzwords, the facts and the figures are
put into context, and the concept of global
Stuttgart University’s
Renate Brosch and
the British Council’s
Patrick Hart
at the opening of
NorthSouthEastWest.
the opportunity to become bilingual,” says
Sarah Kupke, principal of the BaSICS
school. “The growth in private schooling
shows us that many German parents are
seeking alternatives to the state system.
A dual-language teaching program is
naturally of enormous interest to them.”
Kupke says there is now a strong body
of research indicating that bilingual stu-
dents outperform monolingual students in
the long term. (She says she’s happy to
supply references to such research upon
request.)
“Understanding is the focus of our
learning goals and our teachers employ a
variety of approaches and methodologies
that are not only dynamic, practical and
systematic, but also enjoyable,” she says.
ISS BaSICS says it plans to continue
expanding the dual language program
further into the Middle School.
warming becomes more tangible.
The exhibition at the University of
Stuttgart’s city campus (the KII building at
Keplerstraße 17) was organized in coopera-
tion with the university’s department of
New English Literature, which has a new
boss, Professor Renate Brosch. She is
eager to develop new links with English
arts and cultural groups.
The connection between English litera-
ture studies and the problem of global
warming may not seem apparent at first.
At the exhibition’s opening, Patrick Hart,
Deputy Director of the British Council in
Germany, used the example of the work of
Charles Dickens to illustrate the power
literature has to change human behavior.
“Dickens’ writings drew the attention of
the general public to the conditions of the
working poor in Victorian Britain. The result
was more sympathy for the poor and an
increase in (the number of) charities,” said
Hart. He said he hopes that more authors
and artists will address the issue of global
warming and initiate changes in human
behavior in the way Dickens did.
If you miss out on seeing the exhibition
you can view the photographs by clicking
onto: www.northsoutheastwest.org
Photo: Lothar Bertrams, Stuttgart
Learning in English
and German not
a problem for these
kids at ISS BaSICS.
accents magazine
 Viewpoint
The media shift, from paper to screen
With accents moving online, I would like
to dedicate this last Viewpoint (only my
fourth) to a computer whiz – a long-lost
army pal, then 1LT Robert Thompson of
Spokane, Washington, USA.
I haven’t kept in touch with him but I
remember him bending over a primitive
computer in 1989, and gleefully saying
to me: “Gary, in 20 years, there won’t
be a book in the library. It will all be on
disc or accessible via computer. Instead
of settling down with a book for the
evening, folks will settle down with their
computers.” Bob’s nearly 20-year-old
prediction of ‘the shape of things to
come’ is not far off the mark. It would
appear that the nerds have won.
To the casual observer, the print
media seems healthy enough. A peek at
a newsstand at any train station reveals
a cornucopia of newspapers and maga-
zines. In recent years, an explosion of
niche publications has swamped the
market. Our mailboxes are beleaguered
every week with countless free news-
papers, called “freesheets” in the ind-
ustry, that invariably land in the recycling
bin without being opened. We appear to
be overwhelmed with printed material.
And yet, the world according to Bob
is becoming a reality. In short, the way
we access information and reading
material is being irrevocably altered
by the Web, iPod, e-book, and other
technical innovations. A recent report
by the National Press Photographers
Association in the USA shows that one-
percent of America’s newspapers go
broke annually. This is hardly an American
problem. The Economist reports that
newspaper sales across the Western
world have plummeted over the past
decade and that as many as half of
today’s papers may close in the not-
too-distant future. In his ominous book
The Vanishing Newspaper, author Phillip
Meyer predicts that the last newspaper
will land in the dustbin of history in the
year 2043. The culprits: the cost of news-
print and distribution, which account
for 75% of American newspapers’
expenditures, and, of course, the Bob
Thompsons of the planet.
In the age of the uncluttered desk
and designer furniture, readers –
especially youthful readers – are simply
uninterested in the newspaper medium.
As one of my thirty-something pals
is fond of saying, “If it’s not on the
Internet, it doesn’t exist.” The reader-
ship culture generated by the Internet
spells bad news for the traditional
magazine and newspaper industry.
accents magazine
The Web and its spin-offs have radically
reduced our collective attention span.
