To paraphrase a well-known saying, let us note: «Tell me what kind of environment you need, and I will tell you where you should go.» If you see English as your lifesaver, then your lot is language tours to Great Britain, Ireland, the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Malta... All of France is at the service of those studying French - comments are unnecessary! For Spanish you can go not only to Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, etc., but also, for example, to Costa Rica. Finally, German - one of the main languages of a united Europe - is ready to be taught to you in literally hundreds of specialized linguistic schools, both summer and year-round, in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. In a conversation with the director of the Kiev travel company «Osvita», Natalya CHUDNOVSKAYA, we decided to focus exclusively on German. Firstly, everyone and their dog writes about English anyway, and secondly, the language of Goethe, Heine and Nietzsche is simply more to your humble servant's liking.
As is known, the fastest and most reliable way to teach a beginner to swim is to immerse him in water far from the shore. In just half a minute he will swim like a charm, even without the slightest idea of the theory of rowing with his hands and kicking his legs. In learning a foreign language everything is very similar: if you want to master it, immerse yourself in the language environment. Language tourism has already become an off-season phenomenon. You can order a year-long course, or you can fit into one week of super-intensive - some 20 lessons a day! And all this in any country in the world you like, whose sights and customs you can appreciate in your free time from studies. To paraphrase a well-known saying, let us note: «Tell me what kind of environment you need, and I will tell you where you should go.» If you see English as your lifesaver, then your lot is language tours to Great Britain, Ireland, the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Malta... All of France is at the service of those studying French - comments are unnecessary! For Spanish you can go not only to Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, etc., but also, for example, to Costa Rica. Finally, German - one of the main languages of a united Europe - is ready to be taught to you in literally hundreds of specialized linguistic schools, both summer and year-round, in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. In a conversation with the director of the Kiev travel company «Osvita», Natalya CHUDNOVSKAYA, we decided to focus exclusively on German. Firstly, everyone and their dog writes about English anyway, and secondly, the language of Goethe, Heine and Nietzsche is simply more to your humble servant's liking.
- Natalya, tell us about the programs for learning German.
- The programs cover almost the entire territory of Germany. We also offer German language training in Austria, where courses for students aged 13-18 operate in the center of Vienna, and in some German-speaking cantons of Switzerland. Children's programs run only in summer, while adult programs run all year round. The language program for children includes accommodation, full board, excursions, sports entertainment, cultural events. Programs for adults usually include accommodation and one or two meals a day. A typical example of summer language courses is camps on Lake Constance on the border with Switzerland. These are programs for teenagers from 12 to 18 years old. I note that children of different ages are necessarily separated, and, say, 12-year-olds never mix with 18-year-olds.
- I guess this is not much like Soviet-era pioneer camps. Nevertheless, in Germany, presumably, some control over students is exercised?
- There are programs for children that involve studying in what are essentially closed boarding schools, schools. And there are programs for young people from 15 years old with accommodation in families or in open colleges. What does 'open' mean? Children can go into town, but for this the school must have written permission from the parents. The number of such trips and their duration are not specifically specified. On his own, a child can leave the school grounds to buy himself drinks or ice cream, and he must return immediately. He is then required to check in/register.
- What is the daily routine, the specifics of daily life?
- As a rule, students arrive on Saturday or Sunday. On Monday there is a tour of the area and testing. The main classes begin on Tuesday. Take, for example, the program in Ersberg for young people from 15 to 18 years old. 25 lessons from Monday to Friday, each lesson 50 minutes. Children live either in families or in residences (that is, in the schools themselves), one or two per room. There are rooms with and without amenities. But in the latter case, you can be one hundred percent sure that the amenities in the corridor are perfectly clean. Germans are very particular about this. In addition to studies, entertainment is offered. On weekends there are full-day excursions to nearby cities. For example, if you study in Ersberg, you will visit Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Constance, Oberlinger. Every evening there are sports events, discos, parties like KVN, theatrical performances. In German, naturally. The groups are international, and the teachers have specialized diplomas authorizing them to teach German as a foreign language. Sports entertainment includes an open or indoor pool, tennis courts, golf courses, volleyball, basketball.
- Is the fee for, say, golf included in the program?
- For children, everything is always paid for. But for adults - from 16 years old - sometimes for an additional fee. It is believed that an adult will decide on the spot what to do.
- If the school is not located in a large city, is it problematic to get to it?
