17The English Language Journalfor Baden-WürttembergJuly/August/September 2007

accentsmagazine

Coming soon: www.accentsonline.dePhotographing climate changeEnglish theatre in intimate spacesA relaxing vacation? Forget it!

Take a byte!

3accents magazine

There’s no easy way to say this,so we’ll just get to the point:we regret to announce thataccents magazine, as you’vecome to know it in printedform, is folding. It may be thataccents – as a printed magazine– will be able to re-launchnext year, under the name of anew publisher. But the currentpublishers are simply unableto continue production.

Over the page we explainmore fully why we’ve had tomake this decision. However,we won’t stop ‘publishing’altogether – accents willbecome an online magazinein the fall/autumn of this year.Our new website (www.

accentsonline.de) will have allthe news and informationservices the printed versionhad but it will be updated moreoften, have a wider range ofwriters and columnists andwill become an interactive site,allowing you to become moredirectly involved in its contentand creation.

This edition of accents is arather thinned-out issue, but westill have a number of interest-ing stories. We report on aunique educational experimentin Sindelfingen – the attempt tocreate a truly bilingual (English-German) primary school. Farfrom putting too much strain onyoung children, new research

suggests that so-called ‘duallanguage’ programs help themto become better learners.

The British Council, Britain’sinternational arts and cultureorganisation, rarely venturesinto Baden-Württemberg. Butthanks to a cooperative projectwith Stuttgart University’sEnglish department, the BritishCouncil has brought an exhibi-tion of photographs on thetheme of climate change toStuttgart. We were there forthe opening of the exhibition.

Our international affairscolumnist Gary Anderson tellsus about the changing shape ofthe world’s media. And with thesummer holidays approaching

we asked Liz Gaiser to take alook at the culture of going onvacation in Germany – howdifferent it is from taking timeout from work in many othercountries. Liz and the rest of uswill then take a holiday and beback in touch in a few months’time, online.

Will accents magazine bere-launched in the New Year?We’ll be working hard to try toachieve this goal. We’ll haveto wait and see.

accents magazineeditorial team

Editorial

86 10 14

4 A magazine in transitionThe publishers explainthe end of accentsas a magazine

5 The move to anonline magazineWhat the new accentswebsite will offer

6 Photographingclimate changeA British Councilexhibition in Stuttgart

6 Dual language learningAn English-Germanschool expands

7 ViewpointThe media shiftfrom paper to online

8 Smaller and more intimateEnglish-language theatrechanging with the times

8 “An Almost PerfectMurder”Full house for awardwinning play

9 Book reviewsSummer reading

14 The stress of goingon vacation

14 “See ya later”

11 accents choiceWhat’s on listings

13 Classifieds

Contents

accents’ future News and Events Arts and Culture Labyrinth

Regulars

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 AlexanderChavez 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 Websitewww.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 Englishis spoken: subscribing firms, cultural institutions, shops, pubs, clubs, theatres, hotels and selected tourist centres Advertisers and CorporateSubscribers 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 UniversityBusiness School, Piccadilly English Shops, Robert Bosch GmbH, Stuttgart Institute of Management and Technology, Stuttgart Marriott HotelSindelfingen, The Open University ISSN 1862-345X

Cover

photo:istockphoto

Computer to Plate, Grafik, ScanserviceVesoulerstraße 470839 Gerlingen

Steinbeisstraße 1170825 Korntal-Münchingenwww.walterdigital.de

kammweg 4672762 reutlingenwww.brucklacher.de

büro brucklachervisuelle kommunikation

accents magazine4

Mark Twigg was serving as Britishconsul-general in Stuttgart when heorganised a meeting in early 2003to discuss the idea of “establishinga magazine of some sort” for theEnglish-speaking community in Baden-Württemberg. Eighteen months later,accents magazine was launched. In2006, Mark (pictured right) moved tothe Caribbean to become the head ofthe Governor’s Office on the Britishisland-territory of Montserrat.

It is extremely bittersweet to havereceived an e-mail from the editor invitingme to contribute to this final printedversion of accents.

The e-mail instantly reminded meof early accents planning meetings insmoke-filled pubs. Several well-meaningbut financially ill-disposed people sataround debating how a publicationof some sort might benefit the English-speaking community in Stuttgart andbeyond. What should our new magazinelook and feel like? How much would itcost to produce and what might it be

called? More importantly, how on earthwould we find the start-up capital for theproject as well as the right mix of peoplewith the skills, energy and enthusiasmto breathe life into this idea born on theback of a beer mat? As the Guinnessflowed at O’Reilly’s Irish Pub, wedecided that a quality periodical whichwas informative yet fun to read, andthat was inclusive of non-native Englishspeakers as well, should be the brewfrom which accents would be created.

The many, many hours that went intothe planning of accents were worthwhileand I hope that you have enjoyed readingthe magazine. Let me heartily thankthose businesses which responded tosome gentle arm twisting from me andbecame initial sponsors of the project,and to those businesses which consist-ently advertised in the magazine. Tothose volunteers who gave of their timeto work on accents I also offer mysincere thanks.

There was always plenty of materialeditorially but time and finance were thetwin, omnipresent spectres – especially

Bittersweet recollectionsA word from the Caribbean

accents magazine to shut down – for nowLooking ahead to accents online

It’s not much fun writing your ownobituary. But as the publishers of accentsmagazine, we wanted to use this spaceto inform you, our readers, about whywe’ve had to stop producing it and whatyou can look forward to from accentsin the future.

The first edition of accents magazine inOctober 2004 had a picture of a ripe,green apple on the cover and invited youto “take a bite,” to get your teeth into anew English-language magazine for Baden-Württemberg, to digest and enjoy itscontents. A bite has certainly been takenout of that apple but it’s important to notethat it hasn’t been all eaten up.

