AATG Newsletter
Massachusetts Chapter (Fall 2000)

President’s Report

Dear Fellow AATG Members:

It has been a pleasure to serve as AATG Massachusetts Chapter president for the last two years. I would like to thank the chapter officers, the members of the executive board, and all other active members for their dedication and hard work that made our efforts for German as a foreign language on the high school and college levels possible. We organized a series of very successful events, among them the German College High School Day and a Total Immersion Weekend for teachers of German. In cooperation with other New England chapters and the Goethe-Institute Boston, we will continue to offer total immersion weekends. We will also organize a series of teacher training workshops in 2000/2001, starting with a pre-conference workshop at the ACTFL conference in Boston.

Strengthening the cooperation of teachers of German on the college and high school levels has been my major goal as president. Only if we start to pool our resources and cross the institutional borders we can prevent German programs from being reduced or even closed down completely. Without strong German programs at the high school level, it will become increasingly difficult for colleges and universities to create enough interest in their German programs. In order to support high schools, the Department of German, Russian and Asian Languages at Tufts University will start a new MAT program in German and offer a ‘culture fair’ for high school students with a strong German component on a yearly basis. We are also working towards a ‘summer institute’ for foreign language instructors. As part of an outreach program to local schools, Tufts MA-candidates will teach a series of introductory sessions to German at Brown School in Somerville. If the program is successful, we hope to offer our services to other schools.

As part of my wish list for the coming years I would hope for a stronger commitment by college level teachers of German to the work of the AATG Massachusetts. If we all pull in the same direction, it should be possible to remove German from the institutional ‘endangered species list.’

I look forward to another successful year for our chapter,

Bernhard Martin
Department of German, Russian and Asian Languages and Literature
Tufts University, Medford, MA

This ACTFL Pre-Convention German Immersion Workshop is co-sponsored by the AATG Massachusetts Chapter and the Massachusetts Foreign Language Association (MaFLA).

Cost: $75 – includes lunch at the Harvard Faculty Club and materials

Space is limited! Please sign up soon!

Complete the information on the next page and mail with your $75.00 check (made out to MaFLA) to:

Deborah Fernald Roberts
c/o Targeted Marketing
58 Main Street
Sturbridge, MA 01566

(this registration form also available online--> http://www.mafla.org/forms/preconform.htm)
 

Name:___________________________________________________________ (Last name) (First name)
 

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Member of (please check): AATG_________MaFLA__________ACTFL__________

No PO’s accepted. No refunds. A minimum of 10 participants is required for the German Workshop.

Bar Harbor – great company, great scenery, great teaching tips, great food, und alles auf Deutsch. If you have never been to the Deutsche Woche in Bar Harbor, Maine, you should really consider it!

This year’s program was led by Jo Sanders, legendary teacher from Alaska. From Monday through Thursday Jo showed us how to do thematic planning, how to work effectively with large groups of students, how to motivate students, how to appeal to students’ multiple intelligences, and how to share one’s own interests and joy with students. And all this was accomplished with an eye on the Standards, too. Jo showed us her unit on Alaska flora and fauna and kept us laughing and working. We then broke into two working teams and developed our own units on the Olympics and on train travel. All of us went home with materials that were eminently useable and with loads of ideas and renewed enthusiasm. On Friday Doris Demmel of the Goethe Institute Boston showed us her video series "Impressionen aus Deutschland," developed while she was at the Goethe Institute in Moscow.

Other highlights of our time together were the annual swap shop of teaching ideas, Peter Nutting’s presentation of an interesting new video series called "Susanne," and lots of music and sharing. Our Friday night farewell party featured original songs and games, which were a testament to the tremendous creativity the participants brought to the week.

Special thanks go to Peter Nutting who organizes the program every year. Sign up early because all of us from this year’s group want to come again next year!

The book Children and Languages: Making the Match arrives; landing dutifully in my suitcase for my one month stay in Germany. That fat, well-organized info-packet for Kinder Lernen Deutsch in Neuengland lands on my desk, to be gathered up for the week-long seminar, beginning two days after my return. I think, am I out of my mind? Scheduling myself for a week of professional development? I start reading – the book is a treasure trove of densely packed information, rich in techniques, theory and praxis oriented tips. So far, so good.

Friday finally arrives. Do I skip the Kennenlernenspiele and catch up from jet lag? Against the protests of my body clock, I schlepp myself there. Led by Irmgard Hicks of the Goethe Institute I learn several new activities that I will use when I start at Pentucket Regional HS and at the Boston Sonnabend Schule. I furiously scribble notes; I will be scribbling notes for eight days, collecting tips and ideas and songs…and I will laugh and play.

