Sommerseminare!
Sommerseminare!
After completing our various seminars in Germany, we all made reports back to the group about what we did and what we learned. You can you read about some of our adventures below or check out the Goethe Institut summer seminars for German teachers or the AATG summer seminars.
What a fascinating seminar!
It felt like a month, and was only a week. I mean that in a good way.
The program packed a month’s worth of experiences into one week, and
each experience was compelling. During
the evaluation, all the participants agreed that the week was physically,
emotionally and mentally demanding, but that we wouldn’t want to have missed
any parts of it.
It was lovely to be in a small group.
There were seven participants from all over the world, one Seminarleiter,
and one student assistant. The
group became amazingly close during the week, and I believe I will stay in
contact with several people from the group.
Events included: lectures on the history of Jewish life in
Berlin, Jewish music, visits to synagogues, cemeteries, das Jüdische Museum,
Zentralrat der Juden in Deutschland, die Jüdische Oberschule, die
Lauder-Foundation, und das Bayrische Viertel.
The absolute highlight of the week, however, was the Bürstenwerkstatt
Otto Weidt, where we had the opportunity to speak with Holocaust survivor Inge
Deutschkron about her experiences, and those of others whom were helped by Otto
Weidt.
Perhaps the best aspect of the week was the dynamic of the
group itself. As we traipsed all
over Berlin, the most important processing of and reflection on all that we
heard and saw occurred during informal, but passionate discussions among the
participants over dinner or even in the U-Bahn.
I came home with a cold, blisters on my feet, jetlag, and
the inspiration to share all that I had learned and experienced with anyone who
will listen. I hope to develop
classroom activities to share with my students and a multimedia presentation
about my experiences to share with the entire Baker University community.
On a more personal note, I came home better able to articulate answers to questions asked of me by my Jewish relatives. Direct questions, such as: Why would one, as a Jew, decide to live in (or even visit?!) Germany?; and the unspoken but ever-present question, Why do you teach German? For this reason, this seminar was of great professional and personal value to me.
My seminar took place from June 30-July 20. The greatest
cultural shock came at the very beginning when I found that I was the only
American in a group of 24 people from 18 countries. I developed a close working
relationship with several colleagues from around the globe, and found a new
appreciation for the advantages afforded to me as a teacher of German in an
affluent, western country. (At the same time, I envied many of my colleagues,
especially from Eastern Europe, whose German programs are brimming with learners
of German). The collaborative work with the team and the other course members
was stimulating and thought provoking, and it has led me to consider some
fundamental changes in the way I teach German.
Our seminar team planned several activities so that we
could get to know not only the cities in which we were based but also the people
who lived in those cities. I found that my host families in both Frankfurt and
Leipzig were open, informed people who were happy to share their insights with
me, many of which helped me to understand further the actual diversity that
exists in what seems to be a homogeneous culture. This diversity is evident not
only in the small details (such as the Apfelwein in Frankfurt and the Gosenbier
in Leipzig), but also in such basic assumptions as the nature of relationships
of one person to another, the relationship of the citizen to the state, and the
differing views of recent German history.
The two teaching topics that I found the most interesting
and useful were interkulturelles Lernen
and projektorientiertes Lernen. In a
group that was as multicultural as ours, it was easy to see examples of
successful intercultural learning going on, while I must admit that one often
despairs of finding diversity when one teaches in Iowa. The seminar team was
able to point to many different ways to enable intercultural learning even with
classes showing little diversity. My favorite activity was called Wortrecherche
im Museum, in which learners can test their own concepts of
particular fundamental terms, such as “street”, “work”, or “woman”
by finding examples of these things in exhibits. (We tried this out at a museum
of modern art, someplace I have been reluctant to take students, and it was a
wonderful way to make that kind of cultural institution accessible to them.)
Finally, under the topic of Lernautonomie, we worked with projektorientiertes
Lernen, which we discovered was a way to motivate students and turn the
learning process into a mode of discovery. We worked with finding different
sorts of project ideas, using creative ideas of the simplest variety (such as
bending paperclips) to much more involved, larger scale projects. Since I will
be taking students to Germany for 5 months in the coming winter and spring, I
will certainly put some of this theoretical work into practice.
I have already made plans for continuing work with some of
the participants who have students the same age as mine. For example, my
students will send postcards from Germany to my partners’ classes and will
correspond with the students (mostly in classes in Russia) about the things they
have seen on their travels in Germany. The possibility of continued professional
contact with colleagues from around the globe was perhaps the most stimulating
product of the seminar.