We deeply regret that we are no longerable to sustain production of a printedversion of accents, but come October orNovember this year we’ll be inviting you to“take a byte” of accents online. (See articleon opposite page.)

Why does accents magazine have to

shut down? The short answer is because,unfortunately, it no longer pays its way andbecause it’s become way too much workfor the three publishers ultimately respon-sible for producing it every two months.

accents began as a community maga-zine, produced by members of the English-speaking community. It was not the brain-child of a rich publishing house that waslooking to plug a gap in the magazinemarket. In other words, it wasn’t set up tomake anyone a lot of money. Still, it wasenvisioned that in order to survive as aprofessional, quality journal it would event-ually have to provide a minimal, part-timeincome to two or three staff members whoput time into producing it. Also, an enthus-iastic team of volunteer writers, research-ers, photographers and administratorswould eventually have to receive someform of payment in order to maintain pro-fessional standards. We’re now into ourthird year of production and it’s becomeclear that achieving this goal is still a long

way off.Late last year, it began to be a major

struggle just to cover the basic costsof graphic design, digital plate-setting,printing, distribution and so on for eachnew edition. Over the last year, someeditions did better than others financially,but now the magazine is being producedat a loss.

We’re a publication that relies on advert-ising income to survive and the simple factis that in three years we’ve found no onewho would reliably be able to sell advert-ising for us. The responsibility for acquiringads has remained with the three publishers,and with full-time, paid jobs of our own,our editorial, administrative and ad-chasingenergy has been sapped. We’ve run outof steam.

Many people believe that a simplefinancial solution for a free magazine is toput a cover price on it. Many readers havetold us they would gladly pay two euros ormore to buy our magazine. (“Two euros per

for the three publishers of accents:Geoff, Bryan and Maki. They producedaccents in their spare time, with remark-able determination and innovation,turning that beer-mat idea into reality.

Every cloud has a silver lining, andI am pleased to hear that work is fairlywell advanced on an online version ofaccents. Please support it as you havesupported accents magazine. And maybe– just maybe – we’ll see accents re-launched as a magazine in the New Yearunder the name of a new publisher.

5accents magazine

Chrys Rynearson, the webmaster ofaccents’ new website, explains what youcan look forward to seeing, reading andcontributing to when the site is launchedlater this year.

The new accents website will consist ofthe usual articles you’ve come to expectfrom the printed magazine, but with atwist. Instead of downloading files of acomplete magazine, as you’ve been able todo up until now from the current website,you’ll be able to read and then commenton individual articles online, and create avirtual discussion around important topics.But it doesn’t stop there.

Once you register as a user, you’ll beable to post up your own discussion topicsin discussion forums and be notified bye-mail when new topics or comments areposted by other users. Granted, theseconcepts have been around on the Web foryears, but we will also be enriching our sitewith many of the newer, socially-inclusiveaspects of websites like MySpace, Face-book, Flickr and Wikipedia.

For example, some of our currentwriters as well as new authors will become“bloggers” or columnists. What is a blog?

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 aconcert review, local tips or recommend-ations, political comments or simply aspecialist interest of the blogger. Thereare also plans to integrate classified advert-ising, Expat resources, Google Maps andGoogle Earth into the website, as well asmultimedia such as podcasts and videos.

An added feature of our service will bean online version of accents guide (www.accentsguide.de) which will function as adirectory of information, and will allowlocal businesses, community groups andorganizations to have a place on the Web.Wikis, as these sites are known, allowanyone to sign up and post or edit contenton topics they have some knowledge of orhave researched.

The aim of introducing these featuresto our new website is to provide a better-connected community and to encouragethe use of participatory media. Contentis created not just by staff writers butthrough the active participation of the com-munity. We hope you’ll join us in helpingto enrich the English-speaking communityof Baden-Württemberg.

www.accentsonline.deLinking English speakers in B-W

copy, at 10,000 copies: you’ll have 20,000euros!”) We appreciate the thought,but the financial benefit of a cover pricedoesn’t come as readily as it seems. Wedon’t have the space here to explain thebusiness of magazine markets, suffice tosay that we actually investigated the cover-price option a year ago and found it wouldnot work for us. In short, we would havehigher expenses on the distribution andaccounting side and less revenue fromadvertising, due to a lower circulation rateand the fact that, most significantly, wewouldn’t be reaching our target readership(which attracts advertisers). You can’tdistribute a cover-price magazine to pubs,clubs, churches, cafes, cultural organ-

isations, libraries, play groups, languageschools, high schools, universities, busin-ess reception areas – these are among theplaces where accents has been distributed.In other words, if accents were to havea cover price, it would not be delivereddirectly to places where English speakersgather. With our limited resources wecouldn’t make a cover-priced accents work.But others might find a way.

We believe there is a market niche foran English-language magazine like accentsin Baden-Württemberg. It’s a magazineread not only by native-English speakers(51%), but by Germans (44%) and thatmakes it attractive to advertisers. But thework 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 iswhy we’re going to spend the autumn andwinter months looking for a local publishinghouse to take over accents. We and ourteam of writers would be able to supplythe editorial content; a new publisherwould be able to manage the magazineand make it pay its way. That is our hope.

In the meantime, we’re sure you’ll alsoenjoy reading and contributing to our newwebsite, accents online. See you in theautumn (or fall, if you prefer).

Geoff RodoredaEditor and co-publisheraccents magazine

Faces behind thescenes: BryanGroenjes, MakiKuwayama and GeoffRodoreda (l to r),publishers of accents.

