Why Your German Teacher Wants to Scream at You - Learn German with Herr Antrim

Why does your German teacher want to scream at you? Do you do these things? Are you the cause of your teacher’s headaches? Watch this video and learn how to make their life a bit better.

I am less than one month from starting my 8th year of teaching high school German in the United States. Over the years there have been a few things that have gotten on my nerves. Students mispronouncing the most basic of words after a year or more of class with me. Asking questions to which they should know the answers. Asking questions that they are capable of finding in the textbook, but for some reason don’t want to look for it.

With the help of Jenny from the YouTube channel “German with Jenny“, I have created a video that should help the next group of my students so that they don’t annoy me with things that every class before them has. More than likely, my students will just find this entertaining and it will give the new group of students something else to use to bug me. Deep down, I think it is pretty funny too.

Why your German teacher wants to scream at you – Script

Student: Frau,

Teacher: (sigh) Frau is not a proper address for a teacher. Please say “Frau” AND the last name of the teacher.

Student: Ok. Do I have to answer these questions in German?

Teacher: What class is this?

Can you still tell me what this word means if I butcher the pronunciation so much that you aren’t sure what word I am saying?

Student: What does “für” (terrible accent) mean?

Teacher: Für.

Student: Für

Teacher: “Für” means “for”.

Student: “Für” means “for” (both pronounced as “fur” of an animal)

Teacher: “Für” means “for”. (overly pronouncing both to emphasize the mispronunciation of the student.)

Student: What about “durch” (pronounced “dirtch”)?

Teacher: You mean “durch”?

Student: Yeah. “Durch” (still terrible pronunciation).

Teacher: Durch.

Student: What does it mean? (annoyed)

Teacher: Through.

What is the gender of this word that isn’t a noun?

Student: What’s the gender of it?

Teacher: Durch isn’t even a noun. It can’t have a gender. (really annoyed)

Student: Well what about “Stadt”?

Teacher: That is literally one of the first words I ever taught you. It is in the first chapter of German 1. This is second semester German 2. (more annoyed)

Do you even have a textbook?

Student: That was a long time ago. What’s the gender?

Teacher: It is in your textbook.

Student: But could you just tell me?

Teacher: No, you need to learn to think for yourself. Look it up.

Student: Can I go get my book out of my locker?

Teacher: Can you ask that question in German?

Student: I could if I had my book.

Teacher: (Rolls eyes)

***Student comes back with their book.***

Is it a problem with your hearing or your pronunciation?

Student: What’s a Hubschrauber? (terrible pronunciation)

Teacher: You mean “Hubschrauber”? Like a helicopter?

Student: Yeah, what is it in English?

Teacher: Helicopter (annoyed)

Student: Ok. Alles klar (pronounced Alice Claire)

Teacher: Alles klar. (more annoyed)

Etwas means something in German

Student: Can you help me translate this?

Teacher: Sure, what does the sentence say?

Student: Ich möchte manchmal etwas essen. (terrible pronunciation)

Teacher: Ich möchte manchmal etwas essen.

Student: What is “etwas”?

Teacher: Something… (calm)

Student: No really, what does “etwas” mean?

Teacher: Something… (annoyed)

Student: Could you just give me a straight answer instead of being sarcastic all the time? What does “etwas” mean?

Teacher: It is literally the German word for “something”. (Yelling)

Student: Oh.

You know you want a t-shirt that says “Etwas means something in German”. Get one here.

Learn German with Jenny

If you haven’t already subscribed to Jenny’s channel, you should definitely do that. She creates fantastic lessons on YouTube. These include a series of videos for absolute beginners in German and a complete A1 level course. She was voted #3 on the list of the Top 25 Language Learning YouTube Channels. You can even book private lessons with her via Verbalplanet. She currently has 185 reviews for her private lessons. 100% of them are good reviews. Everyone who has reviewed her lessons has given her 4 stars. You can see her YouTube channel trailer below or you can subscribe to her channel here.

Since this was posted “Learn German with Jenny” has been rebranded “Lingoni” to more accurately show all of the wonderful things she offers language learners.

If you are looking for more fantastic German teachers on YouTube, I have a list of my favorite channels for German learners here.