Leipzig course

[Roberto]

Hello, dear English trainers,

it was my last teaching day in the Bildungszentrum in Leipzig today. As usual I would like to update you on the last two days. Here is a summary of the most important aspects covered on Monday and Tuesday:

- brainstorming exercises, learning techniques, memorizing new vocabulary, what is not only interesting for the beginners in the class, association exercises, analogies, etc.
- regular verbs in the present and past forms (specially: simple past and -ing present form).
- some irregular verb patterns: sing, shrink, stink, drink e.g. or break and speak
- pronunciation versus spelling: u in words such as but, butter versus put and butcher; the ending -ed in regular verbs: she stopped /stopt/, he lived /livd/ etc. ; the s in English versus German s: send /send/ = senden /zenden/
- use of double consonants in certain regular verbs (past tense, for example): stop > he stopped
- comparative and superlative forms of adjectives: large > larger > largest; the conjunction than; opposite adjectives: low and high etc....
- vocab regarding: clothes, money (pay, spend, tax, fine, tip, charge, credit card, debit card etc), weather (cloudy, snow, foggy etc. ), some animals, fruit and vegetables, different shops (butcher, chemist's, haberdasher's, bookshop etc.;
- reading comprehension: Travel guide for Leipzig: sights, monuments, lively nightlife, history (German reunification, Napoleonic wars), culture (Faust, Goethe), architecture (Hieronymus Lotter), society, population: in simple English sentences. I asked some of the students to prepare a short presentation about Leipzig in simple English sentences: question-and-answer session. Difference between city and town.
- pronouns: personal , demonstrative, question, possessive pronouns. A contrastive analysis of the pronominal system in English: wh-words (questions), th- and h- and sh words (demonstrative and personal pronouns).
- some typical English sounds historically compared with the German correspondent words: e.g. the English /ou/ like in stone = German /ai/ like in Stein. Other examples: oath, soap, alone, goat, home, bone > Eid, Seife, allein, Geiß (= Ziege), Heim, Knochen (= -bein wie in Schlüsselbein = collarbone). Other analogies: d = t: good = gut, day = Tag; g = y/i or w: Auge = eye, Roggen = rye; gestern = yesterday; geflogen = flown; morgen = tomorrow; Regen = rain; th = d: thing = Ding, think = denken; thank = danken; the = der, die, das; this = dieser etc...; t = s/ss/ß/z: it = es, water = Wasser; eat = essen;: forget = vergessen. I think this is a good help for the beginners. This way they have a "bridge" between these two languages.
- shopping phrases (repetition), grammar: modal verb: can/could: Can I help you?
- playing learning cards: important verbs, their pronunciation, how to use them and hints to learn them.
- grammar with jokes (mostly British humor; book used: Grammar in Laughter ): use of the auxiliary do/does/did and negative sentences; modal verbs: can, can't; must etc; some simple if-sentences; word order etc.
- colours, seasons; connection existing between the following words ("etymological false friends"): yield (Ertrag, > Geld), fee (= Gebühr, > Vieh) cattle (= Vieh; > Kapital) and capital; pay and peace;earn (= verdienen > Ernte), harvest (= Ernte > Herbst) and autumn.
- politeness: thanks, you're welcome, don't mention it; idioms and important phrases: of course, certainly...
- adverbs in -ly.

They still should repeat the basic grammar aspects such as verb patterns, pronouns, prepositions etc. and focus the vocab on important shopping dialogues: The Bildungszentrum makes books (English for Shop Assistants) available that you can certainly copy. We spent the first Monday morning hours reading different shopping dialogues.

I thank all of the trainers involved in this English class for their efficient cooperation: I wish Roswitha a lot of fun with them on the last two teaching days. Say goodbye for me again!

Happy Easter!

Roberto
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Learn more about: Roberto Enrique Steffens Villarreal