The antsy readers of today want their
information served up quickly, visually if
possible, entertainingly for sure, and in
easy-to-digest morsels that consume as
little time as possible. This virtual form
of collective attention deficit disorder
(no insult intended) is fatal to news-
papers and magazines, especially those
that require plenty of time to produce
and consume.
The compressed timeframe in which
information is consumed in the virtual
realm has profound implications for
democracy and society. Will Web-based
papers be able to effectively assume
the traditional ‘checks and balances’
function of the traditional newspapers?
Will blogs have the power to topple a
corrupt government the same way that
the Washington Post and New York
Times did in the Watergate affair? Will
a blog headline or photograph convey
the same invocation of national pride as
the Bild newspaper’s famous “Wir sind
Papst” (We are the Pope) cover? Will
the consumers of Web-based inform-
ation feel as passionate about politics
and social events as readers of traditional
papers once did?
OK, you get the point: I’m a news-
paper and magazine man through and
through. I’d like to view accents’ new
station as an online magazine as a kind
of newspaper purgatory, a temporary
metamorphosis from whence the maga-
zine will emerge in a refined (paper!)
state. I’m on the side of all those want-
to-be news junkies out there who still
savour the smell of coffee, the crackle
of the newspaper, the piles of newsprint
accumulating in the corner of an untidy
study, and ink-besmirched fingertips left
by papers hot off the press.
Bob, if you’re out there and you read
this online: see you in the library!
Dr. Gary Anderson
Lecturer of Cultural Politics
at Zeppelin University
in Friedrichshafen
News and Events 7
Arts and Culture
Popular Entertainment Versus High Culture
Stuttgart theatre in step with world trends
Should theatre be about producing comic
entertainment for the masses or serious
drama for the intelligentsia? Arts Editor
Stuart Marlow reports on trends in thea-
tre production and how Stuttgart theatre
groups are moving with the times.
Arguments about what sort of theatre
should be staged are partly driven by the
need to cover production costs. And
Baden-Württemberg’s English-language
theatre groups are constantly dealing with
this dilemma. Should they provide yet more
comic entertainment in an already saturated
market when there is a decided lack of
political theatre? On the other hand, should
theatre become the preserve of educated,
middle-class thinkers, who need to have
their morals challenged before they head
off for a round of after-show drinks?
Generally speaking, conventional theatre
right across Europe is in crisis. Large-scale
theatre is very expensive wherever it is
produced and attendance numbers are fall-
ing steadily.
In London, these factors have led to
the rise of small-studio or alternative-venue
theatre. Top actors can now be seen in
modest performance spaces for very
reasonable prices and the arguments about
whether or not to produce ‘entertainment’
or ‘culture’ have been superseded by the
low cost of small-scale productions and the
use of more intimate dramatic space. Large
theatres distance the audience physically
8 Arts and Culture
and emotionally from the performance
area. Performances in small spaces, such
as converted pub rooms or small ware-
houses tend to be intimate. The move
towards smaller venues also enables the
staging of quality performances of relatively
unknown plays with little financial risk.
The challenge for those of us creating
Anglophone theatre in unconventional
spaces in Germany is how to provide
unrestricted vision of the stage, allowing
no more than four or five rows of seats.
Some venues, like the Tribühne Theatre in
Stuttgart, have tried staging their perform-
ances in a long corridor between two banks
of four to five rows. Halle T4 at Stuttgart’s
Theaterhaus is steeply raked to accommo-
date eight rows of seats with unrestricted
vision, although the set-up requires good
voice projection from the actors if they’re
to be heard in the back rows. Like some of
the successful studio theatres in London,
NEAT’s cosy performance space at the KKT
in Bad Cannstatt offers excellent acoustics
but little freedom to experiment with the
space between auditorium and stage.
Experimenting with space will be a
major challenge for English-language theatre
groups wanting to appeal to a wider
audience. You’ll be able to find out how
they face up to this challenge and remain
informed about the English language arts
scene in Baden-Württemberg via accents’
new website (www.accentsonline.de) when
it’s launched in the autumn.
Photo: Henrik Zawischa
Congrats for
“An Almost Perfect Murder”
With falling attendance figures for
theatre generally, it’s great to see
English language productions playing
before packed houses in Stuttgart.
