ALD Making Local Connections

By Karen Fowdy. (Additional input: John Long and Janice Mitchell)

Before teaching the unit, it is vital that the teacher take the first step in “connections” by becoming informed about the histories of the underrepresented group(s), both in the U.S. and in the German speaking cultures. Without this background, it is difficult to accurately address the Standards of Comparisons (Standard 4.2: Students demonstrate understanding of the concept of culture through comparisons of the cultures studied and their own). In addition to the resources in this Guide, the teacher can find a wealth of information on the Alle lernen Deutsch website, including an extensive bibliography and contact information for individuals with whom the teacher can connect and consult.

Connecting with other disciplines: (Standard 3.1 Students reinforce and further their knowledge of other disciplines through the foreign language.) Become familiar with the Content Standards, curricula, and course syllabi of other disciplines in your institution to find ways to support, enrich, and expand the curriculum with resources from German speaking countries.

For example:

Connect with...
…History by expanding the study of World War II to include the situation for Afro-Germans, Sinti, Roma, and other underrepresented groups, in addition to the persecution of the Jewish people in the Third Reich
…English by becoming a resource to teachers of World or European Literature or Literature of Minorities classes, by recommending or co-teaching materials about multicultural German speaking groups. Use resources from this website (essays, personal stories, movies, books, Internet resources) to expand the scope of the information available to your colleagues.
…Art and Music by sharing background and examples of work by multicultural artists from German cultures.
…Business classes by having German students create and share “culture capsules” that demonstrate the importance of understanding other cultures in the global economy. Include the multicultural nature of the German culture in the presentation.
…other classrooms around the world through programs such as iEARN (www.iEarn.org) to work on intercultural, interdisciplinary projects.

Within your own German curriculum:

Does your curriculum reflect the multicultural nature of the German speaking countries? Look for ways to address the Culture Standard more accurately by adding thematic units that address the underrepresented groups and their histories in German speaking countries. Update and enrich the Culture (Products and Practices) Standards in your curriculum units to include examples of multicultural Germany. Check the resource list in this guide and on the Alle lernen Deutsch website for background information, movies, posters, music, essays, personal stories, and internet resources.

Examples:

  • The posters and visuals displayed in your room should reflect the multicultural faces of German speaking countries.
  • Use music and lyrics by popular current German multicultural groups (like Afrob, Brother’s Keepers, Sister’s Keepers, Xavier Naidoo, Joy Denalane, Tarkan, Aziza A, or Mokka) as resources for thematic units in your curriculum.
  • Display student work from presentational performance tasks done for multicultural units. If you teach the unit from the ALD website about the African Diaspora in Germany, display the student work in the school library or display case during Black History month, or as a special exhibit during the year.
  • During international fairs, parent evenings, etc. present the multicultural face of German culture through your displays and activities throughout the year.

Connecting with the Community
(Standard 5.1 Students use the language both within and beyond the school setting.)

Find and incorporate resources in your community to connect to the history of the underrepresented groups in your area and in the German speaking cultures.

  • Invite guest speakers to your classroom. Locate individuals who have a connection to the underrepresented groups in the German speaking countries by contacting a nearby university, Ethnic heritage group, or one of the consultants listed at the Alle lernen Deutsch website.
  • Contact the German Heritage groups in your area to find historical connections to underrepresented groups (e.g. German immigrants were influential in abolitionist movements, including the Underground Railroad. What roles did these immigrants play in the history of the underrepresented groups your area?)
  • If you are in a school that has a homogeneous study body, connect with the German teacher in a school that has a more diverse population. Create a pen pal, e-pal, or teacher exchange with German as your common bond.
  • Create an oral, video, or written history of German-speaking immigrants in your area by organizing and facilitating interviews by your students.
  • Outreach to other schools—if your students work with younger students (university to secondary or secondary students to middle and elementary schools), seek opportunities to share the multicultural nature of the German culture with the students and the German studies faculty.
  • Take a field trip, using the “city or area as text and resource.” Focus on connections between the history of German immigrants and the history of underrepresented ethnic groups in the U.S. (For example: Contact the Goethe Institute in Washington D.C. for information about the Cultural Heritage Trail Series: Germans and Abolition in Washington, D.C.)
  • Consider incorporating Service Learning into your German curriculum. Explore the Community Research and Learning Network (www.coralnetwork.org) for sample programs.