Before this seminar, I had never spent a night in Munich
and I hadn’t seen Berlin in 20 years. This
was my change to explore these cities from a teacher’s perspective and through
the eyes of a student of German culture. Munich
was wonderful! The Goethe building was a great site for the seminar and the city
was incredible. We discovered places and people that one would never see
otherwise. Yes, we hit the popular tourist spots, like the Hofbraeuhaus, the
Frauenkirche and the Hofgarten. But we also learned about the significance role
the Dalmayer family played for the people of Munich, and the services the ôKunstpark
Ostö provides for teens and young adults. The workshops our seminar leaders
conducted for and with us were useful and valuable for everyday classroom
instructions and really complemented the culture aspect of the seminar. The
evening activities were carefully chosen and fun, especially the “Deutsch is
Dada” performance by Faltsch Wagoni im Hinter-hoftheater.
I really enjoyed the company of the other participants. My
American colleagues and I made a point to never speak English to each other. The
companionship and cultural exchange with other German teachers from all over the
globe was truly one of the high lights of the 3-week seminar. It war incredibly
interesting to find out why they became German teachers, why their students
choose German as a course of study and what their connection to Germany and the
study of the German language was. Our
time in Berlin was without doubt my favorite part of the trip. Here, just like
in Munich, we discovered parts of Berlin that tourists rarely get to see. We
meet interesting people and learned about programs that are geared to help teen
and adults cope with gangs, poverty, right-wing extremism (Gangway and Exit).
Here in Berlin I bonded even more with the group members,
especially after being lost in the pubic transportation system of a
six-million-people-city after midnight! The poor organization and timing of
activities in Berlin left a stale taste in my mouth, but not stale enough to
ruin the experience. My personal
high-point was the morning that I took to explore the city on my own. I hit
several of the famous spots, i.e. Berliner Dom, Potsdamer Platz, Ku-Damm, etc.,
but the most memorable moment was, when I took a picture of one of the remands
of the Wall at the Niederkirchener Strasse, just south of the Podsdamer Platz.
Along the street there is a brass marker in the ground, which follows the course
of the wall up to the Potsdamer Platz. I walked along it, balanced on it, jumped
from the former East to the former West and back. This experience was a very
emotional one, because it made the Wall disappear for me; I then knew there was
no East and West Berlin anymore, just Germany with Berlin as its capital city!
What a powerful and emotional experience that rally can’t be put in words or
on paper!
Since I lived with friends in on of the eastern suburbs in
Berlin, where the high rise buildings of the socialist era prevail, I got a
unique and different perspective of life in Berlin before and after the “Wende”,
which I thoroughly enjoyed. The conversation the group had with the
“Zeitzeugen” (our lady was from a very affluent area in the western part of
the city) complemented the viewpoint I got at “home”.
I will present a workshop at our Indiana conference in
November to share the insights I gained and techniques I learned which my
Indiana colleagues. I already
passed on some of the “Kunst im Unterricht” tips to teachers who are member
of the AATG listserve, since the topic came up just after my return from
Germany.
I attended the Mehr
Deutsch für Deutschlehrer 2.1.2 course in Berlin in the last two weeks of
July, and I was highly impressed with the coordination, structure, and
constructivist pedagogy of the course. Along
with class from 9 to 5 each day, we also had programs on the evenings and
weekend. Ines Patzig, Barbara
Ziesch and Annette Süss kept us busy from day one, and indeed by the time I
departed, I was ready to relax with friends in Herford, our GAPP exchange city.
In short, I felt like I got the AATG’s money’s worth (if it can be
phrased as such).
Before I summarize further, I have to say that Berlin is
the most interesting, exciting and perhaps amazing city I’ve been in for quite
a while. As many of us already
know, Berlin is a city in a transition of massive proportions.
Everywhere you look you see old, new, and ‘under construction’ right
next to each other, which give the visitor a feeling of past, present and future
all at the same time. When we toured the Reichstag and I came out onto the roof
next to the structurally astounding glass dome, I looked about the city and felt
a feeling of immensity that is difficult to describe. Looking back, I understand that was the defining
‘Berliner’ moment for me. Cranes
everywhere, Brandenburger Tor under wraps, and a growing feeling of completeness
and power as I scanned the near and far horizon.
