After settling into your new room, get ready for a busy pre-semester period! Most international students (including those on the Umass in Baden-Wuerttemberg Program) take an intensive pre-semester language course that lasts three weeks. But first: test time.
In order to gauge the German language proficiency of the hundreds of international students who have arrived from all over the world to study in Heidelberg, the university issues a language exam in the first week of September, the results of which are used to place everyone in a language course befitting their previous German language experience. One or two days after my arrival, I took my first bus in Heidelberg to the testing site, and joined an auditorium of students to take the exam. I found the exam extremely difficult, and was positive that I had placed myself in the lowest level of proficiency possible. I was surprised to discover that my test results qualified me for Intermediate Level 1 (Mittelstufe I); apparently, the test is designed to gauge the widest possible range of proficiency, from beginner to quite advanced.
In the few days following the exam, there is paperwork. And then more paperwork. Make sure you take your passport, room contracts, and other pertinent documents to all of your orientation sessions, just in case you need the to fill out a document. Also, I would recommend making extra passport-sized photos in the United States and bringing them with you to Germany. I didn't do this, and regretted having to find a place in the city to get more photos taken. These photos are required for a number of the bureaucratic forms you will be required to complete and submit during the first weeks of your arrival. Make sure you specify that you need photos that meet the new requirements for passports and visas!
After the first few days of orientation (aka paperwork), my first three weeks in Heidelberg were entirely consumed by the pre-semester language course, which met Monday-Friday, 8:30am to 1pm (with a nice mid-morning break for coffee and snacks!). My course was held in the Max-Weber Haus, which is a language institute affiliated with the university. I was very happy with the instructors of my course, and it was exciting and stimulating to be surrounded by students from so many countries and hailing from so many diverse backgrounds. My Max-Weber peers included exchange students from Greece, Hungary, France, Spain, Hong Kong, Great Britain, Canada and Ireland. There were undergraduates (like me), but also masters students and even a woman who had come to Heidelberg to write her PhD in Archeology!
Given the range of language proficiency with such a diverse group, the instructors didn't take it for granted that everyone shared English as a common language, and therefore all instruction was held in German. Definitions to new vocabulary words were provided in simplified German, as were clarifications of grammatical concepts. It definitely took some time to become acclimated to the all-German-and-only-German instruction technique, but ultimately it proved to be beneficial to my proficiency. It is intimidating and a bit overwhelming at first, but you can do it! And the challenge will prove worthwhile when you notice your German improving day by day.
The Max-Weber Haus also offers German language courses during the regular academic semesters. I am taking two courses in the institute this Wintersemester: Intermediate Level II (having graduated from my Intermediate I pre-semester course) and Bildendes Kunst und Sprache (Visual Art and Language). Again, the instructors of both my courses are highly qualified, with years of experience in the classroom. They are also dynamic educators, and always manage to cultivate a compelling and interactive learning environment in the classroom (even when covering topics with a high potential of dryness...passive tense construction, for example). In my Kunst und Sprache course, we learn vocabulary and language constructions necessary to engage with, write about, and converse over works of visual art. The course also includes a number of excursions to local museums and collections, where we observe and discuss paintings and sculptures in person. I love this course! I am an Art History major with a few years of study experience in the visual arts, but the course is also open to students with no art historical experience whatsoever, and the mix of participants from a number of academic backgrounds makes for interesting discussions and fresh perspectives on art (and language).
The Max-Weber Haus offers a number of such topical courses each academic semester. They are designed for students who have an intermediate or advanced grasp of the German language, but don't worry if your pre-semester level of proficiency is below the prerequisite. Instructors are willing to admit students with varying proficiencies; just be prepared to put in a bit more effort during the semester! Besides the course on art and language, the Max-Weber Haus also offers a course on German film, German history, German for students of the natural sciences and law, and even creative writing in German. Learning a foreign language is a lot less painless (and can be quite fun and satisfying) when you are engaging with the language through a topic that you find interesting. I highly recommend such topical courses as supplements to your regular German language classes!
There is another language institute in Heidelberg: the Seminar fuer Deutsch als Fremdsprachenphilologie, or SDF. I have not yet taken any courses in the SDF, but know that they offer dozens of classes each semester for all levels of German proficiencies. Like the Max-Weber Haus, the institute also offers topical courses, such as “German literature after 1945,” “Surrealism,” and others. All instruction, class participation, and readings are in German. I have heard from other students that these courses are quite demanding, but their level of rigor will only benefit your German-learning.
Note on location: success rates, teaching styles, and course offerings aside, the two language institutes are quite different from one another in one important aspect: aesthetics! In terms of physical appearance and location, the Max-Weber Haus is by far the more enchanting of the two institutes. It once was an actual house, and sits beautifully on the bank of the Neckar River, with a spectacular view of the castle that looms over the city from the hilltop just across the river. If you are fortunate enough to live in the Altstadt (Old City), the commute to the Max-Weber Haus will take you through some of the city's most old-worldy streets and over the cobbled Alte Bruecke (Old Bridge), with its impressive Baroque statuary and iconic two-towered gate. It is definitely the most beautiful commute-to-class I have ever taken, and probably will ever take. As for the SDF, it's building and location are likewise none-too-shabby. It is also located in the Altstadt, and abuts one end of a market place where local farmers sell their produce, flowers, meat, dairy and homemade treats two days per week. While it doesn't offer the same picturesque views of the castle as the Max-Weber Haus, it still trumps most of the academic buildings you will have encountered in the U.S.
No comments:
Post a Comment