Fremdsprachenassistent in Germany

AoiM

Applied to the Dept. of Education foreign language assistant scheme in Germany. got a letter today telling me I was nominated for a place. Was wondering if there's anyone else out there doing this program, or anyone who has done it?

savvyav

I did it in France, I was offered a place in Germany too but I chose France as I'd done my Erasmus year in Germany. A few people I know did the German one and liked it alot.
If it's the same as the French one (and I'd imagine they're more or less identical) you won't be doing any 'real' teaching as such, you'll be giving conversation classes for about 12 hours a week. I was forbidden to ever speak French to my students but you'll speak loads of German in the staffroom so your German will improve.
My two problems were the wages and the time. I was living in Paris and my take home pay was 770e a month- by the time I paid rent of 350e and my transport pass of approx 100e a month, I was left with barely anything to live off. I did do some private teaching but my hours were all over the place in the school and I had to give it up eventually. Having said that, 770e would keep you comfortably in Germany, when I was on Erasmus, my rent was 250e per month and transport was 40e a semester.
I also found 12 hours a week wasn't enough to keep me entertained- most of the other assistants lived at least 40 minutes away and where I lived was quite rough so I was bored a lot of the time. I would advise anyone doing this to see if there's classes at a local uni you can take, just to meet more people and to have something to do.
It's a good experience to do, but personally I don't understand why some people do it again and again.

Fuinseog

savvyav wrote: »

I did it in France, I was offered a place in Germany too but I chose France as I'd done my Erasmus year in Germany. A few people I know did the German one and liked it alot.
If it's the same as the French one (and I'd imagine they're more or less identical) you won't be doing any 'real' teaching as such, you'll be giving conversation classes for about 12 hours a week. I was forbidden to ever speak French to my students but you'll speak loads of German in the staffroom so your German will improve.
My two problems were the wages and the time. I was living in Paris and my take home pay was 770e a month- by the time I paid rent of 350e and my transport pass of approx 100e a month, I was left with barely anything to live off. I did do some private teaching but my hours were all over the place in the school and I had to give it up eventually. Having said that, 770e would keep you comfortably in Germany, when I was on Erasmus, my rent was 250e per month and transport was 40e a semester.
I also found 12 hours a week wasn't enough to keep me entertained- most of the other assistants lived at least 40 minutes away and where I lived was quite rough so I was bored a lot of the time. I would advise anyone doing this to see if there's classes at a local uni you can take, just to meet more people and to have something to do.
It's a good experience to do, but personally I don't understand why some people do it again and again.

I had to work soemthing like twelve hours a week and organised it so I would work mornings and be free for the afternoon, meaning I could teach english elsewhere and double the money.
rarely will you actually teach.

68487235

Hey

yes I did ELA in Germany last year and have applied to go back this year.. I got a letter from Dept. of education during the week as well which means I basically have a place somewhere in Germany...however now the wait is on cause it will probably be June before I find out where I am going.

The whole experience was fantastic and that's why I am going back. I could talk about it forever. money is no problem.. especially if u are in the East. Rent is cheap and cost of living in cheap.. trains are really expensive and that's what i spent most of my money on.. I would advise u to get a bahncard 50 (half price train tickets) if u are planning on doing lots of travelling. In my experience Germans are very friendly and nice..the school was great.. i mostly assisted in lessons or took groups out of class and worked with them..covered when a teacher was sick.. by the end of year i was teaching properly as one of the Eng. teachers was pregnant. Bad side of things.. it can be very very lonely!!! Germany is so much bigger than Ireland and the nearest Irish person to me was 5 hrs away but i met up with other language assistants from UK most weekends..