The feeling took me by surprise, and is difficult to describe without
perhaps seeming melodramatic.
In any case, Mehr
Deutsch für Deutschlehrer focused on reading, speaking, writing and
listening competencies, and was linked thematically with everything having to do
with Berlin. Berlin Alltag, Berlin
Aktuell, Film in Berlin, Politik, Musik, Literature, etc.
The course was comprised mostly of Eastern Europeans with varying degrees
of German proficiency and a wide variety of teaching assignments.
Of particular interest were the ‘Mitmachtag’, where we
were matched with citizens of Berlin for a visitation day at their jobs,
visiting the Nationalmuseum and the architechtually astounding Reichstag, and my
very favorite was the walking tour of Prenzlauer Berg, a kind of ‘treasure
hunt’ for historical and cultural landmarks, buildings, statues and etc.
Much better than riding around in a bus!
We were fortunate enough to be able to visit the Klett and
Hueber Verlag, as well, and I gathered many excellent new books, videos and
etc., much to the disappointment of my wallet.
In fact, I bought, found, located, received so many new materials that I
ended up shipping three boxes home. (2
out of 3 received so far…)
As others in our Train02 group have stated, it’s
particularly refreshing and rejuvenating to be in the midst of other colleagues
from around the world who are positive, passionate and driven to simply improve
themselves. I think in particular
that this type of experience (both in Berlin and with Train02) reminded/reminds
me it is always essential to surround ourselves with the above type of
colleague. They exist in our
schools – perhaps not our departments sometimes – but they’re out there.
We need to find them, collaborate, dream, plan, and execute.
As a member of TRaINDaf class #2, I
attended a Landeskunde seminar organized by the Goethe Institut and called Europa
, held in Freiburg from July 8-20, 2002. Despite
our beautiful base in Freiburg, the seminar offered the chance to cross many
borders as we examined European integration, with projects in both France and
Switzerland. We put in many a
twelve- and fourteen-hour day, and I left Freiburg feeling both exhausted and
satisfied.
The seminar engaged participants in research projects that
were open-ended, so I was able to choose topics with maximal benefit for me.
The first of two involved a day-long visit to the Freiburg Öko-Station,
where I interviewed the director, Dr. Heide Bergmann, about her work on
environmental issues with school children, student groups, and the general
public. For fun, I participated in a tour of the station’s herb garden with a
group of nurses-in-training and learned how medicinal herbs are prepared and
utilized. Dr. Bergmann was kind
enough to let me tape-record our conversation, so I brought back an authentic
interview I can incorporate into a chapter on environmental issues in an
advanced-level textbook I am writing. It
was also excellent to be living in Freiburg, the city with the Green Mayor.
I collected a lot of materials and ideas to support my work on this
chapter of my book, and, I hope, make what can be a dry topic for Americans more
interesting through first-hand interviews, pictures, and the like.
A second memorable project involved an excursion to
Switzerland, where I spent a day with Dr. Pia Schubbiger, a faculty member in
Gender Studies at the university, and the director of an initiative in Basel to
highlight the important work of women in the history of the city through the
creation of Frauenrundgänge.
As part of a group of six women from as many countries, I interviewed Fr.
Schubbiger on every possible topic surrounding women’s issues in Switzerland.
Again, I came away with some terrific audiotaped and print material to
incorporate into my book. Since I
had had little previous experience in Switzerland at all, this trip began to
fill a Bildungslücke for me and
pointed me to areas for further study.
There were additional lectures and trips too numerous to
discuss in detail. We had a
marvelous lecture and tour of the newly-opened European Commission building, a
work of art in its own right, with forward-thinking, though amazingly costly,
architecture that captures the spirit of the European “experiment” of
cultural and economic integration. This
and a tour of the cathedral in Straßburg satisfied my every longing for the
aesthetic dimension of Europe I miss so much when I’m in the States. And finally, the chance to spend an extended stay in Germany
after having not been back for three years offered a much-needed chance to
re-immerse myself in the German language. I
was impressed by the degree of cultural integration I saw around me this time,
too; it seemed society had changed a lot with respect to an increase in racial
tolerance, in just the short time I had been away.
Rounding out the experience was the delightful nature of
our international group, with participants from nearly 20 countries of the
globe. The opportunity to get to
know teachers from the former eastern block countries was tremendous.
This varied face of Europe was something I also attempted to exploit for
my book, in the hopes of getting interesting materials in the hands of American
students of German so we can retain more of them at the upper levels.
