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I’d like some advice - teaching our L2

 Language Learning Forum : Languages & Work Post Reply
LanguageSponge
Triglot
Senior Member
United Kingdom
Joined 5525 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 
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 4629 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 
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 5606 days ago

5460 posts - 6006 votes 
1 sounds
Speaks: German*, DutchC1, EnglishB2, French, Italian, Spanish, Esperanto
Studies: Latin, Danish, Norwegian, Turkish
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 Message 3 of 3
25 May 2012 at 9:26am | IP Logged 
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




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