Additional TESOL Diploma

Problems for learners in GermanyWhen teaching english to a monolingual class of German students in Germany, an EFL instructor will be confronted with problems that can be divided into five main categories, which I will describe in detail in the following paragraphs: Spelling, pronunciation, word order, numbers and last but not least “false friends”. Spelling: An EFL teacher should be aware of the fact that all nouns in the German language are capitalized which also applies to all objects such as table, pencil, car etc. Therefore it has to be explicitly pointed out to the students that english only capitalizes names including eg. company names, names of rivers, mountains, oceans etc., countries, nationalities, weekdays, months and finally the pronoun “I” . It will be very difficult for the students to break the habit of capitalizing much more than that, so the teacher has to repeat and practice this language point various times during a course. Once the students internalize however, that only the above groups of nouns are capitalized, they may even find the english spelling easier than their own. Pronunciation: Regarding pronunciation the teacher should focus on two “German- specific” difficulties: Firstly the english “v”, which many Germans pronounce like the english “w”, and secondly the english “th” which constitutes an almost insurmountable pronunciation problem for many native German speakers. In many cases it will always sound rather like a soft “s” than the english “th”. Tongue twisters and pronunciation drills are a good solution in order to assist the students in this matter. Word order: This is a difficult phenomenon for both students and teachers. The core english word order in a sentence “S-V-O” (subject-verb-object) always remains the same, no matter what is added to the sentence. In German however, the “S-V-O” structure changes as soon as a time indicator is added into “V-S-O”, eg.: english S V O He mows the lawn. German Er maeht den Rasen. Time indicator added: english TI S V O Yesterday he mowed the lawn. TI V S O German Gestern maehte er den Rasen. This change from “S-V-O” to “V-S-O” in the German language will most probably be applied to the english sentence structure by the students, unless the teacher includes many word order and sentence unscrambling activities in his/her lesson plans. A little slogan such as for eg. : “S-V-O always stays”, or “S-V-O always so”can also be a very helpful reminder. Numbers: Numbers are usually not too difficult to learn, and there many fun games and activities that will facilitate the acquisition process. An EFL teacher in Germany however, should know that there will be some amusing moments for both students and teachers when two-digit numbers are being mixed-up. German two-digit numbers are spoken saying the second digit before the first. Therefore a 37 for example is spoken “sieben und dreissig”, which literally means “seven and thirty”. “False friends”: As German and english share the same language roots, there are many words which will not only look and sound familiar, but which will also have the same meaning in both languages. Some of the examples are: english German Meaning (english) house Haus house fire Feuer fire garden Garten garden The EFL teacher will have to point out some of the so called “false friends” however, words that are spelled either exactly the same or at least very similarly in both languages, but have a totally different meaning. Otherwise a student may be talking about getting dressed and putting on his/her “hose” (Hose = pants/trousers in German), or a student may wonder why anyone would give someone poison for a birthday (Gift = poison in German). Here are some more examples: German Meaning Chef boss Aktuell current Mist rubbish, manure Pension guest house Tablett tray In conclusion it has to be said that German students are usually ambitious and are used to learning diligently. They also have a tendency to be perfectionists and therefore a meticulous approach to the language. This is mostly very helpful in a classroom environment, but can have a disadvantageous effect on the learning process when overdone. A rather formal, unnatural relationship with the language is a possible result that can be prevented by including a lot of communication activities and situational role plays. There are certainly more challenges regarding the teaching of German students in Germany, but I believe that these five subject areas are the ones an EFL instructor should be aware of before starting a course.