I am professor of German and in charge
of the German sections at McDaniel
College where I teach language,
literature, culture, and business German classes. I am also the academic advisor
of the German
Club and Suite, and was the advisor of the Multicultural Student Association (MSA) at the college for 11 years.
Currently, I serve as the President of the American Association of Teachers of German (AATG). I am also involved in may organizations and serve on various boards, among others on the Board of Directors of the German Society of Maryland. I served on the Board of Directors of the Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (NECTFL) and was President of the Maryland Foreign Language Association (MFLA) and the Maryland/ DC Metro Chapter of the AATG.
My
teaching and research interests are in the fields of: Innovative Teaching
Methodologies, Technology in the Classroom, Proverbs and Idioms, "Migrantenliteratur",
German Women Writers, and German Novellas. For the last 20 years I have offered numerous workshops on "Musik im Deutschunterricht," "Sprichwörter und Redensarten im Deutschunterricht," "Von Grimm bis Rammstein: Märchen im Deutschunterricht." My most recent book on the music of the Wise Guys entitled "Wie Guys. Die Lieder der Band im Unterricht Deutsch als Fremdsprache" was publishedin July 2013 in the Cornelsen Verlag in Germany. In 2012, my colleague, Ingrid Zeller from Northwestern University and I published a small book on "Kurzfilm. German Short Films and Activities Manual" in Heinle & Heinle. In honor of Helene Zimmer-Loew, long time and wonderful Executive Director of the AATG, I published a book entitled "Musik im Deutschunterricht: Der gezielte Einsatz." The book includes complete lesson plans for 15 German songs from Rolf Zuckowski, Bettina Wegner, Die Prinzen, Wise Guys and Rammstein, and can be purchased from the AATG-Store. Currently I am working on a book about "Rammstein im Deutscnunterricht."
In the last 15 years I received various awards:
- March 2010: The Carroll County Human Relations Commission Award recognizing area advocates of human rights and intercultural understanding.
- October 2009: Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Bundesverdienstkreuz am Bande, in Anerkennung der um die Bundesrepublik Deutschland erworbenen Besonderen Verdienste
- November 2009: Outstanding German Educator of the Year (College-University Level) by the AATG
- October 2007: Semi-finalist for the Maryland Language Teacher of the Year of the Maryland Foreign Language Association (MFLA).
- April 2007: "Ira Zepp Distinguished
Teaching Award" at
McDaniel College
- November 2003: The AATG Merit Award from the Maryland
and Metro DC
chapter of the American Association of Teachers
of German (AATG)
- May 2003: Most Valued Professor (MVP)
of the year by the Office of Multicultural
Services and various multicultural
clubs at McDaniel College.
- November 2000: The Certificate
of Merit from the Goethe-Institut
in the United States and the American Association
of Teachers of German (AATG) for outstanding achievements in furthering and
encouraging the study of German language and culture
in the USA
- May 1999: The
Federal Republic of Germany Friendship Award by the ambassador of the Federal Republic of
Germany, Dr. Jürgen Chrobog,
- In September 2007, McDaniel College and the Department of Foreign Languages each received the the AATG Merit Award from the Maryland
and Metro DC
chapter of the American Association of Teachers
of German (AATG) for the college's and the department's support of various conferences, immersion weekends, GAD and other activities and programs organized by the chapter and the Goethe-Institut Washington.
For the last 20 years I have offered numerou workshops at various immersion weekendsfor AATG Chapters in the USA (Alaska, California, Florida, Kansas, Kentucky, Indiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachussetts, Michigan, New Jersy, New York, Northern Illinois, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin, but also in Canada, Germany and Sweden.
