Name: Jasmin Henke          

Nationality: German

How long have you been teaching?        

I have been teaching since 2009.

What are you teaching? EFL/ESL?    

I teach EFL, Geography and Music at a Secondary School .

What certifications do you have?    

I have a Bachelor of Arts in English, Master of Education and the Second State Examination (2. Staatsexamen).

How did you get into teaching English?    

When I decided to study teaching I originally wanted to be a Maths teacher but the courses were all full and my second choice was English. In hindsight, the best choice I could have made. At the beginning of my studies I felt really dumb because I never had advanced English in school but after living in South Africa for a few months I really learned to love the language and picked up lots of language skills.

Where are you currently working? country, school, companies, etc.            

I am currently working in Göttingen, Germany, at a Realschule.

What kind of contract are you working under?              

I’m still working as a “Beamter” (working for the state) on a probationary basis which is over when you’ve worked as a full teacher for 3 years after finishing your 2. Staatsexamen. I have till the end of October and then I’ll hopefully get a contract as a “Beamter” with tenure for life.

How long have you been working there?          

I’ve been at this school for almost 3 years now. 

Where else have you worked?             

I worked as a teacher in the South African townships for 4 months in 2006 as a volunteer. Then I worked at a Hauptschule from 2009 to 2010.

What do you love about teaching English?     

 I love the language and I love giving my students the opportunity to learn it too and for it to help them in the future. In our global economy it is a must to find a good job. A lot of my students have grown up bilingual and it’s great to see them learn a third language. 

 

What are the advantages to teaching for you?                

I’d have to say that the best part of it is to see the kids learn something from your lessons. To see them take something home and use it later on. I love to think that I can somehow help them with their future and be a little part of their lives. It’s great to meet so many different people and it really never gets boring.

What are the disadvantages to teaching for you?          

The biggest disadvantage are all the new rules we get from the Department of Education. They are just not fitting for the situation we deal with at school. 

Do you do another job?                      

Since I’m working full-time, there’s no time to do another job. And since I’m working for the state of Lower Saxony I wouldn’t be allowed to anyway.

I would like to give an enormous thank you to Jasmin for sharing her rich teaching experience in Germany with us.  You should all check out Jasmin’s You Tube channel http://www.youtube.com/user/TheBookJazz for she is an excellent booktuber.  She does book reviews, book hauls, tags and book discussions on Young Adult books and Fiction novels; not to mention she does them all in English. 😀