Meeting Angus: How English lessons should be - a guest from the UK

His name is Angus, he is from the United Kingdom, although his name originates from Scotland, and he visited us on Friday, April 19th. The honor to meet him was granted to us by Mister Kraus, as he is good friends with Angus.

All of us were thrilled to have him in our class, as most of us have never spoken to a native speaker before. Three of our classmates prepared two presentations in order to properly introduce our school to our guest. He showed quite a lot of interest, and asked a question from time to time, which gave us the opportunity to teach him the German saying "Vorführeffekt".

Through these presentations it was easier to create a very comfortable atmosphere that led us to ask Angus some questions as well. This turned into a nice conversation, with an open atmosphere in which both we and Angus learned quite a few aspects of our countries. For example, if you believe the prices for German universities are high, universities in the UK can easily cost you roughly £9.000 per semester, and round about £30.000-£35.000 in total. Upon being asked what the first thought about Germans for someone who has never lived in Germany was, was that they are very direct to point. Which was quite surprising to Angus, as it is a common gesture in the UK to engage in a lot of small-talk. What got a chuckle out of almost everyone was Angus' realization: "Germans are very punctual, except for the German train system 'Deutsche Bahn', which was the first issue I dealt with when I arrived."

In the end, it was definitely a great experience for us, as we got to practice our English skills and get to know someone from the UK. "It was interesting to listen to someone's stories and advice out of another culture.", says Nele, a student in our English class. Despite the differences in accents, we barely had any problems understanding him or vice versa, which showed us that learning English – especially the oral exams! - is an important subject in school. It creates an easier connection or way of communicating between people. We would like to say special thanks to Mr. Kraus, Mr. Kocak and our very lovely guest Angus for making an experience like this possible, and Angus is very welcome to visit us at any time again.

Nina Süß (10b), Emma Gutzmann (10b)