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Deicide

I already have my CELTA and to my mind it never really helped that much in getting a job (maybe it did, I don't know). Now the few times I have taught German I have found it to be immensely more satisfying than teaching English; I just love the complex grammar and syntax. So I have been thinking about doing the German version of CELTA but I don't know if it would be worth the money. In 2 years or so I should be moving to the UK to do my part time masters and teaching German on the side could be a real option. Is it worth it? What do you think?

Stephen Jones · Joined: 21 Feb 2003 Posts: 4124

The CELTA is of almost no use in Korea. Your belief that German grammar is much more complex than English grammar, suggests to me that you don't really know Engish grammar.

11:59 · Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 6:49 pm Post subject:

I thought syntax was part of grammar (indeed, the mainstay thereof), and how, pray tell, is it 'complex'? (Infants in German-speaking countries certainly don't seem to have any problems.) And how is it more complex than English? English has more tenses than German, after all (e.g., Ich lese can be 'I read', 'I do read', and 'I am reading' depending on context). I think you are mistakenly referring to (surface) inflectional morphology but that's neither here nor there as what German achieves through (a very simple series of) case endings English simply achieves through other means (fairly rigid word order and stress/emphasis). Besides, German only has four cases, Finnish has some 16! Now that's complex.

Justin Trullinger · Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 8:21 pm Post subject:

Oy- ease off on the flaming, will ya?

I've just read the original post again, and confirmed my original impression. The guy said (well, wrote) that he found teaching German "immensely more satisfying" than teaching English. It's an opinion call. But nothing wrong with it.

He also said that he loves the complex grammar and syntax of German. A heck of a lot of people love German, and I don't see anything wrong with this. And again, anybody who's studied German, and you give the impression that you have, 11:59, cannot deny the complexity of it. (Whether it's more complex than other languages is a judgement call- I'm only saying that it's complex, as are languages in general.)

Then you all proceded to flame him for thinking that German grammar and syntax are MORE COMPLEX than English. Read the post. THere was no comparative there, except for the "immensely more satisfying" part. I don't have any idea what the OP thinks about the comparative complexity or difficulty of English and German. He didn't say.

So to assign an opinion to him, based on my own impressions, not on what he wrote, and then to slate him for it, seems kind of rude.

Play nice. Sheesh.

Best,
Justin

Stephen Jones · Joined: 21 Feb 2003 Posts: 4124

Don't be naive Justin. The guy has stated that he finds teaching EFL intellectually unstimulating and then goes on to state he prefers teaching German to English because he just loves its complex syntax. There is a clear inference that English syntax is less complex, and that is why the original poster finds it unstimulating.

Deicide · Posted: Sat Mar 31, 2007 1:54 am Post subject:

Deicide · Posted: Sat Mar 31, 2007 2:15 am Post subject:

Deicide · Posted: Sat Mar 31, 2007 2:16 am Post subject:

SueH · Joined: 01 Feb 2003 Posts: 1022 Location: Northern Italy

Can I before adding anything substantive just say that my German is limited to 'Noch ein bier, bitte' and 'Heute der pulverschnee is sehr gut'..

No, I don't think the german equivalent would be useful. The CELTA certainly makes one aware in one's own deficiencies in the knowledge of the English language, but it's main purpose is to make one aware of ways of teaching that (or even a) language. Unless there are some fairly unique techniques of teaching er... aspects of the inflected nature of German (I seem to recall der, die, das, dem, den..) I'd rather make sure my accent was good enough.

I've taught beginners Italian at FE level in the UK(16-17m yrs), and in terms of giving them the impression of knowing what you're doing, an authentic accent helps a lot.

ls650 · Joined: 10 May 2003 Posts: 3484 Location: British Columbia

Deicide · Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2007 3:11 am Post subject:

Sonnet · Joined: 10 Mar 2004 Posts: 235 Location: South of the river

I love German as a language, too; there are elements of German which I feel work better than in English, and vice versa.

I don't know if I'd ever want to teach it, though; maybe one day, if English kids ever cared about learning a foreign language...

As previous posters have mentioned, the pedagogical element of the course probably wouldn't be significantly different from your CELTA course. As to whether it'd help with employment prospects... I guess you need to hear from people who have experience of teaching Deutsch als Fremdsprache. Don't know how many of those you'll find on this board; good luck with it, though.

Stephen Jones · Joined: 21 Feb 2003 Posts: 4124

The E in CELTA stands for English.

Obviously the pedagogical parts of the CELTA are transferable, unless you subscribe to the theory that language learning is specific to the particular language.

You should check up with the Goethe Institute what qualifications there are for teachers of GFL.

Deicide · Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2007 10:18 am Post subject:

Stephen Jones · Joined: 21 Feb 2003 Posts: 4124

For teaching in schools a degree and PGCE; I think you can still get the PGCE subsidized if you are a foreign language graduate.

The Goethe Institute is the organization you should be contacting.

If you go for language school type classes you'll find yourself doing a mixture of TEFL and German. Unless you really hate Korea, (and you've stated you won't think of Saudi) I would suggest you consider getting a job at a uni with good holidays and do a distance masters, possibly with a short attendance requirement.