Photo:

Chrys

Rynearson

News and Events

accents magazine6 News and Events

The International School of Stuttgart (ISS)plans to expand its ‘dual language’ elemen-tary (primary) school program at its BaSICScampus in Böblingen-Sindelfingen. Begin-ning in September, the school will offerEnglish-German dual language teachingfrom kindergarten through to fifth grade.

Dual-language learning involves teach-ing young children in both German andEnglish, and is designed to help native andnon-native English and German speakersbecome proficient in writing and speakingboth languages. Classes are taught byteams of German- and English-speakingteachers. ISS BaSICS is the only one of the20 members of the Association of GermanInternational Schools that has introducedsuch 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

the opportunity to become bilingual,” saysSarah Kupke, principal of the BaSICSschool. “The growth in private schoolingshows us that many German parents areseeking alternatives to the state system.A dual-language teaching program isnaturally of enormous interest to them.”

Kupke says there is now a strong bodyof research indicating that bilingual stu-dents outperform monolingual students inthe long term. (She says she’s happy tosupply references to such research uponrequest.)

“Understanding is the focus of ourlearning goals and our teachers employ avariety of approaches and methodologiesthat are not only dynamic, practical andsystematic, but also enjoyable,” she says.

ISS BaSICS says it plans to continueexpanding the dual language programfurther into the Middle School.

‘Dual-language’ school to expandEnglish-German program, now for Fifth Grade kids

Learning in Englishand German nota problem for thesekids at ISS BaSICS.

Global warming, captured in photosA British Council exhibition in Stuttgart

By Alexander Chavez

We’re bombarded nowadays with climatechange terms and numbers: tons of CO2

emissions, kilowatt hours, species hostper square kilometer, glacial melt rates,rising sea levels, and so on. And then theeconomists get in on the act. The Britishgovernment’s Stern Review on the eco-nomics of climate change puts the pricetag for climate change, if left unchecked,at a staggering 5.48 trillion euros.

But how does one translate this jargoninto understandable images? How can onecommunicate the extent of the problemand propose solutions?

The photo exhibition NorthSouthEast-West, organized by the British Council andon display in Stuttgart until the end of July,provides some answers to these questions.The British Council is the UK’s officialorganization for promoting British arts andculture around the world – or at least, thatused to be its role. It’s now changed itsfocus to working with European culturalorganizations on global concerns. One ofthese concerns is climate change.

NorthSouthEastWest is a collection ofphotographs by ten of the world’s topphotographers who traveled to 12 locations

around the world. Their images document,among other things, the repercussions ofthe melting of the polar ice caps on coastalcommunities, and desertification and itseffect on wildlife. But there are also imagesthat show how renewable energy tech-nologies, such as wind and solar power,which help combat global warming, canalso help improve people’s lives in poorrural communities. The climate changebuzzwords, the facts and the figures areput into context, and the concept of global

warming becomes more tangible.The exhibition at the University of

Stuttgart’s city campus (the KII building atKeplerstraße 17) was organized in coopera-tion with the university’s department ofNew English Literature, which has a newboss, Professor Renate Brosch. She iseager to develop new links with Englisharts and cultural groups.

The connection between English litera-ture studies and the problem of globalwarming may not seem apparent at first.At the exhibition’s opening, Patrick Hart,Deputy Director of the British Council inGermany, used the example of the work ofCharles Dickens to illustrate the powerliterature has to change human behavior.

“Dickens’ writings drew the attention ofthe general public to the conditions of theworking poor in Victorian Britain. The resultwas more sympathy for the poor and anincrease in (the number of) charities,” saidHart. He said he hopes that more authorsand artists will address the issue of globalwarming and initiate changes in humanbehavior in the way Dickens did.

If you miss out on seeing the exhibitionyou can view the photographs by clickingonto: www.northsoutheastwest.org

Stuttgart University’sRenate Brosch andthe British Council’sPatrick Hartat the opening ofNorthSouthEastWest.

Photo:

LotharBertram

s,Stuttgart

News and Events 7accents magazine

ViewpointThe media shift, from paper to screen

With accents moving online, I would liketo dedicate this last Viewpoint (only myfourth) to a computer whiz – a long-lostarmy pal, then 1LT Robert Thompson ofSpokane, Washington, USA.

I haven’t kept in touch with him but Iremember him bending over a primitivecomputer in 1989, and gleefully sayingto me: “Gary, in 20 years, there won’tbe a book in the library. It will all be ondisc or accessible via computer. Insteadof settling down with a book for theevening, folks will settle down with theircomputers.” Bob’s nearly 20-year-oldprediction of ‘the shape of things tocome’ is not far off the mark. It wouldappear that the nerds have won.

To the casual observer, the printmedia seems healthy enough. A peek ata newsstand at any train station revealsa cornucopia of newspapers and maga-zines. In recent years, an explosion ofniche publications has swamped themarket. Our mailboxes are beleagueredevery week with countless free news-papers, called “freesheets” in the ind-ustry, that invariably land in the recyclingbin without being opened. We appear tobe overwhelmed with printed material.

And yet, the world according to Bobis becoming a reality. In short, the waywe access information and readingmaterial is being irrevocably alteredby the Web, iPod, e-book, and othertechnical innovations. A recent reportby the National Press PhotographersAssociation in the USA shows that one-percent of America’s newspapers gobroke annually. This is hardly an Americanproblem. The Economist reports thatnewspaper sales across the Westernworld have plummeted over the pastdecade and that as many as half oftoday’s papers may close in the not-too-distant future. In his ominous bookThe Vanishing Newspaper, author PhillipMeyer predicts that the last newspaperwill land in the dustbin of history in theyear 2043. The culprits: the cost of news-print and distribution, which accountfor 75% of American newspapers’expenditures, and, of course, the BobThompsons of the planet.

