Oh my goodness. The time has gotten so far away from me! I can’t believe it’s been so long since I’ve updated anything. Things have been super busy around here and we’ve been running around for the last several weeks.
One of the first milestones that happened was that my German class ended. As part of the immigration process and to obtain work permission, I was required to attend an “Integration Course” for people who had recently arrived in Germany. The course was 600 hours long, which translated to 4 hours per day, five days per week for six months. It was pretty intensive, but it had to be in order to get us from absolutely no knowledge of the German language to a low-intermediate level. I began the class in August and it finished at the end of February. After completing the language portion of this course, we had to pass an official, standardized exam. The exam consisted of reading, writing, listening, and speaking (during a personal interview). Everyone was very nervous for this exam because if you didn’t pass, you would need to repeat three more months of class. To everyone’s relief, the exam went very well and all of my friends and I passed with flying colors. As an interesting side note, the proctor who did my personal interview had visited Pittsburgh a few times for work. Small world!
According to the CEFR, I should be able to do the following at this level of proficiency:
- Can understand the main points of clear standard input on familiar matters regularly encountered in work, school, leisure, etc.
- Can deal with most situations likely to arise while traveling in an area where the language is spoken.
- Can produce simple connected text on topics that are familiar or of personal interest.
- Can describe experiences and events, dreams, hopes and ambitions and briefly give reasons and explanations for opinions and plans.
After the six-month language portion of the class, we then had to complete another month-long course called the “Orientation Course.” This class covered the basics of German history, politics, and culture. A lot of the class conversation consisted of comparisons like “We do A, B, C in my home country, but in Germany it’s done X, Y, Z.” When this class was over, we had to take another test—this one similar to a citizenship exam. Out of a possible 300 standard questions, each student was given 33. We all successfully passed this exam as well!
I am really happy that I attended this class because it gave me a great foundation of the German language. The best part of this program is that the course is subsidized by the government. Depending on financial need, the total cost of the class can range between 0 and 400 Euros (60 cents per hour!). Compare that to US college tuition prices. Many of my classmates were refugees or in some other way had left their home countries under less than ideal circumstances. This class gives them a jump start on a new life in Germany. Just try to imagine such a program existing in the US!
After finishing the class and all of the exams, I renewed my visa and recently got my new visa and work permission, which came in handy when I…..got a job! More on that to come.