In sum, I can say with confidence that this summer seminar
was an excellent investment of both time and resources. Each day was wisely and
fully utilized, and I came home with renewed energy to fight for our German
programs and to integrate all I had learned, both in my own teaching and via my
outreach in the textbook. Thanks to
all who made the experience possible!
I still haven’t finished sorting out all the information
I was able to collect while in Germany this summer. On June 3 I left Wichita KS with 12 high school students, my
three children, and a sponsor for Germany.
From June 4 to June 29, I was involved with the GAPP exchange and the
students. On June 30 (the day of
the WM Finals), I headed back to Berlin, having been there for several days the
week before with the students.
For two weeks I was thrust into a group of 24 fellow German
teachers from 16 different countries. There
was to have been one other American in the group, but she fell ill shortly
before the seminar and was not able to fly. Although the group didn’t seem to have any major problems
getting along, I would not say we were a close-knit group. Others in the group may disagree with me.
We got along with each other and worked well together, but when it came
to free time, many in the group had their own agendas and own interests to
pursue. During my free time, I
visited the museum, Story of Berlin, which was billed as interactive.
Indeed it was displayed in an interesting fashion, but I wouldn’t have
called it, “interactive.” There
was the usual reading and standing that many museums have.
One major disappointment for me was coming to the
realization that “Jugendkultur” in Germany is very closely related to
American youth culture. That is, a
typical teen listens to Eminem and
other musical groups that are popular among American teens.
Movies that are popular, are often those from America.
When I asked about typical German bands or music, I was often told that Die
Aerzte or Nena, or Die Prinzen would be typical. While
that is true, many teens these days don’t listen to that music.
During the course of the seminar, we received words to several German
songs to use as “Lueckentexte” or in other ways in the classroom.
However, when I went to a CD store to purchase the music, I realized that
much of it was not “in.” Of
course, not all music used in the classroom must be of the latest and most
popular, and I do hope to use some of the music I was introduced to.
There were two unexpected benefits from my stay in Berlin.
My host was a woman in her late sixties who was fighting depression after
retirement, looking for fulfillment in her life.
She and I got along quite well and had some great discussions.
A hidden benefit from my time in Berlin was the contact to her and to her
male friend, who teaches math and German to 3rd and 4th
graders. He gave me a couple of
texts and poems that he uses with his classes and gave me some ideas about how
he uses them in the classroom.
A second unexpected benefit was a visit I made on a free
evening (I think there were only two the entire time, as we were constantly
meeting again after supper for a planned event: concert, opera, literature
reading, etc.). I took the time to
visit a young woman whom I had worked with when I lived in Germany. She had been part of the church youth group which I had
helped lead. For several years she
has been married and has chosen to practice the Islamic faith. Visiting with her and her Palestinian husband candidly about
the events of September 11, 2001 and the way she is treated in Germany as a
German who has rejected the typical German way was very interesting and eye
opening.
Some of the highlights for me were: 1) a walk through the
part of Berlin known as “Weissensee” on a “Stadterkundung”; 2) going to
see the theatrical musical, “Linie 1”; 3) going to Huber Verlag and having
the opportunity to purchase anything at 50% off.
(I had to purchase another suitcase just to get everything home!); 4) a
visit with the head of the Youth Center which takes in homeless teenagers from
the entire city of Berlin; 5) living through a violent wind storm which took the
lives of four people in the city; 6) an impromptu theater at the Hackesche Hoefe
which was very reminiscent of “What’s my Line”. The actors and actresses were excellent; and, 7) a visit to
LesArt, which is a place and organization which attempts to make books available
and enjoyable to children and youth. I
came away with a wonderful trilogy incorporating Berlin’s history into a
personal story. I am still debating
about whether it would be something to use in the classroom or not.
Although we were not given much time together with partners
or groups to prepare them, one requirement of the seminar was a teaching unit
that we presented at the end of the two weeks.
I was disappointed at the lack of time we were given to prepare this, but
somehow we did end up with some units, which could be useful.
I worked together with a woman from Hungary on a unit using the text from
“Linie 1”. Although some of it
is in “Berlinerisch”, I think it can be used in the classroom.
Before attending this seminar, I had not been that
impressed with Berlin as a place to visit.
While I was there, I learned a lot and feel that I will better be able to
show my students around the next time. However,
I am still not a “big city gal” and I guess never will be.
