Ramona Deville | German Studies at Tallinn University
Ramona Deville spent her four month internship with the German Studies of Tallinn University, supervised by Aigi Heero, and gained a lot of new and insightful experiences - especially connected to teaching, which meant that even as a native speaker she was not bored in German class.
During my four-month internship with the German Studies of Tallinn University, I gained a lot of new and insightful experiences – especially connected to teaching, which meant that even as a native speaker, I wasn’t bored in German class!
Not only did I have the opportunity to help in classes and to collaborate with the German lecturers at Tallinn University (who were all very lovely and always willing to help), but I even gave a few lessons on my own, together with the other intern at the faculty. Since I didn’t have any prior teaching experience, I anticipated it to be nerve-wracking – but it actually turned out to be a lot of fun, with small groups of interested students and a relaxed, familiar atmosphere. We analysed old German texts, which even us native speakers struggled to understand at times, and here you can see our whiteboard after the lesson – the drawings were part of my explanation about the difference between a parrot and a budgerigar.
However, if you think my internship involved only classroom work, you are sorely mistaken! One of our main tasks was the organisation of the “Stammtisch” – a bi-monthly language meeting for German speakers and learners. This meant promoting the event on campus and on social media, preparing icebreakers and games for the group, and of course organising a suitable meeting place – we chose the very homely and comfortable Hr. Marause pubi, located close to the old town. On the week of the Oktoberfest, we even had our own little celebration and group quiz there! The atmosphere was always lovely, and it was a great place to meet new and interesting people – German speakers from all over the world.
Finally, I was also given the task of proof-reading German academic articles, which were to be published in the following year. Even though I have always liked reading and used to have good German grades in school, those texts still proved to be a challenge. Since my study programme is completely in English, I had not previously had much contact with German academic literature. It was therefore only through this internship that I became more acquainted with this area – ultimately also inspiring me to look deeper into sources written in German for my final research paper of my Bachelor’s degree.
Overall, this internship included many great experiences and introduced me to the lecturers’ perspectives, as well as the university as a possible workplace. I would definitely recommend interning with the German Studies to any native speakers, and if you know one of the other languages taught at Tallinn University, an internship at the language faculty might just be for you!