I am somebody.
I was somebody when I came.
I'll be a better somebody when I leave.
(Rita Pierson)
ABOUT ME
- and my experiences as a language learner
I first started learning a foreign language as an eight-year-old child at primary school. We only had one English lesson a week that we used to playfully encounter the English language together with our teacher. We learned some basics, such as numbers, colours and phrases that are useful for basic conversations.
My foreign language process continued at high school where we had between three to five English lessons a week (and from 7th grade onwards also three to four lessons of French a week). The increase in exposure to the English language led also to an increase in my motivation to learn this foreign language. We worked with a textbook, listened to speech samples from native speakers, watched videos in the English language and were encouraged to speak in English. In the course of my learning process at high school I noticed my personal progress. Interestingly though, I was well aware of the fact that my teachers (I had about four to five different English teachers) had a significant impact on my motivation for learning the language, and therefore, they also had an impact on my progress.
Fortunately, I had the chance to participate in a school exchange programme that enabled me to stay with a hostfamily in the U.S. for a month and attend classes at the Trinity Episcopal School in Richmond, Virginia (initially we were only supposed to stay for three weeks, but since the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull errupted with the result of thousands of flights being cancelled, our stay was extended). Spending a longer period of time abroad for the first time and being exposed to the English language in my everyday life has shown me how effective the immersion in the foreign language is. This first experience has encouraged me to go abroad again after graduating from high school.
After finishing high school, I moved to Auckland, New Zealand for ten months. I stayed with a host family and worked as an Au Pair.
Having spent several months abroad, I realized how much worth it is to get in contact with another culture and to really become part of this culture. This is the reason why I am very passionate about traveling, meeting people with different cultural backgrounds and exploring other countries.
After these experiences I decided to start studying languages (English and French) with the aim of becoming a teacher. My own experiences have shown me that languages are the keys to the respective cultures as explained in the following quotation:
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"If you can talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head.
If you talk to him in his own language, that goes to his heart."
(Nelson Mandela)
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For this reason, I decided to, first of all, develop my own competencies to then be able to teach languages to students and help them develop the competencies they need to engage with people from other cultures. In order to improve my competencies in the French language, I went to France during my Bachelor studies to study at a French university and get in contact with the French culture (Erasmus+ programme).
My decision to become a teacher is not only based on my interest in languages and other cultures, it is, first and foremost, the result of my interest in social activities. I would describe myself as an empathetic person who would like to work together with young people, inspire them, encourage them to develop open-minded personalities and discover the variety of colourful cultures to be found in this world.
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EDUCATION
2005 - 2013
Immanuel-Kant-Schule (Neumünster, Germany)
Abitur 2013
March 2010 - April 2010
Trinity Episcopal School (Richmond, Virginia, USA)
School exchange programme
Since 2014
Christian-Albrechts-Universität (Kiel, Germany)
Bachelor of Arts 2017
September 2016 - January 2017
Université de Lorraine (Nancy, France)
Erasmus+ programme
As a high school student, I was taught by many different teachers. My attitude towards the majority of my teachers and their lessons was neutral, I did not have many bad experiences. However, I had a few teachers that were outstanding in my eyes and that serve as a role model for me as a future teacher in specific regards.
One of these teachers I like to recall is the Maths teacher I had during my last three years of high school (the so-called Oberstufe).
Maths is a subject that many people have difficulty with and for this reason, they already approach this subject with some sort of distance. This teacher, however, managed to motivate all of us students with his friendly, humorous, understanding, caring and open-minded nature. When we first started, he outlined the plan for the following three years and told us that we were going to encounter these subject matters as a group. Right from the start, we had a nice learning atmosphere in class, an environment in which everyone was respected and mistakes were tolerated, they were even more than welcome and treated as means of processing. Especially when we were treating very complex mathematic issues, our teacher made sure to keep up this relaxed atmosphere and managed to made us laugh in between most complex calculations that would have led to despondency in a different surrounding. In addition, this teacher was very student-oriented, he adapted his lessons to our needs (he even gave us additional Maths lessons in his freetime before our final exams), shifted time frames when necessary and was always open for feedback. It became obvious that teaching for him is not only about the profession of a teacher as such, it is more about building relationships and helping students develop comprehensive competencies. Even five years after finishing high school, we are still in contact with him and enjoy sharing a drink or two with him at our annual Christmas ball while reflecting upon past years.
This is one example for a teacher that has inspired me as a learner and as a future teacher.
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My experiences as a language learner influence my goals as a future language teacher.
I am developing comprehensive competencies in the course of my studies and will use opportunities to continuously develop myself and my teaching. I am trying to reflect my own subjective approaches and adapt them in case there turn out to be more convincing approaches. Recent discoveries and studies need to be taken into account to always be up to date.
This ProPIC project aims at promoting professionalism, innovation and transnational collaboration.
Our focus is on media supported collaborative professional development in the context of second language learning and teaching and I have set the following learning outcomes as goals for myself.
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As an overall goal, I have developed my CPD and documented this process in my ePortfolio.
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As a result of this course, I have further developed my media competence. I have experienced and reflected upon the advantages of writing an ePortfolio and using iBooks. In addition, I am aware of the variety of innovative media and tools that may be used in the classroom to foster students' learning processes. I can reflect upon the usefulness of these tools and propose how these tools could be implemented in the foreign language classroom.
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This course has supported the development of my intercultural competence. I have exchanged my own approaches with students from other countries and we have discussed different approaches taking into account the cultural differences that may lead to these different approaches. I have discussed how transnational collaboration could enhance CPD.
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The realization of a small-scale research project has enhanced my learning process in regard to a particular aspect, it has provided me with insights into a current issue relevant for the foreign language classroom and it gave me the chance to try a research method and evaluate it.
