German and linguistics are nothing new for Paul Griffin, the latest addition to Chamblee Charter High School’s renowned German department.

Griffin studied German at Georgia State University, earning a Bachelor’s degree and Master’s degree in the subject, in addition to minors in English, theatre, psychology, and geology.

“It’s a little varied,” he said. “I studied a lot of different things early on.”

Griffin received his experience with the German language experience both in Georgia and in Germany. He lived and worked in Berlin for two years during the 1980s, and taught in Dortmund.

“I got to work in a gymnasium, which is [Germany’s] academic prep school, and was teaching English,” he said. “I exchanged positions with a German teacher that came over and taught German here. We swapped houses, jobs, everything.”

Griffin has been teaching German for over 17 years, and is currently teaching at both Kittredge Magnet School and Chamblee.

“I found out [that I was coming to Chamblee] about a week and a half before the winter break,” he said. “I was at Kittredge [full time] for a few weeks, then the administrator at Kittredge informed me that I was going to be there [Kittredge] part time and here [Chamblee] part time.”

At Chamblee, Griffin is teaching German III+ and German IV, both prep classes for AP German.

“My main charge is to move the III students along and prepare the IV students for the AP test, which can be a challenge,” he said.

Griffin doesn’t necessarily have a preference for the school at which he teaches.

“I don’t know what the plans are for next year,” he said. “I could see myself at either location next year. I enjoy both jobs.”

Griffin sees advantages in teaching both elementary and high school age groups.

“The older students are more advanced. I have more freedom with what I can do with these students. There’s a much wider variety of texts I can use. I can pull from real texts, and use actual literature in class and instruction,” said Griffin.

However, with his younger students, Griffins enjoys watching his students’ substantial growth with German.

“With the younger students you’re literally just building up the language, which is fundamental in its own right, because you’re taking an individual from nothing,” he said. “You can see dramatic progression. You don’t necessarily see that with the older students, because they already know a lot when they’re coming to you.”

Prior to his move to Kittredge, Griffin worked as an English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher at the International Student Center. He was reassigned to Kittredge, due to a drop in enrollment at the Student International Center. A big challenge for him was the variety of different languages spoken within his classroom.

“50% of the students spoke Spanish. I would say probably another 20% [spoke] Swahili, Arabic, Amharic,” he said. “In my class alone, we had 12 languages.”

Griffin, however, was able to teach each student using his knowledge of linguistics.

“I speak Spanish and French, in addition to German. I know some Swahili and some Amharic,” he said. “I know a little about their languages, and I know based on their language background what their particular difficulties are going to be.”

After his time at the International Student Center, Griffin had no difficulties transitioning back into teaching German.

“I think, fundamentally, teaching languages is teaching language,” he said. “German and English have enough similarities that some of the activities that we do are very similar.

At home, Griffin speaks German with his wife and three daughters.

“I’ve been married for over 30 years. My wife is German. She’s from Bavaria,” he said. “German is an everyday part of my life.”