A note about our language course
One thing I feel it is important to mention is my reaction to the language course we had in Marburg. First of all, there were a number of times I felt a class period would drag on, where we would more or less listen to our teacher tell us different words, and we’d either ask what they were in English, or he would tell us what they are in English. One day he even drew a sketch of a man on the chalkboard and pointed to various parts of the body then wrote down their names. I wish I had a camera there that day, because it got rather hilarious to look at. I can see the use in the vocabulary, I really can. But at times it just felt like we didn’t focus enough on grammar and sentence structure. I feel sometimes like I can say one word to describe what I’m trying to aim at, but I can’t form a sentence.
We had two teachers for our language course: Joachim and Renata. Joachim was a fun, incredibly likable guy. He was always cheerful, always eager to hear us speak, and always willing to work with our various levels of language skills. Joachim also, however, would jump around a lot. He had many ideas that would pop in his head, so it felt like the day would not have a formal structure. I don’t think it’s always a bad thing to go off topic if it’s of value to the entire class. However, if one person keeps asking questions about the local pet shop, then starts asking Joachim what his favorite animal is (and so on), I think it’s best to steer the class back to a more appropriate direction.
Renata never spoke to us in English. A few times she would speak a single word of English as if to coach us or acknowledge our answer as correct, but that was it. Her class seemed to be drastically faster than Joachim’s classes. We had fewer classes with Renata than we did with Joachim.
What I can say, though, is that our teachers were highly respectful to the class, even when maybe they should have stepped up and kept some in line. I would gladly sit down and chat with them on a friendly level any day, and I am grateful for their time and care.
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I totally agree with you! Level 1 needed more structure, but it was hard because Joachim was such a nice guy