In the age of the uncluttered deskand designer furniture, readers –especially youthful readers – are simplyuninterested in the newspaper medium.As one of my thirty-something palsis fond of saying, “If it’s not on theInternet, it doesn’t exist.” The reader-ship culture generated by the Internetspells bad news for the traditionalmagazine and newspaper industry.

The Web and its spin-offs have radicallyreduced our collective attention span.The antsy readers of today want theirinformation served up quickly, visually ifpossible, entertainingly for sure, and ineasy-to-digest morsels that consume aslittle time as possible. This virtual formof collective attention deficit disorder(no insult intended) is fatal to news-papers and magazines, especially thosethat require plenty of time to produceand consume.

The compressed timeframe in whichinformation is consumed in the virtualrealm has profound implications fordemocracy and society. Will Web-basedpapers be able to effectively assumethe traditional ‘checks and balances’function of the traditional newspapers?Will blogs have the power to topple acorrupt government the same way thatthe Washington Post and New YorkTimes did in the Watergate affair? Willa blog headline or photograph conveythe same invocation of national pride asthe Bild newspaper’s famous “Wir sindPapst” (We are the Pope) cover? Willthe consumers of Web-based inform-ation feel as passionate about politicsand social events as readers of traditionalpapers once did?

OK, you get the point: I’m a news-paper and magazine man through andthrough. I’d like to view accents’ newstation as an online magazine as a kindof newspaper purgatory, a temporarymetamorphosis 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 stillsavour the smell of coffee, the crackleof the newspaper, the piles of newsprintaccumulating in the corner of an untidystudy, and ink-besmirched fingertips leftby papers hot off the press.

Bob, if you’re out there and you readthis online: see you in the library!

Dr. Gary AndersonLecturer of Cultural Politicsat Zeppelin Universityin Friedrichshafen

accents magazine8 Arts and Culture

Arts and Culture

Popular Entertainment Versus High CultureStuttgart theatre in step with world trends

Should theatre be about producing comicentertainment for the masses or seriousdrama for the intelligentsia? Arts EditorStuart Marlow reports on trends in thea-tre production and how Stuttgart theatregroups are moving with the times.

Arguments about what sort of theatreshould be staged are partly driven by theneed to cover production costs. AndBaden-Württemberg’s English-languagetheatre groups are constantly dealing withthis dilemma. Should they provide yet morecomic entertainment in an already saturatedmarket when there is a decided lack ofpolitical theatre? On the other hand, shouldtheatre become the preserve of educated,middle-class thinkers, who need to havetheir morals challenged before they headoff for a round of after-show drinks?

Generally speaking, conventional theatreright across Europe is in crisis. Large-scaletheatre is very expensive wherever it isproduced and attendance numbers are fall-ing steadily.

In London, these factors have led tothe rise of small-studio or alternative-venuetheatre. Top actors can now be seen inmodest performance spaces for veryreasonable prices and the arguments aboutwhether or not to produce ‘entertainment’or ‘culture’ have been superseded by thelow cost of small-scale productions and theuse of more intimate dramatic space. Largetheatres distance the audience physically

and emotionally from the performancearea. Performances in small spaces, suchas converted pub rooms or small ware-houses tend to be intimate. The movetowards smaller venues also enables thestaging of quality performances of relativelyunknown plays with little financial risk.

The challenge for those of us creatingAnglophone theatre in unconventionalspaces in Germany is how to provideunrestricted vision of the stage, allowingno more than four or five rows of seats.Some venues, like the Tribühne Theatre inStuttgart, have tried staging their perform-ances in a long corridor between two banksof four to five rows. Halle T4 at Stuttgart’sTheaterhaus is steeply raked to accommo-date eight rows of seats with unrestrictedvision, although the set-up requires goodvoice projection from the actors if they’reto be heard in the back rows. Like some ofthe successful studio theatres in London,NEAT’s cosy performance space at the KKTin Bad Cannstatt offers excellent acousticsbut little freedom to experiment with thespace between auditorium and stage.

Experimenting with space will be amajor challenge for English-language theatregroups wanting to appeal to a wideraudience. You’ll be able to find out howthey face up to this challenge and remaininformed about the English language artsscene in Baden-Württemberg via accents’new website (www.accentsonline.de) whenit’s launched in the autumn.

Congrats for“An Almost Perfect Murder”

With falling attendance figures fortheatre generally, it’s great to seeEnglish language productions playingbefore packed houses in Stuttgart.Congratulations to Wendy MarieFörster on the success of her play“An Almost Perfect Murder,” whichcentres on two frustrated wives plot-ting to rid themsleves of their macho,couch-potato husbands, and is full ofincisive humor and dark irony. Beforegoing on to win the Best OriginalScript award at the 2007 Festivalof European Anglophone TheatricalSocieties in The Hague, the playattracted a full house in Halle T4 atStuttgart’s Theaterhaus. Unfortunately,this talented American playwright leftStuttgart for California earlier this yearand was unable to see the Theater-haus production. To quote fromHannah B. Patrick’s Theaterhausreview: “Excellent lighting and atmos-pheric sound provided by the stud-ents of the Hochschule der Medienset the atmosphere for Wendy MarieFörster’s black comedy, An AlmostPerfect Murder. Starting perhapsa little slowly, Michelle Golledge asShelley and Elizabeth Winkler as Bethnevertheless managed to drive this(play), powerfully, to its ironic andmacabre conclusion. Congratulationsto (director) Jonathan Tilley for soskillfully holding the balance betweenstrong emotional depth and farce.”

