With regard to the story behind the writing of this book, I was looking for a book for my students that has both motivational and practical components with a lot of up-to-date and useful tips and tricks, ideally in an eBook format so they could just click on a link and go directly to the YouTube video, the book sale page, the external website or another source.
Moreover, I didn’t want that book for my students to be a boring compendium of grammar exercises or pages-long descriptions of how to use flashcards. It needed to be written in an entertaining yet highly practicable way where you can say after going through a chapter or even the whole book: “I had a fun read, got inspired and learned a ton of good stuff!”
Unfortunately, I haven’t found such a book. After a long, unsuccessful search, I thought,
“Ok, I’m going to write one.”
This eBook is the result of my one and a half years of writing, summarizing experiences of twenty-five years of teaching German in three different countries. I’ve learned in these times about the characteristics and specifics of the German language at least as much as the students I taught.
I started my career after getting my university degree as a German teacher in Budapest. I thought I could work applying my new skills as I learned how to teach, therefore, I know how to do it. Nothing could have been further from the truth.
It’s like getting your driving license. Do you have the permission to drive a car? Yes. Can you drive a car? Not really. You have the basic skills but with a learning-by-doing approach (you drive a lot, thousands of kilometres), you can become a good driver after a while.
At the beginning of my career as a German teacher, I worked in different language schools for two years in Budapest. After that, in 2001, I went to North Germany, and later I became part of an integration project in Hamburg. My colleagues and I have provided German lessons to people from different countries to get them integrated. It was one of the most beautiful experiences in my entire life. I had the opportunity to get to know beautiful people from over thirty countries, together with their culture, mentality, and food! Aside from this, I used to work in the same centre as a German school teacher for native Germans to help them get their secondary school certificate. It was sometimes tough – most of my students in this second project had gone through a rough patch, such as drug addiction, teenage pregnancy or even spending time in a correctional facility, but I met great people, it was very rewarding, and I could make useful experiences.
I also taught at the Academy of Arts in Hamburg for two semesters with a bunch of interesting students from all over the world. It was a fun time for me – and for the students.
In 2012, my wife and me moved to Cracow, Poland – we have lived here ever since. I restarted my career as an English and German speaking communication trainer in a large international company for two years, I later worked in language schools, and in 2014, I started my own language school. We are in our twentieth semester right now (May 2024).
While working in language schools and in my own school, plus delivering company courses in several large corporations since 2012, I have taught over 150 groups. More than thirty private students can be added to this list.
Altogether, I believe I’ve had in my activity as a German teacher and communication trainer for the last two and a half decades more than 2,000 participants, which means more than 2,000 different personalities, personal histories, individual needs, and goals.
We have lived through very emotional situations – both negative and positive. Once, a young refugee spoke about her struggles that she experienced on their way to Germany. She told us very sad, personal stories, and all ten participants and the teacher (me) had tears in our eyes. Some of them openly wept. Another time, a young man enthusiastically told us his story about a successful integration into the society, finding a German partner, friends, and a new job as an architect. It was an uplifting moment, some of us also had tears in our eyes – this time it was tears of joy.
I’ve heard in my classes about the deaths of relatives and friends, sadness, and tragedies, but luckily, there was more often a lot of happiness and joy. During the integration courses in Hamburg, once a week we went on an excursion in the city with the group and then we had a nice cup of coffee afterwards. That’s how we got to know Hamburg – and each other.
Several times, participants in my courses became a couple and they would not have met each other if it wasn’t for the course. Some of them even got married and became parents later – beautiful and heart-warming experiences.
But it is not only the emotional component that makes my job great: it’s also amazing to experience the progress from being a “language-baby” (completely beginner) to a fluent speaker, within a couple of years. People got jobs because of their developed language skills, people became integrated in German society, people extended their and general knowledge and found a new perspective in their lives. For me, it was often a life-changing experience – I learned a lot, moreover, I could change the attitude or even the lives of other people too.
Yes, there are so many beautiful aspects of being a “simple” language teacher. Needless to say, we also had a lot of parties after the last meeting in the course. Back in the days, in Hamburg, we organized international food “trade fairs” – people from different countries bought their own prepared food – a truly rewarding and delicious experience!
Helping people, experiencing the development of language skills, changing negative attitudes, broadening horizons, living moments of great intensity and emotions with other human beings with different backgrounds – that’s why I love my job.
Due to the global pandemic of Coronavirus disease 2019 (ah, that’s why it’s called COVID-19!), caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the world has changed and so have my German classes. In March 2020, I had to re-organize all my classes and private students. Fortunately, I was able to change my complete teaching system, including homework, whiteboards, and live sessions, even for the better; teaching online has opened a new horizon of possibilities and great tools. To be honest, I like it more than conventional classes, thanks to the almost endless digital-virtual possibilities and the flexibility.
As for my former language learning experiences, apart from English, I have also learned Russian and Spanish – both still at a low level, between A1 and A2.
Currently, I’m learning Polish, and I’m now on the so-called intermediate plateau (the main topic of this book), somewhere between the B1 and B2 levels. The plan is (after I reach fluency in Polish), to learn Italian – which is for me the most beautiful language on this planet – and Estonian, because it sounds like an Elvish language, simply beautiful and exotic. If I will still have energy, I would like to learn Korean – among other reasons because of the cinematic culture.
So, there we have it, these are the reasons why I chose to create this book and I hope you have as much enjoyment reading it as I’ve had writing it.
I invite you to grab a coffee, put your feet up, and enjoy reading my book.
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