Sabine Lingenfelder, teacher of ISB’s after-school MS German class, will teach her final session this week as she and her family prepare to move back to Germany. She has taught on ISB’s campus since September 2017.

Ms. Lingenfelder answered a few questions about her plans, her life, and her tips for maintaining German while at ISB:

Where have you grown up and spent your life?

I grew up in the middle part of Germany in a very small village—absolutely countryside, close to the former border between the two parts of Germany, but surrounded by fabulous nature (green hills, a small river, meadows, a lot of animals, etc.).

After my school career in 1992 I moved to Gießen  (still in the  middle of Germany but 100 km from my home) to study education, biology and chemistry at the Justus-Liebig-University. After my examination in 1998, I started my teaching career in the subjects biology and chemistry.

From 2001 I worked in a Gymnasium (an advanced or high-level school) with students from Grade 5 to 13 in Eltville, close to Wiesbaden, about 50 km away from Frankfurt. This school is located in—I’m not exaggerating—the nicest area you can find in Germany! We have a lot of vineyards and one of the major rivers of Germany, the Rhine River; my school was located in one of the towns along the Rhine. Some villages away, my husband and I built a cozy home for ourselves and our children 10 years ago! It’s a fantastic area to bring kids up.

What are your fields of specialty and your interests/hobbies?

I love to read: science magazines as well as historical literature and biographical books.

In recent years I have developed a deep interest in establishing a healthy lifestyle. As a biology teacher, I taught this content as part of our curriculum in Germany. But if you want to inform students authentically and correctly, you have to be well informed yourself. So, wherever I can find information, I try to soak it up and integrate it into my personal life (but that was and is the hardest part!).

I also like to paint and do handicrafts, especially Christmas/Easter/holiday card-making. And while I’ve been in Nichada, I have had time to move my body more than ever by running, sometimes biking and doing workouts.

What have you enjoyed about teaching German at ISB?

Teaching at ISB is far away from teaching at a German public school. Of course, I have been in a different situation after-school compared with those who teach during the day (I assume). But I have enjoyed being able to focus on working with the students, and not having all the formal responsibilities that one must usually fulfil. The students at ISB have been amazing. They have made it so easy to teach them, even more so since I was used to teaching a different subject. I have loved teaching in one room, where I could leave my stuff and didn’t move materials from class to class. That’s so convenient. And although I really liked my school in Germany—the students there and my colleagues—the atmosphere here is relaxed, the students have been alert and kind, and the same goes for every staff member at ISB that I have had contact with.

What are three tips for ISB families trying to maintain their children’s native language?

• Continue speaking the native language at home, even when English is much easier for the kids.
• Read books at a level that fits children’s language skills. It’s not easy, I know, because their intellectual level might be higher than their language level. To find books that do not use lots of sophisticated expressions, but still offer topics that kids enjoy at their age, can be quite complicated. But the reading can help a lot to maintain and increase their language level.
• What I also did with our kids: watch German TV !

Deepest thanks to Ms. Lingenfelder for her work with ISB students. She will be succeeded in her role by Christine (Tina) Klempin from January 2019.