Some people may want to know what I do. As stated in my short bio on the side notes, I'm a high school teacher. Not just ANY kind of teacher though. I'm a German teacher! Say what?! Yes, that's so unusual, but I love the language (as well as the food and culture)--no, I'm not German--yes, I'm fluent. Believe you me, I get asked all the time: "Are you German?" "Why German?" "Are you fluent?" The last question kind of gets me though because why would someone ask a language teacher if they were FLUENT in the target language?? What are people hoping to hear? No.. I just teach it. No idea what I'm saying but I just teach it.
I know there are teachers though that teach a language that don't necessarily KNOW it.
WTF? Why?? Sometimes school districts are weird like that. They'll say, "Oh, so-and-so spent some time in that country or knows about languages, so we'll make them teach such and such.." BIGGEST disservice to the kids in that school AND a disservice to the people of that language and culture and to the teachers who actually KNOW the language and are fluent in it.
I'm not a native speaker of German by any means, so I don't know everything BUT I'm able to travel there alone, get lost in a train station and find my way... I'm able to ask for directions in a town... I'm able to have an educated and casual conversation with the locals... I'm able to complain about a situation that has made me feel uncomfortable... I'm able to buy tickets, etc.. you get the idea. Anyway, teaching German is way different than actually functioning in a German-speaking country.
Here are some of the major things I have/get to do as a language teacher (I'll just list the top 5):
1. Get kids interested and wanting to learn the language (this is the hardest part). We're essentially selling the language and culture to young learners who may or may not even know some of these countries exist. This year, no joke, I had a student tell me that his mom told him that German was a dying language.... wut. I looked over at my GERMAN exchange student and asked her if she knew that her language was dying? She looked at me and said, "Not that I knew of. Nobody told me." LOL see? These are the people who are voting and making "informed" decisions in our country. **Side note: I make no political claims or statements and wish to not receive any political hatred or claims in my comments. I'm merely making an observation.**
2. I get to teach a whole slew of new and funny sounding vocabulary to my wide-eyed learners! This is the best part! The look on their faces when I teach them the word for butterfly or beef labeling law (yep, there's a word for that and I use it as a draw to the language--it definitely works! My former students STILL remember me teaching them this.) I LOVE THIS PART OF MY CAREER!!
3. I get to essentially teach kids how to read again and sound out words. I teach them the alphabet, which is not necessarily that different. Same letters, different sounds occasionally, and maybe a few special characters, but it's the same Greek alphabet. All of these letters have different sounds and when combined, make even stranger sounds sometimes! This is a fun part too! And it gives me goosebumps when a student gets the sound right when reading out loud. #proudteachermoment !
4. I get to teach them about the culture and the food. This kind of goes along with the vocabulary and alphabet parts but I felt it deserved it's own number. The German culture really isn't super out of our comfort zone but there are small aspects that, if they were to visit a German-speaking country, it might throw them off, such as: no superficial smiling and no small talk. Americans are used to smiling all the time. The smaller the city, the more we smile and talk to each other. In Germany, people may seem "cold" but they're not. They're actually quite friendly when you get to know them. When a conversation is initiated, they open up and are actually quite friendly and warm! This isn't speaking for everybody there, of course, because I've met some wackos. LOL
5. I get to share my learning experiences and ways that I picked up the language and share it and then I also get to hear them learn it for themselves! When we do partner conversations in the first couple weeks, and I have kids who have already mastered some of the main phrases--it is phenomenal to just sit back and listen! I love it!
Granted, not all parts of teaching kids are glamorous. I've definitely had struggles--some small and some really huge! But in the end, I love my kids and they are mine for 8-9 months out of the year...then I get to send them home! ha! I do miss them over the summer. I randomly laugh about things that have happened in class and it makes me feel good. Like I made a good choice.
So, I do have side hustles though because who doesn't love a good side hustle? I teach fitness classes, as I mentioned in my first post. I love that--it definitely wouldn't pay the bills but it does provide a small cushion each month for little extras. I'm also a virtual fitness coach, who helps others begin or continue their health and fitness journeys with a little more OOMPH. By virtual, I mean I can do this all online--I don't have to meet up with anybody, I'm not a personal trainer at all. I get to help them from afar by checking in with them each week or every couple weeks to make sure they're doing okay and see how they're continuing reaching their own fitness and health goals. But I think I'll delve into this a little later because I think the main point of the this post was to talk about what I do as my "adult" job. I promise to give you a glimpse into my other side hustles later.
Until then (bis dann, in German), have a great day! Habt einen schönen Tag!
A small group of my kids at a German language event at Boise State way back in the day. This was probably about 5 years ago? We have fun together!
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