USA news on Youtube Aug 20 2017

I may have been the teacher, but I also learned

a lot while teaching English here in Germany.

Hey everyone! I'm Dana and you're watching Wanted Adventure Living Abroad.

If you've clicked on this video looking for information about teaching English in

Germany this is not that video, but I have made a video on that topic already, and I

will link to it down below.

So what is this video about?

Well, when I first moved to Munich, I taught English to adult students here in Germany

for about 3 years.

And during that time I learned many different lessons and things.

And so today, I will share a few of those things that I learned.

It was just amazing.

I learned that people learn English for a million different reasons.

And I think that was actually one of the most fascinating parts about teaching English here;

meeting so many different people and learning about what inspired them to learn English.

I taught one person who refereed shooting competitions and needed English for that.

I taught another person who often traveled internationally because they were an organ courier.

And some of my students were working in customer service and they would actually be using their English

most often to communicate with other non-native English speakers from all around the world.

I also learned very quickly that teaching English is a heck of a lot more than "just"

teaching the language.

It's often also about teaching the culture behind the language, because sometimes, as

I learned, there are words that can't really be translated into German because the full

and complete concept just doesn't exist in Germany.

Cul-de-sac, for example.

The dictionary translates cul-de-sac to Sackgasse, but they're not really the same thing.

And that's because houses and housing arrangements are themselves very different in Germany and the U.S.

So you really have to look at the culture there.

To really explain cul-de-sac, I would have to talk about that in America, for example,

you often have housing developments and subdivisions, with a name and a sign at the entrance to

that development, and sometimes but not always there are rules for everyone living in that development.

Like maybe you can only paint your house one of three pre-approved colors, or you must

mow your lawn a certain number of times per month or else you'll be fined.

Or something like that.

I taught many different classes and many different students during my time as an English teacher

in Germany.

And one very important thing that it taught me about the culture in Germany is that sometimes

at first some Germans can be a bit of a tough nut to crack, but when they do warm up to

you and if they do let you in, they really let you in.

So it just seemed to me like some of my students needed a little bit more time to open up to

someone that they didn't know, than what I was used to in the U.S.

And at first I did take it personally, I just couldn't help but take it personally.

I would start a lesson in a new class or sometimes I would fill in for another teacher if they

were sick, and for, like, the first minutes of class, some or sometimes all of the students

would be a little stand-offish, kind of hesitant, like: who is the person here, and what does

she want from me.

They weren't all necessarily really convinced about me from the first moment.

But then, oftentimes, by the middle of the lesson they had relaxed and warmed up to me a little bit.

But sometimes not. Sometimes it took a few classes.

But usually at least by the end of the course they had kind of come around and were then

often really warm and just really kind and open.

I had one course that at first I swore up and down that the students hated me, or at

least they didn't really trust me.

But by the end of the course, they were just all so kind and so open, and on the last day

they brought me flowers and little gifts and a card, and it was just unbelievable how warm

and welcoming they then were.

One of the first classes that I taught here in Germany was to Germans who were actually sent to

the class by the government.

They were there because they had been collecting unemployment money for, I believe, over two

years at that point, obviously without successfully landing a job during that time.

So they were sent to learn English in order to make themselves a better job candidate,

and then those classes were paid for by the government.

So my question for you is: Have you taken English or any other language classes outside of school?

What's been your experience with that?

And teachers out there, what has teaching taught you?

Please let me know in the comments below.

Thanks so much for watching.

I really hope that you enjoyed this video.

And also, a really big thank you so much to our patrons on Patreon, who help make these

videos possible.

Thank you so much for your support.

If you would like to check out our Patreon page, you can find a link to that down in

the description box below.

Until next time, auf Wiedersehen!

Hey! Just one quick thing!

Mr. German Man and I are taking a little break, and there will be no Wednesday video this week.

We're taking a little vacation.

All the Sunday videos will still be the same.

Sunday at 9 a.m., and next week, the Wednesday video will be back at 3 p.m., so just no Wednesday

video this coming August 16. Okay, thanks! Bye! That's it.

Any other language classes outside of school, what... Yeah?

And for, like, the first...doopty doopty doo.

But they're not really the same thing, and that's because

houses and housing themselves...arrangements.

For more infomation >> 4 Things I Learned Teaching Germans English - Duration: 6:34.

-------------------------------------------

5 AWESOME Things that SHOCKED ME in Germany - Duration: 6:50.

I never thought that I would be excited about traffic lights, but it turns out that in Germany I am.

Hey everyone! I'm Dana and you're watching Wanted Adventure Living Abroad

Here are a few really awesome things that when I first moved to Germany shocked me and

caught me off guard.

But it a good way!