Congratulations to Wendy Marie
Förster on the success of her play
“An Almost Perfect Murder,” which
centres on two frustrated wives plot-
ting to rid themsleves of their macho,
couch-potato husbands, and is full of
incisive humor and dark irony. Before
going on to win the Best Original
Script award at the 2007 Festival
of European Anglophone Theatrical
Societies in The Hague, the play
attracted a full house in Halle T4 at
Stuttgart’s Theaterhaus. Unfortunately,
this talented American playwright left
Stuttgart for California earlier this year
and was unable to see the Theater-
haus production. To quote from
Hannah B. Patrick’s Theaterhaus
review: “Excellent lighting and atmos-
pheric sound provided by the stud-
ents of the Hochschule der Medien
set the atmosphere for Wendy Marie
Förster’s black comedy, An Almost
Perfect Murder. Starting perhaps
a little slowly, Michelle Golledge as
Shelley and Elizabeth Winkler as Beth
nevertheless managed to drive this
(play), powerfully, to its ironic and
macabre conclusion. Congratulations
to (director) Jonathan Tilley for so
skillfully holding the balance between
strong emotional depth and farce.”
accents magazine
Garden rockets and mysterious gardens
Summer reading
The Pocket Dangerous Book for Boys:
Things to Do, by Conn & Hal Iggulden
Harper Collins, 205 pages
This book is filled with activities to keep
both adults and children busy. They
range from simple games through to
instructions on how to build a tree
house or how to make a go-cart. The
pocket-book format and old-fashioned
illustrations create the impression of a
handbook for Boy Scouts, though this
book has a slightly cheeky twist. There
are activities that don’t belong in any
old Boy Scout’s manual, such as tips on
how to play poker properly, and how to
make a real bow-and-arrow or a garden
rocket. Written with wry humor – the
chapter on first aid is entitled “Are They
Breathing?” – this is a book that will last
the whole summer.
The Savage Garden, by Mark Mills
Harper Collins, 355 pages
If you want to read a thriller this summer
that is not just cotton candy for the
mind then this is the book to choose.
Set in postwar Italy, this is an old-
fashioned thriller (no techno gadgets,
high-speed car chases or secret societies
undermining Western civilization) which
gently draws the reader into a web of
mystery. A Cambridge student, Adam
Strickland, is on a research holiday
studying the gardens of the Villa Dolci
when he discovers that two deaths, one
in World War II and another in the 16th
century, are not as straightforward as
they appear to be. The mystery of the
gardens is unraveled with references Mondays
to Dante and Virgil. The result is a Music & movie quiz
stimulating, but not overly demanding
Tuesdays
read. Perfect for when the summer heat Live Jazz music
begins to lull the mind.
Wednesdays
General Knowledge
Quiz
Saturdays
Darts tournament
The George & Dragon English Pub
In Hotel Le Meridien
Willy-Brandt-Stra e 30
70 173 Stuttgart
07 11 280496 9
www.gandd.info
Innovative schooling
International in name and in outlook
It has an annual turnover of 7.5 million
euros and a workforce of around 100
employees who speak more than 20 lang-
uages. Its customers include firms like
Bosch, Daimler, Hewlett-Packard, Celesio,
Festo and Fanuc, as well as VfB Stuttgart.
We could be talking about any one of
a number of medium-sized companies in
Baden-Württemberg. However, the product
of this particular ‘business’ is not car parts
or high-tech machinery but education. The
‘business’ is the International School of
Stuttgart, ISS.
“For internationally mobile employees
and their families, the presence of an inter-
national school to ensure the continuity of
their children’s education is a significant
factor in choosing a job. This is how we
support businesses that are reliant on both
expatriates and impatriates,” says John
Foulkes-Jones, ISS director.
The Chapmans are a typical example of
an internationally mobile family. Originally
from Britain, Sean and his wife Rachel
worked in other parts of Europe and the
USA, before moving to the Stuttgart region.
