Tuesday 15 March 2011

Formal German language

Guten Tag!

My formal German language course has just started with some home lessons. The teacher is from Intracultura. We have just gone thru four lessons and have really enjoyed it very much. It makes such a difference when the teacher is able to communicate with you in English while teaching German.

My wife was part of the integration course when we initially entered into Germany and it was hell. Her class conducted in German, and herein lies the fundamental problem. How is she expected to learn German if the instructions are being delivered in German??

We have about 15 more lessons, so hopefully at the end of the lessons, I should be able to hold a very simple conversation with my colleagues. I now know how to tell the time or ask for the time. Small steps...


3 comments:

cliff1976 said...

Immersion is a valid and often effective technique. Worked well for me, when I was a teenager. A VHS class in German for non-native speakers of English was successful for my wife (though she is a native English speaker). Maybe immersion is not your style, but it can be great, and I can't imagine teaching German in Germany to group containing native speakers of Farsi, Portuguese, Russian, English, Romanian, and Vietnamese in any language BUT German!

fiona said...

Hi, thanks for your comment. Home teaching sounds bliss! My intensive course was all in German so there are bits that I've not understood, particularly where the grammar is concerned. I'm feeling relieved now that I can go back over it in my own time and hopefully feel more confident going forward. Good luck with the rest of your lessons!

G in Berlin said...

In my integration course, I found it very useful to have a small dictionary always to hand, as well as an extra Grammar book (recommended by the secretary) because as an American, I feel grammar challenged. If I ever got really stuck, the teacher (or another student) would cycle through other German words that were closer and closer to English until we reached a point where I could understand. It works.I find the VHS courses amazingly good and able to teach to a variety of learner types (I'm a person who needs charts and to understand how things work, other people need physical movement and so on and the course uses exercises for all types).
If your wife had a bad experience, it's too bad she didn't change to another teacher or another school:(.