In spring 2016, I took my third semester of German, fulfilling my Goal 10 world language requirement. I started German in spring of 2017.
Before taking classes in it at Longwood University, I did not have any prior German experience. I had previously taken Hebrew (which I am okay at) and Spanish (which I struggled intensely with ), so decided to try German to fulfill my foreign language requirement.
I have always struggled with languages and honestly expected this to just be three semesters of dragging myself through the language, but I have enjoyed the experience so much that I ended up adding a minor in German. I am also studying abroad in Summer 2018 in Germany. Compared to my high school experiences, my language experiences at Longwood have been delightful. I honestly thought I was useless at learning languages in high school, and while I wouldn’t claim to be great in German, I’m definitely at a basic level now that I didn’t realize I would be able to achieve.
Something I didn’t expect to have included in the curriculum was cultural material. Throughout my three semesters taking German, I have learned cultural tidbits but the final project for spring 2018 (my artifact, attached) was my biggest project yet. With a project partner, I conducted research on Bavaria and wrote my final presentation. We gave the presentation mostly in German with supplemental English to clarify some points.