it’s been almost a year since I wrote my last article, sorry lovely reader, I have just been really busy working towards my Advanced Higher German qualification at Edinburgh College! This chapter of my language learning journey has certainly been challenging , however, at the same time thoroughly empowering and overall quite magical… despite causing multiple grey hairs!
Firstly, I was lucky enough to get the same absolute gem of a tutor as I had last year for my Higher German. As always me and Isobel connected and made a great team , therefore giving me an extremely strong start to my studies. We already had the ability to communicate efficiently, learned from last year, so I was able to just jump straight into the work like my verbal collegemates!
The first thing you realise, going from a Higher to an Advanced Higher course, is that Advanced Higher is almost 20x the work of a Higher so you really need a lot of spare time. For the first 5 months, I was trying to juggle Advanced Higher German, Advanced Higher French and also, an international dance and music project!! Please don’t try this at home! It just stresses you out so much, that you don’t actually have the time or headspace to do anything with any sense of quality or enjoyment!!!! Last month I actually had to make the hard decision to save Advanced Higher French until next year because , ultimately, it all became too much!! If you or your child are picking subjects for S6, please take this into consideration, know your limits!
An interesting part of the course, which is not included in Higher German, is the portfolio. This, you are expected to do mostly independently. You get to read a German book and write an analytical essay in English, covering a specific topic of the book. This year, my class did Der Vorleser (The Reader) by Bernard Schlink and I decided to discuss how the theme of illiteracy is explored in the book, due to my own unique language skills. At first, I was a little nervous about writing the actual essay, due to my somewhat questionable history of trying to gain English qualifications. (People who truly know me are probably laughing right now because they know exactly what I mean by “questionable”) However, I kind of enjoyed this aspect of the course. I have been reading German books since I was 17, but until now, I have never had the opportunity to truly study and deeply appreciate one. I know this is odd, but I actually think that I might have done a better job analysing Der Vorleser than I have done with any English literature that I have attempted to do in my life!! I don’t have any explanation for this as I have no German heritage, but I almost feel as though German makes much more sense to me than English does. It’s a mystery that I have been trying to solve since I started learning German back in 2020!
As is the same with Higher and National 5, I had to do a speaking assessment to contribute towards my final grade . However, this year , having a disability actually gave me a large advantage! Normally, unlike with lower levels where you just do your speaking assessment with your teacher or tutor, Advanced Higher students have to do their speaking assessment with the visiting assessor who is someone, usually a native speaker of the language, who comes into the school or college, solely to carry out the students’ speaking assessments. The thought of talking to a complete stranger really freaked me out! However a few weeks before my assessment, I received the most amazing (if slightly shocking) news …
Because of my alternative methods of communication, I am entitled to 80% extra time but the SQA essentially couldn’t be bothered to send someone out for the amount of time required for me to actually do the assessment, so who was granted the permission to carry out my assessment? None other than the lovely Katzenkönigin herself, Isobel!!
The morning of my speaking assessment did not go as planned, I ended up getting to college an hour late, almost crying with stress, to an equally stressed out Isobel! However, about 10 minutes into the conversation, something magical happened, something that can only be explained by mine and Isobel’s bond…the whole vibe just relaxed! I believe that I said something about marriage that made Isobel giggle and Isobel giggling might have caused me to smirk, which then just softened the air. Something like that! Anyway, from that moment on, I just forgot about the camera that was on us (as requested by the SQA) and forgot about the morning from hell , that I had just been through and put poor Isobel through, and from that moment until we finished, it honestly felt as if it was just me and her in the world, just putting the world to rights. Something, which, I personally believe, is a telltale sign of an outstanding tutor!
My finial challenge of this amazing chapter of my language learning journey will be on Friday May 5th…the dreaded finial exam!!! Advanced Higher German students have a four point exam which is split across 2 papers…
Paper 1 is reading and translation which is fairly straightforward and self explanatory. Students are given an article which is written in German and they are first given comprehension questions about the article, I.E what does Bob say about the immigrants in Germany? which you are supposed to answer in English, just like Higher and National 5 . However, the last question of the reading section , is something which is not covered in lower levels. It is called the Overall Purpose Question or the Inferential Question, depending on who your teacher is. Similar to the 8 marker in the National 5 English exam, you are supposed to analyse the language used in the article (word choice, imagery, tone, etc) and you can be awarded up to 7 marks for this question alone.
The second section of paper 1 is translation. If you are good at German, the translation is super easy, included in the article, is an underlined section of the text and , just like in Higher, all you are supposed to do is translate it into English. Watch out for idioms but I believe that it is the simplest part of the exam.
Paper 2 is what I am personally most nervous about as it requires a little more than just good German skills. I can’t remember the order of the sections off the top of my head, however, the most stressful section is listening. In this part students are (somehow) expected to simultaneously listen to a German tape, which consists firstly of a monologue, and then a dialogue and answer questions about it in English! Ideally you would take notes while the tape is playing and then write your answers after you have heard the tape…In reality, however, the tape is far too fast for you to actually take notes at the same time as listening to the thing , so it is basically a memory test!! I strongly believe that this is the worst part of the exam and that there surely must be a less traumatic method for assessing one’s listening skills in a modern language!
However, thankfully, the other section of paper 2 is slightly less hectic! This section assesses your German writing skills and , secondarily, your discursive technique. In this part, the students are presented with .4 different essay questions, each covering one of the 4 general study areas (society, culture, employability and learning) and the candidates are expected to write a 250-300 word essay discussing one of the topics. Personally, I do have some reservations about this section of the exam as, in my prelim, back in January, yes, I did write an okay essay, however I did forget to actually answer the question. Therefore I do have a few worries about actually staying on track in the final exam…
To help with this, over the Easter holidays, I have been visiting the SQA’s understanding standards webpage , which has some useful features, such as specimen answers of all marks, along with commentary on the answers so that you can see how many marks each person got and why. Going into exam season, I definitely recommend paying this site a visit if you are unsure of a specific exam technique, regardless of your subject as it quite literally has the answer!! I also used it to work on my skills for the Overall Purpose Question! I believe that it is a highly valuable resource to add to your revision arsenal.
In conclusion, I am really proud of myself for how far I have come in German. I still find it a bit weird that one singular person essentially opened up my entire future, solely because they happened to come from Germany! I guess it just goes to show, that sometimes, the right person just finds their way into your life at the right time and just dents it in the right way! I believe my ultimate dream is to be a modern language teacher for kids with alternative methods of communication, however, I think it’s best to take that journey one year at a time because I am still young (and slightly more importantly, currently possess absolutely none of the necessary English qualifications to actually get into any university 😂). What is more important is that, I never thought that I would be able to get an Advanced Higher qualification in anything, let alone a language. Therefore, if someone who can’t speak can succeed this highly in a foreign language, surely anyone can do anything!!
eemmcg
*Article dedicated to Isobel Maclean
The Non Verbal Linguist 