Yeah, so at my school (Gymnasium) you would always talk to the teacher in the language you're currently learning. So in english everyone speaks only in english and in french or spanish class you only speak in french or spanish. This started around year 7 or so, in the Grundschule you speak german in class. The concept is, that at some point your skill Level is expected to be high enough, to only talk in english in class And no school uniforms are none existing in germany
I remember starting English in grade 5, (1991), and our teacher exclusively talked to ur in RP English, and since he was a music teacher as well, he made us learn a lot of English children‘s songs…which was emberassing! To this day I still feel pride at finally having managed the dumb passage of.. The animals walk in two by two, hurrah, hurrah…the fat hippopotamus stuck in the door 😅🤣 Language goals to aspire to! Lol
I'm trying to remember (I've been out of school for almost 45 years and my own children for about 15 years). But generally, foreign language lessons are taught in the respective language. Exceptions may be made if you have difficulty explaining your comprehension problem in the foreign language, then the teacher can switch back to German. However, this often only happens in the first two years. Incidentally, the current generation no longer learns English (or sometimes the language of the neighboring country) in many federal states from the 5th grade onwards, but already between the 1st and 3rd grades in primary school. Fun fact: I still remember the poem about November 5th (Guy Fawkes night)
@@christophhanke6627 Well in english course in the elementary school (4th grade) my.kids have phases in the english Lessons when the teachers Tell Them: we now Switch Out brain from German to english. Click, click...and the they only speak english for that time. And the english teacher of my Kids (9 years old) hast a Socket puppet called Mr. Mole (and guess...its a Mole!) and this speaks only english too.
Its fairly common nowadays that the students speak better English than the teachers thanks to American pop culture and the internet. But I personally had a wonderful English teacher from Scotland in my 10th to 12th grade who taught in a way which sparked a genuine love for English literature in me and some of my classmates. Shoutout to her I guess haha
You sure it is? I mean to me it seems they use more english words. but have no real clue what they mean. It's like you think you hear them speak english and if you ask if they do, they say no, without even joking!
@@boraonline7036 It depends on the generations. Older generations tend to not speaking English while the younger generations are more capable of it. Some might say they don't speak English but often their English is better than they think it is. They just don't want to embarass themselves (are afraid of it).
_Usually_ in Germany... 1) Language classes are interacting in the language learned. (Not like in the video, where way too much German is used.) 2) There is no school uniform. 3) This teacher appears to be from the former GDR, so she probably only learned English as an adult. (?)
It depends on the language. Only the ones who are still spoken are taught in that language. Latin and Ancient Greek are taught in German and you only translate the texts for the most part.
"Allowing" mistakes during a presentation by pupils is always that we call "the choice between black death and cholera", the choice between two evils. It is better when the teacher allows his/her pupils to finish and then correct things like "I am here since two weeks" to "I have been here for two weeks by now" and so on. Interrupting someone too often will be too intimidating and that counteracts the idea to make them talk freely.
We had one English teacher who had spent some years in Britain. He taught the advanced classes, where it comes to reading real newspapers and literature. No simplified "school editions", but the real stuff. His English was, as far as I could judge, flawless, although you could hear a British accent sometimes. And, yes, from a certain grade on, we only spoke English during lessons, except, of course, when it came to translations. They were not very important, however. The emphasis was on understanding what you read and on being able to express yourself and your opinions.
I‘d say I‘ve never heard an English teacher in Germany with such a ba grasp of the language. I went to a West-German school, and we also started reading British Sun and Guardian newspaper articles on the troubles starting 10th grade, so no simplified texts or adjusted vocabulary after 6 years English class. From the teacher’s accent that was atrocious, I‘d hazard a guess she is East German. Shame
Retired English teacher from Germany here. It has been mandatory for us to speak English in class for decades ( I started teaching in 1978 and it was then already). Some English teachers don't but that's a bad idea because students keep translating word by word into English then and don't get the proper word order as easily. When they listen to English during the entire study period they get used to the sound and structure of the foreign language much easier.
The best English teacher I had was a guy with a super strong "pfälzischen" accent. He was the coolest teacher ever and his accent was no problem at all. I see no point in mastering the English pronunciation in school. English media is omnipresent in Germany, therefore the exposure to the correct pronunciation is easily available.
WE only speak english to our teacher. Sometimes there we're guest teachers from great britain to and they told us that they dint understand any German at all. Dont know. But with my German english teacher yes only english.
Each new lesson in our books would start with a small story. Our English teachers would bring an audio cassette where a (native?) speaker reads the text out loud. This partially solves the problem of proper pronunciation. I quite distinctly remember each new lesson starting from the tape with “Listen and repeat!” Sure enough we would speak English in English class.
I think, this is a pretty good example of how English is taught in Germany. The teacher will speak in English, and the students are expected to respond in English as well. This teacher's English leaves room for improvement, indeed. But I don't think you will find many teachers of her age in Germany who speak proper English. There simply are not enough older people with high English skills. I would expect that younger teachers are a lot better at speaking English nowadays, simply because younger people tend to be better at English in general. Personally, I wasn't very good at English myself when I finished school. I only learned to speak it better afterwards, when I actually started using it more frequently. If you don't do that, what you learn in school will at most help you to get to a mediocre level. And regarding the school uniforms, we don't have those in Germany. After WW2, the idea to put kids in uniforms was not very popular. They aren't banned, but no school ever tried to introduce them, even though occasionally there is a discussion about whether they might be useful or not. The argument you mentioned is probably the most common one brought up in favour of school uniforms.
