Mogilev State A. Kuleshov University has been fruitfully cooperating with the German Language Association (Dortmund) for several years. The cooperation became possible thanks to the efforts of Vladimir Stavsky and Mr. Manfred Schroeder who visited our university in 2005. The Association promotes the study of the German language, sends teachers to the Mogilev State A. Kuleshov University, and organizes student trips to Germany and the Czech Republic with the aim of improvement of language skills.
I, Vladislav Pitsunov, was fortunate enough to become a fellowship of the German Language Association, thanks to the victory in the German language competition among the fourth-year students of the faculty of Foreign Languages. Next, I went to Germany on an international exchange program. This program included 3-week language courses in Berlin and a week-long practice in the city of Dortmund. The association of the German language paid for the flight, accommodation and expenses for city transport.
Courses in Berlin were primarily focused on the development of communication skills. My classmates were students from different parts of the world: from the French part of Switzerland, from South Korea, the USA, Argentina, Poland, Tunisia and China. All the students were highly motivated; many of them needed German for studying in Germany.
At the end of each lesson we were given homework, not very difficult for me. The teachers of the language school communicated with us a lot, which brought tangible results in the understanding of German speech. I spoke German a lot, I was literally surrounded by the language: on the street, in a guest family, on courses, while watching TV ... Even a Paris resident who came to stay with the family spoke perfect German. I noted many interesting cultural features of Germany, understood, as it seems to me, the German mentality, revealed many subtleties of teaching a foreign language. All this, of course, will help me in my future profession.
During my stay in Berlin, I saw the main sights of the German capital: the Reichstag and the Brandenburg Gate, the Spandau Citadel, Alexanderplatz, Karlhorst, the Tiergarten, the Treptow Park, the Victory Column, the Berlin Cathedral, Charlottenburg, the Berlin Wall Museum, Potsdamer Platz. Berlin is interesting because it still has a clear border between the western and eastern parts of the city.
Two days before I left for Dortmund, I decided to visit Potsdam, the capital of Brandenburg. I walked through the whole city, strolled along the magnificent park of Sanssouci, and saw the exquisite palaces of Frederick the Great. On May 12, I took the train across Hanover to Dortmund, where Mr. Klatte, the Managing Director of the German Language Association, was waiting for me. Having settled in the hostel, I worked as a “khivi” (employee) of the Association for 6 days. I wrote an article about my own stay in Berlin, spoke on the radio, worked with documentation. During this week I was able to visit Cologne. On May 17 I went from Dusseldorf home. The main idea that I took from this trip: if you do your best, you will not be afraid of obstacles and problems that, of course, will appear on your way, you can achieve what you have dreamed of so long!