By Uli Kehr (DE)
Sprichst du Deutsch? Technically, yes, you do speak a language with origins of German – English! German language is the most widely spoken in Europe in addition to the many languages who originate or are considered linguistic siblings to German.
The IWAP German Language Group started in April 2014 by the request of IWAP members. In the beginning it started as a small group of four ladies, then grew as large as 25 members and today it is a wonderful group of seven participants. During the entire time we had nine different nationalities – Czech, Slovakia, Great Britain, Ireland, France, Spain, United States, Japan, South Korea. The current group of studentinnen come from Czech Republic, France, Ireland, Slovakia and the United States.
As typical of IWAP members, we explored various venues to meet at and have German conversation. In April, 2014 we met at a cafe in Vinohrady. That same year in September, we moved to the IWAP office. In September 2018 through Summer 2020, the group met in various cafes in the city. Of course during the period of March, April and May 2020 and again into 2021, we have been meeting regularly using Zoom for our discussions.
The German Language group founder was Uli Kehr and stayed on as group leader until June 2018. Then the very capable team of Judith Weber and Maggy Favey took over in September 2018 and led the group to April 2020. I had always maintained my IWAP membership with my move from the Czech Republic to Germany. Thus it was natural for me to partner with Michaela Ahn in October 2020 to carry on with the group.
The group tried to incorporate a cultural craft into the lesson. One year, we tried to fold traditional Fröbelsterne, Christmas stars. It was quickly determined the ladies were not interested in crafting, rather intent on talking! The weekly discussions are always focused on German with the use of guesswork or tongue twisters. It was very nice to hear not only the German one but also the other languages.
I especially admire our older students. Rhonda, a long time member, more than 95 years old, always came to our meetings even though she lived outside of Prague. She had to take the bus and the metro, it was a long trip into the city, but she never complained about the starting time or the meeting point. Unfortunately she can not join our ZOOM-meetings. Also Dagmar – one of the first students – was a constant member; sadly she died a couple of years ago. She spoke German fluently and she came to the group for the social aspects she enjoyed. Both of them gave us a lot of information about the Czech life and Prague. Petra came from the first day and I think she didn’t miss a lesson! She is a keen student and her German is very good.
When I moved back to Germany in Summer 2018, it was very sad to leave such a wonderful group behind. Yet it was fortunate to know that Judith and Maggie took over the class. Whenever I visited Prague I always tried to see meine gruppe. There are some new members now, others left Prague as expected. Now, may I say vielen dank to Covid, I am again involved in the group via ZOOM, together with Michaela. Thanks to IWAP to make this possible!