@@Dave_AlbrightNot laughable. It reflects the lack of opportunities older people from that region had to travel and go and live in an English-speaking country.
@@alicemilne1444 Above all, it shows the lack of teachers. It is supposed to be a high school. The teacher's performance is borderline independent of the federal state.
Even in english course in the elementary school (4th Grade) my kids (9 years old) have phases in the english Lessons when the teachers Tell Them: we now Switch Out brain from German to english. Click, click...and the they only speak english for that time. Also the english teacher of my Kids has a Socket puppet called Mr. Mole (and guess...its a Mole!) and this speaks only english too.
From middle school onwards (around year 7 or 8), it is common for lessons to take place predominantly in the foreign language in order to promote language practice. At the latest in the upper school (grades 11 to 13), the foreign language is used almost exclusively, especially in preparation for the Abitur.
The word "mediation" they are using in this context is quite confusing to native English speakers who understand mediation to be a sort of attempt at conflict resolution requiring a neutral mediator. The word is also used in that sense in German too. However, in language teaching in German schools it has acquired a different meaning, ie a kind of rough, short translation. We would call this gisting in English.
We never had to translate stuff in Gymnasium, neither from German to English nor the other way. In fact we never spoke a single word German, only English. We would usually read English texts or listen to audio examples, then answer different contextual questions. Or look at pictures and describe them. Later we did debates and had to incorporate knowledge of American history and culture that we learned throughout classes. For my Abitur oral exam i got for example a picture of the Iwo Jima monument which shows a marine corps raising the American flag and i had to talk about it for couple of minutes. That was like 12 years ago :D
It is meditation what they are doing/practising here. That means you read and understand the original text, you have to distinguish between the main message(s) and the details that just underline it, then you sum it up and present it in English without unnecessary bits and pieces. For some years now that has been part of the final exams (Abitur). Working with texts is regarded as more and more essential in our world as so-called "cempetence in (social)media" as well.
During my school years I had various English teachers. I noticed that the younger teachers often speak English or teach English better than the older ones. The older English teachers always stuck very strictly to the books, while the younger ones spoke much more freely. In German schools today there are many opportunities to gain experience abroad. For example, student exchanges or language trips. During your studies you also have the opportunity to study abroad for several semesters through Erasmus+. This ensures that you use the language. I don't want to offend the teacher in the video, but in her generation such stays abroad were not yet common in the school system.
How old do you think she is?! I‘m 51, my sister is 56, and in our school years it was pretty common to go on language trips, have student exchanges, spend a year at a US Highschool, work abroad as au pair person, etc. Most parents also spoke excellent English back then, although they had not been able to travel much in their younger years. Of all English teachers I have ever seen, she speaks hands down the worst English. How is she supposed to correct the pronounciation of her students if she doesn‘t even pronounce nearly correctly herself?! Sorry, but if it‘s your job and you get paid for it, practice pronounciation. Her accent is not an excuse in my opinion. Not as an English teacher.
@@klarasee806My dad's 63 and back when he went to highschool (Gymnasium), in the late 70s, there used to be loads of exchange programs. As far as I know there was at least one opportunity to participate in an exchange to England and also to France. Plus he did a gap year, where he went to the U.S. . Even at his age, he speaks English almost flawlessly. (Not comparable to this teachers abominable English skills)
When I went to school (about 30 years ago) I got bullied at school because my parents couldnt afford the brands which were popular back then. Today I think it changed and its not the clothes anymore - its more like who has the newest iphone or LV-bag or something. A school uniform would've helped me a lot. Keep up your good work, I like watching your videos 🙂
Have you seen the really old movie from „Augsburger Puppenkiste“ The characters are handmade dolls, and there are many different stories. The best ones is Jim Knopf und Lukas der Lokomotivführer, Urmel aus dem Ei, Der gestiefelte Kater. 📺🎎
I think the teachers english was not good at all - at least compared to my school lessons back then. I assume - but could be wrong, of course - that she was only a substitue teacher for this class!?
My memory of school is very similar. Growing up in eastern Germany (this video is also from the east) 25 years ago, many of our teachers spoke equally terrible English. They grew up behind the iron curtain and couldn't travel or read and listen to media from abroad. I learned proper English by reading books in original English and thankfully then we could watch BBC World and CNN on the telly.
I had a pretty bad English teacher 50 years ago and learned almost nothing. Because I live close to the Netherlands, I could watch Dutch TV with English movies that where not dubbed like everything in Germany. I learned a lot by just watching and I also understand Dutch. This helped me a lot when I worked in a US company.
Austrian here. We spoke only english in english class. But my teacher didn't speak perfect english. I could communicate in english after finishiing school. In my twenties I started to watch youtube and movies in english and it was really hard at first. But now I quite often don't even remember if I have seen something in german or english. I even dream english sometimes.
Yes. In Gymnasium, English lessons are usually conducted entirely in English. In Realschule, it's a mix, depending on how good the class is. And in Hauptschule, no one speaks English anyway. They usually already have enough difficulties speaking German.
Gymnasium is the most academic type of school for kids between 10/11 and 17/18. It is typically the base for a university or college, but not the only way to get there (there are multiple secondary schools too). The other two main types are Realschule/Mittelschule ("real(ity) school"/"middle school") and Hauptschule ("main school"), which teach more practically orientated "stuff" (with Hauptschule being the most practically orientated). It is also worth mentioning, that all of these start at year 5, but Gymnasium lasts 8 or 9 years, while Realschule/Mittelschule only lasts 6 years and Hauptschule only lasts 5 years. Provided you don't have to repeat a year, obviously, which you have to do, if your grades aren't 'up to snuff'.
