Hi! My name is Britta. (pronoun: she/her - Pronomen: sie/ihr-ihre)

 

I studied German Linguistics and Literature at the University of Bielefeld and German as a Foreign Language in my bachelor's and master's program, as well as some semesters of Creative Writing in Berlin. 

 

For 14 years I have been working with different schools in Berlin as a teacher for German as a foreign language. I also worked as a teacher training lecturer.

I teach all levels, i.e. from level A1 to level C2. For two years I was placed at a bar in Neukölln. But currently, I teach Tuesdays and Fridays online. 

You can also find me at Sprachenfreunde, a little super friendly and caring language school in Berlin Steglitz, where I teach in person.

 

 

 

The course is already running? 

Yes, but every class is a closed unit. There is no need to catch up or for feeling bad, if you missed one or several lessons. You can start or restart at any time. 

 

How does a regular lesson look like? 

Every lesson is based on a certain topic or speaking or writing occasion or the lesson is based on a grammar based skill like talking about the past. In that case, we would probably  start with analysing the different ways languages are marking that we are talking about the past and not about what is happing now or in the future. 

 You will learn about 7 to 15 new words or phrases each lesson. We will work with them while using them in one or two grammatical environments. 

 

Which level will suit my needs? 

My system is a bit different than the system that is used at others schools : If you already achieved B1 at another school, you would start with me at  Intermediate - B1. Here you will learn up to level B2.

Please have a look at the descriptions of the specific courses. If you are still not sure about the level, please write me about your learning process and your needs/goals. I decide depending on how you are already used to the German language, that means mostly your hearing and speaking abilities indicates your level for me. You can do a trial lesson as well. It’s free, if the course doesn’t suit your needs. 

 

How many words are actively used on which level?  

Level A1: ~ 600 words

Level A2: ~ 1200 words 

Level B1: ~ 2500 words 

Level B2: ~ 3000 words 

Level C1/C2: ~ 4000-6000 words 

(At level C1/C2 you are able to understand at least around 24000 words. Muttersprachler haben einen aktiven Wortschatz von etwa 12.000-16.000 und einen passiven Wortschatz von ~100.000 Wörtern. Passiv bedeutet, dass sie es im Kontext verstehen, aber nicht selbst verwenden können.)

 

 

How can I learn on my own? 

Voluntary homework is available for all participants via a Zoom group. I will correct and comment on your homework. Please don’t hesitate to ask for individual homework. 💕

Please also have a look at Links. Participation in the course will cover the grammar. 

 

Are the courses intensive courses? 

Please notice that my classes are not intensive courses. 

Intensive courses are courses where you can reach one level (like level A2)  in 2 or 3 months. In regular intensive courses you are in class for about 3 hours, usually 4-5 days a week plus daily homework. 

 

This is not what I am offering here, but actually we are doing the same stuff that is done in an intensive course, only slower, because of the less intensive time expenditure, but at the same time more thoroughly, because vocabulary and especially grammar of the certain level are way more often repeated. 

But of course an intensive course is much faster, which is always better for the learning process. This is why:  If you stuck at a basic level in German for to long, your brain gets used to your own easy German, which is - despite to correct input you get - also built on your brain‘s assumptions about the German language. These mostly unconscious assumptions are usually based on implicit knowledge about your mothertongue(s), English and on individual associations. Unfortunately this mixture leads for example to a funny word order and to misunderstandings caused by a misconception about the tenses in the German language. This happens even if we practice this a lot in our weekly sessions. But as long as we don’t use a language daily and therefore have a continuous progress we tend to fall behind what we have already learned. 

So try to make sure to use what we learned as often as possible. If you don’t have someone to talk to in German, start talking to yourself in German and deepen your friendship to Chat GPT.  

 

The focus of all my courses is on speaking (even if we write a lot, because of the funny word order of the German language) and managing everyday situations, but of course also on your individual needs. Which you always should let me know, because I am always super happy, if my students are part of creating the lesson. 

 

Needing support for a test? 

Please let me know. I can give you experienced advice, if you want/need to do a certain test. I am familiar with all the common tests in Germany, like Goethe, telc and Testdaf.

 

 

The following is important to me when teaching: 

• A warm, relaxed and hopefully fearless atmosphere.
• Fun.
• Time for your questions, ideas and thoughts.  
• To always teach something in each lesson that you can use directly in everyday life. 
• Giving you helpful hints on how to learn on your own.  
• Teaching the peculiarities of the German language and gradually master it. 
• The mediation of a good pronunciation. 
• Letting you know about public discourses, media, everyday culture and politics. Please ask me anything, you want to be able to talk about in German. 
• To always practice grammar with concrete, short, useful sentences. 
• Time for real communication. 
• From time to time a useful overview over the stuff you really need to learn/to know due to your individual needs or current level. 
• A useful and complete overview over the structur of the German language. Like, when to use the cases and what about to know about the funny positions of the verbs. 
• Comparing different languages. 
• Building trust in trial and error❣️Because there is no other way - learning a language is a complex task. 
• Repetition for automatization.