Although English is their mother tongue,
the children had been educated previously
in schools in France and Germany but the
Chapmans decided to send their children solving. This is why businesses are enter-
to ISS in preparation for a possible work ing into partnerships with schools like ISS.
transfer in the future. Mark Smith, from the company Ernst &
“If you work for a multinational company Young, is a member of the Board of
there is always the possibility you will be Trustees of ISS. He helped involve the
offered a move elsewhere,” says Sean. school in the “Handelsblatt macht Schule”
“We wanted the children to be in a school project – which Ernst & Young supports –
from which they could easily transfer designed to support the school in business
to another system somewhere else.” studies classes. “Both business and the
International schools emphasize tolerance school benefits from such cooperation,”
and an enquiring approach to problem says Smith.
The financial situation of the school has
Photo: Lothar Bertrams, Stuttgart
been stabilized since the media coverage
last year in connection with the loss of
subsidies from the Baden-Württemberg
Government and the future of the school
is secure. An increase in student numbers
is expected for the coming school year.
Ninety-eight per cent of what we now
know about how children learn has been
discovered in the last five years. For ISS
this necessitates regular curriculum reviews
and regular professional training for staff.
The ISS looks forward to continuing to
The ISS motto: every support local business develop globally and
child Integrated, global business develop locally.
Stimulated, Special.
Written for accents magazine by the ISS
www.international-school-stuttgart.de
accents
choice
Events
Events
Freiburg
A Change of Perspective
German-American Exhibition
Jul 5 - Aug 24, Mon-Fri,
10 am - 6 pm. Carl-Schurz-Haus,
Eisenbahnstraße 62
Heidelberg
DAI Book Fleamarket
Jul 9-13, 2-6 pm, Jul 14,
10 am - 2 pm, DAI Sofienstraße 12,
www.dai-heidelberg.de
Stuttgart
Bollywood and Beyond
4th Indian film festival. Jul 11-15,
www.bollywood-festival.de
New World – the Invention
of American Painting
Jul 21 - Oct 21, Staatsgalerie,
Konrad-Adenauer-Straße 30-32,
www.staatsgalerie.de
Tübingen
Moscow – New York.
Double Exposure Express.
Lomographic views by Ingeborg
Jaiser, Lothar Schmidt, Charlotte
Sachter and Neil Davidson
Exhibit Jun 1 - Jul 27 and Sep 4-21,
Tue-Fri 9 am - 6 pm, Deutsch-
Amerikanisches Institut (d.a.i.),
Karlstraße 3, 07071 795260,
www.dai-tuebingen.de
In the Region
Wine festivals in the region
Jul 25 - Jul 29 Konstanz
Aug 9 - Aug 23 Ludwigsburg
Aug 29 - Sep 9 Stuttgart
Aug 29 - Sep 9 Pforzheim
Aug 30 - Sep 9 Reutlingen
Aug 31 - Sep 3 Breisach am Rhein
Aug 31 - Sep 2 Schorndorf
Sep 6 - Sep 14 Heilbronn
Sep 15 - Sep 17 Esslingen
am Neckar
Summer Wine Festivals
Summer time is wine festival
time! Don't miss this cozy
German tradition. Pictured
above is the Heilbronner
Weindorf from Sep 6 to Sep 14.
See other dates on this page.
accents magazine
Stage
Freiburg
Stage
Dancing to Connect
Dance project with the Battery
Dance Company, New York
and 5 Freiburg schools.