It's funny - the english teacher has a saxonian accent. Many Saxonians speak with their typical accent, wheather it's in german or in english. Probably it's a former russian-teacher of the GDR who made a crash course in english after the reunification 😁 Edit: Ok, maybe it isn't a saxionian accent but a thuringian one as it's said in a comment below. I'm from western Germany so I'm not able to differ between all variants of the eastern german dialects.
I was a bit angry, when I realized how bad the English of my teachers was. For example, it was only many years after my school days that I understood that we Germans not only have a problem pronouncing TH, but that we have never learned to pronounce the English W correctly. Why? Because my English teacher didn't know better herself. My English teachers all spoke English at a level which I consider absolutely unacceptable today. In my eyes, the teacher in this video is actually unsuitable for the job. Which is sad.
@keyboard5494 thanks for comforting me. But 90% of the English I know I learned after school. I've dyslexia and struggled the whole time because writing was everything, and learning to speak English from someone who can't pronounce it properly didn't help either
I finished my school career in the mid-80s. My English lessons began in the 5th grade and continued until the end. And from the 10th grade onwards, I had a really excellent English teacher who had previously worked in the diplomatic service and taught the children of embassy staff abroad. That's not really a statement about her abilities. But that became clear relatively quickly when she managed to get a German-born late repatriate from the former Soviet Union, who had no knowledge of English, to the level of a 10th grader within a year. He learned dozens of vocabulary words every day. At the end of the year, he could write an essay in English...
I'm born 1970, my first English lessen was in 5th grade at age of 11 and it began with "Good morning boys and girls! We have English class. We are only going to speak English." Was really baffled and did not understand one sentence.
In my school in west Germany we speak English all the time when we have it. There are a few exceptions though: Talking to the teacher in private or questions are in German and if it's a more complicated topic some students can't say it in English so we are allowed to speak German. We don't wear school uniforms at all. We have a few rules about what we are not allowed to wear. My school has a big problem with bullying but you're not bullied for your clothes. You might be treated weirdly if you pretend to be wearing branded clothes even though you don't but not because you don't have/wear expensive clothes. The bullying comes from other places that I can't and don't want to talk about. This school is probably in East Germany judging from the teacher's accent and the classroom. My school is really ugly but not as ugly and boring as the classroom in the video. It might not be from there but I'd say the teacher is probably from East Germany. My English teacher speaks almost like it was her native language. They probably won't pick up her English as most of us watch a lot of videos in English. I personally don't speak anything like my English teacher/former English teachers
In my school time English was introduced quite late (around 5. grade) my teachers where incompetent on a whole other level, one to strict, never even talking german for explanations from the beginning, she always stayed in English even if she met you in between lesson's or in other topics, she stayed in English which made her a joke between the kids because no one was able to get her while she used her language like a native person, which you simply couldn't expect in that time (20+ years ago) and the other was way to relaxed, if we didn't finished something on time well than its next lesson which throw us back half a year of content we should have learned in the meantime, that added up in 4 years. My English started to improve through Magic The Gathering, You Tube (which is why I hate this new stupid Auto translation) and Fallout, more precisely Fallout 4 and a german UA-camr not finishing the DLCs in his lets plays, which led me to watch the DLCs on English channel's. Nowadays, written, people often asume i'm some sort of native speaker. But if they listen to me talking its a lot of ehm and pausing.
I remember my first english class when i was 10 years old. My english teacher was half german half brit and came into class starting to speak english with us. She was also married to a brit, studied in oxford and would only allow us to use british english. Any US english was banned in her classes and punished if used. 😅 First time i had contact to US people i needed to learn a few things. Oh she was very strict and my best grades in english were 3 but mostly 4 (1 best grade 6 worst)
I think it's common to only speak English in English class. At least once you've passed the 8th grade or so. I personally also have an amazing english teacher, but I also have a major? English class, so I will be doing the written english Abitur. I alao had the awesome opportunity to visit America for two weeks, even though I'd have preferred to go to the UK.
My fist English teacher in 5th grade was from Kansas City. She always spoke English to us, even her very first words were "Hi, I'm Phylis, what's your name?". Stupid me thought that I kind of had a "better" (ie more native-like) English accent. However, I just happen to try boldvoice and it identified my native language correctly. Every. Single. Time. I'm frustrated xD
The language of instruction in English lessons is always English. Practical right from the start. Grammar is also explained in English. However, this is the case at grammar school, but not at "Hauptschule" school.
Most of the conversations with the teacher are in english but if you don't understand then you can switch to german. We even had a piggy bank, where you had to pay 50 cents for speaking german. From the collected money we did fun stuff every now and then
I can only speak from my memory, but generally German is much less materialistic than other countries. So while there was some bullying for bad clothes, it was pretty minimal. Definitely not enough to advocate for school uniforms.
I had 3 different English teachers during my school years. 2 of them spoke to us in German and their English was not that great (comparable to the teacher in the video), the third actually spoke the language well and with good pronunciation, and he spoke to us exclusively in English. In hindsight, he was the only one who was qualified for the job.
2/3 teachers in secondary school were native speakers growing up with German and English (one with scottish parents, the other one with irish parents). And the third one was German but spent a good amount of time in the USA. I probably was rather lucky.
Interestingly, students in southern German states usually learn American English, while northern ones learn British English, due to the former division into American and English (and French, Russian...) occupation zones after WWII. Of course it also depends on the individual teachers available.
