German language teacher aims to making learning fun
"Willkommen Zum Stammtisch!"
"Welcome to our Stammtisch!" says Helga Mattingly of Naperville, a member of the informal gathering of German- and English-speaking suburbanites that met one recent Thursday night at Mullen's Bar & Grill in Lisle to laugh, talk, have a meal and drink beer.
A stammtisch in Germany is group of typically older men who gather so frequently at pub or restaurant that a "regular's table" is marked for them.
"It's a home away from home," Mattingly said. "Everybody knows if it's the stammtisch and they don't belong, they don't go there."
But this stammtisch started last year by German language teacher Angela Jostlein of Naperville is different. The group is men and women of different ages. Some are native German speakers; others are students of German; and some are English speakers with an interest in German culture.
Jostlein said the group started meeting in June 2007 with 10 members, but now as many as 22 come from throughout the suburbs. They normally meet the last Thursday of the month at a local restaurant, but this month will meet on the third Thursday.
"It seems to be getting bigger and bigger," she said. "Everyone is welcome."
For Jostlein, the director of the German School of Naperville, the group is an extension of her efforts to share her native German language and culture in a way that is enjoyable for participants. She started the stammtisch after a German-speaking Swiss man who was married to an American suggested the group because he didn't get an opportunity to speak his native language.
Shelly Anderson of Naperville came after he ran into Jostlein at a local bank, heard her accent and spoke in the German he had started to pick up years before while he was stationed with the military in Berlin. Jostlein invited him to the stammtisch, and Anderson said he probably will take one of her language classes as well.
"I want to be able to talk fluently and that's why I come," he said.
Mattingly, who moved to the United States from Germany in 1971, said she enjoys the ambiance of the group.
"For me, it is nice to hear some German spoken," she said. "I don't speak German other than here."
Jostlein was trained as a social worker in Germany but left that profession behind when she came to the United States with her husband, Hans, in 1970. They planned to stay only temporarily while Hans, a physicist, did doctoral and postdoctoral work.
"We came for two years almost 40 years ago," Jostlein said.
The couple first lived in Rochester, N.Y., and moved to Naperville almost 30 years ago after Hans took a position with Fermi National Accelerator Lab in Batavia.
They raised three children and Jostlein worked in special education in public schools before taking up teaching herself. She taught German to scientists at Fermi for three years and headed the German Language School of the Fox Valley Chapter of D.A.N.K., the German American National Congress, for 12 years.
Three years ago, she founded the German School of Naperville, which meets in the Naperville Cultural Center. Jostlein said she has found Naperville to be a town with a rich German heritage. She noted that St. John United Church of Christ has a monthly German language service.
"I'm surprised myself how many Germans there are," she said.
The German School now has more than 70 students and six teachers including Jostlein, and offers eight different classes. Most students have German family members or have lived in Germany, but some simply like the language or have a friend who is German, Jostlein said.
Despite similarities between some English and German words, German is a difficult language to learn, Jostlein said. Every noun has a masculine, feminine or neutral article unlike English which simply uses the article "the."
"If you use the wrong article, the sentence doesn't make sense," Jostlein said. "You have to learn your noun with the article from Day One."
But Jostlein doesn't want her classes to be grammar drills. Whether teaching children or adults, she aims to make learning fun.
When teaching children, she uses games and introduces them to German holidays, such as St. Martin Day in early November. The children make lanterns to hold candles, sing a song and receive candies.
"It's a little bit like Halloween, but we don't dress up," Jostlein said.
The German School also offers a weeklong summer camp that includes a beach outing and picnic in a park.
In the adult class, Jostlein has students tell something that has happened in their lives that week or discuss an article in a German newspaper. She also has them write about themes, pretend to visit a restaurant and describe words written on a card in German.
"My activities in German class are very varied. I think that makes it interesting," she said. "Nobody knows from week to week what we do."
Allen Panek of Naperville, one of Jostlein's German students, said he has been taking German for 15 years and has visited Germany three times. Panek still doesn't consider himself fluent in the language, but the stammtisch gives him a good venue for practicing, he said.
"You have an opportunity to speak with native speakers and students," he said. "The culture and background come out more."
For more information on German language classes or the stammtisch, contact Jostlein at (630) 355-8279 or aj60540@yahoo.com.
German Stammtisch
When: 6 to 8 p.m. Aug. 21
Where: Mullen's Bar & Grill, 3080 Warrenville Road, Lisle
Cost: No cost for Stammtisch; participants buy own food and drink
Info: (630) 355-8279 or aj60540@yahoo.com