As mentioned before for the first 4 weeks of my stay here in Deutschland I went to language classes in the nearby city of Karlsruhe. I came to Germany with literally 20 words of German so language class was a must.
To all those out there applying for an exchange program, the best thing that I can recommend is to really
learn as much as possible before you leave home. Although most applications don't require language proficiency, the reason you are going to that new country will mostly likely be to learn the language. And if not--you'll still need the language to really get the most out of your experience. Even though I'll admit to learning more each day, having the basics when I first came here would have sped up my language proficiency
significantly. So even if all you do is study two words everyday, having random words to drop back on will pay off in the long run. Finally, read up on the country you'll be living in (the culture, politics, geography, etc.). All that information will help you understand the people and situations you interact with every day.
Language class was just one of things I had to do. Our class was made up of 14 different students, from the ages 16 to 52, and from over eight different countries. Pretty diverse if I can say so myself. Some-days it was fun, but on other days I wanted to be in "real" school already. Overall, it helped tremendously in adjusting to the language and creating a starting point for my German.
 |
| during our coffee break |
 |
| Adagio and Claudia |
 |
| Jose pretending to be the techer |
 |
|
| My class! My teacher is in the center to the left of the lady in the striped red and white shirt |
|
What an interesting experience - people of different ages and from different places. I think your suggestions for others who go on exchange are on-target. Are there any web sites or other language resources that you know of that would be especially helpful?
ReplyDelete