The German language is often viewed as an intimidating language. With words accompanying harsh consonants such as der Krankenhaus, turning heads in the direction of a more attractive language like French is a common practice. It sounds like a mean language; however, with the help of a great instructor, students here at the high school may change their mind.
A well-liked German teacher, Mr. Place, is here to teach you German's intricate language. Not only is his teaching style entertaining, but it also makes learning effective. “I enjoy the teacher and the people in the class; we learn a lot, but we also have fun while we do it,” says one of the sophomores from the class, Mara. Like Mara states, another integral part of the class is the company of the students within it. If students have trouble finding German fun, one of the best solutions is to connect with fellow peers and communicate with them.
One student, Mr. Place recalls, wrote baby-baken as an answer to a test. What they meant to say was, babybecken, or “a baby pool”. However, they ended up saying, “to bake a baby”. This was then promptly brought up in the class upon discovery and remains many students’ favorite memory. As a man who spent the majority of the time in his high school life in Germany, Mr. Place isn’t afraid to inform students of the difficulty of the class. Many of the students, who believe that the class will be an easy credit, fail to see that they won’t be able to understand everything.
This is confirmed by Ella Nielson, who took the class as a freshman and again as a sophomore, said, “I struggled at first with learning the material because it did not make sense to me at first.” She then quickly included words of reassurance: “…but after a while it got easier.”
Mara follows suit with Ella, but both agree that practicing and having fun are the key to success in German. In the end, many students remain in class. This raises the question of whether there will be more classes that focus on the German language. As of now, there are only two classes: German I and German II. Although, as influxes of eager learners integrate into the class, Harrisburg High School might have more German influence and therefore a possible third- and fourth-year class.