The school books we had in Bavaria were focused on British English. The students often had a preference for an American accent as they got older and started to be immersed in American pop culture.
I was bullied. The reason? The bullies couldn't deal properly with their own crap and were pathetic enough to believe putting down someone who was introverted and non-confrontational would make them look cool. (Sad thing is, it worked in school, don't know about later, don't care, they'll get their karma (just hope it's not their own kid if they do end up reproducing, because no one (well, perhaps a bully, until they realize what they've done) deserves getting bullied and that includes the child of a bully)) Basically, they were assholes, as all bullies are. There is no valid reason that excuses bullying.
Well in a lot of countries, School Uniforms are a common thing. But just think about germanys history, especially around 1933-1945 and you will see, why a lot people don't consider it a good idea to put young people in a uniform.
Yes, after maybe the first 2 years all conversation with the teacher is in English. And if you don't understand something, they will explain it a different way: In English. Among the students we might fall back to German, but especially in the later school years (like here) it would discouraged and you'd be called out for it by the teacher. And the teacher in the video appeared to have much worse English than I've ever encountered. She might cut in elementary school, but not good enough to teach in a Gymnasium imho.
Yes, when studying a foreign ( living) language, we will speak that language almost exclusively in the classroom. I say living, because when I studiert latin, it was all done while speaking German, which was much less effective. But: Her accent is atrocious. Most of my English teachers where much better. The middle aged and younger teachers usually participated in student exchange programs, studying in England for at least a year, some of them also gained teaching experience in England. Only some of the older teacher generation were this bad. I emphasize England, because at least when I went to school, we were taught British English. But that may of course be changing. We also learned some if the biggest vocab differences between BE and AE like soccer/football chips/ crisps/ fries and nite/ night. Europe is very much intertwined, which makes knowing foreign languages a must. In my professional life, I have had to use English and French so far. The fact that I know additional languages afforded me opportunities I otherwise wouldn't have had. Concerning the uniforms: to my knowledge, school uniforms have never been a thing in Germany. In my opinion, bullies will always bully. This kind of behaviour needs to be counteracted in other ways, decisively nipping it in the bud by calling bullies out and shaming them in turn, involving the parents, school sanctions, the whole shebang.
I am German, but even I must say this teacher has such a bad pronounciation! The way words sound is important. When I went to school in the 90's our english teacher taught us english but spoke German to explain...I think it's neccessary. I was lucky to have a good and relaxed teacher. I liked her and her way to teach. Some teachers do their class in english only, but I dont thinks thats not very helpful, because as soon as some students don't unerstand they stop listening! About school uniforms: No we don't have those, and thank god that we're not forced to wear this. I find it very outdated to wear it, horrible feeling. Think Germany never had this ever. Back to the teacher: again she is a terrible english speaker. My teacher I had, she visited the UK several times and gave us students a lot of how and what is was. She had fun by teaching us english. That woman in this video sounds like she's learned in some 2 week english class as well and now has to teach others. Boring class! As you can hear how loud the noises from the students is, they don't like to listen obviously! It might work for some nerdy students, but she hasn't that class under control.
I teach English in Germany. Your video is from a cheap nasty intergration school. Absolutely awful. Grammar schools at that age are learning Shakespeare. 😊
This Form of teaching in and as a group is very, very ineffective compared to the frontal teaching that used to be the norm in Germany. The standards in German schools are in free fall. Germany is tumbling towards the bottom. And we have to thank the leftist for it.
I think, German English classes are pretty poor. We are not educated by native speakers, but by Germans. Even after 8 or 9 years, you are hardly able to have a proper conversation, which is a disgrace. I Had English as my A Level and met a native tongue in my 12th year... I was wasted...totally lost... I had an ambition to become fluent... But its only about 20% of Germans, you can talk to fluently😢 I only had good teachers in my fist- and last two years, which makes 2 outta 6
With teachers it's basically whatever is avaible. But my teachers were from irish and scottish background. They grew up bilingual. So English was their native language. We were some kind of able to have a proper conversation. Probably like B2 level. 56% of Germans are fluent in English. And the younger the higher the level of fluency.
Yeah, so at my school (Gymnasium) you would always talk to the teacher in the language you're currently learning. So in english everyone speaks only in english and in french or spanish class you only speak in french or spanish.
This started around year 7 or so, in the Grundschule you speak german in class. The concept is, that at some point your skill Level is expected to be high enough, to only talk in english in class
And no school uniforms are none existing in germany
Yes pretty normal in germany. Even Hauptschule does this. And english from grade one.
Yes i think all schools here do.
I remember starting English in grade 5, (1991), and our teacher exclusively talked to ur in RP English, and since he was a music teacher as well, he made us learn a lot of English children‘s songs…which was emberassing!
To this day I still feel pride at finally having managed the dumb passage of..
The animals walk in two by two, hurrah, hurrah…the fat hippopotamus stuck in the door 😅🤣
Language goals to aspire to! Lol
I'm trying to remember (I've been out of school for almost 45 years and my own children for about 15 years). But generally, foreign language lessons are taught in the respective language.
Exceptions may be made if you have difficulty explaining your comprehension problem in the foreign language, then the teacher can switch back to German.
However, this often only happens in the first two years. Incidentally, the current generation no longer learns English (or sometimes the language of the neighboring country) in many federal states from the 5th grade onwards, but already between the 1st and 3rd grades in primary school.
