First time I understood that I must start speaking at the A2.1 level, but my vocabulary was so poor that it was very very difficult to build even simple everyday sentences. We all know: my name is…, I live there…, I want smth… and so on, but unfortunately, we are not 3 years old babies! And in everyday life, we often use conditional clauses (if, when etc). At the A2.1 I was really far from the necessary grammar, and I was like a dog which can listen and understand all, but can say nothing. This period was very frustrating and I felt like it would last forever and I would never be able to communicate in german.
But miracles happen! and after two months I started to talk. Not all of us have german friends or someone from the family, who can be enough patient to sit and listen to us. My husband is german, but if you think that I talk german at home – you are wrong. I found one solution for this problem: Konversationsklub. Unfortunately, I decided to try it only when I was at the B1.1 and I feel sorry that I have not done it earlier.
Of course, if you come somewhere from US or Europe or Asia, it is easier to find friends with the same language as you. We are all adults with education and self-esteem, so we will not catch germans on the streets and try to talk with them. :)
„Speaking“ is our common problem at the middle level, so let’s solve it together. My first lesson at Konversationsklub was full of fun, we explained each other how will be “Guten Tag” in our mother languages. We played different games and at the end we tried to reorder parts of one story, read it and explained. The most important that you have to talk there and you don’t have a choice, there is no opportunity to stay silent and it is cool. I advise it for all who have problems with speaking – ask in the office about these lessons and as sooner you start as better it will be for you.
But the most important part is to meet like-minded people within your group. We spend from two days a week (half-intensive courses) to four days a week (intensive courses) in the language school and so sometimes we can’t even spend three hours every day with our own families because of work and language learning. If you have open-minded, nice people in your group – get together with them for coffee or go walking and of course speak in German. Sometimes native speakers don’t have enough patience for slow-speaking-foreigners, but you will have enough patience for each other. From the beginning, it will be difficult and move very slowly, but you will eventually start speaking. You will make mistakes, as we all do, but you will help each other and that’s really great. I think language schools are real places where adults can find friends. I have found my friends here and I wish you the same!