My preference as far as sights in Germany goes is still to visit the more
out of the way and less tourist-ridden places.
I am grateful to Goethe Institute and TraiNDaF for a great
experience and look forward to incorporating much of what I learned into the
classroom.
I attended the Theater
im Unterricht Seminar from August 12 to August 24 in Berlin. We returned on
Sunday, just in time to start school here in Virginia on Monday morning. We
agreed that every aspect of the seminar was fabulous. It was definitely one of
the most exciting, positive experiences I have had within the past few years.
The course, led by Manfred Schewe (a professor from the
university in Cork, Ireland), focused on using theatrical exercises in the
language classroom, especially as a means to inspire students (at all levels) to
speak and write. There were a total of 14 participants from10 counties. The
group dynamics were great and we all worked well together. Since we had an
“Abendprogramm” almost every evening, we also spent a lot of “free time”
together.
During the day we had hours of practical lessons: hardly
any lectures, we actively did what we were learning about, especially a lot of
acting. The classes were so interesting, time passed very quickly. Aside from
time spent at the Goethe Institut, we also attended a “Werkstatt” at the
Grips Theater (before seeing Linie 1
the next evening) and attended a workshop with Uta Plate, the Theaterpädagogin
from the Schaubühne, based on the work of playwright Sarah Kane. Each
participant in our group also did a presentation (somewhat theatrical) about an
object representing our culture. We learned quite a bit about the 10 countries
represented in the seminar.
Since the class focused on theater, our evenings were
filled with visits to various productions: two open-air plays, an open-air movie
“Eins, Zwei, Drei” by Billy Wilder, a play in an old, unrenovated villa,
Improv Theater in the Hackische Höfe, a modern opera “Angela” (about Angela
Merkel) in a not yet open U-Bahn station, Linie
1 in the Grips Theater, and, my favorite, a play entitled “How to fake
dreams” in an old, unrenovated furniture factory (the play moved throughout
the building and took place on the four floors—men and women were separated
and we saw somewhat different scenes at different times in different places).
The Goethe Institut also planned a trip to Dessau with us,
which was cancelled due to the terrible flooding along the Elbe. It was a shock
to hear the news of the flooding every day while we were there.
Another high point for me was during our only free
afternoon. I visited a family friend, who works as a Restaurateur of medieval
sculptures in the Bodemuseum (which is closed to renovations until 2006). He
took me to the storerooms with hundreds of sculptures waiting to be displayed in
four years. I was able to touch 500 year old sculptures without alarms going
off. Then I visited the Restaurations Atelier, which was fascinating.
A heartfelt thanks to the Goethe Institut and TraiNDaF for
this fabulous experience. I am already using new methods in my classes and look
forward to sharing them with others.
As the only teacher of German from the United States amongst 23 participants representing 15 countries, I quickly came to realize that I as a teacher presume much from my profession. It became apparent through our initial ice-breakers that I was the only participant who had access to adequate textbooks, computers and email, authentic materials, desks, manageable class sizes, a local Goethe-Institut, a national German teachers' organization or affordable trips to Germany on a regular basis. Which one of these assets could I actually do without? Initially, I thought that this might set a tone I did not wish to entertain, but my assumption proved incorrect.
Upon closer look, it became clear that our group had much more in common than one would assume given the list mentioned above. Our joy in the teaching and learning of the German language and its culture as well as our unstated yet obvious desire to establish a cohesive group created a dynamic worthy of emulation during both work and "play." We became diplomats in Germany with a common goal: to better ourselves in our own respective classrooms through this Goethe Seminar with the welcomed assistance of each other and our spectacular seminar team.
And this great team consisted of an experienced seminar leader Horst Sperber, his amazing seminar assistant Ms. Lily Coronel and our ever-helpful group assistant Mr. Tobias Henn. As its topic, "das projektorientierte Klassenzimmer für Deutsch als Fremdsprache," this course offered us insights into a classroom turned "workshop" through hands-on experience and practices which began the moment we arrived in Augsburg until our group departure at the train station three weeks later. All projects consisted of group (3 or 4 people) discussions, individual research time, a general consensus of the overall intent, and a logistical outline regarding its "präsentables Ergebnis" to the entire seminar. Guest speakers provided up-to-date information concerning a myriad of topics as they were invited to our presentations as well as to our international evening where we each performed something from our respective countries on stage to an audience of about 65 people. And based on the readings from the reports of my fellow TraINDaF colleagues, it must be a Goethe-Institut unwritten law that they work us well past the afternoon coffee hour. (The only chance we had to relax was during the many social activities explained in the following paragraph.) Seminar topics included Landeskunde, das Erlernen des Zeichens für das DaF-Programm, Stadterkundung, Gedächtnistraining, der sogenannte Mitmachtag where I shadowed organ maker Max Offner for a day and then had a private concert by the church organist on an Offner organ, Augburg-spezifische Themen, Internettraining, and das spielerische Klassenzimmer.