Fun fact: I still remember the poem about November 5th (Guy Fawkes night)
@@christophhanke6627 Well in english course in the elementary school (4th grade) my.kids have phases in the english Lessons when the teachers Tell Them: we now Switch Out brain from German to english. Click, click...and the they only speak english for that time. And the english teacher of my Kids (9 years old) hast a Socket puppet called Mr. Mole (and guess...its a Mole!) and this speaks only english too.
Its fairly common nowadays that the students speak better English than the teachers thanks to American pop culture and the internet. But I personally had a wonderful English teacher from Scotland in my 10th to 12th grade who taught in a way which sparked a genuine love for English literature in me and some of my classmates. Shoutout to her I guess haha
You sure it is? I mean to me it seems they use more english words. but have no real clue what they mean.
It's like you think you hear them speak english and if you ask if they do, they say no, without even joking!
@@boraonline7036 It depends on the generations. Older generations tend to not speaking English while the younger generations are more capable of it. Some might say they don't speak English but often their English is better than they think it is. They just don't want to embarass themselves (are afraid of it).
English teachers studied English, so what do you mean?
_Usually_ in Germany...
1) Language classes are interacting in the language learned. (Not like in the video, where way too much German is used.)
2) There is no school uniform.
3) This teacher appears to be from the former GDR, so she probably only learned English as an adult. (?)
It‘s a shame they filmed such a bad example, especially considering how many fluent English teachers we have at Gymnasium level
It depends on the language. Only the ones who are still spoken are taught in that language. Latin and Ancient Greek are taught in German and you only translate the texts for the most part.
@@hk-4886 Yes, that's right! These are purely "academic" languages.
@@lynnm6413 This is the most boring video on this topic, I agree.
3) Nu gloar, wie bisch'n da droff gekomm? Die red doch fließend Hocheenglisch!
"Allowing" mistakes during a presentation by pupils is always that we call "the choice between black death and cholera", the choice between two evils. It is better when the teacher allows his/her pupils to finish and then correct things like "I am here since two weeks" to "I have been here for two weeks by now" and so on. Interrupting someone too often will be too intimidating and that counteracts the idea to make them talk freely.
We had one English teacher who had spent some years in Britain. He taught the advanced classes, where it comes to reading real newspapers and literature. No simplified "school editions", but the real stuff. His English was, as far as I could judge, flawless, although you could hear a British accent sometimes. And, yes, from a certain grade on, we only spoke English during lessons, except, of course, when it came to translations. They were not very important, however. The emphasis was on understanding what you read and on being able to express yourself and your opinions.
I‘d say I‘ve never heard an English teacher in Germany with such a ba grasp of the language.
I went to a West-German school, and we also started reading British Sun and Guardian newspaper articles on the troubles starting 10th grade, so no simplified texts or adjusted vocabulary after 6 years English class.
From the teacher’s accent that was atrocious, I‘d hazard a guess she is East German. Shame
Retired English teacher from Germany here. It has been mandatory for us to speak English in class for decades ( I started teaching in 1978 and it was then already). Some English teachers don't but that's a bad idea because students keep translating word by word into English then and don't get the proper word order as easily. When they listen to English during the entire study period they get used to the sound and structure of the foreign language much easier.
The best English teacher I had was a guy with a super strong "pfälzischen" accent. He was the coolest teacher ever and his accent was no problem at all. I see no point in mastering the English pronunciation in school. English media is omnipresent in Germany, therefore the exposure to the correct pronunciation is easily available.
WE only speak english to our teacher. Sometimes there we're guest teachers from great britain to and they told us that they dint understand any German at all. Dont know. But with my German english teacher yes only english.
Each new lesson in our books would start with a small story. Our English teachers would bring an audio cassette where a (native?) speaker reads the text out loud. This partially solves the problem of proper pronunciation. I quite distinctly remember each new lesson starting from the tape with “Listen and repeat!” Sure enough we would speak English in English class.
I think, this is a pretty good example of how English is taught in Germany. The teacher will speak in English, and the students are expected to respond in English as well. This teacher's English leaves room for improvement, indeed. But I don't think you will find many teachers of her age in Germany who speak proper English. There simply are not enough older people with high English skills. I would expect that younger teachers are a lot better at speaking English nowadays, simply because younger people tend to be better at English in general.
Personally, I wasn't very good at English myself when I finished school. I only learned to speak it better afterwards, when I actually started using it more frequently. If you don't do that, what you learn in school will at most help you to get to a mediocre level.
And regarding the school uniforms, we don't have those in Germany. After WW2, the idea to put kids in uniforms was not very popular. They aren't banned, but no school ever tried to introduce them, even though occasionally there is a discussion about whether they might be useful or not. The argument you mentioned is probably the most common one brought up in favour of school uniforms.
She speeks English with a Thuringia accent and had hardly the opportunity to live in England for a while.
I'm from Saxony and it was really laughable
@@Dave_Albright let's say "funny"
@@Dave_AlbrightNot laughable. It reflects the lack of opportunities older people from that region had to travel and go and live in an English-speaking country.
@@alicemilne1444 Above all, it shows the lack of teachers. It is supposed to be a high school. The teacher's performance is borderline independent of the federal state.
There are also international schools in Germany. At these schools, all lessons are taught in English, except for French or Spanish lessons.
Even in english course in the elementary school (4th Grade) my kids (9 years old) have phases in the english Lessons when the teachers Tell Them: we now Switch Out brain from German to english. Click, click...and the they only speak english for that time. Also the english teacher of my Kids has a Socket puppet called Mr. Mole (and guess...its a Mole!) and this speaks only english too.
