Intermediate German

Let me start off with the largest downside to her class: although the material and basis is provided for you to learn a lot, if you're not self-motivated, you probably won't learn as much as you'd learn in a more demanding and stressful environment.

That said, it is precisely Jutta's approach that makes her so worthwhile. I could come into class having the worst of days, and with a scowl tattooed on my face. And goddamn it, her humor might be more 3 Stooges than Dennis Miller, but she almost invariably lightens the mood of the class and accomplishes the primarily critical task of making class enjoyable.

Some people in the class complained she didn't teach enough grammar and there wasn't enough formal teaching. That is true, but I believe there is a larger intent to structure the class based around working a lot with other students and practicing your German instead of being lectured about it.

She isn't loosey-goosey about deadlines and punctuality. She will take off points if you willy-nilly choose to be late or not hand in assignments. But if you approach her beforehand, she's very understanding and knows that there is more going on in your life than German class. She borders the line between sufficiently authoritative instructor and compassionate, light-hearted human being quite well. She's quite accessible both in person and electronically.

Gerrit ist fantastisch, and you've hit quite a jackpot of a spontaneous, flexible, compassionate, intelligent, and fun class should he be your instructor. A native speaker from Bavaria, Gerrit won't let the immersion atmosphere of the class slack too much, and your German will have to be quite up to par to keep pace with his occasional in-jokes. You'll have a good enough time anyway to forget that he may be a bit disorganised and fall behind schedule quite a bit at times, forcing you to complete several projects at the end of the semester- nothing too demanding, though. Overall, if you have any genuine interest in learning and speaking German well, discussing German history and German politics, or simply joking around irreverently in a foreign tongue, Gerrit will delight you.

Frau Motyl is wonderful, and the class is very interesting. The class is full of people with all different German proficiency levels. Somehow she is able to teach at many different levels without the class moving too fast or too slow. I never went to see her during her office hours, which I regret. She wants to help people and her patience is amazing. Take German with her, you won't regret it.

Jutta is a really nice and funny professor. I learned a lot in her class. We learned some random things about German culture, such as the Green Party, the Comedian Harmonists, the Berlin Wall, etc. Overall an interesting and very relaxing class. One should definitely take her class if given the chance.