Extracurricular activities (those which I can mention…) included an excursion into the Allgäu region, a Sunday morning in the Wieskirche, a tour of Linderhof, a tour and Grillabend at the Freskenhof (a historical Bavarian house under family renovation), a walking tour of München, the FastFood-Impro-Theater in München, Hueber & Goethe-Institut visits, a literary evening with an Italo-German poet, the outdoor theater performance "Träume", a Liederabend im Freien by the internationally known guitarist and chanson singer Angelika Campos de Melo, and an unforgettable evening with the Jetzendorfer Hinterhofmusikanten (I had never danced on benches while lifting up tables before). My favorite activity was, however, white water rafting, floating in the icy waters and picnicking with our group leaders on and in the Lech surrounded by the Alps and the sun. Horst served us dinner on the raft!
In sum, both my classroom and my attitude towards teaching have been altered in so many positive ways due to this seminar. I have found new colleagues on four continents, who have reestablished in me the joy of this profession. I feel very grateful to have been afforded this opportunity. Thank you AATG and the Goethe-Institut.
The program I attended-“Deutschland in Europa/Europa in Deutschland”-was based in Düsseldorf and focused on many aspects of the European Union. It was well organized by Gabriele Landwehr, Ute Hoelscher, and Hendirk Schubert. I appreciated their efforts to make the program as experiential as possible. That is, it not only consisted of lectures on political, social, and economic ramifications of a united Europe, but also of many excursions and opportunities for interaction.
Within Düsseldorf, we visited cultural institutes and consulates, the Nordrhein-Westfalen Landtag (where we were able to observe a session in progress), and the NRW Medienzentrum, the coordinators of which inspired especially candid, lively discussion.
In addition to the many Düsseldorf-based events, we traveled to the EU-Parlament in Brussels, to the Zentralbank in Frankfurt, to the DAAD and Haus der deutschen Geschichte in Bonn, and to the Koordinierungsstelle für Zuwanderung in Duisburg. In nearly every case, the organizers included events that highlighted the socio-cultural aspects of European unification (and integration). For example, the visit to the EU-Parlament included a fascinating presentation by a simultaneous translator from Sweden who detailed the complex behind-the-scenes work that enables members of parliament to understand one another. The visit to the office for Zuwanderung in Duisburg was one I found most interesting, for it gave a small group of us opportunity to speak with two social workers responsible for integrating foreign-born children into German schools. The presenter at the DAAD described changes currently underway in the German university system (changes that will make it more like our US tenure-based system). This was entirely new information for me.
I was impressed by the thoroughness of all the presentations. Each speaker (many of them high-ranking politicians who certainly had important things to do!) gave detailed, thought-provoking talks, spoke casually and openly with us, and provided ample opportunity for questions. Never were we given a pro-forma or superficial “spiel,” but were treated as welcome guests.
A private Sunday trip to Köln with a fellow participant provided insight into another aspect of integration. We went to Köln to view the Dom and attend a mass there. While looking down on the city from the top of the Dom, we noticed enormous crowds gathering-as it turned out, for the Christopher Street (gay pride) parade. The Stimmung in Köln that day was truly exciting: a huge yet cooperative assembly of people, great music, and a celebration of diversity.
This program provided vivid, first-hand experiences of the new shape Europe is taking and significantly expanded my understanding of Europe. Though the fall semester has only been in progress for a week, I’ve already used some of this new knowledge in the classroom, and was able to gather many teaching materials I’ll use in the near future. As was my experience in an AATG seminar last year in Leipzig, fellow participants-wonderfully collegial-were also a rich source of ideas and inspiration.
My thanks to everyone who made this worthwhile experience possible.
I have to say that my Theater im Unterricht course in Berlin was just about the best methodology course I've ever had. The three ingredients that made this program super were the instructors, my classmates and Berlin. The course goals were to learn how to use drama techniques in the foreign language classroom and also, to explore the Berlin theater scene. The schedule kept us busy from morning until night, but I was happy to be exposed to a variety of theater, which I don't see at home.