Performance on Jul 17,
Großes Haus, Stadttheater
Heidelberg
Helen & The Daughters of Troy
Jul 27 - Aug 4, Roadside Theater,
Patton Barracks, general public
welcome, Tickets 06221 175020,
www.roadsidetheater.com
Mainau
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
The American Drama Group Castle
Tour 2007. Jul 10, 7 pm and 8 pm,
Schloss Mainau
Tübingen
Ireland –
History, Literature, Music
Presented by DIF (German-Irish
Friendship), Paddy Bort and
Veit Müller, Jul 12, Café Luca
Music
Music
Lauffen
Irish Night
with Tim O’Leary & Cameron
Robson, Brian McNeill and
Bachelors Walk
Jul 14, Burghof
Lörrach
Stimmen 07
International Music Festival
“The other voices of America”
is the theme of this year’s
festival presented by Burghof
in Lörrach until Jul 29,
www.stimmen.com
Our choices sorted by location:
Burghof Lörrach
Sekou Sundiata (USA)
The 51st Dream State,
Jul 11 and 12, 8:30 pm
Marktplatz Lörrach
Katie Melua (GB)
Jul 19, 8 pm
Blood, Sweat & Tears (USA)
Jul 20, 8 pm
Rosenfelspark Lörrach
Gwen Matthews &
Denis Colin Trio (USA/F)
The Be Good Tanyas (CA)
Swan songs, Jul 25, 8 pm
Bethany & Rufus (USA)
One Ring Zero (USA)
Jul 26, 8 pm
Terrance Simien (USA)
Mojo & the Bayou
Gypsies (USA)
Let the good times roll –
Zydeco night, Jul 28, 8 pm
Hazmat Mondie (USA)
Dr. John (USA)
Jul 29, 8 pm
Grün 07 Reinfelden
Rockapella (USA)
Natually 7 (USA)
Best of a cappella, Jul 14, 8 pm
Les Dominicains
Guebwiller (F)
Chanticleer (USA)
Jul 19, 8 pm
www.accentsonline.de
On our future website
you will still find our choice
of English-language events
in the region. Even better,
authorized users will be able
to post new English-language
events all on their own. If you
would like more information
about how to post your
events, contact us at
choice@accents-magazine.de
accents
online
Nagold
Tanglefoot
Irish Folk Rock. Jul 20, Keltenfest
Waldshut-Tiengen
Geraldine MacGowan
Irish Folk. Sep 27, Stadtscheuer
Lectures/Discussions
Freiburg
Lectures
Open Dialog
every other Wed, 6:30-8 pm
please check website for dates
and topics, Carl-Schurz-Haus,
Eisenbahnstraße 62, 0761 5565270,
www.carl-schurz-haus.de
Monday Nite at the Movies
Screening and discussion,
Friedrichsbau-Lichtspiele, 7 pm
Writer’s Circle
Fridays, 6 pm, Library Carl-Schurz-
Haus, see address above
Heidelberg
Discussion group
with Dr. Steven Bloom
Check www.dai-heidelberg.de
for topics, Wednesdays, 6 pm,
d.a.i., library, Sofienstraße 12
English-Language Video
Discussion Group
Check www.dai-heidelberg.de
for topics, Tuesdays, 6 pm,
d.a.i. library, see address above
Karlsruhe
DEF English Conversation Circle
3rd Tuesday of each month,
7:30 pm, Moltkestraße 20, Room 4.
LitNight in English
Reading and discussing literature
1st and 3rd Tuesday of the month,
7:30 pm, American Library,
www.american-library.de
Poetry Please
Poems read and discussed in
English. 4th Tuesday of the month,
7:30-9 pm, American Library,
Tom 0721 3540477
Stuttgart
The Empire Study Group
A popular study group by
Laurence Stallings and Scott Stelle.
View topics on www.daz.org.
2nd Friday of the month at 5 pm,
German-American Center (DAZ),
Charlottenplatz 17, 0711 228180,
www.daz.org
Conversation Circle
Every third Friday of the month
from 6-7 pm, Conference Room,
DAZ, see address above.
View topics on www.daz.org/
ConversationCircle.html.
The discussion group continues as
The People, Yes!
Carl Sandburg’s
Chicago-Lyrik
Lecture on the American
poet by Prof. Dr.
Friedhelm Kröll, M.A.
Jul 19, 7:30 pm
Myth, Nature, and the
Hudson River School
Lecture on the 18th and
19th century American
myths about nature by
Prof. David Sumner, PhD
Jul 24, 7 pm, at the
Staatsgalerie Stuttgart
The Long John Wayne
Film Evening
Celebrating his 100th
birthday, the DAZ will
show two John Wayne
films with western-style
snacks. Aug 1, 6:30-11 pm
Deutsch-
Amerikanisches Zentrum
James-F.-Byrnes-Institut
e.V. Charlottenplatz 17
70173 Stuttgart
0711-228180
www.daz.org
a Stammtisch at 7:15 pm.
Let’s Read!
Reading group for contemporary
American literature. Once a month
on a Friday 10:30 am - 12 pm
Please sign up to attend
0711 228180 or info@daz.org
Tübingen
Writer’s Club
With Carolyn Murphey Melchers,
2nd Friday of the month, 2-4 pm,
d.a.i., see address above
Book Discussion
2nd Friday of the month, 6:30-8 pm,
d.a.i., see address above
Talk At Eight: Discussion Group
on Current Issues
by Laurence Stallings.
