New Berlitz Teachers
The past two weeks of training were tough, and there was a LOT of new information and techniques to learn, but as of November 29th, I am officially certified as a Berlitz English teacher!
Training in Stuttgart was for all the new teachers in Southwestern Germany, so the trainees lived everywhere from Saarbrücken to Heidelberg. Everyone was so interesting! Our trainer was a Scottish gal in her late 20's. Since my 12 new coworkers are all native speakers of either English or German (a requirement to teaching for Berlitz), we had people from Singapore, Texas, Cornwall, Liverpool, Arkansas, Atlanta, Detroit, and even Greece. I was the 2nd or 3rd-youngest of the group, but everyone bonded like there was no age difference at all.
The Berlitz ideology is very effective - teach grammar only in the context of how your students will use it; never teach grammar rules in table form. Though teaching method sounds basic, it's not easy. Another important facet of the method is to make everything relevant, fun, and interesting. There was a learning curve; I felt really lost the first 6 days of training. But last Thursday was our final, 20-minute mock lesson. I was the LAST person up for the day and we were ALL ready for a drink before my presentation started, but it went really well.
After our successful completion of training, we headed straight to the Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas Market) for some Glühwein - hot, spiced wine. We laughed and sang Christmas carols while we sipped our warm drinks. Then it started to snow! We toasted to new coworkers/friends and perused the rest of the market before it got too cold and wet to stay outside. The different stands offered everything from sugar-roasted almonds and hand-carved wooden ornaments to crepes and candles.
One of the office buildings above the square turned its windows into a living Advent calendar! Each window was assigned a number from 1 to 24, and every day, the appropriate person opens the blinds in their office and waves at the people at the market below. Creative idea, right?
Fabi came along to the market too after he got out of class. He immediately hit it off with Lamar (the guy in back), the Iraq vet in our group. You could hear those two laughing together from yards away, and I'm pretty sure they are making plans to hang out again. If all goes well, I will be able to visit Alexandra (the 2nd girl to the left) this Friday night with Laura Cox (the girl on the far left).
Training in Stuttgart was for all the new teachers in Southwestern Germany, so the trainees lived everywhere from Saarbrücken to Heidelberg. Everyone was so interesting! Our trainer was a Scottish gal in her late 20's. Since my 12 new coworkers are all native speakers of either English or German (a requirement to teaching for Berlitz), we had people from Singapore, Texas, Cornwall, Liverpool, Arkansas, Atlanta, Detroit, and even Greece. I was the 2nd or 3rd-youngest of the group, but everyone bonded like there was no age difference at all.
The Berlitz ideology is very effective - teach grammar only in the context of how your students will use it; never teach grammar rules in table form. Though teaching method sounds basic, it's not easy. Another important facet of the method is to make everything relevant, fun, and interesting. There was a learning curve; I felt really lost the first 6 days of training. But last Thursday was our final, 20-minute mock lesson. I was the LAST person up for the day and we were ALL ready for a drink before my presentation started, but it went really well.
One of the office buildings above the square turned its windows into a living Advent calendar! Each window was assigned a number from 1 to 24, and every day, the appropriate person opens the blinds in their office and waves at the people at the market below. Creative idea, right?
Fabi came along to the market too after he got out of class. He immediately hit it off with Lamar (the guy in back), the Iraq vet in our group. You could hear those two laughing together from yards away, and I'm pretty sure they are making plans to hang out again. If all goes well, I will be able to visit Alexandra (the 2nd girl to the left) this Friday night with Laura Cox (the girl on the far left).
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