German: Take 2!

Back in 2017, I attempted to take an A2 level German course, entirely online. I remember being immediately intimidated in our first class to the point of embarrassment as I realised the entire class was conducted in German. I listened to one of my classmates speak in (what I could only stupidly assume to be) flawless German and panicked. I was so freaked out I eventually stopped going and convinced myself I would get the same thing out of this class by just doing the homework exercises without attending the live online classes. It didn't work out and I instead buried that idea of German learning for a while (See https://karencortez7797.wixsite.com/obp-award/post/a2-2-online-course).

With everyone picking up new hobbies to keep themselves entertained during social distancing measures, I decided to give the Goethe Institut another go: I mean, they are kind of the leading providers of German language education! I took a few online tests to help myself gauge what sort of a level I might be at, and I emailed Goethe to ask whereabouts my language skills might be based on having taken an A2 course before. I was recommended the B1.1 class, so off I went! I've been to one class and it was actually pretty good, for a number of reasons:

• I think I've definitely loosened up about producing half-baked German sentences thanks to the German speaking club I was going to last year. I've learnt that trying and desperately failing is the best way to get help from native speakers!

• One of my friends from said German speaking club is in my class! (The guy with the long distance girlfriend - they are still going strong, I asked.)

• The class only has 6 or 7 participants, and while I think my grammar and vocabulary may not be as strong as some of the others, I can safely say my strength seems to lie in having non-bogan-y German - there is quite the variety of accents in my class.

The workload for this class is evenly split between online group class and online homework, unlike the last one I attended which was mostly homework. So far I've been to one class and done one set of homework, which was actually a bit heftier than expected. Due to the gaps in my learning from doing so poorly in the A2 course I've been supplementing my learning with the Learn German Youtube channel, which has been helping me with some grammar things that I have used in the past but not understood very well. With that and the trusty Beolingus dictionary, I feel like I'm doing ok. Here is the last segment of writing from this week's homework:

Translation from Google Translate:

Where do you like to be / do you like to go? I like going to the beach because I love snorkeling. My favorite beach is Shelly Beach in Manly that you can see a lot of fish. Unfortunately, Shelly Beach is very far from me, so I don't go there often. I also like to sit under a tree (I would like to say "I also like to sit under a tree", as in, any tree) while reading a book or doing my homework. Best of all I'm in the tree! It is very peaceful there. What do you like to show your guests / visitors? When I have visitors from abroad, I always show them Shelly Beach because we have very clear marine fauna in Australia. I also show them the Blue Mountains and we hike there. I always hope we see an Echidna! :)

Which place is special for you and why? A special place for me is the Perrys Lookdown campsite in Blackheath. There is a nice view and it is where I first looked at the stars with my boyfriend (hopefully I said "stargazed"?) just four days before we got together.