Deutschkurs (German Class)

My first German course that I took in the autumn was online through Berlitz. It was one-on-one with a live teacher and a good introduction to the language.  I'm learning "high" or formal German, rather than Swiss German. The written word is all in German here, and German when spoken is understood. The teaching method encourages only speaking in German, and is subject-based, rather than focusing on just vocabulary or verb tenses. So, for example -- we would learn clothing words and words associated with buying clothing in stores. Then, we may role play to practice for real-life experience.

In early February, I started my second German class. In order to get into the class, I had to take a written test. However, the woman administering the test nearly didn't even let me take it when I didn't understand what she was saying. I passed, but my writing/reading skills are much better than my listening/speaking skills. I hope that I can continue to work on that. Learning in a classroom has been a welcome change to the online format. I am in a class with 9 other women from all over the world. I'm the only American, and only 1 of 3 that understands English. The women are from Argentina, Brazil, Italy, Taiwan, Sri Lanka, Syria, Russia. It's refreshing to meet such a diverse group of people. One benefit of learning with this group is that it forces me to use the German -- it's our only common language. (The teacher does know English, so she occasionally helps me out.) I have an advantage too because although I'm learning a new language, the alphabet is similar and a lot of words look or sound similar. The teacher does a great job of making the class interactive. We have played Memory with flash cards or walked around the room to discuss the weather with pictures on the wall.

On another note: Yesterday, we took a trip to a car museum in Mulhouse, France. The museum houses over 400 cars -- Mercedes, Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, and Formula 1 cars. The biggest collection is of Bugatti cars, including the Veyron, which is the world's fastest car. The boys loved seeing all the cars, of course, and we learned finding out more about Bugatti cars, which are made in a factory in nearby Molsheim, also in the Alsace region.