Tag: German

Shared Language Courses Fall 2017

With student course enrollments for Fall 2017 on the way, we would like to invite our GLCA colleagues and students in Arabic and German to consider an expansion of course selection options via the GLCA Crossroads Shared Languages Program.

Shared Language Program courses (SLP) courses are especially attractive to students who 

  • want to continue with their studies of Arabic beyond first or second year courses offered at their home campus
  • need to double up to complete their German major or minor
  • have run out of options of courses to take for their major
  • need to take a directed studies because of under-enrollment in a German upper level course
  • have a time conflict with the course offering at their own college
  • have run out of options of courses to take at their home institution
  • need to take a directed studies because of lack of course course offerings
  • have a particular subject interest that no one program could accommodate 
  • would like to benefit from a global course connections course component
  • are interested in exploring new pedagogies with digital technologies in a virtually interactive environment 
  • are not able to go study abroad but would like to meet new people with similar interests 
  • eventually with the success of the SLP may minor or major in Arabic
  • and more..

This program also has great benefits for faculty who 

  • are one-man or one-woman programs and miss having a like-minded colleague for the exchange of ideas and concerns
  • are concerned about under-enrolled classes and fear of cancellation
  • with the advantages the SLP affords may be able to expand their Arabic program to a minor or major even with one home institution factually member
  • wish to expand their facility with digital pedagogies
  • seek professional development that no one campus can offer
  • want to join the discussion on ways to address the future of our discipline
  • wish to teach a course outside of their language program but “cannot get away”
  • have numerous directed studies students due to some of the reasons mentioned above (usually without any compensation)
  • and much more

Screen Shot 2017-03-31 at 3.42.25 PMThis semester, we are able to offer two SLP courses in Arabic and two in German. Our Arab colleagues from Denison University and Earlham College, Dr. Hanada Al-Masri, respectively Dr. Kelly Tuttle  are offering a language course on the intermediate level and an Arabic writing course.

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For German, Dr. Lee Forester  is offering a course in German Linguistics and I  will teach a course on Germany’s Young Generation. All pertinent information can be found here. 

The course enrollment process is simple with the respective registrars having contributed significantly to design a smooth experience for both students and faculty. All the information you and your interested students will need, can be found on this website page, please scroll all the way down. 

First pilot semester student feedback results are very encouraging. (Full results are available, please ask.) All students found all aspects of the courses very “doable”, “engaging”, many also “exciting”. They all enjoy meeting other students with similar interests and especially appreciate the added diversity of both students and instructors. They are learning important inter-cultural lessons and can better apply technological skills in the academic environment and beyond. 

There are no specific technology requirements. All students will need is a computer with a built-in camera (or plug in a webcam), a quiet, well-lit place to sit, and a stable internet connection. The SLP instructors will provide your students with a course orientation that addresses all technology aspects. 

Colleagues who serve as on-campus advisors for students participating in a SLP course will receive a stipend. Likewise, if you chose to offer a SLP course yourself, there will be compensation from the GLCA SLP Mellon grant. 

Please also look out for an announcement for a SLP workshop for anybody who is interested on any level of engagement that will take place at Denison University from May 21 (evening dinner) to May 25th (midday). 

And finally, the most important feature of this program is that we are offering our students a wider range of possibilities to stay engaged in the language and culture they chose to study. 

Please let me know how our SLP team can assist you with any further questions you may have. We look forward to hearing from you. 

The GLCA expresses its appreciation and gratitude to Dr. Lee Forester (Hope), Dr. Hanada Al-Masri (Denison), Dr. Kelly Tuttle (Earlham), and (almost Dr.) Basem Al-Rabaa (Oberlin) for their pioneering work and open-minded spirit! 

Ethel at German Kaffeeklatsch!

Screen Shot 2015-12-08 at 8.10.28 PMThursday, December 3rd, was a fabulous day for the German section at Denison University’s Modern Languages Department! The wunderbar string quartet Ethel joined the German social coffee hour to discuss and show via example the influence of revolutionary Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg on the avant-garde and contemporary composers – including Ethel! Students were enthralled.

Evan Woodnorth and Hannah Doermann lead the weekly Kaffeeklatsch, which invites students from all courses and levels of German to join in for conversation and German coffee. Every Thursday during common hour, they discuss contemporary issues such as the refugee crisis in Europe to pop and alternative German music to important historic events. Hannah, who is a native of Bonn, Germany has been co-conducting German KK since her freshman year at Denison and Evan, a native of Minnesota, who is practically linguistically and culturally near-native German after spending a year living in the country right after high school, when he had been awarded the coveted Congress-Bundestag scholarship, has been contributing very creatively to KK for the past year now. Together, they’ve made a great team!

On average, Kaffeeklatsch has a student turnout of about 20 students each week in the Foresman Lounge on the third floor of Fellows Hall, but with Ethel visiting we had to move to a larger space than our regular gathering place – almost all students from all courses as well as students interested in “all things German” came to the social hour, about 100 students. All visitors enjoyed German chocolates, ginger breads, and the famous German Stollen with Jacobs Kaffee throughout the event.