Over the next week we, 15 teachers of German from Texas to Boston, spoke German, sang songs, laughed, and stayed up very late, while learning how to weave together theories of second language acquisition into the techniques of thematic planning, combined with the challenges of different learning styles and abilities into the national standards to create a fun, interesting, and challenging tapestry of lesson for our test subjects (local children, K-8). Our test students learn German for 90 minutes, and have only four lessons. My team got 7 year olds. "O, horror" I thought, but it worked. They had fun, we had fun, and we all learned.

The daily methods class, taught by former MaFLA Board member Susan Thorne, opened with techniques and songs to teach a wide variety of students, all based on current standards for language teaching and acquisition. The demonstration classes showed us how to incorporate complex linguistic information and structures into exciting and fun activities. Our teacher, Hildegard Merkle, AATG Outstanding German Educator, is amazing. I was continually astounded at the richness of language she was presenting to the children and they were actually producing – with no drudgery, and little prompting and no worksheets! My one regret is not being able to observe her teaching for a month or maybe more.

After dinner, we enjoyed delightful, lively cultural segments, organized by Irmgard Hicks. The presentations of culture, poetry and rhymes through activities, games and props gave us wonderful new approaches to some traditional materials and introduced us to some fresh contemporary literature – an excellent break before we began the next day’s lesson plans.

Many workshops give you tips and tricks for theoretical students, but nothing drives home the information like immediate application and results, as most of us teachers already know. The staff was available to observe us, give tips and hints, share their experience, enthusiasm and resources. We got immediate application.

The dorm we shared was spotless and thoughtfully arranged, right down to the flowers that Dr. Joan Murray, Seminar Coordinator, placed in each of our rooms. She also arranged access to numerous resources for our lesson plan preparations. The campus staff was friendly and always hilfsbereit, with a welcoming smile and a helping hand.

On the beautiful campus of Regis College, we ate, planned, learned, laughed, team taught, made friends and contacts, and sometimes slept. I wish I had had these techniques for my first few years of teaching, but I am looking forward to using my new skills in my first year at Pentucket Regional High School and with my Saturday School students. Did I feel silly at first, sitting on the floor, making funny noises? Yes. Will this motivate my students at the high school? Definitely. Did this give me something fresh to bring into the classroom? Yes. Kinder Lernen Deutsch has helped me rejuvenate my techniques in the classroom. I also hope it helps me infect my students with the same pleasure and joy I experienced when I began learning German.

Charlotte Sanford
Boston Sonnabend Schule
Pentucket Regional High School

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Inge Buerger To Receive National Award At ACTFL

Congratulations to AATG Massachusetts Chapter Past President, MaFLA Board Member and Pentucket Regional High School German teacher Inge Buerger, who will receive the 2000 Goethe-Institut Certificate of Merit for outstanding achievements in furthering the teaching of German in the United States. The award will be presented to approximately ten AATG members nationwide at the AATG Annual Meeting and Awards Presentation in Boston on Friday, November 17, 12:30 – 2:30 PM Inge, wir gratulieren! 

Marnie Ketcham, German instructor and consultant at Osram-Sylvania in Danvers, MA, participated in the Goethe-Institut sponsored seminar on Business German July 16-29 in Freiburg, Germany. The participants were from Poland, Hungary, Switzerland, the United States and Turkey. In addition to the hard work and intensive program, the group was able to view the Tour de France as it came right through their part of Freiburg.

Virginia Powell, German teacher at Wachusett Regional HS in Holden, MA, spent two weeks in Cologne, Germany, with German teachers from twenty countries around the world. Theme of this year’s seminar was "German Art and Culture", an event sponsored by the Goethe-Institut.

Cherie Baggs, German instructor at WPI in Worcester, MA, was among seventeen American high school and college teachers who attended the AATG/Goethe-Institut seminar in Schwäbisch-Hall entitled "Germany in Europe – Europe in Germany" July 3-16. The seminar focused on issues relating to the European Union; the new currency unit; student and career exchange programs; questions of cultural identity and difference; language issues within parliament, among other political and social issues. The group visited schools and workplaces, participated in many cultural programs, including a day in Strasbourg to visit the European Parliament and a day in Stuttgart to visit the Franz Marc exhibit in the Staatsgalerie and the European Center. There were daily opportunities to meet and interact with Germans / Europeans. 

