Are any of you Engish as a second language Teachers who teach to German people?

Question

If so, has your German (Deutsch) improved as a result of teaching?

Answer 1

Oh, ja! Natürlich! I went to Germany in 1977 and ended up teaching TEFL for several years. Could not speak a word of German when I first went over, but I picked the language up as I went along. I was getting by pretty well after one year (able to go shopping, etc.) and quite fluent after two... Not grammatically correct, but enough to make myself understood in most situations, understand films, songs, etc.

I picked up a lot in the pub after classes (they were adult education courses at Inlingua, not in schools). But also in class when those linguistically challenged (no, they are not idiots, just ill equipped to learn a foreign language!) would really get me going by asking me stuff like "Please repeat! Wie war Lamm nochmals auf deutsch? (= What did you say lamb is in German?)" Lamb? Pardon? Lamm! Sounds the same, is the same! Just spelling is a little different... And this is direct method teaching where we "listen and learn" first before we worry about spelling... Duh!!!

Then there were the "why is it said like that and not like this..." Questions. Then you have to teach a great many their own language before they can "get" English grammar... For example the "bigger than" "as much as" "fewer" "less" "much" "many" etc. etc. That is before you even start on tenses... Modern German seems to have lost its simple past tense!! Everyone "has been" but nobody ever "went" to school! (for example).

And then socially... When out with people and making friends, they all wanted to practise their English the first year. Then after that year, they decided I had been there long enough and should now be able to speak German fluently! How could I when everyone spoke to me and each other in English?!

I really had to put my foot down... I also had to make an effort to make sure I was in totally German environments all the time... Not hanging out with ex-pats and fluent English speakers.

On the whole, it is a great advantage *to students* if a teacher does NOT speak the language of the country they work in... Then the students learn more, better and faster as they try harder to understand and communicate with you. Modern teaching methods depend on people learning a foreign language in the same way they learn their mother tongue... However, they can only do the listening in a class room because all the rest of their environment remains unchanged... In your case German.

That is why the teacher probably learns quicker than the students if s/he is integrating/participating in the local culture and social world they live in. On the other hand, if a teacher remains aloof and in an English-speaking environment outside the classroom as well as inside (say with family or never goes out socially), they have little need or opportunity to learn any German at all!

Or any other European or World language... Which is why the British have such a dreadful reputation... Everyone speaks English, so why bother?! But many of us do... I am now married to a German national and communicate in German at home. I have also worked in the German economy and even though I could not work as an editor or write speeches for others, my language skills are certainly adequate enough feel confident I am well integrated... YMMV!

Answer 2

Not teaching but I hope to be allowed a short note to piglet:

Simple past is not lost - it is used in written German (novels etc). in spoken German "Perfekt" is and always was the preferred form - at least in the more southern regions of the German speaking Europe (that includes Austria).

Answer 3

is that english???

Answer 4

no.

Answer 5

i dunno