Two friends from Liverpool talk about their different professional journeys from beginner's level German at our University as part of the Triple Subject T900 (BA Hons). Jessica tells us all about her experience this week.
It's hard to believe that it has been five years since I left the University of Liverpool, it feels like yesterday! I studied the same degree course as Eloise, continuing with Spanish and French which I had studied at A-Level and picking up German as an Ab-Initio student. It was a challenging course, sometimes it felt as though we were juggling three degrees at once, but it certainly paid off for me and I am so glad that I was able to study three languages to degree level, as this was not offered in any of my other university choices.
In my third year for my year abroad, I decided to go to Würzburg, Germany for a semester as an Erasmus student and then to Barcelona where I found a work placement. I worked as a translator for a website and I also helped to promote the company by launching social media campaigns. I absolutely loved my time in both cities. Not only was I able to massively improve my spoken language skills but I also made amazing memories, met some friends for life and got to travel to several other European cities. As Eloise and I are both from Liverpool and are still really close, we have even travelled back to some of the placed we both lived during our year abroad.
Whilst I enjoyed working for a company on my year abroad, I had known before starting my degree that I had wanted to work with children. So, during my final year, I applied to Teach First, a charity that develops and supports teachers. Straight after finishing my final year exams, I started on the 5 week intensive teaching course and then over two years, I gained my PGDE from the University of Manchester as a secondary school languages teacher. I have been working at the same school ever since and I honestly love my job. I am now curriculum leader for Spanish and I teach students aged 11-18 both Spanish and French. German unfortunately doesn’t feature on the curriculum of many schools, however I run a very well attended German lunchtime/after school club! We even have debates which take me back to my German oral classes at uni!
Without a doubt, I wouldn’t be in the position that I am now were it not for how well the University of Liverpool prepared me for my professional life. I am so grateful for how knowledgeable and inspiring all of my tutors were. They really pushed me to do the best that I could through their lessons and the feedback given. I only hope that the students I now teach feel the same about me!
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