Quality of the German State Education System RE: English.
Posted: 03 Dec 2008, 13:20
Hello, first post.
I’m a 33 year old British expat living in Germany, been giving private English lessons to grammar school and secondary comprehensive pupils for about a year. I’ve come to certain conclusions I would like to share regarding the quality of education here, as far as English is concerned.
Obviously, this quality can be expected to vary across the country, but there arguably is considerably less variation today than there used to be before the introduction of centralised, standardised final leaving exams (‘Zentralabitur’) some time during the last decade. I am basing that argument on two factors:
1. Up to a point, all pupils are using the same textbooks, ‘Greenline’ and ‘Redline’, and are expected to reach certain standards determined by criteria set out therein.
2. The books have flaws. A good teacher would correct such flaws as can be corrected, use the modified version to teach his classes as long as that makes sense, and begin executing his own customised lesson plan where it does not. Because the present education system (special sub-systems such as Waldorf schools excluded) mandates a standardised model, individual modifications and alternate teaching methods are discouraged.
Now, it is one of the most common notions circulated around that most if not all Germans have a good command of English by the time they may decide to enter the higher education system, and indeed a fair number of subjects taught at German universities would appear to require it.
On the other hand, the books used to such a large extent in German Gymnasien and Realschulen are riddled with errors not merely technical, but low level mistakes arising from the authors’ and editors’ insufficient understanding of the English language. The errors go unnoticed by the (German) teachers, and what ends up being assimilated is not actually English but a German’s interpretation of what constitutes English. Based upon numerous conversation attempts with Germans ranging from thirteen year olds to university professors and everything in between, I have come to the conclusion that that ‘Englisch’, whilst possibly adequate for basic communication, is anything but for more complex verbal exchanges.
To put it crassly, they all seem to think they understand the language, but if you inserted any two verbally intelligent native speakers into a crowd of supposedly educated Germans, they would still be able to carry on a secret conversation between each other. Not because they would be using any advanced vocabulary or complicated syntax, but because the Germans around them would automatically misunderstand, misinterpret, and misjudge a significant portion of what they heard. The only ones who would potentially ‘get’ everything including subtext and wit are those who avidly read English books for fun, or have in some other way put themselves through a prolonged deep immersion in an English-thinking environment. (Note that I didn’t say ‘American’, sorry Yanks.)
I suppose that, from an information warfare point of view, you could say this imbalance is a good thing, as it provides native speakers with competitive advantages in the global arena, but as an educator interested in as good as possible communication, I can only cringe.
[/rant]
I’m a 33 year old British expat living in Germany, been giving private English lessons to grammar school and secondary comprehensive pupils for about a year. I’ve come to certain conclusions I would like to share regarding the quality of education here, as far as English is concerned.
Obviously, this quality can be expected to vary across the country, but there arguably is considerably less variation today than there used to be before the introduction of centralised, standardised final leaving exams (‘Zentralabitur’) some time during the last decade. I am basing that argument on two factors:
1. Up to a point, all pupils are using the same textbooks, ‘Greenline’ and ‘Redline’, and are expected to reach certain standards determined by criteria set out therein.
2. The books have flaws. A good teacher would correct such flaws as can be corrected, use the modified version to teach his classes as long as that makes sense, and begin executing his own customised lesson plan where it does not. Because the present education system (special sub-systems such as Waldorf schools excluded) mandates a standardised model, individual modifications and alternate teaching methods are discouraged.
Now, it is one of the most common notions circulated around that most if not all Germans have a good command of English by the time they may decide to enter the higher education system, and indeed a fair number of subjects taught at German universities would appear to require it.
On the other hand, the books used to such a large extent in German Gymnasien and Realschulen are riddled with errors not merely technical, but low level mistakes arising from the authors’ and editors’ insufficient understanding of the English language. The errors go unnoticed by the (German) teachers, and what ends up being assimilated is not actually English but a German’s interpretation of what constitutes English. Based upon numerous conversation attempts with Germans ranging from thirteen year olds to university professors and everything in between, I have come to the conclusion that that ‘Englisch’, whilst possibly adequate for basic communication, is anything but for more complex verbal exchanges.
To put it crassly, they all seem to think they understand the language, but if you inserted any two verbally intelligent native speakers into a crowd of supposedly educated Germans, they would still be able to carry on a secret conversation between each other. Not because they would be using any advanced vocabulary or complicated syntax, but because the Germans around them would automatically misunderstand, misinterpret, and misjudge a significant portion of what they heard. The only ones who would potentially ‘get’ everything including subtext and wit are those who avidly read English books for fun, or have in some other way put themselves through a prolonged deep immersion in an English-thinking environment. (Note that I didn’t say ‘American’, sorry Yanks.)
I suppose that, from an information warfare point of view, you could say this imbalance is a good thing, as it provides native speakers with competitive advantages in the global arena, but as an educator interested in as good as possible communication, I can only cringe.
[/rant]