Active Web Resources
By Elisabeth Collins, Margaret Hampton, Ph.D., and Annette Loomis

Internships

These organizations located in the D.C. area offer internships to college students. Students need a good command of German. Post Secondary.

Study Abroad Scholarships for Minority Students Secondary

  • Young Leaders Fellowship
    Full Scholarships for African-American students for a year-long program in Germany
    www.YFU-USA.org
  • YFU Stiftung Scholarship
    Full year and semester scholarships open to U.S. minority high school students
    www.YFU-USA.org
  • YFU Stipendium Program to Germany
    Full year or semester stipend program to Germany for U.S. high school students
    www.YFU-USA.org
  • Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange Program
    Full scholarship for study abroad in Germany
    http://www.usagermanyscholarship.org

Post-Secondary

Incorporating Service-Learning into the German Curriculum

Making Connections with the Greater Community At the Local Level

Regional

Global

Germany

Africa

Educator Resources and Support

By Janice D. M. Mitchell, Ed.D.

Resource #1: "Using the City or Town as Text and Resource"

Region: Washington, D. C.
Language(s): English and beginning level German
Time required: A full day 8:30-5 p.m. *( 7 pm )
Target audience: Educators, secondary students, parents, underrepresented student groups
Additional resources: Transportation to a central site from which to branch out in a specific connected area which can be reached by walking, if possible. (The use of the Gallaudet University shuttle to the main train station, Union Station, the focal meeting point for the walking tour experience.)

Purpose: The City as Text and Resource Walking Tour in Washington, D. C. was developed and arranged by the author, a German professor who is a native Washingtonian. Contacts were made with the following city resources:

  • The Goethe-Institut
    - Two-hour Introduction and Walking Tour that links the early Germans with abolition and the architecture of very important historical educational institutions (The Franklin School and the Charles Sumner School) and the history of slavery and segregation of the nation's capital; and churches in the predominately African American nation's capital. (Website link: http://www.goethe.de)
    -A movie-showing of recent filming by diverse directors about diverse topics on German multiculturalism
    - A representative to talk to the group about resources and new programs
  • The Café Mozart-----Lunch at one of the city's oldest German-owned restaurants in the heart of downtown.
  • The CoRAL Network---An educational research and learning network that focuses on social justice through community-based research and learning in all disciplines at the postsecondary level, but with connections to those working to bridge educational gaps through reciprocal research and service learning projects within the city. (There are several around the country: Website link: http://www.coralnetwork.org) The staff is housed in the very historical "M" Street Perry School where W. E. Dubois once taught.
  • The Cafe Berlin-German Restaurant for dinner*
  • Return to Union Station, take the Shuttle back to the University

Resource #2. A dessert and coffee hour.

Region: Washington, D. C.
Languages: English or German
Time required: 20-25 minutes
Target audience: Adults and postsecondary and high school seniors

A twenty-five minute evening reading for ALD members of "Communist Ghosts" in English, by Mrs. Lilly Pierce-her story as a Romanian-German woman escaping to freedom amidst abuse, and who later risked her life to bring her mother and grandmother to Germany and the U.S. to freedom. Mrs. Pierce lives in the D.C. area with her husband and was asked to come as a 'surprise' guest to share her story which is currently being translated into Romanian.

Resource #3.

Region: Washington, D.C.
Languages: English
Time requirement: 90 minutes
Target Audience: Educators and administrators of study abroad programs

The German Embassy. A representative visited for 90 minutes to share information as to study abroad opportunities for students from underrepresented groups and the push and support for more attention to the study of world languages and cultures in the U.S.

Try it!

Such organizations exist and such interesting people live around us all; we must search them out and share them with our students and colleagues. The coffee was from the faculty lounge; the cookies from a great bakery and the Strudel-a surprise from Mrs. Pierce's mother. She has taught both for the Goethe Institute and a Defense group at the University of Maryland. We met her quite by accident and she graciously accepted to do this. We were very grateful and enlightened. The others were organizations in the area who were eager to participate in this learning activity to broaden our own thinking about our work and develop a resource guide for your use in our effort to educate our current student body and increase our German language class enrollments with more diverse- heritage students.

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