Stefan Steinberger

One of first experiences in the classroom came when I introduced myself, I was talking for a few minutes when I realizing something was wrong - no one could actually follow me because my students did not speak German at that time.

As a Teach For Austria Fellow, I spend most of my time teaching in two classes where the majority of students were refugees, some of whom had even fled their countries alone, without their parents. In December 2015, some months after I started teaching, I visited my students' homes to see how they live. It was overwhelming. Everyone was so nice and welcoming although they had so little. My students insisted on inviting me for a tea and also people I have never met before invited me to try specialties from their countries. Some weeks later I organized an event where former refugees told their stories to the refugees about how they managed to learn the language and what helped them with integration. We actually did this event twice – once in Arabic and once in Farsi – because the people in this big refugee home did not speak German very well. After the event so many came to me and to ask if I could help finding a job. The motivation I felt after this event I also felt at school every day - they were just so eager to learn. This really inspired me.

Another source of inspiration were my fellow colleagues. Every day so many great things happen and no matter with whom you talk – you will hear a great inspiring story. You can learn so much from each and every one – including the kids we are teaching.

I started refugees{code} already in my second year of my fellowship and tried to keep it away from Teach for Austria because refugees{code} targets adults and I was afraid that people would think I was not paying enough attention to school and my students. In the beginning only my colleagues at my school knew about it but later on when I asked for advice regarding our recruiting system, preparing a speech, or using a room for meetings I always was supported by Teach for Austria.

To sum it up, the last two years changed my life. I learned so many things, tools and a lot about myself. I am now doing things I would have never imagined being capable of before joining Teach for Austria and met so many incredible people I probably would have never met. For me Teach for Austria was also the path to discover what I really want to do in life: “Do what you love, love what you do.”