First off, I’m German, and if you think that would have given me an advantage, you might have been right, if I hadn’t moved countries when I was 7 years old, having only undertaken 3 months of the first grade in Germany. The schools in the countries I moved to, China and India, did not offer German lessons, so I had to take matters into my own hands. To stay in touch with my mother tongue and learn it as a written language, I would complete grammar exercises from workbooks, do dictation practice, and read as many German books as I could. Throughout the years, I was solely reliant on my parents to teach me, and while it worked, there was a noticeable difference when I came to Royal School and was able to attend proper lessons with Ms Anastasia Revnic, who helped me get the results I did.

My advice from my experience is to stay dedicated to the process of learning, and to make use of the resources you have, especially when you have a school learning environment to support you.