Teaching Indian employees in German
Monday, the 17th of July I had to hold my first German class. It was a German class Level 1 what will mean that they were absolute beginners with no pre-knowledge, neither in German culture nor in German language of course. Since I have been working for HCL, I prepared German’s classes Level 1 to 3. During this preparation I took notice how difficult German really is. When you grow up with the language you don’t think about its difficulty, coz it is no problem for you to speak and write. But believe me, in comparison to English for example, German is much more difficult. I decided to start my first class with a little introduction of myself, Germany and its culture including a German song (“54, 74, 90, 2006” of Sportfreunde Stiller). After that, my pupils introduced themselves by using a little sheet, which I handed out. The pronunciation, I remarked at once would be a problem for the entire class. Although I repeated the word again and again, they were not able to pronounce it correctly. Especially the “Umlaute” represent the biggest problem. The first lesson then finished in becoming acquainted with the German alphabet.
Also they are confused about T and D as well as about E and I and P and B. But that’s normal, I think. They were very astonished about how Germany looks like when I was showing them pics of Frankfurt, Berlin and Baden-Baden. Some of them wished to take the next plane to Germany, I think. In addition to that I showed them pics of the “Schloss Neuschwanstein” and of the FIFA World Cup which was occured at that time. I decided to speak German from the first lesson on. Of course, they wouldn’t understand any word, but that is not really important, I think. As long as they will be able to understand the context, it is enough. And in addition to that, thus they get used to the pronunciation. But nevertheless, I had to repeat lots of sentences in English, of course.
The next sessions then I had to take notice that not all of the employees are really interested in learning German. Hence, the number of pupils decreased more and more. Ok, I have to admit that some of them are forced to quit coz they were too much involved in their process and therefore couldn’t afford to be absent. Some of the pupils attended only every now and then to German classes due to different reasons. It was difficult for them to follow the further classes. Basically, I should have kicked them out of the course when they missed more then three classes. But believe me, after a while I would have been the unique participant. Hence, I decided to let them attend to German classes further on. The biggest problem I noticed at once was the fact that the Indians usually never do their homework. In fact, it puts you off a little bit, coz I was making such efforts and they did nothing to contribute to the classes. But what should I have done? Kicking them out or punishing them? Well, after a while then I conducted like a German professor at University – I didn’t bother about their success. Anyway they are already off age and should know what they do or not. Although most of the pupils are much younger than me, except for some of them. In average, I would say they are 25. All summed up, it is much fun to teach them. In the class they are very ambitious and once I ask a question to someone the whole class answers. It’s really funny. They sometimes behave like little children and every now and then it is really difficult to keep them calm.
As I already mentioned, it was the first time that I have been a German teacher. Therefore, first it was me to teach myself in German. Or do you know why the ending of the adjective in the sentence “Ich komme aus meiner großen Dusche” is –en? Now, I know. And believe me, it is quite complicated and difficult for foreigners to understand or even to remember. After 10 weeks of classes I prepared a final assignment for both level 1 and level 2. Of course, I couldn’t do some listening and comprehension exercises as the company is not furnished with the required equipments. Therefore, I compiled a final assignment containing grammar exercises and writing exercises whereby the most part of the exercises were grammar exercises including personal pronouns, possessive pronouns and adjectives and so on. Some of them performed very well and some failed completely. For that reason, I decided to provide another final assignment two weeks later in order to give them the opportunity to improve their grade. On a whole, I dare say that it was a great experience and rather challenging at the beginning. But I don’t want to miss one class I held with my pupils. Even if it was not really related to my studies, you never know what the use of it is in the future. In any case, I can claim to have teaching experience.
Also they are confused about T and D as well as about E and I and P and B. But that’s normal, I think. They were very astonished about how Germany looks like when I was showing them pics of Frankfurt, Berlin and Baden-Baden. Some of them wished to take the next plane to Germany, I think. In addition to that I showed them pics of the “Schloss Neuschwanstein” and of the FIFA World Cup which was occured at that time. I decided to speak German from the first lesson on. Of course, they wouldn’t understand any word, but that is not really important, I think. As long as they will be able to understand the context, it is enough. And in addition to that, thus they get used to the pronunciation. But nevertheless, I had to repeat lots of sentences in English, of course.
The next sessions then I had to take notice that not all of the employees are really interested in learning German. Hence, the number of pupils decreased more and more. Ok, I have to admit that some of them are forced to quit coz they were too much involved in their process and therefore couldn’t afford to be absent. Some of the pupils attended only every now and then to German classes due to different reasons. It was difficult for them to follow the further classes. Basically, I should have kicked them out of the course when they missed more then three classes. But believe me, after a while I would have been the unique participant. Hence, I decided to let them attend to German classes further on. The biggest problem I noticed at once was the fact that the Indians usually never do their homework. In fact, it puts you off a little bit, coz I was making such efforts and they did nothing to contribute to the classes. But what should I have done? Kicking them out or punishing them? Well, after a while then I conducted like a German professor at University – I didn’t bother about their success. Anyway they are already off age and should know what they do or not. Although most of the pupils are much younger than me, except for some of them. In average, I would say they are 25. All summed up, it is much fun to teach them. In the class they are very ambitious and once I ask a question to someone the whole class answers. It’s really funny. They sometimes behave like little children and every now and then it is really difficult to keep them calm.
As I already mentioned, it was the first time that I have been a German teacher. Therefore, first it was me to teach myself in German. Or do you know why the ending of the adjective in the sentence “Ich komme aus meiner großen Dusche” is –en? Now, I know. And believe me, it is quite complicated and difficult for foreigners to understand or even to remember. After 10 weeks of classes I prepared a final assignment for both level 1 and level 2. Of course, I couldn’t do some listening and comprehension exercises as the company is not furnished with the required equipments. Therefore, I compiled a final assignment containing grammar exercises and writing exercises whereby the most part of the exercises were grammar exercises including personal pronouns, possessive pronouns and adjectives and so on. Some of them performed very well and some failed completely. For that reason, I decided to provide another final assignment two weeks later in order to give them the opportunity to improve their grade. On a whole, I dare say that it was a great experience and rather challenging at the beginning. But I don’t want to miss one class I held with my pupils. Even if it was not really related to my studies, you never know what the use of it is in the future. In any case, I can claim to have teaching experience.
posted by Thorsten at 9:08 PM
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