Photo:

Henrik

Zawischa

Garden rockets and mysterious gardensSummer reading

The Pocket Dangerous Book for Boys:Things to Do, by Conn & Hal IgguldenHarper Collins, 205 pagesThis book is filled with activities to keepboth adults and children busy. Theyrange from simple games through toinstructions on how to build a treehouse or how to make a go-cart. Thepocket-book format and old-fashionedillustrations create the impression of ahandbook for Boy Scouts, though thisbook has a slightly cheeky twist. Thereare activities that don’t belong in anyold Boy Scout’s manual, such as tips onhow to play poker properly, and how tomake a real bow-and-arrow or a gardenrocket. Written with wry humor – thechapter on first aid is entitled “Are TheyBreathing?” – this is a book that will lastthe whole summer.

The Savage Garden, by Mark MillsHarper Collins, 355 pagesIf you want to read a thriller this summerthat is not just cotton candy for themind then this is the book to choose.Set in postwar Italy, this is an old-

MondaysMusic & movie quiz

TuesdaysLive Jazz music

WednesdaysGeneral KnowledgeQuiz

SaturdaysDarts tournament

The George & Dragon English PubIn Hotel Le Meridien

Willy-Brandt-Stra e 3070173 Stuttgart0711 280496 9www.gandd.info

fashioned thriller (no techno gadgets,high-speed car chases or secret societiesundermining Western civilization) whichgently draws the reader into a web ofmystery. A Cambridge student, AdamStrickland, is on a research holidaystudying the gardens of the Villa Dolciwhen he discovers that two deaths, onein World War II and another in the 16thcentury, are not as straightforward asthey appear to be. The mystery of thegardens is unraveled with referencesto Dante and Virgil. The result is astimulating, but not overly demandingread. Perfect for when the summer heatbegins to lull the mind.

It has an annual turnover of 7.5 millioneuros and a workforce of around 100employees who speak more than 20 lang-uages. Its customers include firms likeBosch, Daimler, Hewlett-Packard, Celesio,Festo and Fanuc, as well as VfB Stuttgart.

We could be talking about any one ofa number of medium-sized companies inBaden-Württemberg. However, the productof this particular ‘business’ is not car partsor high-tech machinery but education. The‘business’ is the International School ofStuttgart, ISS.

“For internationally mobile employeesand their families, the presence of an inter-national school to ensure the continuity oftheir children’s education is a significantfactor in choosing a job. This is how wesupport businesses that are reliant on bothexpatriates and impatriates,” says JohnFoulkes-Jones, ISS director.

The Chapmans are a typical example ofan internationally mobile family. Originallyfrom Britain, Sean and his wife Rachelworked in other parts of Europe and theUSA, before moving to the Stuttgart region.Although English is their mother tongue,the children had been educated previouslyin schools in France and Germany but the

Chapmans decided to send their childrento ISS in preparation for a possible worktransfer in the future.

“If you work for a multinational companythere is always the possibility you will beoffered a move elsewhere,” says Sean.“We wanted the children to be in a schoolfrom which they could easily transferto another system somewhere else.”

International schools emphasize toleranceand an enquiring approach to problem

solving. This is why businesses are enter-ing into partnerships with schools like ISS.Mark Smith, from the company Ernst &Young, is a member of the Board ofTrustees of ISS. He helped involve theschool in the “Handelsblatt macht Schule”project – which Ernst & Young supports –designed to support the school in businessstudies classes. “Both business and theschool benefits from such cooperation,”says Smith.

The financial situation of the school hasbeen stabilized since the media coveragelast year in connection with the loss ofsubsidies from the Baden-WürttembergGovernment and the future of the schoolis secure. An increase in student numbersis expected for the coming school year.

Ninety-eight per cent of what we nowknow about how children learn has beendiscovered in the last five years. For ISSthis necessitates regular curriculum reviewsand regular professional training for staff.The ISS looks forward to continuing tosupport local business develop globally andglobal business develop locally.

Written for accents magazine by the ISSwww.international-school-stuttgart.de

Innovative schoolingInternational in name and in outlook

The ISS motto: everychild Integrated,Stimulated, Special.

Photo:

LotharBertram

s,Stuttgart

Summer Wine FestivalsSummer time is wine festivaltime! Don't miss this cozyGerman tradition. Picturedabove is the HeilbronnerWeindorf from Sep 6 to Sep 14.See other dates on this page.

accents choice 11accents magazine

The People, Yes!Carl Sandburg’sChicago-LyrikLecture on the Americanpoet by Prof. Dr.Friedhelm Kröll, M.A.Jul 19, 7:30 pm

Myth, Nature, and theHudson River SchoolLecture on the 18th and19th century Americanmyths about nature byProf. David Sumner, PhDJul 24, 7 pm, at theStaatsgalerie Stuttgart

The Long John WayneFilm EveningCelebrating his 100thbirthday, the DAZ willshow two John Waynefilms with western-stylesnacks. Aug 1, 6:30-11 pm

Deutsch-Amerikanisches ZentrumJames-F.-Byrnes-Institute.V. Charlottenplatz 1770173 Stuttgart0711-228180www.daz.org

