… described in English.
Some of the students at school speak German at home, and one of these sparked an interest in studying the language. There is now a small core progressing very fast, and a larger circle with a more casual interest. In the first group, the tutor is actually younger than her protégées.
I have checked what the local germanophiles retain after handing in their work for correcting by asking annoying, random questions throughout the day. Some remember every word they have read, some remember almost nothing. This appears to be almost entirely age dependent.
Exciting and impressive as this academic pursuit is, acquiring a new skill often starts off with gathering low-hanging fruit. Kids, and often adults too, get a rush of satisfaction from appearing to learn so much to begin with, so fast! Inevitably, you will reach a plateau where you just don’t progress very much. Traversing beyond that level we all need a complicated toolkit of good work habits, fixed deadlines, motivations, potential rewards for success and so on. We soon need to find some ways for the German group to be able to measure their progress.
But so far, this has been fun and inspiring to watch.