3rd Tuesday of the month 8:15 pm,
d.a.i., see address above
The One-Dimensional Empire:
The Levelling-Down of Reality
A popular study group by Laurence
Stallings and Scott Stelle, view
topics on www.dai-tuebingen.de.
Last Friday of the month, 6:45 pm,
d.a.i., see address above
Workshops
Freiburg
Worksh
Workshops in cooperation
with the Carl-Schurz-Haus
Visit www.carl-schurz-haus.de
for a list of current workshops
on square dancing
Heidelberg
Workshops at the
German-Amercian Institute (d.a.i.)
Visit www.dai-heidelberg.de
for a list of current workshops
accents choice 11

accents guide
online
Our complete guide to
everything Baden-Württem-
berg has to offer in English
is available online on
www.accents-magazine.de
Emergency
Consulates/Embassies
Schools & Preschools
Libraries
Clubs & Organizations
Theater Groups
Kids & Playgroups
Political Groups
Business Organizations
Religious Services
Sports
Movie Theaters
12 accents choice
Long John Wayne Evening
Celebrating John Wayne’s
100th birthday, the DAZ in
Stuttgart will be showing
two films with western-
style snacks between films
Aug 1, 6:30-11 pm
on TOEFL exams, conversation,
job hunting, and orientation for
newcomers
Stuttgart
Workshops at the
German-American Centre (DAZ)
Visit www.DAZ.org for a list
of current workshops on writing,
quilting, and dancing
Tübingen
Workshops at the
German-American Institute (d.a.i.)
Visit www.dai-tuebingen.de
for a list of current workshops
on quilting, and fundraising
Kids
Freiburg
Kids
Tell Me a Story!
Reading for children by Leanne Dier
Every other Wednesday,
5-6 pm, Carl-Schurz-Haus,
see address above
Heidelberg
Storytime for Kids
3-5 years, every 1st and 3rd
Wednesday of the month, 4:30 pm,
please sign up 06221 607315,
dai – Library, see address above
Karlsruhe
Storytime in English!
2-5 years, every 2nd and 4th
Wednesday of the month at 4 pm,
American Library, Kanalweg 52,
www.american-library.de
Storytime for children
ages 6 and older
Fri, Jul 27, 4 pm: Rhino’s Horns
With crafting afterwards
so please sign up. American Library,
see address above
Dr. Seuss Day
For children all ages.
Tue, Jul 31, 2 pm, American Library,
see address above
Stuttgart
Listen in
Story and activity for kids 3-6 years
with parent. Sat 3:30-4:30 pm,
Children’s English Library (CEL),
Etzelstraße 25-27, 0711 3582215,
www.celstuttgart.de
Rhyme Time
Singing and rhymes for kids
0-3 years with parent/carer,
Fridays 10-10:45 am, CEL,
see address above
Singing and Story time
Native English speakers 3-6 years,
Fridays 3-3:45 pm, CEL,
see address above
CEL Youth Club
for fluent English speakers aged
10-13 years old, Saturdays 7-8 pm,
CEL, see address above
Reading & Writing
native English speakers – school
children (6-7 years old, max.
6 children), Fridays 4:15-5:15 pm,
CEL, see address above
English Taught Thematically
native English speakers –
school children
(8 years old +, max. 8 children),
Fridays 5:15-6:30 pm, CEL,
see address above
Harry Potter
and the Deathly Hallows
Two members of CEL will do
a reading, followed by a discussion
based around the new Harry Potter
book. Jul 26, 4-5 pm, Stadt-
bücherei, Konrad-Adenauer-Straße 2
Story Time for Kids at the DAZ
Emma Walton will read stories,
play games and teach English
vocabulary to kids.
Mondays, 3:30-4:15 pm
Senior Group 7-10 years,
4:15-5 pm Junior Group 4-7 years,
please sign up 0711 228180,
info@daz.org
A story just for you!
