This article describes a newly designed upper division German language course, "Contemporary Germany: Food, Energy Politics," and two sampling methods of assessment for measuring parallel gains in German skills and sustainable development (SD) thinking. Second Language Acquisition (SLA) informed course design, key assignments, and…

This essay offers some direction for greater integration of Austria and Switzerland into every level of the German language and culture curriculum. By excavating a number of now nearly forgotten intercultural connections between these alpine countries and the U.S., it is possible to present a more complete and complex picture of German-speaking…

The MLA Report on "Foreign Languages and Higher Education: New Structures for a Changed World" has been criticized for focusing its proposals on large German programs. This article attempts to show how some of its recommendations can also be implemented in smaller language programs. These programs exist within a network of relations to other…

This article focuses on the benefits of using short film in the German classroom at the secondary or post-secondary level. The article addresses a number of characteristics of short films that lend themselves well to the classroom, including their abbreviated length, artistic innovation, and compact storytelling. In addition to discussing specific…

The Kinder lernen Deutsch Committee (KLD) is a standing committee of the AATG that has existed since 1987 and that was originally charged to support the advocacy of German in grades K-8. With generous funding by the Standige Arbeitsgruppe Deutsch als Fremdsprache (StADaF) from the German government and the Goethe-Institut, the Kinder lernen…

Based on practical experience in a new online beginning German course sequence, the author of this essay argues that contemporary cultural developments associated with the emergence of new technologies, particularly computer-assisted language learning, provide new opportunities to theorize German Studies curricula from the beginning level onward.…

There has been a significant paradigm shift in foreign language pedagogy from measuring language achievement to measuring proficiency. The ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines (1986) sought to reach consensus about describing and measuring language abilities. With the widespread recognition of these Guidelines have come far-reaching changes in our…

Responding to the gap between language and content that prevails in most foreign language departments, discusses the reconceptualization of third-year German in the curricular reform at Georgetown University. Comments on the concept of "task" that guided the reform and outlines the design of the new advanced course, discusses one course module in…

Summarizes the assumptions and curricular progression of the traditional German program and elaborates a possible alternative curriculum recently instituted at Transylvania University that hopes to move undergraduate German instruction in a different direction. (Author/VWL)

Traces the development of innovations and renovations in the graduate and undergraduate German-studies program at Stanford University. Examines the conceptual framework within which the faculty was operating, discusses the practicalities and specifics of three experimental approaches within the German-studies undergraduate curriculum, and…

The processing of Germany's Nazi past with the help of exile and holocaust literature has already been an important component of the teaching of literature in the schools of the Federal Republic of Germany for some time. This article analyzes an exemplary German curriculum for the Baden-Wuerttemberg gymnasium level. (DMK)

Discusses the challenges and rewards of incorporating a course on the literature of the Holocaust into the undergraduate German curriculum. Focuses on informing interested faculty members of the issues involved in organizing such a course and on providing a syllabus and bibliography. A syllabus on the literature of the Holocaust is appended. (12…

Information is provided for German teachers on the main aspects of the European Community (EC), and on how to integrate the EC into the classroom. The history of the EC is outlined, and political and economic features are highlighted. (Author/VWL)

Suggests the following methods for improving university-level German language education curricula: reduce skill-development time through immersion programs, adopt Zertifikat Deutsch als Fremdsprache as the proficiency standard for advanced students, and include literature from a variety of liberal arts disciplines in the reading materials for…