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I’d like some advice - teaching our L2 | ||
 Language Learning Forum : Languages & Work |  | |
| LanguageSponge Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5765 days ago 1197 posts - 1487 votes  Speaks: English*, German, French Studies: Welsh, Russian, Japanese, Slovenian, Greek, Italian | Message 1 of 3 16 May 2012 at 1:02pm | IP Logged |
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Hi everyone,
Apologies in advance if this post turns out to be a little long. Life has thrown me a curve ball and I'd like to share and see what kind of fantastic ideas you guys come up with. Multiple brains are better than one :) I've been volunteering in a school since February as a Teaching Assistant for French and German. For those of you who are interested, I've also taught lessons entirely on my own to students from ages 11-18 in French and German and have done some low-level Spanish. At one point I also acted as the examiner for a GCSE Russian exam, which was great fun! Throughout my time in the school my love for teaching my main two foreign languages, French and German, and to a lesser degree Spanish, has grown exponentially and as such, I applied to do a PGCE in German with French starting in September 2012 so I could teach in the state sector. My colleagues were all very supportive throughout the process and I was given fantastic references and yet my applications were rejected. I wrote back to them all and they all cited the same reason: My degree does not contain enough German language - which we're questioning, as to begin with they said that wouldn't be a problem and I'd just take a language test to prove my ability. I was initially a bit discouraged (for about ten minutes) before I spoke to various friends, relatives and colleagues about it. I still want to teach, but it is clear that I probably need to gain a higher-level qualification in German, because technically, if you don't have the piece of paper that says you're competant to the required level, legally you can't teach them. Which is a pain - there are many of us here as we all know who are brilliant with our chosen languages but my guess is many of us don't have any paperwork proving that we are at the level we are. Let me take this opportunity to say kudos to you all on this! I've been advised that I could either go back to university and do a Masters in German or take the Institute of Linguists exam to gain an equivalent qualification. In my naïvety I suggested the Goethe Institut exams, but due to their being foreign they're apparently not easily transferable or accepted here by unis or by employers in schools. My question to you all then is, can you think of any other options? Thanks very much to you all for your suggestions! LanguageSponge - Jack 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| sipes23 Diglot Senior Member United States pluteopleno.com/wprs Joined 4869 days ago 134 posts - 235 votes Speaks: English*, Latin Studies: Spanish, Ancient Greek, Persian | Message 2 of 3 16 May 2012 at 6:32pm | IP Logged |
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What's the point of CEFR if it isn't easily transferable or widely accepted?
Of course, you won't find me to have much sympathy for the credentialing required by schools. I'm convinced that the credentials keep out more good teachers than do anything else. Getting a masters in German sounds like a huge heap of work and money if you aren't very certain about this career path. Sorry for not having good ideas. Your post struck a raw nerve with me, as I've faced much the same here in the States. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
 Fasulye Heptaglot Winner TAC 2012 Moderator Germany fasulyespolyglotblog Joined 5846 days ago 5460 posts - 6006 votes 1 sounds Speaks: German*, DutchC1, EnglishB2, French, Italian, Spanish, Esperanto Studies: Latin, Danish, Norwegian, Turkish Personal Language Map | Message 3 of 3 25 May 2012 at 9:26am | IP Logged |
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I don't really understand why they in Great Britain wouldn't accept the "Goethe Institut" language exams as a measure of your abilities in German. They have an excellent reputation worldwide!
Fasulye 1 person has voted this message useful |
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