Lernexpress
Lernexpress is a German-language BBC schools TV series from the 1990s, covering German Language for secondary school pupils.
German language presented through interviews and films about real German teenagers and adults, in a lively and quite fast-moving format presented by German teenager, 18-year-old Sonja Zimmer. Sonja talks to viewers, including some English at first but wholly in German during later episodes, and goes to meet and interview the subjects of the programmes.
Sonja presenting...
…in various...
…places!
The first series Introduces teenagers from the north German city of Hamburg
, with the last two episodes going further north to meet those who live and holiday on the North Sea coast in Nordfriesland.
The second series is based around teenagers in the south German city of Munich, the mountain town of Mittenwald on the Austrian border, and around the state of Bavaria.
Lernexpress was generally advertised as aimed at ages 14-16 studying for their secondary school exams, but the teacher's notes acknowledged that they could also be used for beginners and intermediate pupils at later stages including sixth forms.
As a general German series for secondary school pupils leading up to GCSE and Standard & Higher Grade exams Lernexpress replaced the earlier, studio-led Mach's Gut!. Later in the 1990s it would in turn be replaced by the even more lively series Hallo aus Berlin.
An accompanying Lernexpress im Radio series was broadcast in the first couple of years.
Locations
Titles & Theme Music
The two units, or series, of Lernexpress had completely different opening titles and logos, with the same theme tune.
The first shows a series of stylised images from around Hamburg and the northern states where it is set, including images of Sonja and some of the people she meets. It has a black and yellow design.
The second shows the same type of images but from around Munich and Bavaria where the second unit is set.
The programme title from the first version is shown above, and the full second version is available to view online.
Episode List
| # | # | Title | Broadcast |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lernexpress 1 | |||
| 1. | (1) | Ich über mich | 16 Jan 1990 |
| 2. | (2) | Die Familie | 23 Jan 1990 |
| 3. | (3) | Mein Zuhause | 30 Jan 1990 |
| 4. | (4) | Die Schule | 6 Feb 1990 |
| 5. | (5) | Freizeit | 13 Feb 1990 |
| 6. | (6) | Die Stadt | 27 Feb 1990 |
| 7. | (7) | Ich habe Hunger | 6 Mar 1990 |
| 8. | (8) | Wie komme ich nach...? | 13 Mar 1990 |
| 9. | (9) | Auf dem Land | 20 Mar 1990 |
| 10. | (10) | In den Ferien | 27 Mar 1990 |
| Lernexpress 2 | |||
| 11. | (1) | Winterferien | 8 Jan 1991 |
| 12. | (2) | In den Bergen | 15 Jan 1991 |
| 13. | (3) | München stelt sich vor | 22 Jan 1991 |
| 14. | (4) | Wir treiben Sport | 29 Jan 1991 |
| 15. | (5) | Du bist was du ißt | 5 Feb 1991 |
| 16. | (6) | Kleider machen Leute | 12 Feb 1991 |
| 17. | (7) | Was möchtest du später werden? | 26 Feb 1991 |
| 18. | (8) | Funk, Film und Fernsehen | 5 Mar 1991 |
| 19. | (9) | Soldat oder Zivi? | 12 Mar 1991 |
| 20. | (10) | Servus Bayern! | 19 Mar 1991 |
Broadcasts
| Year | Term | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Channel | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1989-90 | Spring 1990 | Tuesday, 9:25am | Wednesday, 9:50am | BBC2 | ||||
| 1990-91 | Autumn 1990 | Tuesday, 9:25am | Wednesday, 9:50am | BBC2 | ||||
| Spring 1991 | Tuesday, 9:30am | Friday, 11:30am | BBC2 | |||||
| 1991-92 | Autumn 1991 | Monday, 9:10am | Tuesday, 9:15am | BBC2 | ||||
| Spring 1992 | Monday, 9:10am | Tuesday, 9:15am | BBC2 | |||||
| Summer 1992 | weekdays, various times | BBC2 | ||||||
| 1992-93 | Autumn 1992 | Monday, 11:55am | Thursday, 11:30am | BBC2 | ||||
| Spring 1993 | Monday, 11:55am | Thursday, 11:30am | BBC2 | Thu not Scotland | ||||
| 1993-94 | Autumn 1993 | Friday, 9:00am | BBC2 | |||||
| Spring 1994 | Friday, 9:00am | BBC2 | ||||||
| 1994-95 | Autumn 1994 | Monday, 9:00am | BBC2 | |||||
| Spring 1995 | Monday, 9:00am | BBC2 | ||||||
| 1995-96 | Spring 1996 | Tuesday, 9:05am | Thursday, 9:30am | BBC2 | Tue series 2, Thu series 1 | |||
| Summer 1996 | Tuesday, 2:00am+ | Wednesday, 2:00am+ | Thursday, 2:00am+ | BBC2 | 23-25 Apr | |||
| 1996-97 | Spring 1997 | Tuesday, 2:00am+ | Wednesday, 2:00am+ | Thursday, 2:00am+ | Friday, 3:00am+ | BBC2 | 25-27 Feb & 28 Mar | |
For overnight trnsmissions as part of Night School TV and The Learning Zone the 20 episodes were split across three 2-hour long compilation programmes shown over consecutive nights.
The final broadcasts in March 1997 consisted of episodes 1 & 15 shown as part of a Language Season 'Young Learners' compilation programme.
Credits
| Presented by | Sonja Zimmer |
| Language consultant | Rosi McNab |
| Graphic designer | Linda Sherwood-Page |
| Film sound | Julian Baldwin |
| Film camera | Godfrey Johnson |
| Film editor | Amber Lane |
| Videotape editor | Alan Dixon |
| Production assistant | Lizzie Wiffen |
| Research | Kerstin Wachholz |
| Producer | Susan Paton |
Resources
Teacher's Notes
A booklet of notes was published for each term, containing programme summaries, worksheets, vocabulary lists and transcripts.
Videos
Each term's programmes was released as a video pack containing a VHS video and the teacher's notes.
Books
Two student's books were published by Longman, written by series consultant Rosi McNabb.
Book 1: Buy from Amazon
Book 2: Buy from Amazon
Audio cassettes
Two audio cassettes were also released, and transcripts of the cassettes were sold seperately.
Links
Topics
School topics covered in this programme. Click to find other programmes covering the same topics, but bear in mind topics are a new addition to the site in 2023 and not many are set up yet.
Keyword tags
Some features of this programme. Click to find other programmes with the same features, but bear in mind tags are also a new addition to the site in 2023 and not many are set up yet.
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