"Anything that bridges the cultural gap between Germany and England is a good thing," said the 48-year-old soccer statistician.

Students in the Goethe class do their casual best to learn what they can. This is the sort of class you wished you had in school: not too taxing, not much homework and a curriculum centered around a game.

The inner children in the collection of businessmen, travel agents and lawyers rise to the surface after instructor Lynne Brackley asks them to gather around a poster of a soccer field laid out on a table.

Squeals of laughter and the din of soccer-related banter echo through the classroom as they bend over the field and label its parts with "der Torwart" (the goalkeeper), draw in a "der Fan" (the fan) and then add in "die polizei (the police)" ¡ª with the drawing of an officer sprinting after the errant spectator.

A stick figure representing Dutch forward Ruud van Nistelrooy makes a dive toward the ground ¡ª with no one around. Striker Wayne Rooney is scribbled onto the field near the penalty box with a cast on his broken right foot and a pout on his round, hairless face.

"It's a genuine attempt to learn some German," Brackley said. "But it's meant to be fun."