In January, two years ago, I enrolled in a German course at the Goethe Institute in Lima. The course was the upper level (oberstuff is his name in German), and lasted eight weeks. Classes are held on Saturdays from 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. with a thirty-minute break.
We had fourteen students enrolled, six of whom were girls. Our teacher was a German whose name was Markus Maier, a journalist by profession, later Goethe’s teacher.
The cost of the course was approximately one hundred and fifteen dollars, plus the cost of the book, which was about twenty dollars.
students in the oberstuff they had the right to use the Library free of charge. Otherwise, the right to use the library costs about twenty dollars a year. We also had the right to use the Self-study Center, which is a room with computers and audio equipment for language practice. The computers offered a large number of exercises to solve and this helped in learning. In the audio equipment we were able to listen to the pronunciation of the language and exercise in it.
The method used by our teacher, Markus, was the choice of topics that were discussed in class and we expressed our opinion about them. We also read articles, not so long, to learn new words and expand our vocabulary.
In this course, a new innovative method was introduced: Learning Platform (learning platform), in which all the students were with each other through the Internet and also connected with the teacher. This meant that we not only learned on Saturdays, but also on other days of the week and it kept us busy. Markus on Sunday gave us a task to be solved in the space of four days. This task consisted of reviewing a topic and sending the teacher our written opinion, all through the platform. Then he sent us the corrections, one day before class, that is, on Friday, and there we could see what mistakes we had made and the teacher’s recommendations to correct them. These messages and comments were seen by all students.
One of the tasks on the platform was to write a short script. The students formed pairs, each of which had to create and write a story. Naturally, in this case, except for the teacher, either pair could see what the other wrote. I wrote a story with Adriana, who has been learning German here for four years now. She pronounced it well and spoke it fluently. She has not yet been to Germany and she acquired all her knowledge at the Institute. Some of the other students had not yet reached this high level of knowledge and it showed, especially when they had to speak in German. The best story was chosen by the student vote and we came in second place. First place was won by Johanny and Freddy. johany came from wellan old colony of German immigrants in the middle of the Peruvian jungle.
During the break we went to the cafeteria that had an outdoor terrace where we sat in groups to talk. The institute facilities were comfortable. Much of the furniture has been brought directly from Germany. It also had an auditorium where they could watch German movies, listen to lectures and see plays as well as performing groups some of which were German.
Finally, at the end of the course, after receiving our certificate, I noticed that my German had improved and expanded my knowledge.
