It seems that the German tradition of counting down the 24 days of December to Christmas Eve has take hold not only in the supermarkets here in the U.S., but also on the web. While 10 years ago, I had family send over those often chocolate-filled, visually appealing calendars, they are now everywhere. Internet versions […]
That’s what some of my colleagues asked me after the summer was over and the fall semester had started again. I gave most of them the “elevator version” answer: better than I thought, surprisingly well, a few tweaks are necessary… And indeed, with all the anxiety and self-doubt beforehand, I was pleasantly surprised about the […]
Liebe Kollegen, ich wäre daran interessiert zu erfahren, inwieweit der Nationalsozialismus und der Holocaust eine Rolle in Ihrem Landeskundeunterricht (Geschichtslektion?) spielen. Ich unterrichte an einer Uni in den USA sowohl Deutsch (A1-C1) als auch Germanistik (Literatur- und Kulturgeschichte). Unser Germanistik-Programm schließt auch die Vermittlung von Literatur zum Holocaust (z.B. Paul Celan) als theoretische Ansätze zur […]
Dear colleagues, I would be interested to learn to what extent National Socialism and the Holocaust play a role in your high school German classroom (Landeskunde)? I teach at a university in the United States both German (Beginners to Advanced) and German (literarture and cultural history ) . Our German program includes the teaching of […]
July 24 came faster than I thought. Today, my first online course The Holocaust and the Humanities in the 21st Century starts. While the course uses mainly Canvas, our LMS, as platform, students will use blogs for reflection and responses. You can follow the class blog and see the feeds.
In chapter 2, Weller makes the argument that our students have changed and provides data on how much time today’s students read in comparison to play online and watch TV. He quotes Oblinger (2005) and Grunwald (2003) that found that students want from the Internet mostly “new information’ and “learn more or learn better.” I find that […]
I am sitting in a two-day workshop on freshman seminars (FSEM). Together with ca. 45 other colleagues, some of whom have taught or will teach a FSEM , we are discussing ways to design a successful FSEM. In our first sessions, we learn about the freshman and what they know, can do, and expect. Martha […]
Meine Lieblingsstadt in Deutschland sind eigentlich drei Staedte: Zunaechst einmal Gotha, meine Heimatstadt. Man kann Bilder hier rechts sehen. Sie hat das groesste Barockschloss in Deutschland. Ich habe da einige Jahre lang jeden Sommer Fuehrungen gemacht. Die Altstadt ist auch sehr schoen. Leider hat man einen grossen Teil der Altstadt in den fruehen 1980er Jahren […]
Vielleicht kennen Sie die Geschichte über Ernest Hemingway. Jemand forderte ihn heraus, dass er keine Lebensgeschichte in 6 Worten schreiben könnte. Hemingways Antwort: For sale: Baby shoes, never worn Versuchen Sie es mal auf Deutsch. Hier sind zwei Beispiele von mir: 1. Der Sinn des Lebens: glücklich sein. 2. Meine Lebensgeschichte: leben und leben lassen.