My name is Shona and I’m currently a student at Lancaster University in England. I study German and linguistics and I’m in my third year. Foreign language students at my university must undertake either a work or study placement in their third year, so I chose to work as an English teaching assistant through the British Council (similar to the Erasmus programme) and was assigned to Heinrich-Hertz-Gymnasium for this year.
I went to a UK grammar school, which is in essence the same as a Gymnasium in Germany, so I understood that schoolwork and homework demanding. During my time at school, we had multiple language assistants from Germany who helped us greatly in our learning. This experience was one of the many reasons I opted to be an assistant this year.
I went to a UK grammar school, which is in essence the same as a Gymnasium in Germany, so I understood that schoolwork and homework is often demanding. During my time at school, we had multiple language assistants from Germany who helped us greatly in our learning. This experience was one of the many reasons I opted to be an assistant this year.
I have been at HHG since September and will remain here until the end of May. I give presentations of varying lengths, help with small language problems using my knowledge as a native speaker, and had lots of fun preparing festive classes around the holidays.
So far it has been a delight working with the pupils, as they are all welcoming and eager to learn. I am constantly impressed by the level of language even young students are producing and wish my German was at that level when I was 12 years old! My short time here so far has even led me to considering teaching after I graduate, with a goal to becoming a German teacher in the UK.
Thanks to the eager students and encouraging staff, I learn new things every day. I am also lucky enough to be able to run an English conversation after-school club for 10th to 12th graders. Generally, I just let the students to talk about things they are passionate about or interested in, as I find they worry less about making small grammatical errors, so the resulting conversation feels more natural. It has been a wonderful experience so far getting to know individual students, too.
I hope young students find the love for language-learning that I did in secondary school and hope my remaining months here will be as enjoyable as the last few.