Jul 18, 2:30 pm Stadtteilbücherei,
Vaihinger Markt 6, Stuttgart-
Vaihingen, 0711 2164851
Bollywood –
Discover India with Beverly
Workshop in English with Polly
Hasselkuss. Jul 27 and 28, 9-12 am,
Johannesstraße 63, Stuttgart-West
Tübingen
English Storytime
for kids 4-6 years with Christine
Asch, 1st Wednesday of the month,
4-5 pm, d.a.i., 07071 795260,
see address above
accents forum
Friday, Jul 20, 5 pm
Biergarten im Schlossgarten,
Am Schlossgarten 18, Stutt-
gart. This time we’ve planned
a special meet-up with an
earlier meeting time. Frisbee’s,
soccer balls, kids welcome.
On the lawn next to the beer
garden. Come along and find
out more about the future
website!
accents
magazine
accents magazine
Classifieds
Employment
Become an English teacher
and invest in your future. If you
enjoy working with infants and
children, speak fluent English,
want flexible and independent
work near home and want to
join an established international
framework with a strong support
system, become a Helen Doron
Early English teacher. A unique
and highly successful system
proven over 20 years, with special
methodology and materials.
Tel. Stg and BB 0711 8880173,
WN and LB 0711 586207,
ES 0711 9012352 and
AA, GP, HDH 07334 920357.
www.helendoron.de
Linguarama Spracheninstitut
is seeking qualified native-speaker
EFL teachers for business English
courses which are offered
through-out Baden Württemberg.
Especially those with a technical
background are welcomed.
Application materials by e-mail,
stuttgart@linguarama.com
or call 0711 997993-30
Native speakers wanted
with financial/technical/business
experience and excellent
inter-personal and language skills.
Freelance work. Contact:
andrina.rout@fokussprachen.com
It’s Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy!
Seeking enthusiastic staff to teach
English to 7-11 year olds. This
paid work is due to start in autumn.
Interested? easypeasyls@web.de
Business English Teachers needed:
native speakers, university degree,
TEFL qualification, min. 2 years
teaching exp. Please contact ISD
GmbH, Stuttgart, eileen.pannone@
isdgmbh.de or 0711 2388218
EducCare gGmbH sucht
für bilinguale Bildungskindertages-
stätte Stuttgart-West ab 20.8.07
eine englischsprechende Erzieherin
zu 100% in einer Gruppe mit 10
Kindern 0-3 Jahre. Bewerbung an:
bewerbung.st@educcare.de
accents magazine
For Sale/For Rent
Moving Sale
going back to USA and can’t take
items like lamps and electrics.
All items must go! Good prices
50-75% off what we paid less
than 2 years ago. Bedroom set with
cabinet and bedside tables, enter-
tainment center with 2 cabinets,
bathroom cabinets (3), washer,
vacuum cleaner, lamps, rugs, air
conditioner, fans, toaster oven, and
heater. Tel: 0711 3804169 anytime
for more information.
Berlin To Rent
Fully furnished holiday apartment in
Berlin available for rental. Situated
in quiet courtyard in 1890s building
in Bergmannstrasse – a well known
street with cafés, restaurants,
designer/antique shops. Only four
U-bahn stops from Stadtmitte
(city centre). Vacancies available
this Summer. For info and prices:
www.rentinberlin.net Phone
0174 2152135 or 0711 7946608
Services
TAX ME NOT – IRS FREE MONEY
US Citizen? Pay German Taxes?
Have kid(s)? IRS may owe you a
refund! Full range of Professional
Tax Services. You must file even
if you don’t owe! 07071 968590
potrop@aol.com
Medical Writing and Translations
German-English, English-German
Karen Grützner mgruetz@t-online.de
Having trouble with
written English? Need help check-
ing essays, letters, or speeches
to an English-speaking audience?
Reasonable rates, confidential and
prompt. proof-read@hotmail.com
Personal
Post your ads online!
Watch for our new website
Seeking Mother’s Helper! this fall to post your ads for the
Stuttgart Family seek a caring English-speaking community.
‘live-out’ English-speaking female Until then, send an e-mail to
to help care for children, 18 ads@accetns-magazine.de to
months, 3 and 8. Part-time. Will be have your message distributed
required to do household chores, on our mailing list.
and babysitting. Non-smoker.
