I spend much of my time in Germany wishing the official language was Spanish so that I could communicate. Spanish was the only language offered at my high school, and I had studied it for 3 years before embarking on a journey to Germany. At age 16, I was awarded the Congress-Bundestag Exchange scholarship. No German skills were required for the scholarship. Thanks to a volunteer tutor, I arrived in Germany knowing several key nouns and verbs and a smattering of basic adjectives. I was very confused and continually curious.
Living in a foreign culture and being immersed in a language is frequently cited as the best way to learn a language. In fact, it is the best way to acquire a language and over time (see language acquisition versus language learning). I did indeed acquire the German language in just three months. Upon my arrival in Germany, I was enrolled at the local Gymnasium (that is the term for the college bound school track.) I gradually discerned that the local school system had never developed rules or expectations for exchange students. The secretaries allowed me to switch classes at my whim. I eventually exploited this loophole to my linguistic advantage. I enrolled in a 7th grade German class, where my classmates were amazed at my ability to parse sentences. I took a 13th grade English class to give myself a break from the poor teaching and monotony of the 10th grade grammar and vocabulary-based English course. I skipped all my math exams as I had no idea what the instructor was covering; it turned out they were in the thick of calculus studies. I loved Chemistry, my favorite subject in the states and the introductory class was essentially a review for me. The organic Chemistry instructor denied me entry fearing I’d already missed too much by the time I learned the course existed. I dropped physics after sitting through several sessions in which I couldn’t even determine the general theme of the class.
School took up a great deal of my day, but it was only a good language acquisition opportunity for me after I rearranged my schedule to give my brain a chance to acquire the language with familiar topics. I recall fondly the topics I learned in my Chemistry class and I was in fact able to learn new skills due to my comfort and ability to understand a good deal of the content. When you are presenting lessons to students, be certain that you present material in a way that allows students to make sense of a good deal of the content. Only with comprehension will language acquisition occur.
Looking back, I am amazed at my ability to acquire so much, so quickly. Within three months of my arrival, I was conversing on a wide variety of topics. I could have taken advantage of so many more opportunities if I’d been wiser. I wish I’d visited the local library each afternoon to read children’s books. I wish I’d volunteered in a first grade classroom to see what they were learning and listen to story time. I am grateful I wasn’t shy to enroll in classes for which I was too old or too knowledgeable. German is not an easy language, but with enough exposure, you too can acquire everything you need to enjoy fascinating conversations with native speakers.