There isn't room to mention every performance that we saw, but I will mention the most striking pieces; Angelika (a modern opera about the politician Angelika Markel), Linie 1 (Berlin musical), How to fake dreams (a thought provoking, bizarre theater museum about dreams) and Theater Sport (competing comedy teams).
Both instructors, Isa Edelhoff and Manfred Schewe, organized informative tours and relaxing outings. Manfred is a professor of drama and German in Ireland and he helped the class to develop a high level of trust, so that everyone managed to take some risks. Even though I teach with TPRS and use a good bit of acting in class, I grew from the experience of having to act in front of the group. Through speech games, role play, improvisation, movement, and using imagination, we learned how to make a text come alive in the classroom. I plan to use many lessons from this course, but my favorite lesson is called a ,,Standbild". In a ,,Standbild", each person becomes a character in a living still life picture, ex. the classroom scene or scene of a crime. The teacher walks around and engages the actors to talk about what they're thinking. Two other incredible classes included an afternoon at the Gripps Theater with a lesson on improvisation and a class with a drama therapist, who showed us how to use body sketches to generate writing.
My classmates were an interesting and supportive international group. My buddy and fellow Traindaffer, Carolyn Ostermann-Healey, and I were the only Americans. Overall I was impressed with the command of German of the participants and their dedication to teaching. It was a real eye opener for me to hear how my international colleagues have to market their German programs, just as much as we do in the US. Even my colleagues from Sweden and Poland have to hustle to get students for German.
One program requirement was that everyone had to give a short presentation about them selves in a dramatic way. I learned a lot about my colleagues' cultures from this exercise and felt privileged to be a part of this group.
Ahh, Berlin! It is like no other city but at the same time, it's ,,stink normal", as one colleague described it. Berlin's huge, but the size didn't overwhelm me, because it felt like a city of neighborhoods and Berliners seemed to be a chatty group. I felt so trendy living in cosmopolitan Berlin and going to a different show every night. I was also, glad to be in Berlin, so that I could explore the growing Jewish community. During my two weeks I synagogue hopped from orthodox to liberal services, ate in 2 kosher restaurants, toured the Jewish Museum, went to a Klezmer concert and met up with a Jewish Stammtisch, made up of Germans and Americans, who have lived in Germany for varying lengths of time. It is exciting for me to make connections between my passion for Judaism and my passion for teachingGerman.
I highly recommend the Theater im Unterricht course and will gladly share the techniques I learned with anyone. Thank you AATG and Goethe Institute for a great learning experience.
Lorena B. Ellis
The seminar FS 2.1 was attended by 21 colleagues from 18 different countries and it took place from June 30-July 13, 2002. The main topics covered: „Afgaben und Übungen im Internet; Verbindung Lehrwerk und Internet; projectorientiertes Arbeiten mit dem Internet; Fernlernen mit dem Internet - Entwürfe von Fortbildungsveranstatungen zu den neuen Medien“. For more details visit: www.interkultur.de/projekte/seminar-fs21/index.htm <http://www.interkultur.de/projekte/seminar-fs21/index.htm>.
However, the activities related to this seminar did not start on June 30, but around April 30, when our seminar team started bombarding us with pre-seminar activities. We had free access to an online course prepared by Inter Nationes on the topic of internet usage. Additionally, we had to send in a poem with our names in it, in which we described the most pertinent things about ourselves. We also had to send in internet-related questions to our colleagues and to answer their questions.
On the first day many of us presented the projects we already were working on. It was great to see what the others were doing and to get inspired by their work. During the 2-week seminar there were some interesting Power Point presentations on various topics such as “how to make an effective Power Point presentation”, “E-recht: Grundlagen”, or “E-Learning”. All our work, including some of the presentations from the coordinators are on CD. If any of you is interested, please let me know, and I will bring you a copy of the CD in November and you can look over the projects more closely during your Christmas break.