References essential, and drivers www.accentsonline.de
license if possible. Contact
paulinebrett@yahoo.com or 0160
8081011.
Professional Language School
English German French Spanish
State exams for:
• Commercial Correspondents
• Translators
Advanced German Foreign Language
and Interpreter courses
Im Kaisemer 5, 70191 Stuttgart, Tel. 0711 - 295 107
www.sprachschule-idi.de
Classifieds 13
Labyrinth
Holiday stress
Vacations are not what they’re meant to be
First, a bit of holiday math: if Liz drives for
12 hours at 150km/h with three fighting
kids in the back seat and nothing but dry
bread to chew on, how long before she
ends up in a straitjacket?
Actually, I look forward to my kids being
out of school, with no homework stress, no
alarm clocks, no running them around from
one activity to the next. The ideal vacation
for me would be to hang out and do
nothing, make the kids do the housework.
My husband has other ideas about those
weeks of school vacation.
He is always eager to plan a 14-hour
drive to a place that makes my family
back home ask, “Isn’t there a war going
on there?” A few days before the trip he
starts to fuss about making the house spot-
less before we leave. The shutters have
to be rolled down one-third of the way.
Not one-half, but one-third. (It makes the
house absolutely scream, “WE’RE ON
VACATION, COME IN AND ROB US!”)
14 Labyrinth
The military-style wake-up call at four
o’clock in the morning to beat the holiday
traffic jams is always pleasant. Unfortun-
ately, everyone else in Germany has the
same idea and we all end up on the road
at 5 a.m. And God forbid that we should
stop somewhere for a proper breakfast or
for lunch. In Germany, you are required to
smear butter onto the last few pieces of
dried-out bread in your kitchen before you
leave. You eat that and Tupperware-packed
apple wedges on the way.
On the first morning of our vacation my
husband is always up early in search of a
Wanderkarte – a hiking map. What would a
German vacation be without a twenty-mile
hike? Or we might go on a 50-mile bike
ride. (Just what I need for my constipation
after 14 hours of sitting in a car eating
bread and butter.) We always book places
to stay where there’s a swimming pool or a
sauna. Although it remains a mystery to me
why a hotel for 200 people never manages
to stock more than a dozen plastic deck
chairs in their “Wellness” area. By the time
I arrive poolside all of the chairs are reserv-
ed with towels that have been there since
well before the breakfast buffet opened.
It’s “See ya later,”
not “Goodbye”
By Katharine A. Schmidt
You know the sad news – you won’t be
picking up a fresh, beautifully printed
copy of accents come September,
when vacation’s over. But sometime in
October or November I hope you’ll sit
down at your computer and open up the
new accents online website, with blogs
(“weblogs”) by columnists from the
print magazine, and probably a few new
ones. So I’m not going to say the final-
istic-sounding “Goodbye,” but rather,
the breezily cheery “See ya later.”
As a long-time print journalist, of
course I’ll miss being able to thumb
through the glossy pages of our maga-
zine. And with a looser editorial arrange-
ment, I may not get to have as many
good linguistic tussles with Geoff, the
Australian editor-in-chief. I’ll miss the
bimonthly encounters with all the stories
Photo: Stock.xng
Reserving deck chairs with towels is a
favorite German pastime.
In general, I arrive back home from a
vacation a few kilos fatter and in desperate
need of a vacation from my family.
This is the last tangible copy of accents
so I’ll be taking a writing vacation until
accents online kicks into gear towards
the end of the year. I’ll be joining up as
a columnist or ‘blogger.’ Writing for this
magazine has been very therapeutic for
me. Living in a foreign country can some-
times get you down but my tip is: don’t
lose your sense of humor!
Liz Gaiser
I used to copy-edit, and all the discover-
ies I would make working to ensure that
our stories and columns were as clear
and melodious as possible for our inter-
national audience.
But as the accents language column-
ist (responsible for My Two Cents),
I look forward to participating in the
worldwide “blogosphere,” where com-
ments by readers are integral parts of
the whole blog. I hope some of you who
have sent me generous comments,
suggestions and questions over the past
couple of years will join me there, and
invite a few friends along.
Thanks very much to everyone who
has responded to my column or
suggested a topic! See you in the fall
(or autumn, if you prefer).
accents magazine