2011 Chapter Reports Midwest Region - American Association of ...

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Also discussed was hosting German students from abroad and using them as resources to our learners of German in the schools and community. Increasing awareness around the state to promote the hosting of German exchange students was considered. German education has suffered a few blows in the wake of declining education funding at the state level. One casualty is the German program at Central High School in Aberdeen. Northern State University is increasing access to online German courses in response, but this is not a real answer to the lack of a German teacher at the high school. Northern will begin offering its German Minor online in an effort to increase access to college‐level German instruction statewide. Efforts to buck the troubling trend of program loss are needed. On the positive side, Northern has emulated work in the area of after‐school language programs that has taken place in Brookings, SD. Aberdeen now also has an after‐school language program that is being held on the Northern State campus. Currently ten children are learning German after school in this relatively new program, which also offers instruction in Spanish, French, Chinese, and Russian. Other efforts to promote German around the state are taking place. International festivals are occurring on college campuses on both sides of the State and they actively involve high school students in German. Also, Northern State University is growing its special archives collection of Germans‐from‐Russian heritage documents and involving students in their transcription, translation, and dissemination via the Internet. The Anne Roesch Larson document collection can be viewed and studied at this link: http://digitalcollections.northern.edu/cdm4/browse.php?CISOROOT=%2Fsdgfr Lastly, new officers were elected for the SD AATG: Ginny Lewis of Northern State University will serve as President, and Michelle Ortmeier of Lincoln High School, Sioux Falls, will serve as Treasurer. Many, many thanks to Elke Kuegle and Jason Owens for their past service! And thanks also to Carol Leibiger, who will continue on as our Testing Chair. The next SD AATG meeting and South Dakota World Language Conference will take place in Pierre, SD, in October 2012. Submitted by: Ginny Lewis, Chapter President 060 Wisconsin January Statewide nearly 900 students of German competed in the AATG National Exam and 440 students contributed essays for the Deutscher Sprach‐ und Schulverein essay competition. The awards presentation to winners of the AATG and DSSV exams was held May 1 at Marquette University HS; Gina Richter from Wauwatosa West High School (DSSV Trip Award) and Alexander Feuling from Muskego High School (AATG Award) Mukwonago.. The award presenters were chapter past‐president John Pustejovsky from Marquette University together with the chapter testing chair, Michael Koch of Carroll University. Wisconsin is grateful to the DSSV for its generous support of German programs throughout the state. Regular postings were made during the year by the chapter president, beginning in January. In these postings AATG members were encouraged to propose a workshop or 1‐hour session on any aspect of their teaching experience for the 2011 WAFLT conference in November in
Appleton. Solicitations for immersion workshops, presenters and sessions for the Central States Conference, being held in Milwaukee during March 2012 began this month. Upcoming events, opportunities for professional development and student study abroad offerings were also announced. Additionally, updates were made throughout the year to our chapter’s web site http://wisconsin.aatg.org/Home.html February The 2011 Northern Illinois/Wisconsin Immersion Weekend entitled, “Lyrik und Musik: Fantasiereicher und erfolgreicher Unterricht” featured Christian Weirich, aka Doppel‐U. Christian demonstrated how classical poetry set to the beat and rhythm of rap music can aid students understanding of lyrics and text which are over 200 years old and relate their messages and application in today’s society. Held February 18‐20 at Camp Wonderland, the weekend was a great success. Fifty teachers and participants attended. Funding was provided by the Goethe Institut, the two sponsoring chapters, and participant fees. UWSP held its first ever regional speaking contest on Saturday, February 19 th . A dozen students participated at the event. UWSP plans to continue hosting this regional speaking contest for students in Central Wisconsin in 2012 and is hoping for greater participation. (Contact : Thomas Leek Thomas.Leek@uwsp.edu) Chapter Vice‐President attended the February 12 th WAFLT Winter Workshop Get Your “A” Game Together: Advocacy, Assessment and Articulation for the 21 st Century at UW‐Milwaukee. The first of three Doppel‐U concerts was held on February 28 th at Nicolet High School with an attendance of nearly 400 students. March The next two Doppel‐U concerts were held on March 1 st at the Milwaukee School of Languages and on March 3 rd at Aschwaubenon High School (Green Bay are). Approximately 600 middle and high school students attended concerts at these two sites. The 2 nd regional German pronunciation contest was held at Rufus King High School in Milwaukee (Contact Sabine Beirold, sabinebeirold@yahoo.com). Top winners moved on to the state contest, held on Saturday,April 2 nd at Marquette University. Organization was superb, thanks to the efforts of Sabine Beirold (Rufus King) and Mark Wagner (Nicolet), with support from a great team of judges. Contest materials are always posted at the following website: http://www.germanatking.com/speakingcontest/ UW‐Whitewater’s seventh annual Language Day took place on Friday, March 11 th 2011. Activities included T‐shirt design, posters, poetry recitation, conversation, videos, and skits. Foreign films, campus tours and culturally specific foods were also available for the participants. Information (including competition rules, etc.) is regularly posted at: http://facstaff.uww.edu/langem/languageday.html April
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