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About me

My name is Luca and I want to help you to learn German in a fun and easy way. I am a German native speaker from Frankfurt am Main with a fascination for languages.

Many people dream of being able to communicate, think or even dream in a foreign language with ease. However, it was clear to me early on that the conventional way of learning and teaching languages does not lead to the desired result for most people.

I myself got frustrated in my language classes. I felt that I had to restudy all the grammar rules again and again for each test. I just wasn't able to remember anything. I was afraid of making mistakes, and as a result, I got afraid of speaking. At the time I thought I simply lacked the talent for learning languages.

I can reassure everyone who feels this way: you don’t need any talent to learn a language! You just need the right method!

"Language acquisition takes place in only one way: by understanding messages."
Stephen D Krashen

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my methods

My Methods

The principles of my teaching method are based on the findings of linguist Stephen Krashen.

The requirements I set for my lessons are:

  • optimal comprehensibility of all learning contents (comprehensible input)

  • interesting and entertaining learning content (stories)

  • creating a pleasant learning atmosphere

  • a class tailored to the individual abilities and needs of my student

 

Comprehensible Input is content in a foreign language that is so comprehensible that learners can understand it even if they do not know some words or the grammar structure yet. This content is absorbed by the brain through listening and/or reading. The term was coined by linguist Stephen Krashen as part of his five theses on the acquisition of second languages.

 

Reading and listening to content that is a little bit above the current abilities of learners leads to unconscious and fast language acquisition.

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TPRS (Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling) is a method for teaching a second language by Blaine Ray. This teaching approach uses stories. With this method, students understand 100% of the entire content of the story. The grammatical structures and the basic vocabulary must be constantly repeated and the lessons should be interesting and entertaining.

 

A TPRS lesson consists of three phases:

 

  1. The basic vocabulary is clarified by translation, gestures, or image

  2. The story is told through inquiries, together with the students. The content of the story will be repeated through circling questions directed at the student

  3. The learners read and discuss the text

 

Having fun while learning is very important. A positive learning environment and having fun have a positive influence on the receptivity of the brain. Feeling at ease also protects against the fear of making mistakes or speaking in a foreign language.

Why do conventional methods often not lead to success?

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I have often wondered why something that happens so effortlessly in childhood suddenly becomes something tormenting in language classes. After all, the human brain is designed to recognize and assimilate speech patterns.

The answer to this question lies in the way languages are taught. Conventional teaching methods, follow the exact opposite path of natural language acquisition.

Babies start out listening for a long time before they make their first attempts at talking. Before they even say their first word, they recognize the melody of their mother tongue and understand different words and even simple phrases. Only gradually do children start speaking individual words and short sentences. Grammar rules are introduced in School. At that point, children are already able to communicate freely in their mother tongue.


In conventional language lessons, however, there is a big focus on grammar rules from the start, and vocabulary is actively memorized. Most of the time, students are required to form complete and, above all, correct sentences from the very beginning. At this point, most students have spent very little time listening to their target language.

This unnatural yet widely used way of teaching a second language can cause a lot of problems e. g. …

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  • developing an accent

  • having problems with listening comprehension

  • making grammar mistakes while talking

  • fear of making mistakes resulting in fear of speaking

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