The participants and coordinators all stayed at a hotel right across the street from the headquarters of the Goethe Institut, which is located about 15 minutes walking distance from the Olympic Stadium. Next to it is a hill, which was formed by Kriegstrümmer, from which one gets a nice view of the city, and on a clear day, the Alps behind it on the horizon. Some of us started the day with an invigorating walk to that hill before joining colleagues for breakfast. Because we stayed at a hotel, we did not have contact with German families, but instead the group members experienced a speedy bonding, which started already on Sunday night during the Begrüßung, that took place at the “Eckkneipe”. Since most of the two weeks in Munich we enjoyed “Biergartenwetter”, the group mingled with Germans in three Biergarten on different evenings. We also went to the “Tollwood”, a fair inspired by “Woodstock”, and to the theatre where we saw a unique performance of “Danton’s Tod” (Münchner Kammerspiele). On Sunday we all participated in a great bus tour in the sourthern-eartern area of Bayern which included a visit to an old Bauernhof, a Kloster, the Münter Haus in Murnau (where Kadinsky lived for a while) and Schloß Linderhof.
The most stimulating experience of the seminar was the sharing of experiences in general and the work done in groups. It increased our knowledge of the subject being researched, but it also expanded our perspective. This happened mainly while we were discussing the organization of the material gathered in our research, and deciding how to put it into a logical presentation for the other seminar participants. Since this was a seminar for trainers, the coordinators always made us think as “Fortbilder”, i.e. about different ways of how we could pass on to other teachers the information learned.
I was very pleased with my experience in Frankfurt at the
Goethe Institut Seminar. My Seminar
(LMS 2.4) centered on effectively using the computer and Internet in modern
German classrooms.
There were 17 participants total and we came from Italy,
Portugal, South Africa, Macedonia, Korea, Brazil, Croatia, Slovenia, Yugoslavia,
Bulgaria, Canada, and the US. Just
getting the opportunity to work and communicate with other teachers from such
vastly different circumstances was well worth the trip.
We were able to give each other new ideas, commiserate shared problems,
and learn better communication skills from each other, not to mention learning
about other cultures and traditions.
At my school, it is common for teachers to complain about being able to
get into the computer lab when we would like to.
I know realize, just how lucky we are to be able to have the access that
we do. Many of the schools in which
my colleagues teach, do not have access to the Internet yet at all, or if they
do, they often only have one computer lab for the entire school that is almost
always in use by computer classes. I
am truly more appreciative of the technology and support for it that I have at
my school.
During our first week together, we explored different
projects that are already available on the Internet. Our Seminar Team put together a wonderful web site (http://frankfurt2002lms24.tripod.com)
that offered links to some of the more popular and useful sites already
available to German teachers. We
also had guests from Bavaria who currently use the Internet for projects in the
classrooms come to speak with us and we learned about a project being done by
the University in Mainz. We
evaluated many of these sites and share our thoughts with the rest of the group.
In addition, we were introduced to the software that could help us
produce our own web sites. We also
taught to use Front Page, Photo Shop Pro, Hot Potatoes, Sound Forge, and Mind
Manager.
Later, we broke up into individual project groups.
Within each of these groups we were given the responsibility to pick some
aspect of Frankfurt to research and develop a classroom friendly web site of our
own based upon that research. The
four groups decided on the topics Frankfurt – City of Superlatives,
Architecture of Frankfurt, Living in Frankfurt, and Youth in Frankfurt.
All four groups were given time to plan, time to research, time to
conduct interviews, and eventually time to create the final product.
I worked on the Living in Frankfurt web site.
My group consisted of a man from Canada, a woman from Yugoslavia, a man
from Croatia, a woman from Italy, and myself.
Each of us had our own ideas about what we wanted to do (some were more
vocal about their ideas than others) and we all had various levels of computer
experience. We also all teach at
varying levels. Thus, the dynamics
of our group were very interesting and made our work even more challenging.
We finally narrowed our theme into 3 sub-sections (where, how, and why)
and started our research. We spent
the majority of our time working on the “where” section.
Together, we visited several sections of the city and interview residents
about where they lived, for how long, and why they lived there.
This was very interesting and we were pleasantly surprised at how willing
people were to help us with our assignments.
Our final project can be found online at http://projektwohnen2002.tripod.com
. We have what we all agree is a
good start and something that we could all possibly use in the classroom, even
if it might require some supplements.
At the end the course, we were able to see what the other
groups did as well. It was very
interesting to see the different directions each group chose to take and to hear
about what successes and setbacks that they encountered along the way.
We each received a CD containing everyone’s work and other important
files and tips. I believe that this will be a great help when I get back to
work.
Overall, I really believe that I learned a lot and my classes will be more exciting and relevant in the future (after all, I'm using some of what I learned to make this site!)