Excursions as a place of learning: German in everyday life

The winter semester is also drawing to a close for the language courses at CLIC: several GFL lecturers therefore used this time to practise German with their course participants outside the classroom - for example on excursions to the Ravensburg Christmas market or the Weingarten weekly market.

DaF lecturer Christiane Groß took her A1 course participants to the Weingarten City Museum. Uwe Löhmann, city archivist and director of Weingarten's museums, took plenty of time to guide the group around the grounds and then through the museum. The tour was conducted in German and provided a lively and vivid insight into Weingarten's history.

A special highlight was the visit to a special exhibition on the top floor that had not yet opened. Archaeological finds from the very early settlement phases of the region were on display there - in other words, from a time long before Weingarten was founded. Trying on the historical chain hoods in particular made the tour more relaxed and created an informal atmosphere. German was spoken in passing - and it became clear how much vocabulary the students could already actively use after an A1 course. Participant Rakesh described the museum visit as "interactive and entertaining" and emphasized that it had given him a particularly vivid insight into German culture. The excursion was also a successful end to the semester for Meghana: She had really enjoyed the German course and was delighted with the joint excursion to the museum.

Natalia De Pascale Speck, Head of the CLIC - Center for Languages and Intercultural Communication, is convinced of the practical nature of language learning: "Excursions make it possible to experience the language with all the senses and to practise reading, listening, speaking and writing in authentic everyday situations, and the fact that Uwe Löhmann even offered the guided tour free of charge contributed significantly to the success of the excursion."