From middle school onwards (around year 7 or 8), it is common for lessons to take place predominantly in the foreign language in order to promote language practice. At the latest in the upper school (grades 11 to 13), the foreign language is used almost exclusively, especially in preparation for the Abitur.
The word "mediation" they are using in this context is quite confusing to native English speakers who understand mediation to be a sort of attempt at conflict resolution requiring a neutral mediator. The word is also used in that sense in German too. However, in language teaching in German schools it has acquired a different meaning, ie a kind of rough, short translation. We would call this gisting in English.
We never had to translate stuff in Gymnasium, neither from German to English nor the other way. In fact we never spoke a single word German, only English. We would usually read English texts or listen to audio examples, then answer different contextual questions. Or look at pictures and describe them. Later we did debates and had to incorporate knowledge of American history and culture that we learned throughout classes. For my Abitur oral exam i got for example a picture of the Iwo Jima monument which shows a marine corps raising the American flag and i had to talk about it for couple of minutes. That was like 12 years ago :D
It is meditation what they are doing/practising here. That means you read and understand the original text, you have to distinguish between the main message(s) and the details that just underline it, then you sum it up and present it in English without unnecessary bits and pieces. For some years now that has been part of the final exams (Abitur). Working with texts is regarded as more and more essential in our world as so-called "cempetence in (social)media" as well.
@christiankastorf4836 Thats basically what we also did. I just dont understand why they talk German here :D We never did that in 8 years of Gymnasium.
@@bomber9912 Maybe because of the interview situation.
During my school years I had various English teachers. I noticed that the younger teachers often speak English or teach English better than the older ones. The older English teachers always stuck very strictly to the books, while the younger ones spoke much more freely.
In German schools today there are many opportunities to gain experience abroad. For example, student exchanges or language trips. During your studies you also have the opportunity to study abroad for several semesters through Erasmus+. This ensures that you use the language.
I don't want to offend the teacher in the video, but in her generation such stays abroad were not yet common in the school system.
However, I would like to add that you certainly can't generalise and say that all older English teachers are less good than younger ones.
How old do you think she is?! I‘m 51, my sister is 56, and in our school years it was pretty common to go on language trips, have student exchanges, spend a year at a US Highschool, work abroad as au pair person, etc.
Most parents also spoke excellent English back then, although they had not been able to travel much in their younger years.
Of all English teachers I have ever seen, she speaks hands down the worst English. How is she supposed to correct the pronounciation of her students if she doesn‘t even pronounce nearly correctly herself?!
Sorry, but if it‘s your job and you get paid for it, practice pronounciation. Her accent is not an excuse in my opinion. Not as an English teacher.
@@klarasee806My dad's 63 and back when he went to highschool (Gymnasium), in the late 70s, there used to be loads of exchange programs. As far as I know there was at least one opportunity to participate in an exchange to England and also to France. Plus he did a gap year, where he went to the U.S. . Even at his age, he speaks English almost flawlessly. (Not comparable to this teachers abominable English skills)
When I went to school (about 30 years ago) I got bullied at school because my parents couldnt afford the brands which were popular back then. Today I think it changed and its not the clothes anymore - its more like who has the newest iphone or LV-bag or something. A school uniform would've helped me a lot. Keep up your good work, I like watching your videos 🙂
Have you seen the really old movie from „Augsburger Puppenkiste“ The characters are handmade dolls, and there are many different stories. The best ones is Jim Knopf und Lukas der Lokomotivführer, Urmel aus dem Ei, Der gestiefelte Kater. 📺🎎
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I think the teachers english was not good at all - at least compared to my school lessons back then. I assume - but could be wrong, of course - that she was only a substitue teacher for this class!?
25 years ago when i was in school, it was just pure luck if your teacher was speaking perfect english or learned it just 3 years ago...
My memory of school is very similar. Growing up in eastern Germany (this video is also from the east) 25 years ago, many of our teachers spoke equally terrible English. They grew up behind the iron curtain and couldn't travel or read and listen to media from abroad. I learned proper English by reading books in original English and thankfully then we could watch BBC World and CNN on the telly.
I had a pretty bad English teacher 50 years ago and learned almost nothing.
Because I live close to the Netherlands, I could watch Dutch TV with English movies that where not dubbed like everything in Germany. I learned a lot by just watching and I also understand Dutch. This helped me a lot when I worked in a US company.
Austrian here. We spoke only english in english class. But my teacher didn't speak perfect english. I could communicate in english after finishiing school. In my twenties I started to watch youtube and movies in english and it was really hard at first. But now I quite often don't even remember if I have seen something in german or english. I even dream english sometimes.
Yes. In Gymnasium, English lessons are usually conducted entirely in English. In Realschule, it's a mix, depending on how good the class is. And in Hauptschule, no one speaks English anyway. They usually already have enough difficulties speaking German.
Gymnasium is the most academic type of school for kids between 10/11 and 17/18. It is typically the base for a university or college, but not the only way to get there (there are multiple secondary schools too). The other two main types are Realschule/Mittelschule ("real(ity) school"/"middle school") and Hauptschule ("main school"), which teach more practically orientated "stuff" (with Hauptschule being the most practically orientated).
It is also worth mentioning, that all of these start at year 5, but Gymnasium lasts 8 or 9 years, while Realschule/Mittelschule only lasts 6 years and Hauptschule only lasts 5 years. Provided you don't have to repeat a year, obviously, which you have to do, if your grades aren't 'up to snuff'.