The event was introduced by German student Melodie Petra Faur who presented an informative introduction to Schoenberg’s life and work in German so engagingly that the language barrier for non-German speakers was reduced to a minimum – the music itself made up for the rest! [arnold schönberg]

Beautiful cello artist Dorothy gave a very insightful introduction to the importance on Schoenberg on the American avant-garde and Ralph shared his own experiences with Schoenberg’s genius in his development as a musician from his teenage years. Corin and Kip rounded off the influence of Schoenberg on their own artistic development .. until we ran out of time.

Arnold Schönberg’s work and significance as a major cultural figure was a topic in the advanced German course 311, a writing course and survey of 20th century German/Austrian/Swiss writers and artists. For students to get an in-depth exploration of his work with highly recognized musicians such as Ethel is a treat very few college students get to enjoy in such an intimate and close setting.

I would like to whole-heartedly thank Mike Morris Sr., Director of the Denison Vail Series, and Ching-Chu Hu, Chair of the Denison Music Department, for making this event possible for our German students and faculty (Gary Baker, Gabriele Dillmann, Jeffrey Frazier). Furthermore, I owe much gratitude to Tim, Denison’s amazing photographer, and Jamie Hale from University Communications for taking and then sharing the photographs below with me for this blog. But most of all a heartfelt Dankeschön to Ethel: Dorothy, Ralph (aka Frank), Kip and Corin!!

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Transformations Article on the Globally Connected Language Classroom

Our joint case study on the globally connected language classroom was recently published in the online journal “Transformations” on the  Academic Commons website. 

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Summary: The language classroom is a most fruitful place for intercultural, global learning. Digital technologies allow us to make intercultural connections like never before and in the process language-learning benefits from real communication about real issues. Connecting two language courses globally requires overcoming many obstacles and challenges (time difference, collaboration, technology, funding, resources, etc.) but a strong belief that the benefits outweigh the costs serves as a constant source for pushing on.

We look forward to comments from colleagues and students alike! 

A special Dankeschön! to our students in German at Denison and AUBG for your engagement and enthusiasm in this teaching and learning project! 

 

 

Modern Germany at AUBG

During my stay at AUBG I had the good fortune to participate in a class in Professor Stantcheva’s Modern Germany advanced language level course.  This particular unit was on the broader topic “money”, not just on the Euro as the predominant currency, but it also included discussions on the Swiss Frank, counterfeit money, virtual money, Old money (the Mark), and a critical piece on the “Euro as Teuro” (expensiveo!). Students had completed a homework fill- in- the- gap- assignment to prepare themselves for today’s topic by studying the relevant basic vocabulary. This exercise then also served as a nice warm-up for the class. In anticipation of the small texts to be read and their discussion, Prof. S. provided students with the respective text headings and had students brainstorm ideas about what these texts might be about specifically. This was a great way to engage students with the materials and vocabulary. Something was now at stake when Diana had her students read these short texts and then assess whether their assumptions were met or not. It turned out that students’ guesses were pretty right on in most cases, but there were a few surprises as well (Falsches Geld? Wrong money?). Students also expanded their Wortschatz, their word treasure, significantly during this exercise and refreshed some historic facts about European currencies nearly seamlessly on the side. The unit ended with an engaging discussion question: What do you believe our currency will look like in the future? to which students contributed with very interesting comments and ideas.

The class ended with a student presentation on the German Education system in preparation of the next class meeting. This PPT presentation by Economic and Business major senior Nataliya S. led to an interesting discussion on what makes Germany (as well as Austria and Switzerland) attractive to students from East-European countries.  Primarily students mentioned the high quality of education, the fact that it’s affordable and Germany as a premier economic power. Interesting to me was the impression that students understood themselves primarily as Europeans and less so as being of a specific nationality.All students in the class were multi-lingual with German being a third or forth language in their linguistic repertoire, a fact that was echoed not without a tinge of envy by our Denison students in their video conference assessment of our synchronously connected courses the previous Wednesday.

Students in this course are pursuing majors in Economics and Business Administration, Political Science, European Studies, and Computer Science, which also reflects the university’s main areas of study. Compared to Denison U, AUBG is much more of a professionally focused school than a liberal arts college in the classic sense. For example, despite the fact that AUBG is an American college in Eastern Europe where English is not necessarily the second but often the third language that students speak, the college does not offer an English major, not even a minor. Their American Studies major appears to be more of a complement to such areas of inquiry as Economics or Political Science than the study of American culture in a more humanistic sense. Similarly, despite the strong interest in all things German, the course offerings do not go beyond German language courses when it is clear that many students are keenly interested in at least a minor. Nor are there any other language courses offered that go beyond the basics.Perhaps one can say in summary that the humanities are certainly not as strongly represented as one would expect in a more typical liberal arts college.

Besides being multi-lingual and multi-cultural, students here are hard-working and dedicated to their studies. They are highly engaged, inquisitive, and very interested in learning about other cultures and  their practices. I very much enjoyed interacting with these very impressive young people.

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