The pandemic has changed how we work, with the majority of the world now working from home balancing the demands of life, as well as trying to have a social life, achieve goals, such as learning a new language.
We are here to tell you that it is possible to learn German while working from home, in fact it is fun, easy and very enjoyable, or so our online students say.
We have created 6 easy steps to help you successfully fit learning German online into your everyday work life:
1. Little and Often
Apart from weekly online German classes in our virtual classroom, we encourage all students to spend 10 minutes a day minimum, practicing their German, and learning new words and phrases. Short bursts of learning are far more beneficial than long ones, and as a student of GermanMind we provide additional resources to help you study outside of class, including written, listening and reading activities. Check out our 2-minute rule in our goal achieving blog.
2. Choose your own program
The best part about learning German while working from home, is that you get to create your own schedule and how you want to study. Don’t get bombarded by thinking you must be studying two hours a day, fit learning German into your work day. Our native German teachers are here to assist you with your schedule, providing extra curricular activities you can enjoy over breakfast, or a fun podcast on your evening walk. Whatever time you have chosen, we will work with you to create an efficient study plan for maximum progress!
3. Sticky Notes
Love them or hate them, but we have all used them when studying at one point in our lives. The quickest way to identify objects and increase vocabulary is to place a sticky note on the objects in your home. Start with each room, name the kitchen, bathroom, bedroom etc, then once you have mastered these, move onto the objects in those rooms, bed, lamp, rug. These small reminders dotted sound your house while working from home will provide easy access and education to add to your German repertoire.
4. German Media
Immersing yourself in various forms of German media such as TV, radio, news, will allow you to improve your listening, reading, and comprehension of the German language. As outlined above, add one of these to your schedule, when you unwind after work, like choosing a German show with English subtitles, translating one of your Google searches to German to see how much you know, and to learn a few new words. It doesn’t have to be expansive or long, just consistent and progress will happen.
5. Take a test
Ask your roommate, partner, friend whoever lives with you to test you on your improved German language skills. Make it a fun game every Tuesday night, let them ask you about your class homework, your pronunciation, your new vocabulary. Weekly quizzes at home will hold you accountable to your schedule and learning plan, and may even help your examiner learn some German too!
6. Cook up some German
We all know lockdown has improved our cooking and baking skills, so why not improve your German as you cook. Try out a German recipe (as your native German teacher for some of their favourite dishes), try a new recipe online translated to German, or even have a German themed evening with some Sauerkraut, Bratwurst and our favourite, der Kartoffelpuffer. Read more of our traditional German dishes here.
If you would like to become a GermanMind and learn Europe’s most popular language, check out our timetable, and don’t forget our offer for beginner students and save €50!
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