It's funny - the english teacher has a saxonian accent. Many Saxonians speak with their typical accent, wheather it's in german or in english. Probably it's a former russian-teacher of the GDR who made a crash course in english after the reunification 😁
Edit: Ok, maybe it isn't a saxionian accent but a thuringian one as it's said in a comment below. I'm from western Germany so I'm not able to differ between all variants of the eastern german dialects.
I was a bit angry, when I realized how bad the English of my teachers was.
For example, it was only many years after my school days that I understood that we Germans not only have a problem pronouncing TH, but that we have never learned to pronounce the English W correctly. Why? Because my English teacher didn't know better herself. My English teachers all spoke English at a level which I consider absolutely unacceptable today.
In my eyes, the teacher in this video is actually unsuitable for the job. Which is sad.
Don't be angry. Your teacher's skills weren't so bad. Your English is good enough for conversations on UA-cam ;->
@keyboard5494 thanks for comforting me. But 90% of the English I know I learned after school. I've dyslexia and struggled the whole time because writing was everything, and learning to speak English from someone who can't pronounce it properly didn't help either
I finished my school career in the mid-80s. My English lessons began in the 5th grade and continued until the end. And from the 10th grade onwards, I had a really excellent English teacher who had previously worked in the diplomatic service and taught the children of embassy staff abroad. That's not really a statement about her abilities. But that became clear relatively quickly when she managed to get a German-born late repatriate from the former Soviet Union, who had no knowledge of English, to the level of a 10th grader within a year. He learned dozens of vocabulary words every day. At the end of the year, he could write an essay in English...
I'm born 1970, my first English lessen was in 5th grade at age of 11 and it began with "Good morning boys and girls! We have English class. We are only going to speak English."
Was really baffled and did not understand one sentence.
What do you think about school uniforms - 500 words on the pros and cons. Not mert giving a classic ebglish exercise to his viewers 😂
5:28 the moment they understood how that game works and how it doesn't work with four people :D
In my school in west Germany we speak English all the time when we have it. There are a few exceptions though: Talking to the teacher in private or questions are in German and if it's a more complicated topic some students can't say it in English so we are allowed to speak German.
We don't wear school uniforms at all. We have a few rules about what we are not allowed to wear. My school has a big problem with bullying but you're not bullied for your clothes. You might be treated weirdly if you pretend to be wearing branded clothes even though you don't but not because you don't have/wear expensive clothes. The bullying comes from other places that I can't and don't want to talk about.
This school is probably in East Germany judging from the teacher's accent and the classroom. My school is really ugly but not as ugly and boring as the classroom in the video. It might not be from there but I'd say the teacher is probably from East Germany. My English teacher speaks almost like it was her native language. They probably won't pick up her English as most of us watch a lot of videos in English. I personally don't speak anything like my English teacher/former English teachers
In my school time English was introduced quite late (around 5. grade) my teachers where incompetent on a whole other level, one to strict, never even talking german for explanations from the beginning, she always stayed in English even if she met you in between lesson's or in other topics, she stayed in English which made her a joke between the kids because no one was able to get her while she used her language like a native person, which you simply couldn't expect in that time (20+ years ago) and the other was way to relaxed, if we didn't finished something on time well than its next lesson which throw us back half a year of content we should have learned in the meantime, that added up in 4 years. My English started to improve through Magic The Gathering, You Tube (which is why I hate this new stupid Auto translation) and Fallout, more precisely Fallout 4 and a german UA-camr not finishing the DLCs in his lets plays, which led me to watch the DLCs on English channel's. Nowadays, written, people often asume i'm some sort of native speaker. But if they listen to me talking its a lot of ehm and pausing.
I remember my first english class when i was 10 years old. My english teacher was half german half brit and came into class starting to speak english with us. She was also married to a brit, studied in oxford and would only allow us to use british english. Any US english was banned in her classes and punished if used. 😅 First time i had contact to US people i needed to learn a few things.
Oh she was very strict and my best grades in english were 3 but mostly 4 (1 best grade 6 worst)
I think it's common to only speak English in English class. At least once you've passed the 8th grade or so. I personally also have an amazing english teacher, but I also have a major? English class, so I will be doing the written english Abitur. I alao had the awesome opportunity to visit America for two weeks, even though I'd have preferred to go to the UK.
My fist English teacher in 5th grade was from Kansas City. She always spoke English to us, even her very first words were "Hi, I'm Phylis, what's your name?". Stupid me thought that I kind of had a "better" (ie more native-like) English accent. However, I just happen to try boldvoice and it identified my native language correctly. Every. Single. Time. I'm frustrated xD
Yah School is like in i the 90's
The joke is that the teacher has an strong german accent.
The language of instruction in English lessons is always English. Practical right from the start. Grammar is also explained in English. However, this is the case at grammar school, but not at "Hauptschule" school.
We also start to learn english verly early on. Most start at first or second grade (5-8 years old)
One of my English teachers came from the US.
Most of the conversations with the teacher are in english but if you don't understand then you can switch to german. We even had a piggy bank, where you had to pay 50 cents for speaking german. From the collected money we did fun stuff every now and then
I can only speak from my memory, but generally German is much less materialistic than other countries. So while there was some bullying for bad clothes, it was pretty minimal. Definitely not enough to advocate for school uniforms.
I had 3 different English teachers during my school years. 2 of them spoke to us in German and their English was not that great (comparable to the teacher in the video), the third actually spoke the language well and with good pronunciation, and he spoke to us exclusively in English. In hindsight, he was the only one who was qualified for the job.
