Hunfalvy Bilingual Secondary School

Deutsch für den Beruf: in Deutschland oder für deutsche Firmen arbeiten

2022-1-HU01-KA121-SCH-000062316

"The project was funded by the European Commission. The views expressed on this website do not necessarily reflect those of the European Commission."      

Course organiser:

IIK Düsseldorf

Düsseldorf (Germany)

24-28 / 07 / 2023

REPORT

Where was I and why (what was the motivation)?

As a language teacher, I consider it important to participate in German language training, because this way I can continuously expand my linguistic and methodological knowledge and update it according to market needs. In this way I am able to help my students to achieve their goals effectively. This is why I travelled to Düsseldorf, the second most populous city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.

About the course

The course, which was attended by German and economics teachers, gave me the opportunity to gain experience as a teacher and as a student. As a German teacher, I was able to attend classes in Presence, Digital and Hybrid Languages, and then have a professional discussion with colleagues about this, during which we discussed our existing experiences and the difficulties and positives of each teaching method. Furthermore, I have now also participated as a student on the other side of the teaching table in classes/lectures on various topics. The programme was very varied, e.g. the importance of professional language; scenario didactics (scenario method); choosing textbooks and preparing the content of the curriculum according to the learning objectives; changes in the labour market; opportunities offered by ChatGPT from the student and teacher perspective, preparing job applications according to the needs of the 21st century labour market; job interview training; how businesses work through practical examples.

I heard many, many more interesting things and continued the conversation. I think that as a language teacher it is very important to occasionally move to the other side of the teaching table, because this way you will be confronted with the difficulties you encounter when learning a language, even for a short period of time, and you will be able to deal with them effectively. I was in the fortunate position that all the topics discussed during the course are relevant to the market and I will be able to use them not only in German, but also in my specialist language classes and in the course of my preparation for the classes.

Afternoon programmes, EU principles

It had rained almost every day in Düsseldorf this week, but with so many activities on offer, it was mostly late afternoon before I headed back to the hostel. Despite the rain, sightseeing was not left out of the programme with the Hop-on Hop-off bus solution. I saw, among other things, the old town of Düsseldorf, walked along Königsallee, Medienhafen in was on the programme, Hofgarten and I could go on and on about the many wonderful sights I saw. I have to admit that despite the rain, I had a really fantastic time in the German-speaking environment.

Diversity and inclusion policy is an important strategic objective in Germany. This is very much reflected in the life of the city and in the organisation of the work of the iik. In Düsseldorf, for example, a walk around the city brings you face to face with people of different nationalities and bilingual (Arabic-German) signposts. This also shows that the population identifies with diversity. iik staff are also of different nationalities who have lived in Germany for a shorter or longer period of time. Through its work/activities, iik aims to help foreigners and refugees living abroad to integrate in Germany, opening the way for foreign workers to a fairer, more diverse and flexible workplace. Teachers strive to involve students actively in the learning process. To ensure that foreigners do not feel excluded and can cope better with everyday life, situations at work and in everyday life are practised in German in a very meticulous and continuous way. All students matter, regardless of their country, religion or gender, and the aim is to enable them to cope with challenging situations and to be able to ask for help when they need it.

Short conclusion

Each training course has many positive benefits for both the students and ourselves. True, only if we are open to trying something new. Of course, it is also necessary to dare to step out of our comfort zone, out of our familiar environment, to look with curiosity at the many stimuli that come our way, to take them in and then to try out what we have learned and experienced with our students. Is it worth it? The feedback from my students confirms that this is very useful for everyone, because it allows me to ensure innovation and methodological variety. Furthermore, I think it is important that my students feel and see that not only they have to cope with new things in this ever-changing world, but that I myself am currently on this path and hopefully will have the opportunity to do so in the future.