1. Published in the Evening Chronicle (12/07/13)
A Chance to Learn German over ein Pint; Language Cafe
Relaxed Environment
By Parisatis Papadopoulou
Do you fancy learning German while you are chillaxing in a
cosy pub enjoying your pint of cool beer?
If so, the German Language Café is giving you the chance to
pick up the language while you are picking up a pint.
The Berkeley Tavern in Whitley Bay hosts this unusual club
every Wednesday evening offering a friendly informal
environment where the café-goers can meet other people, chat or
play games while they are practicing their German skills.
The course runs for 10 weeks during the summer and anyone
from 18 to 90 can join.
German language café is coordinated by Silke Browell, 59, an
enthusiastic and fully qualified native German teacher who has a
30 years experience of teaching in England.
It is the first time she has organised such sessions and her initial
goal was to help her students to keep their German going during
the summer.
But the club is proving so popular and people drop in every
session.
Silke said: “During the summer most people are away but not at
the same time.

2. “You cannot really have consecutive lessons especially
following a book or a scheme of work. That is why I decided to
follow a completely different format”.
As well as relaxing with a drink, students can try their hand at
German Monopoly and Scrabble, card games, memory tests
even shopping games.
Many of the games have been especially designed by Silke
herself.
People can decide if what they want is a cosy chat with
classmates in German over a cup of tea or to tackle work sheets.
But students need not to worry; Silke will not be marking their
work.
“When they do any of the tasks in the worksheets I take it
home and I just give it back in the next session telling them how
to put it right, “she said.
“It is a correction advice and not marking. I always ask them to
rewrite correctly any sentence they had a mistake and hand it
back to me. It’s not school, it’s not punishment but this is how
you actually learn without feeling useless but more confident”.
It does not matter if you are a beginner or an advanced user.
You can drop in whenever it suits you, without feeling guilty if
you miss a session since each task is self-contained.
“I am in the room and if they want to ask me something they
just have to shout for me. They get help whenever they want it
but communication is the most important thing,” Silke said
And if you feel hungry or up for a drink there is no problem.
The bar is just two steps away.

3. Due to its successful output a morning version of the German
Language Café is going to launch on Thursday 11th July hosted
at the Robin Hood pub, in Murton.
So if you are interested in German and you feel like meeting
new people, making friends and tasting another culture this is
your chance to beat the summer boredom blues by doing
something constructive but attractive as well.
Wir sehen uns dort in other words see you there!
More information in http://www.stblanguage.co.uk/ and
http://www.theberkeleytavern.co.uk/Pages/default.aspx