2/3 teachers in secondary school were native speakers growing up with German and English (one with scottish parents, the other one with irish parents).
And the third one was German but spent a good amount of time in the USA.
I probably was rather lucky.
Interestingly, students in southern German states usually learn American English, while northern ones learn British English, due to the former division into American and English (and French, Russian...) occupation zones after WWII. Of course it also depends on the individual teachers available.
The school books we had in Bavaria were focused on British English. The students often had a preference for an American accent as they got older and started to be immersed in American pop culture.
She has a pretty heavy dschörman äkzent, she chops up some sentences but for her generation her english is pretty decent.
I was bullied. The reason? The bullies couldn't deal properly with their own crap and were pathetic enough to believe putting down someone who was introverted and non-confrontational would make them look cool. (Sad thing is, it worked in school, don't know about later, don't care, they'll get their karma (just hope it's not their own kid if they do end up reproducing, because no one (well, perhaps a bully, until they realize what they've done) deserves getting bullied and that includes the child of a bully))
Basically, they were assholes, as all bullies are.
There is no valid reason that excuses bullying.
Well in a lot of countries, School Uniforms are a common thing.
But just think about germanys history, especially around 1933-1945 and you will see, why a lot people don't consider it a good idea to put young people in a uniform.
Please react to the East German anthem
We do not have school uniforms in Germany yet, it is very often discussed though.
Yes, after maybe the first 2 years all conversation with the teacher is in English. And if you don't understand something, they will explain it a different way: In English.
Among the students we might fall back to German, but especially in the later school years (like here) it would discouraged and you'd be called out for it by the teacher.
And the teacher in the video appeared to have much worse English than I've ever encountered. She might cut in elementary school, but not good enough to teach in a Gymnasium imho.
Yes, when studying a foreign ( living) language, we will speak that language almost exclusively in the classroom. I say living, because when I studiert latin, it was all done while speaking German, which was much less effective. But: Her accent is atrocious. Most of my English teachers where much better. The middle aged and younger teachers usually participated in student exchange programs, studying in England for at least a year, some of them also gained teaching experience in England. Only some of the older teacher generation were this bad. I emphasize England, because at least when I went to school, we were taught British English. But that may of course be changing. We also learned some if the biggest vocab differences between BE and AE like soccer/football chips/ crisps/ fries and nite/ night. Europe is very much intertwined, which makes knowing foreign languages a must. In my professional life, I have had to use English and French so far. The fact that I know additional languages afforded me opportunities I otherwise wouldn't have had. Concerning the uniforms: to my knowledge, school uniforms have never been a thing in Germany. In my opinion, bullies will always bully. This kind of behaviour needs to be counteracted in other ways, decisively nipping it in the bud by calling bullies out and shaming them in turn, involving the parents, school sanctions, the whole shebang.
In Germany we don‘t wear school uniformes.
This is a couple of years old.
My English Teacher was a brit .
was cool.
Now I Read Most in English or Watch .
( Webtoon series. Series/Doku/YT/movies . when I'm Bye My self)
"...and nobody of you knows" - right, this is not correct English. Also, they are picking up her thick German accent as well. Not good.
Who is Mert?
Sorry, but is this a Sonderschule? These guys came not very far yet....😂
It's very problematic when people who don't even speak German should translate a German text into English.
I am German, but even I must say this teacher has such a bad pronounciation! The way words sound is important.
When I went to school in the 90's our english teacher taught us english but spoke German to explain...I think it's neccessary. I was lucky to have a good and relaxed teacher. I liked her and her way to teach. Some teachers do their class in english only, but I dont thinks thats not very helpful, because as soon as some students don't unerstand they stop listening!
About school uniforms: No we don't have those, and thank god that we're not forced to wear this. I find it very outdated to wear it, horrible feeling. Think Germany never had this ever.
Back to the teacher: again she is a terrible english speaker. My teacher I had, she visited the UK several times and gave us students a lot of how and what is was. She had fun by teaching us english. That woman in this video sounds like she's learned in some 2 week english class as well and now has to teach others. Boring class! As you can hear how loud the noises from the students is, they don't like to listen obviously! It might work for some nerdy students, but she hasn't that class under control.
(School) Uniforms in Germany... uh not a good topic :D
yeah, the world is still mad about the last time our kids wore uniforms 😅
😁
Yeah, rather wear a hijab in the future. That'll teach 'em. :)
I teach English in Germany. Your video is from a cheap nasty intergration school. Absolutely awful. Grammar schools at that age are learning Shakespeare. 😊
This Form of teaching in and as a group is very, very ineffective compared to the frontal teaching that used to be the norm in Germany.
The standards in German schools are in free fall.
Germany is tumbling towards the bottom.
And we have to thank the leftist for it.
I think, German English classes are pretty poor.
We are not educated by native speakers, but by Germans.
Even after 8 or 9 years, you are hardly able to have a proper conversation, which is a disgrace.
I Had English as my A Level and met a native tongue in my 12th year...
I was wasted...totally lost...
I had an ambition to become fluent...
But its only about 20% of Germans, you can talk to fluently😢
I only had good teachers in my fist- and last two years, which makes 2 outta 6
With teachers it's basically whatever is avaible. But my teachers were from irish and scottish background. They grew up bilingual. So English was their native language.
We were some kind of able to have a proper conversation. Probably like B2 level.
56% of Germans are fluent in English. And the younger the higher the level of fluency.
The teacher’s English is HORRIBLE!
Merry Christmas:
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