Events

Music Lectures

Workshops

StageEvents

FreiburgA Change of PerspectiveGerman-American ExhibitionJul 5 - Aug 24, Mon-Fri,10 am - 6 pm. Carl-Schurz-Haus,Eisenbahnstraße 62HeidelbergDAI Book FleamarketJul 9-13, 2-6 pm, Jul 14,10 am - 2 pm, DAI Sofienstraße 12,www.dai-heidelberg.deStuttgartBollywood and Beyond4th Indian film festival. Jul 11-15,www.bollywood-festival.deNew World – the Inventionof American PaintingJul 21 - Oct 21, Staatsgalerie,Konrad-Adenauer-Straße 30-32,www.staatsgalerie.deTübingenMoscow – New York.Double Exposure Express.Lomographic views by IngeborgJaiser, Lothar Schmidt, CharlotteSachter and Neil DavidsonExhibit 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.deIn the RegionWine festivals in the regionJul 25 - Jul 29 KonstanzAug 9 - Aug 23 LudwigsburgAug 29 - Sep 9 StuttgartAug 29 - Sep 9 PforzheimAug 30 - Sep 9 ReutlingenAug 31 - Sep 3 Breisach am RheinAug 31 - Sep 2 SchorndorfSep 6 - Sep 14 HeilbronnSep 15 - Sep 17 Esslingenam Neckar

Stage

FreiburgDancing to ConnectDance project with the BatteryDance Company, New Yorkand 5 Freiburg schools.Performance on Jul 17,Großes Haus, StadttheaterHeidelbergHelen & The Daughters of TroyJul 27 - Aug 4, Roadside Theater,Patton Barracks, general publicwelcome, Tickets 06221 175020,www.roadsidetheater.comMainauA Midsummer Night’s DreamThe American Drama Group CastleTour 2007. Jul 10, 7 pm and 8 pm,Schloss MainauTübingenIreland –History, Literature, MusicPresented by DIF (German-IrishFriendship), Paddy Bort andVeit Müller, Jul 12, Café Luca

Music

LauffenIrish Nightwith Tim O’Leary & CameronRobson, Brian McNeill andBachelors WalkJul 14, Burghof

LörrachStimmen 07International Music Festival“The other voices of America”is the theme of this year’sfestival presented by Burghofin Lörrach until Jul 29,www.stimmen.com

Our choices sorted by location:Burghof LörrachSekou Sundiata (USA)The 51st Dream State,Jul 11 and 12, 8:30 pmMarktplatz LörrachKatie Melua (GB)Jul 19, 8 pmBlood, Sweat & Tears (USA)Jul 20, 8 pmRosenfelspark LörrachGwen Matthews &Denis Colin Trio (USA/F)The Be Good Tanyas (CA)Swan songs, Jul 25, 8 pmBethany & Rufus (USA)One Ring Zero (USA)Jul 26, 8 pmTerrance Simien (USA)Mojo & the BayouGypsies (USA)Let the good times roll –Zydeco night, Jul 28, 8 pmHazmat Mondie (USA)Dr. John (USA)Jul 29, 8 pmGrün 07 ReinfeldenRockapella (USA)Natually 7 (USA)Best of a cappella, Jul 14, 8 pmLes DominicainsGuebwiller (F)Chanticleer (USA)Jul 19, 8 pm

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On our future websiteyou will still find our choiceof English-language eventsin the region. Even better,authorized users will be ableto post new English-languageevents all on their own. If youwould like more informationabout how to post yourevents, contact us atchoice@accents-magazine.de

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NagoldTanglefootIrish Folk Rock. Jul 20, KeltenfestWaldshut-TiengenGeraldine MacGowanIrish Folk. Sep 27, Stadtscheuer

Lectures/Discussions

FreiburgOpen Dialogevery other Wed, 6:30-8 pmplease check website for datesand topics, Carl-Schurz-Haus,Eisenbahnstraße 62, 0761 5565270,www.carl-schurz-haus.deMonday Nite at the MoviesScreening and discussion,Friedrichsbau-Lichtspiele, 7 pmWriter’s CircleFridays, 6 pm, Library Carl-Schurz-Haus, see address aboveHeidelbergDiscussion groupwith Dr. Steven BloomCheck www.dai-heidelberg.defor topics, Wednesdays, 6 pm,d.a.i., library, Sofienstraße 12English-Language VideoDiscussion GroupCheck www.dai-heidelberg.defor topics, Tuesdays, 6 pm,d.a.i. library, see address aboveKarlsruheDEF English Conversation Circle3rd Tuesday of each month,7:30 pm, Moltkestraße 20, Room 4.LitNight in EnglishReading and discussing literature1st and 3rd Tuesday of the month,7:30 pm, American Library,www.american-library.dePoetry PleasePoems read and discussed inEnglish. 4th Tuesday of the month,7:30-9 pm, American Library,Tom 0721 3540477StuttgartThe Empire Study GroupA popular study group byLaurence 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.orgConversation CircleEvery third Friday of the monthfrom 6-7 pm, Conference Room,DAZ, see address above.View topics on www.daz.org/ConversationCircle.html.The discussion group continues as

a Stammtisch at 7:15 pm.Let’s Read!Reading group for contemporaryAmerican literature. Once a monthon a Friday 10:30 am - 12 pmPlease sign up to attend0711 228180 or info@daz.orgTübingenWriter’s ClubWith Carolyn Murphey Melchers,2nd Friday of the month, 2-4 pm,d.a.i., see address aboveBook Discussion2nd Friday of the month, 6:30-8 pm,d.a.i., see address aboveTalk At Eight: Discussion Groupon Current Issuesby Laurence Stallings.3rd Tuesday of the month 8:15 pm,d.a.i., see address aboveThe One-Dimensional Empire:The Levelling-Down of RealityA popular study group by LaurenceStallings and Scott Stelle, viewtopics on www.dai-tuebingen.de.Last Friday of the month, 6:45 pm,d.a.i., see address above