- You can order a taxi. Say, you arrive in Freiburg, but you need Konstanz. The school has advance information about the time of arrival of your plane and flight number, it orders a taxi, and the driver, for an additional fee (not a small one, by the way - up to 60 euros), comes to the airport, where he waits for you in the hall with a sign with the school's name. For children under 16 flying alone, you can order in-flight escort. This is also an additional expense, but then you can be sure that the child will be looked after on the plane, and at the airport, and he will pass through customs faster accompanied by a stewardess. The payment for this is taken by the airline, usually about $50.
- Are school buildings modern structures?
- There are medieval castles, and there are also modern buildings. The main thing is absolute order there. Discipline is almost military. It even happens that we receive strict messages from the school: your student is behaving badly, violating discipline, getting up later than breakfast starts, etc., and if he continues in this vein, he will be expelled from the school.
- And if a child gets sick?
- For this case, you need medical insurance, and preferably German. If a child gets sick, the school immediately contacts its insurance company and quickly resolves the issue without any additional expenses. If you insured yourself in Ukraine, then the school will need to contact the Ukrainian insurance company, receive confirmation by fax that the insurance policy held by the child is valid. You will have to pay in Germany for the medical assistance that will be provided to your child, and already upon returning to Ukraine, contact your insurance company so that it reimburses the expenses.
- Suppose I wanted to send my offspring to such a camp in a week...
- It won't work: our work depends on the German consulate. First, we decide on a date, order the program, then the schools send us invitations, and, already having them in hand, we go to the embassy and take a ticket for an appointment. In summer, you need to start preparing at least a month in advance - precisely because of the queues for submitting documents to the embassy. And at other times of the year - about three weeks. Those who didn't manage to study the language in the summer can do it during the year. True, these are programs not for children, but for adults - over 16 years old. Programs for every taste: general German of regular intensity - 20 lessons per week, more intensive - 25, 30, 35 lessons. There are one-on-one classes, business programs, thematic ones - German music, sports, literature. Duration - from two weeks or more. You can even order a super-intensive week - from 50 lessons.
Keep in mind that, unlike, for example, the British consulate, the German and Austrian (and indeed all Schengen) consulates issue a visa strictly for the period for which it is ordered. Therefore, you can stay there longer, go for a walk, or travel only if you have additionally paid for some hotel after the course of study. In this case, the hotel sends a confirmation, with which you can go to the embassy and request a visa extension. A second Schengen visa is not issued until you use the first one. By the way, I want to note that now the Germans have established a very good visa issuance system - the embassy works like clockwork. But in the Austrian one there is complete chaos: you need to come several weeks in advance, at five in the morning queue up to get a ticket, and if you're lucky, the interview will take place in about two weeks.
- Tell us more about the year-long programs.
- These are, as a rule, economical packages. Paying for a year-long course at once is cheaper than ordering two weeks, plus another two weeks, plus another two weeks... Such packages are usually designed for a year or a semester. But their processing requires special documents - for example, you need to provide the embassy with a certificate of no criminal record, etc. Such programs are implemented, as a rule, by private commercial enterprises - language institutes. The fact is that universities in Germany are free, but preparation for them is carried out by private schools. Moreover, these are quite serious organizations that have representative offices throughout the country. If you are aiming to enter a German university, you need to pass a specialized German language exam recognized by the Ministry of Education of Germany. This is what such school-institutes prepare you for. There you receive the corresponding document, and there you are given all the necessary advice and assistance with admission. Universities of different levels and rankings have different requirements for knowledge of the German language. Humboldt, for example, will require high knowledge, while a university in a small town will require lower ones. People working in these language schools have complete information.
- Do summer courses issue any documents?
- Upon completion of training in a summer camp, you will definitely receive a certificate that you have successfully completed a certain program and demonstrated a certain level of knowledge. But it should be said that such certificates are rather intended for your collection or for the consulate, where you can show it the next time you go to Germany.
- Can you take a language exam in a summer camp that is recognized by the German education system?
- You can, if the exam is accepted during the period when you are studying. But the problem is that registration for it is done much earlier than payment for the courses. Therefore, if you are going for a long period, you have a chance to register, pay, and take such an exam. If you know exactly when you are coming, the school will register you, and when you arrive, you will take the exam, a place will already be reserved for you.
- How popular is studying German today?
- Quite popular, and more so every year. And primarily because universities in Germany are free. People aiming to obtain higher education in this country (usually those who have already received a bachelor's degree here and go to Germany for a master's degree) understand that only this way are they guaranteed a really good knowledge of the language.