In Germany you get to drive around feeling like you're in a race car.

No, not because there are sections of the Autobahn with no speed limit.

I mean, there are, but that's not what I'm talking about here.

This is actually about the traffic lights.

I never expected that traffic lights would work differently in different countries,

but they do!

For stopping the traffic, they are the same in Germany and the U.S.

The light goes from green to yellow to red.

But when signaling that you can then go in the U.S., the traffic lights just go right

from red straight to green.

Whereas in Germany it's like a race track light.

It goes red, yellow, green, go!

While we're talking about the road, I could not even believe it when I saw that in Germany

the taxis look super fancy.

Most of the taxis that I've seen are these beautiful cream colored Mercedes.

And I would think that having a cream colored car would be kind of bad because they'd

get so dirty so easily, but somehow from what I've seen the taxis here are often spotless and shiny!

Actually, now that I think about it, from what I've seen, most of the cars on the road

here in Germany are spotless and shiny.

That's kind of like, just sort of a thing that I've noticed here.

People must clean their cars a lot.

Before moving to Germany soft pretzels were definitely something that I had had before,

but not something that I ate all that often.

Usually at a sporting event or the mall.

But here in Germany they're really common.

At least in Munich I don't think that I've ever been to a bakery that didn't sell pretzels,

and some of the bakeries are just devoted just to pretzels.

Pretzels with butter, plain pretzels, pretzels with sesame, pretzels with cheese.

Ah, there's so many options and they're all so delicious.

The first time that Mr. German Man and I went to the movies in Germany, he said to me something

like: yeah, we'd better make sure to get there early to get a good seat.

Which, of course, made total sense to me.

Until we got there and actually bought our tickets and then Mr. German Man didn't want

to actually go into the movie theater right away.

We had gotten there early to get good seats!

Which to me meant buying our tickets and then going right away into the theater and

picking out our seats and sitting down.

Because in the U.S. that's how I had always experienced it.

Movie theaters often had some kind of interesting behind-the-scenes show running before the

movie, so it was fun. It was a nice time. I always looked forward to it.

But not as much fun as not actually having to go inside early and sit down in your seat

because, as I've always experienced it here in Germany, when you buy your ticket, your

seat is then printed on the ticket, just like at a concert or a baseball game.

So then, there has never been this pressure or rush to get into the theater super early.

I lived in several different apartments in the U.S., and you know what they all came with?

A kitchen.

In fact, this point was not even a question.

When apartment hunting, sure, I had to think about: well, this apartment comes with a garbage

disposal in the kitchen, and this one does not come with a garbage disposal in the kitchen.

This one has a bigger kitchen, this one has smaller kitchen.

But they all came with a kitchen!

So when Mr. German Man and I started apartment hunting together, and I found out that a lot

of apartments in Germany don't come with a kitchen I was flabbergasted.

I could barely even comprehend such a thing.

I'm pretty sure that I joked with him, like: well fine!

If I have to put in a kitchen, then I'm taking it with me when I leave.

And he was like: yeah, that's what people do.

They move their kitchen around from apartment to apartment.

Kind of just like a couch or a bed.

But so, you might be wondering: well, why would that be awesome?

Because from what I've seen, people in Germany don't seem to move around as

often as people in the U.S. do.

Or at least as often as I did.

So when you look at it from that perspective, it's really kind of cool.

I mean, we've been living in our current apartment here in Germany for several years

now, and while at first I was definitely really annoyed and stressed out about having to put

a whole kitchen into the apartment - as though, you know, I needed to add that cost and expense

to the moving bill - but, now, I have to say, I'm really grateful and appreciative to be

able to live in an apartment with a kitchen that I truly love.

That being said, if we had only been planning to stay in the apartment temporarily, then,

yeah, having to invest in and put in a whole kitchen wouldn't be so awesome.

So my question for you is: What kinds of experiences do you have with these things and what do you prefer?

Please let me know in the comments below!

Thanks so much for watching!

I really hope that you enjoyed this video.

And also, a really big thank you so much to our patrons on Patreon who help make these

videos possible.

Thank you so much for your support.

If you would like to check out our Patreon page, you can find a link to that down in

the description box below.

Until next time, auf Wiedersehen!

You get to pick your ticket when you buy your seat.

You get to pick your ticket when you buy your seat!

Did I say that? - Yes! Amazing. I left it, I left it, I let you talk. - I had no idea.

You get to pick your ticket when you buy your seat.

Mmmmh, yummy, yummy, yummy!

For stopping...the traffic...they are the same.

Here are a few really awesome things that totally...

Hey everyone! I'm Dana and...you're watching Wanted Adventure Living Abroad.

Yay!