Workshops

FreiburgWorkshops in cooperationwith the Carl-Schurz-HausVisit www.carl-schurz-haus.defor a list of current workshopson square dancingHeidelbergWorkshops at theGerman-Amercian Institute (d.a.i.)Visit www.dai-heidelberg.defor a list of current workshops

Kids

accents magazine12 accents choice

Our complete guide toeverything Baden-Württem-berg has to offer in Englishis available online onwww.accents-magazine.de

EmergencyConsulates/EmbassiesSchools & PreschoolsLibrariesClubs & OrganizationsTheater GroupsKids & PlaygroupsPolitical GroupsBusiness OrganizationsReligious ServicesSportsMovie Theaters

accents guideonline

on TOEFL exams, conversation,job hunting, and orientation fornewcomersStuttgartWorkshops at theGerman-American Centre (DAZ)Visit www.DAZ.org for a listof current workshops on writing,quilting, and dancingTübingenWorkshops at theGerman-American Institute (d.a.i.)Visit www.dai-tuebingen.defor a list of current workshopson quilting, and fundraising

Kids

FreiburgTell Me a Story!Reading for children by Leanne DierEvery other Wednesday,5-6 pm, Carl-Schurz-Haus,see address aboveHeidelbergStorytime for Kids3-5 years, every 1st and 3rdWednesday of the month, 4:30 pm,please sign up 06221 607315,dai – Library, see address aboveKarlsruheStorytime in English!2-5 years, every 2nd and 4thWednesday of the month at 4 pm,American Library, Kanalweg 52,www.american-library.deStorytime for childrenages 6 and olderFri, Jul 27, 4 pm: Rhino’s HornsWith crafting afterwardsso please sign up. American Library,see address aboveDr. Seuss DayFor children all ages.Tue, Jul 31, 2 pm, American Library,see address aboveStuttgartListen inStory and activity for kids 3-6 yearswith parent. Sat 3:30-4:30 pm,Children’s English Library (CEL),

Etzelstraße 25-27, 0711 3582215,www.celstuttgart.deRhyme TimeSinging and rhymes for kids0-3 years with parent/carer,Fridays 10-10:45 am, CEL,see address aboveSinging and Story timeNative English speakers 3-6 years,Fridays 3-3:45 pm, CEL,see address aboveCEL Youth Clubfor fluent English speakers aged10-13 years old, Saturdays 7-8 pm,CEL, see address aboveReading & Writingnative English speakers – schoolchildren (6-7 years old, max.6 children), Fridays 4:15-5:15 pm,CEL, see address aboveEnglish Taught Thematicallynative English speakers –school children(8 years old +, max. 8 children),Fridays 5:15-6:30 pm, CEL,see address aboveHarry Potterand the Deathly HallowsTwo members of CEL will doa reading, followed by a discussionbased around the new Harry Potterbook. Jul 26, 4-5 pm, Stadt-bücherei, Konrad-Adenauer-Straße 2Story Time for Kids at the DAZEmma Walton will read stories,play games and teach Englishvocabulary to kids.Mondays, 3:30-4:15 pmSenior Group 7-10 years,4:15-5 pm Junior Group 4-7 years,please sign up 0711 228180,info@daz.orgA story just for you!Jul 18, 2:30 pm Stadtteilbücherei,Vaihinger Markt 6, Stuttgart-Vaihingen, 0711 2164851Bollywood –Discover India with BeverlyWorkshop in English with PollyHasselkuss. Jul 27 and 28, 9-12 am,Johannesstraße 63, Stuttgart-WestTübingenEnglish Storytimefor kids 4-6 years with ChristineAsch, 1st Wednesday of the month,4-5 pm, d.a.i., 07071 795260,see address above

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Friday, Jul 20, 5 pmBiergarten im Schlossgarten,Am Schlossgarten 18, Stutt-gart. This time we’ve planneda special meet-up with anearlier meeting time. Frisbee’s,soccer balls, kids welcome.On the lawn next to the beergarden. Come along and findout more about the futurewebsite!

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Long John Wayne EveningCelebrating John Wayne’s100th birthday, the DAZ inStuttgart will be showingtwo films with western-style snacks between filmsAug 1, 6:30-11 pm

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For Sale/For Rent

Moving Salegoing back to USA and can’t takeitems like lamps and electrics.All items must go! Good prices50-75% off what we paid lessthan 2 years ago. Bedroom set withcabinet and bedside tables, enter-tainment center with 2 cabinets,bathroom cabinets (3), washer,vacuum cleaner, lamps, rugs, airconditioner, fans, toaster oven, andheater. Tel: 0711 3804169 anytimefor more information.

Berlin To RentFully furnished holiday apartment inBerlin available for rental. Situatedin quiet courtyard in 1890s buildingin Bergmannstrasse – a well knownstreet with cafés, restaurants,designer/antique shops. Only fourU-bahn stops from Stadtmitte(city centre). Vacancies availablethis Summer. For info and prices:www.rentinberlin.net Phone0174 2152135 or 0711 7946608

Services

TAX ME NOT – IRS FREE MONEYUS Citizen? Pay German Taxes?Have kid(s)? IRS may owe you arefund! Full range of ProfessionalTax Services. You must file evenif you don’t owe! 07071 968590potrop@aol.com

Medical Writing and TranslationsGerman-English, English-GermanKaren Grützner mgruetz@t-online.de

Having trouble withwritten English? Need help check-ing essays, letters, or speechesto an English-speaking audience?Reasonable rates, confidential andprompt. proof-read@hotmail.com

Personal

Seeking Mother’s Helper!Stuttgart Family seek a caring‘live-out’ English-speaking femaleto help care for children, 18months, 3 and 8. Part-time. Will berequired to do household chores,and babysitting. Non-smoker.References essential, and driverslicense if possible. Contactpaulinebrett@yahoo.com or 01608081011.