AATG Awards Presentation and Meeting – Friday, November 17 – 12:30-2:30 PM

Barton Byg, "Teaching about East Germany through its Popular Film & Music" on Sunday afternoon and Business German Workshop on Monday – 9:00-4:00 PM

Chapter Presidents’ Assembly – Thursday, November 16 – 3:00-7:00 PM including a discussion on "How To Run A Successful Local AATG Chapter Massachusetts: A Model" (Cherie Baggs, Inge Buerger, Donna Van Handle)

Donna Van Handle, National AATG Vice President, "Concerns of the Profession-Technology" – Saturday, November 18 – 8:30 AM

European Community, Austria &Germany (Jutta Arend) – sample German session

Focus Sessions and German Strands (Elementary School & Middle School; Business German; Diversity; German & Austrian Literature; Film)

Goethe Institut Reception – Friday, November 17 – 7:30-10:00 PM and GAPP session (Inge Buerger)

Holger Teschke, Berlin, to read from his novel in progress – Friday, November 17 – 7:30-10:00 PM

Immersion Workshop for German – Wednesday, November 15 – 9:00 AM-3:00 PM
Joint Collaboration – ACTFL / AATG / MaFLA / AATI / CLTA / NCJLT
Kunst im Unterricht on Wednesday – Busch Reisinger Museum and Harvard Faculty Club - (Katharina von Hammerstein, Anneliese Harding, Susan Thorne Gagnon, Ron Salter)

Literaturabend sponsored by the Austrian Cultural Institute – Saturday, November 18 – 7:30-10:00 PM

MaFLA sponsored events (Immersion & Luncheon with 6th Annual Massachusetts Outstanding German Educator of the Year Award) – Register online@mafla.org

Networking – meet colleagues from around the country – swap and share!

On-site Registration – beginning on Thursday, November 16 – 11:00 AM-7:00 PM

Pre and Post Conference Workshops W13/W14/W15/W26/W27W28 German specific – Thursday, November 16 –1:00-4:00 PM & Sunday, November 19 –2:30-5:30 PM

Quality and Quantity of Sessions – the Best and the Most!
Registration Deadline – October 10, 2000
Sessions – over 400 presented by the foremost authorities in their field
Theme – Language Learners in the 21st Century–Every One, Every Day, Every Where
Updates –assessment/standards/methods/policy/learner variables/research

Virtual Business German: The Internet and Distance Learning – sample German session

Web sites – http://www.aatg.org  OR  http://www.actfl.org

Xeroxed attendance certificates for MaFLA members

Yes – I will join AATG and MaFLA and ACTFL in Boston!

Zenith – ACTFL/AATG/MaFLA 2000 will be the "high point" of your professional year!

This workshop combines grammar and drama-pedagogy. Through drama techniques and theater, grammar phenomena will be experienced in a new way. Together we’ll explore new ways of teaching grammar. Workshop for high school teachers.

It’s neither designer foods nor a new TV show, but something rectangular, useful and good: new textbooks for teaching German. They feature topics that are of particular interest to younger learners, such as fashion, sports, leisure time and youth jargon. If you want to try out selected exercises or texts from one of these textbooks, this seminar offers an excellent opportunity to become acquainted with them and to incorporate them into your lesson plan. Workshop for high school teachers.

Germany is more than Oktoberfest. Come see and take a look at modern life in different parts of Germany. We will treat you to a program that includes short video presentations, games and a quiz with prizes.

Listening to German, singing German songs, understanding easy texts – simply have your students participate, when Uwe Kind from New York comes to Boston. The popular entertainer for German as a Foreign Language was a guest on the Tonight Show, Late Night with David Letterman and Real People. We invite all Middle and High School kids with their teachers for this entertaining and instructive morning. The fun will accompany your students all the way home and into the classroom!

2000/2001 CHAPTER DUES

All German teachers (primary, secondary, college & university) are encouraged to become involved with the Massachusetts Chapter of the AATG. In addition to the benefits of being an AATG member nationwide, this chapter offers regional activities: workshops where colleagues may share and learn from each other; the AATG testing program; the awards banquet for regional winners; and this newsletter to keep participants informed of events throughout the year. $5 per year provides some of the funding for these activities. Your contribution this year will help the chapter to contribute to the national AATG Endowed Scholarship Fund For Study Abroad.
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Send to: Monika Whipple, Treasurer, 96 S. Harbor Road, Townsend, MA 01469

$5 check payable to AATG - Massachusetts Chapter
 
 

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