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Language-integrated learning with the options of Excel using the example of analysing costs

Studying or working abroad is almost always linked to mastering a foreign language. The author has a lot of experience with people who speak German as a foreign language (DaF), both as a lecturer and privately. Those who want to study DaF at a German university need a recognised language certificate, e.g. the DSH or the TestDaF examination: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TestDaF.

Those who come to Germany without sufficient language skills need several months, probably even several years, to overcome their language deficits. The majority of refugees who have been coming to Germany for years have not yet managed to do so, and many cannot find a well-paid job because of their lack of language skills.

Those who learn German in their home country, watch German videos on YouTube and use the international online language learning platforms Preply, iTalki, Verbling or similar to practise speaking in a foreign language with native speakers of that language will save a lot of money because they can start their studies or qualified work in Germany more quickly.

YouTube now has a lot of explanatory videos with subtitles. This has the advantage that you can read what you hear. The playback speed of the videos can also be reduced if the speech in the video is too fast.

Konrad Rennert has been familiar with Office products for years. His foreign course participants know Excel, Word and PowerPoint in their own native languages. This makes it easier for them to participate in Office courses that are only held in German.

In the meantime, every user can change his or her current version of the Office software into any other language in just a few minutes. The video shows how this is done with English and French. In Chinese, Japanese or Ukrainian it works just as well as in most other languages.

Konrad uses his own accounting data to illustrate this. He had the German accounting texts translated into the target languages via DeepL translator.

All this can be seen in the YouTube video. Anyone who wants to do a self-test to prepare for language exams after watching the video can watch the video again on Konrad Rennert’s website with H5P. The video stops at 10 points so that questions about what has just been heard or seen can be answered. Those who know perfect German will not make any mistakes. Those who are well prepared for the TestDaF exam should make no more than two mistakes. The test is freely available (CC-BY) and can be copied and modified: https://konrad-rennert.de/sprachintegriertes-lernen-mit-den-optionen-von-excel-am-beispiel-der-analyse-von-kosten

It is also suitable for transfer to other languages. This can already be seen in the video: The fictitious colleagues Mara and Sandra could deal with the same topic with the same data in their mother tongues. When their video is finished, they can mention their contact details on language platforms in the shared Excel workbook or offer to get in touch via LinkedIn. Then both sides have advantages: The learners can assess the professional qualifications of the teachers before booking paid lessons. The teachers (Mara and Sandra) have a higher profile and can earn a higher income with online courses.

Teachers or investors who would like to contact the managing director Konrad Rennert can find the data in the imprint of the website.