Everyday Scenarios

Otti leads a project

Otti's company is building an app for Berlin's libraries, and for the first time Otti leads the project - eight people, six months, one deadline. Learn to plan milestones, to delegate tasks, to keep an eye on the schedule and the risks and to stay calm when something is delayed.

C1 22 words

Lotte applies for a doctorate

Lotte's thesis on the trees in Berlin's parks raised more questions than it answered, and now she wants to spend three more years on them. Learn to write a research proposal - the research question, the method, the state of research - and to apply for a scholarship.

C1 23 words

Frida negotiates with a client

A hotel chain wants bread from Frida's bakery for its twelve hotels, but at a price that would leave nothing over. Learn to negotiate terms - prices, quantities, delivery dates - to know your room to manoeuvre and to make a concession without giving everything away.

C1 23 words

Bruno writes a cookbook

A small publisher in Friedrichshagen has tasted Bruno's cooking and asked him for a cookbook of his market recipes. Learn to talk about how a book is made - the manuscript, the editing, the photos, the print run - and about testing a recipe until it works in every kitchen.

C1 22 words

Kalle guides a forest walk

Since his retraining Kalle works as a forester, and on Sundays he leads walks through the Spandau Forest. Learn to explain a forest as an ecosystem - deadwood, mixed forest, rare species - and why a fallen tree is not a loss but a home.

C1 22 words

Emil looks back on ten years as a courier

Ten years ago Emil delivered his first letter by bike, and today his courier service has six riders and a small office of its own. Learn to look back on your working life - the workload, the working conditions, the hard years and the good ones - and to say with pride what has changed.

C1 22 words

Frau Hilde writes her memoirs

Her grandson in Canada wants to know what her childhood was like, so Frau Hilde has started writing down her life - the post-war years in Lübars, the rubble, the airlift planes and the first oranges. Learn to talk about memory and an era gone by - hardship, hope, a new beginning - and to write your memories so that others can see them.

C1 22 words

Otti moderates a panel discussion

The library in Neu-Hohenschönhausen has invited four guests to argue about the library of the future, and Otti, whose team builds its new app, holds the microphone. Learn to introduce a panel, to give and take the floor, to handle interjections and to bring opposing views into a fair discussion.

C1 23 words

Lotte reviews a scientific article

A journal has asked Lotte to review a study which claims that city birds sing louder where there is more traffic. Learn to read research critically - the hypothesis, the sample, correlation and causality - and to write a review that is strict but fair.

C1 21 words

The friends discuss the future of work

Over a long Sunday breakfast Emil says that robots will soon deliver his parcels, and Frida dreams aloud of a four-day week. Learn to talk about how work is changing - digitalisation, automation, flexible hours, the shortage of skilled workers - and to weigh hopes against fears.

C1 22 words

Frida mediates a conflict at work

Two bakers on Frida's team have not spoken to each other for weeks, and the whole early shift feels it. Learn to mediate - to listen to both sides, to find the interests behind the positions and to reach a consensus before the conflict escalates.

C1 22 words

Bruno and the art of fermentation

Bruno's kitchen smells of sauerkraut and kimchi, and on every shelf a jar is bubbling quietly. Learn to talk about fermentation - microorganisms, acidity, time and patience - and to describe flavours more precisely than just "tasty".

C1 21 words