School in Germany

School in Germany is quite different than at MLC. The program that I am participating in tries to make school a German experience. But also the nature of the program does not make school overwhelming either.

Every student has school 4 days a week. Now I am taking the minimum amount of credits, which is recommended. This allows me to have a lot of free time and to make the most of my time abroad. So on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I only have German class from nine to noon. But on Tuesday I have to other classes and go to school from 9am to 7pm. That might sound bad but I still have time to eat lunch and they give us a 15 minute break during class. With this schedule I am able to do a lot of exploring in my free time, especially on the weekends.

As you’ve noticed my classes are about 3 hours long but for all of them except German we only meet once a week. Often the class period is actually a field trip! We have taken a lot into Berlin to learn about German, history, art, and monuments. Those class periods are the best.

The classes operate a little bit differently too. And I think this is where they try to make it more German, by having class be more about discussion. The readings each week are quite heavy and are much longer than I am used to from MLC. However then in class there is much less lecture and a lot more discussion. I feel that in a way it is nice to have more discussion time however lecture is still important but it feels a little lacking here.

My favorite class has to be German class. That’s because it’s the most fun. We are able to have a lot of fun while still learning. Many exercises are focused on speaking, so we often get to talk and practice new things we’ve learned. Plus that class meets every school day so I also feel like it is the main focus. I would also say that it is the most important at least in my present life because it enables me to communicate better in Berlin, with my host, and even in other parts of Europe.

Another thing I enjoy in my German class is how small it is. I only have 8 people in it so it feels like I am definitely getting enough attention in terms of being able to participate and get feedback from peers and my teacher. Also I like being able to get to know these 8 people better because we have class for 12 hours together each week. My other classes are bigger around 20 students. I think in the program in total there are maybe 100 students. So it is nice that we have class sizes that are not to big. We definitely don’t have any lecture halls with hundreds of people so all the discussion feels like you are able to participate and be heard.

Over all I am enjoying my learning experience here, especially German class.

 

– One of my field trips in Berlin. This is the Victory Column.