Employment

Become an English teacherand invest in your future. If youenjoy working with infants andchildren, speak fluent English,want flexible and independentwork near home and want tojoin an established internationalframework with a strong supportsystem, become a Helen DoronEarly English teacher. A uniqueand highly successful systemproven over 20 years, with specialmethodology and materials.Tel. Stg and BB 0711 8880173,WN and LB 0711 586207,ES 0711 9012352 andAA, GP, HDH 07334 920357.www.helendoron.de

Linguarama Spracheninstitutis seeking qualified native-speakerEFL teachers for business Englishcourses which are offeredthrough-out Baden Württemberg.Especially those with a technicalbackground are welcomed.Application materials by e-mail,stuttgart@linguarama.comor call 0711 997993-30

Native speakers wantedwith financial /technical /businessexperience and excellentinter-personal and language skills.Freelance work. Contact:andrina.rout@fokussprachen.com

It’s Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy!Seeking enthusiastic staff to teachEnglish to 7-11 year olds. Thispaid work is due to start in autumn.Interested? easypeasyls@web.de

Business English Teachers needed:native speakers, university degree,TEFL qualification, min. 2 yearsteaching exp. Please contact ISDGmbH, Stuttgart, eileen.pannone@isdgmbh.de or 0711 2388218

EducCare gGmbH suchtfür bilinguale Bildungskindertages-stätte Stuttgart-West ab 20.8.07eine englischsprechende Erzieherinzu 100% in einer Gruppe mit 10Kindern 0-3 Jahre. Bewerbung an:bewerbung.st@educcare.de

Post your ads online!Watch for our new websitethis fall to post your ads for theEnglish-speaking community.Until then, send an e-mail toads@accetns-magazine.de tohave your message distributedon our mailing list.

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Classifieds

Professional Language SchoolEnglish German French Spanish

State exams for:• Commercial Correspondents• Translators

Advanced German Foreign Languageand Interpreter courses

Im Kaisemer 5, 70191 Stuttgart, Tel. 0711 - 295 107www.sprachschule-idi.de

accents magazine14 Labyrinth

Labyrinth

First, a bit of holiday math: if Liz drives for12 hours at 150km/h with three fightingkids in the back seat and nothing but drybread to chew on, how long before sheends up in a straitjacket?

Actually, I look forward to my kids beingout of school, with no homework stress, noalarm clocks, no running them around fromone activity to the next. The ideal vacationfor me would be to hang out and donothing, make the kids do the housework.My husband has other ideas about thoseweeks of school vacation.

He is always eager to plan a 14-hourdrive to a place that makes my familyback home ask, “Isn’t there a war goingon there?” A few days before the trip hestarts to fuss about making the house spot-less before we leave. The shutters haveto be rolled down one-third of the way.Not one-half, but one-third. (It makes thehouse absolutely scream, “WE’RE ONVACATION, COME IN AND ROB US!”)

The military-style wake-up call at fouro’clock in the morning to beat the holidaytraffic jams is always pleasant. Unfortun-ately, everyone else in Germany has thesame idea and we all end up on the roadat 5 a.m. And God forbid that we shouldstop somewhere for a proper breakfast orfor lunch. In Germany, you are required tosmear butter onto the last few pieces ofdried-out bread in your kitchen before youleave. You eat that and Tupperware-packedapple wedges on the way.

On the first morning of our vacation myhusband is always up early in search of aWanderkarte – a hiking map. What would aGerman vacation be without a twenty-milehike? Or we might go on a 50-mile bikeride. (Just what I need for my constipationafter 14 hours of sitting in a car eatingbread and butter.) We always book placesto stay where there’s a swimming pool or asauna. Although it remains a mystery to mewhy a hotel for 200 people never managesto stock more than a dozen plastic deckchairs in their “Wellness” area. By the timeI arrive poolside all of the chairs are reserv-ed with towels that have been there sincewell before the breakfast buffet opened.

Reserving deck chairs with towels is afavorite German pastime.

In general, I arrive back home from avacation a few kilos fatter and in desperateneed of a vacation from my family.

This is the last tangible copy of accentsso I’ll be taking a writing vacation untilaccents online kicks into gear towardsthe end of the year. I’ll be joining up asa columnist or ‘blogger.’ Writing for thismagazine has been very therapeutic forme. Living in a foreign country can some-times get you down but my tip is: don’tlose your sense of humor!

Liz Gaiser

Holiday stressVacations are not what they’re meant to be

By Katharine A. Schmidt

You know the sad news – you won’t bepicking up a fresh, beautifully printedcopy of accents come September,when vacation’s over. But sometime inOctober or November I hope you’ll sitdown at your computer and open up thenew accents online website, with blogs(“weblogs”) by columnists from theprint magazine, and probably a few newones. 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, ofcourse I’ll miss being able to thumbthrough the glossy pages of our maga-zine. And with a looser editorial arrange-ment, I may not get to have as manygood linguistic tussles with Geoff, theAustralian editor-in-chief. I’ll miss thebimonthly encounters with all the stories

I used to copy-edit, and all the discover-ies I would make working to ensure thatour stories and columns were as clearand 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 theworldwide “blogosphere,” where com-ments by readers are integral parts ofthe whole blog. I hope some of you whohave sent me generous comments,suggestions and questions over the pastcouple of years will join me there, andinvite a few friends along.

Thanks very much to everyone whohas responded to my column orsuggested a topic! See you in the fall(or autumn, if you prefer).

It’s “See ya later,”not “Goodbye”

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