This post was updated on September 8, 2016.

Hurra, hurra! Der Herbst ist da! Well, almost. :)

The open lesson times for fall are here! And they are filling up already. They are all listed below in Central time. If you are not in Central time zone, here's how to calculate the time in your time zone:

For Pacific time:  subtract 2 hours

For Mountain time:  subtract 1 hour

For Eastern time:  add 1 hour

New times are bolded.

Tuesdays

10:00 a.m. as of September 27

11:15 a.m.

4:15 p.m. as of October 18

5:30 p.m.

Wednesdays

5:30 p.m.

Thursdays

1:45 p.m. as of September 8.

3:00 p.m.

Fridays

1:45 p.m.

3:00 p.m.

4:15 p.m.

Saturdays

9:30 a.m.

I'm experiencing a few technical difficulties with the forms on this site. If you've been trying to get ahold of me and couldn't, please This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.!

Herzlichen Dank!

Nicole

1. Experience the opposite of urban sprawl:

Germany is about the size of the states of Minnesota and Wisconsin together and they have a population of around 82 million people. To contrast, in the US we have about 300 million on a huuuge plot of land, so it’s much more densely populated. Germany is growing in diversity, so you will likely run into folks of many different backgrounds.

2. Speak "Denglisch."

Most Germans, in particular in big cities like Hamburg, Bremen, Stuttgart, Munich, and Berlin speak some amount of English. So whatever German you speak will help, as you will likely be around some people who speak English. As the Germans say themselves, you can do a lot [gesturing] with your hands and your feet. You shouldn’t have too many problems. Feel free to contact the Office of Tourism in places you would like to visit and have them send you some maps and other information before you go. There are lots of opportunities to have city tours in English, too.

3. Marie Kondo your packing style

When you pack light, e.g. 1 backpack and one medium-sized suitcase, you can do your entire trip on the train with a German Eurail pass or buying tickets directly at Die Bahn . German trains are FANTASTIC, the best trains I’ve seen anywhere, and you can forego a 1st class ticket in Germany. Or treat yourself to 1st class!

For 2nd class, be sure to check out the “reserve a seat” option so you know you have a seat reserved for you. Also, on the trains, they don’t always make important announcements (like track number changes for incoming and outgoing trains) in English, however they are now making most regular announcements in German and follow it in English.

On the internet there are a lot of introductory level lessons and free tips for going to Germany and these tips go beyond that. These are solid tips for the business mindset when doing business with Germans. Los geht's!

1. Forget "how are you". Really.

Germans only ask this question if they a) really want to know how you're doing or b) are speaking English and they know this is a part of a typical greeting. So when you're speaking German in a business setting, skip it.

Concentrate instead on greeting everyone genuinely. Be sure to make eye contact with everyone, shake hands, and be your usual, awesome self.

2. Provide or accept beverages...with this one sneaky tip.

If you're hosting the meeting, have cold and hot beverages readily available. If you're going the caffeinated route, offer strong coffee and be sure to have half & half/milk, and sugar available.

If you're attending the meeting and are being hosted, graciously accept any beverage that your host offers--and make it the same as your host's beverage. This is so sneaky, however it is a typical business signal that you're happy to be on the same page with them.

I have a confession to make:  my first German teacher was so bad, I blocked him from my memory.

For years now I've been working on this website, cultivating each page and making everything as genuine and transparent as possible. And then it hit me:  I have indeed had another German teacher (a professor, actually), from whom I learned exactly 3 words of German in 2 semesters at college:

ein Glas Limonade

Yep, das war alles.

So it's no wonder I'd blocked it all out. It was just that bad.

I wanted to demonstrate to you, dear reader, what fantastic skills I learned from my teachers, from the teacher at Eloquia and at the Goethe-Institut, and how those skills carried me for years after! Each lesson was beneficial, the learning and memorizational techniques demanding and helpful, helping me store everything in my long-term memory as soon as possible. These teachers were absolute pros!

This particular professor was the exact opposite.

Meet Herr S.

Herr S. was in his 50s when I joined his class. People said he wasn't an awesome teacher, but that you did learn in his class. I hadn't had a foreign language class for a couple of years and since I'd made some German friends, I was really interested in learning German. The possibilities of European travel and bilingualism began to blossom in my mind and I was thrilled.

When you are a teacher, it's very important to set up a series of expectations for your students:  what the rules of the classroom are, what happens if students don't follow the rules, how to achieve a high grade, how to earn yourself a low grade, how to get help when you need it. Setting expectations is important to people have a good idea of what's appropriate, which translates, to me (pardon the pun), to the culture of the classroom.

Here's an example of a negative classroom culture

In fourth grade we had a wonderful teacher who left on maternity leave, so we had a long-term sub whom I'll call Mrs. Ratchet. Mrs. Ratchet was a substitute teacher who subbed often and we all knew she wasn't always fair.

One morning I walked into the classroom and my name was on the board. (This was a bad thing, a punishment for misbehavior.) My name hadn't been on the board when I left the day before, so I was shocked. I asked Mrs. Ratchet why my name was on the board. "You know what you did!" she tossed at me as she turned away. I had no idea and neither did my friends.

To this day I remember her being so unfair, her treating me so disrespectfully, and whenever I think of it, I remember the yucky feeling I had that day. And how I wanted our regular teacher back from maternity leave because she had clear expectations. Mrs. Ratchet had changed the rules in the middle of the game!

This is an example of the kind of teacher-student hierarchy that Mrs. Ratchet practiced: