I need your help with a little something...

[silivrin]

Ah well, I normally don't talk about real life stuff online, but I have an upcoming interview for a position as a foreign language assistant in Great Britain in about two weeks and I'm required to give some ideas on how to introduce British students/pupils to Austrian culture. (Have I mentioned that I'm really nervous about it? No? Well I am

Comments

[cereby]

Hallo

[silivrin]

Musik/Liedtexte sind immer eine gute Idee, hab ich schon ein paarmal während meines Schulpraktikums in English gemacht. Die Schüler waren begeistert. Das merk ich mir auf jeden Fall mal :)
Hochdeutsch vs. Österreichisch finde ich auch nicht schlecht. Da gibts ja wirklich einiges (ich sag nur Stiege, Kasten, Jause...)!

Danke für deinen Input! ^^

[cereby]

Kein Problem! Bin auch immer auf der Suche nach Sachen, die meinen Nachhilfeschülern ein bisschen mehr Spaß an der Sprache bringen.
Was mir noch eingefallen ist, ist zumindest bei meinen Lateinkiddies gut angekommen. Da hatte ich mal bei Wikipedia Sachen über Harry Potter auf Latein gefunden. Läßt sich bestimmt auch mit Englisch-Deutsch machen. Die Schüler kennen das und die meisten finden Harry Potter gut. Zumindest interessanter als die Texte in den normalen Schulbüchern.

[silivrin]

Stimmt, wenn ich noch einien einzigen Text über "Environmental Issues" oder "Global Warming" lesen muss während der Nachhilfestunden fang ich wahrscheinlich zu schreien an. Als ob es keine anderen Themen geben würde...

Ugh Latein, ich frage mich immer noch wie ich meinen Lateinzusatz auf der Uni jemals positiv geschafft habe ;)

[lovelyxwow]

I'm afraid I have no idea of what you'd need help with, but I do wish you the best of luck with your interview! :)

[silivrin]

Thank you!^^
Simply some imput what people outside of Austria know about Austria would already help. :)
I'm mostly aware of the "Sound of Music" stereotypes and all the classical music and food stuff that people seem to connect to Austria and I just got curious if there was something else I could mention during my interview.

Re: I need your help with a little something...

[fcc56]

Hmm, what comes to mind when I think of Austria . . . aside from historical personages and events (Maria Theresia, Aspern-Essling), the first things that come to mind are Franz Klammer, Salzburg, and Grüner Veltliner. You don't mention how old these children are, but I'm guessing wine isn't the most appropriate topic

Re: I need your help with a little something...

[silivrin]

Oh no, you know quite a lot :)
I've talked with a guy from America once who told me that his friends would not believe him that he was in Austria as (and I quote) "nobody is wearing a Dirndl on your photos" -.-
The classical stuff is the most obvious thing about Austria I guess, although it is mostly connected to Vienna in my mind. Popculture stuff is difficult as music, televison etc. is very much influenced by the anglophone world or connected to Germany...

Ah well, at the moment I'm thinking of simply focusing on the "classics", Austrian traditions (of that we have many especially at Christmas and Easter) and last but not least stereotypes (well hello there Sound of Music, nice seeing you here ;) )

Thanks for your imput :)

Re: I need your help with a little something...

[fcc56]

My earliest Olympics memory is Jean-Claude Killy skiing in the snow at Grenoble in 1968, but my most vivid Olympics memory remains Klammer's "brink of disaster" downhill run at Innsbruck in 1976.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYj9kIxAL_o run starts at 1:32.

Re: I need your help with a little something...

[silivrin]

Sweet! It looks really strange though, if you compare his run to those in the television nowadays... no safty nets, the audience standing at the edges of the slope...
and I was constantly on the watchout for the speed and interims... XD

I think skiing and the hype about our "ski stars" is defintely something I could work with though...

[misty_fluff]

Seeing that your post is one and a half months old, I very much hope that you've managed to get the position in Great Britain.
I'm a foreign language assistant as well - out of work for several years - so I know how hard it is to get a job in this field. I had been offered a position in Southern France after my studies, but couldn't take it because my children were too young for a move abroad at that time.
I would have loved to help you out somehow, but as a German I probably know too much about Austria to have been of great help. Although when introducing foreign students to your own culture it's always a good idea to start with stereotypes, and then to disprove them. :D

[silivrin]

I hope so too, I'll get notified at the end of March wether I got in or not... at least I've got several papers plus my diploma thesis to keep my mind occupied till then XD

Stereotypes are always fun to teach, and I think they were one among the stuff I mentioned during the interview. :)

[misty_fluff]

Ich drücke dir ganz fest die Daumen. :)

[silivrin]

Danke! ^^