Each November and for the last years, I have attended the annual convention
of ACTFL (American
Council on Teaching Foreign Languages) and offered pre-conference workshops on various topics:
- "Making connections with popular music" and "Meilensteine Berliner Geschichte mit Musikvideos" (Orlando 2013)
- "Engaging Students with Music" -Workshop with Ingrid Zeller and Charles James (Philadelphia 2012)
- "'Der goldene Schlüssel' der Brüder Grimm: Kreativer Schreib- und Zeichenanlass" (Denver 2011)
- "21st Century Technology in Language Instruction" (Boston 2010)
- "Tokio Hotel im deutschunterricht" (San Diego, 2009)
- "Rammstein im Deutschunterricht" (San Antonio, 2007)
- "Berlin
im Lied" (Nashville, 2006)
- "Wise Guys im Deutschunterricht" (Philadelphia, 2003)
In addition I gave a few presentations on:
- "Multicultural Music from Germany"
- "Currywurst oder Döner: Ist das eine Berliner Frage?"
- "Deutschlandreise mit den neuen Stars der Musikszene"
- "Germanophone Literature: Arab-German - An Oxymoron No More"
- "Illustarting, Performong and Digitizing "Der Erlkönig" by Goethe"
- "Arab-German
Writers"
- "Rap
Music and Fairy Tales"
- "Making your own music videos in the foreign language classroom"
- "Homodigitalis
and iPodomeniacs:
Student-Produced Film Projects," and more.
At the annual convention of NECTFL (The
North East
Conference
of the Teaching of Foreign Languages) I
gave various workshops and sessions on "How to make your own Muisc Videos," "Märchen im Deutschnunterricht," "ITube, YouTube, WeAllTube: YouTube and TeacherTube in Language Instruction," "Islam and Muslims
in Europe," "Islam in German-speaking Countries," "Rammstein in the German
Classroom," and more.
Here are some other presentations I have given in the last few years:
- At the 2010 NEMLA (Northeast Modern Language Association) in Montreal, I read a paper on "Masters Reinterpreted: Goethe, the Grimms and Rammstein."
- At the 2009 Internationaler Deutschleherer Tagung
(IDT) (International German
Teachers
Conference, which takes place every 4 years, I gave two presenattion on "Rammstein
im Deutschunterricht" and "From Leni Riefenstahl bis Rammstein: Nazi Ästhetik in Film und Musik"
- In October 2007, I was invited by the Goethe-Institute Stockholm to give 3 workshops for German teachers on "The Wise Guys and Rammstein im Deutschunterricht."
- At the end of October 2007, I was invited to give two workshops at the 41 annual conference of the Massachussets Foreign Language Association (MaFLA) on "Viele Vehikel führen nach Rom - Sprich wörter und Redensarten im Deutschunterricht" and on "Islam and Muslims in Europe." In addition I offered a session on "A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words - Graffiti and Photocollages in the Foreign Language Classroom."
- In the summer of 2006, I taught the Deutsche Woche in Bar
Harbor. The topic of the week long seminar was "Musik
und
Technologie
im Deutschunterricht."
- In November 2005, I was the chair of the local Host Committe for the annual ACTFL convention in Blatimore. We organized and offered various sessions and a pre-conference workshops that were sponored by the Maryland Foreign Language Association, of which I was president from 2004-2006.
- At the 2005 Internationaler Deutschleherer Tagung
(IDT) (International German
Teachers
Conference, which takes place every 4 years, I gave a presenattion on "Wise
Guys
in the German Classroom."
- At
the
2005
annual
conference
of
the German
Studies Association in Milwaukee, WI, I read a paper on "Arab-German
Writers
in the German Classroom."
- At the 2004 annual conventions of ACTFL and NECTFL I
gave various presentations and at the
annual
convention
of
the North East MLA (NEMLA) in Pittsburgh, PA, in March, 2004, I read a paper
on "From
Sheherazade
to Schami: Storytelling and Therapy."
- At
the
2001 annual
convention
of
the German Studies Association (GSA)
in Washington, DC I gave a talk on "The Illusive Symbolism
of
the
Bindestrich:
Arab-German Writers, Storytellers, Artists, and Musicians".
- At various annual conventions of ACTFL (American
Council on Teaching Foreign Languages) were on "Die Wise
Guys und die Prinzen im
Deutschunterricht," (2003) "Die Wise
Guys - Ein freches A-Capella-Quintett aus Köln am Rhein" and
on
"Milestones of German History: Music Videos in the German Classroom", (2001) "Rocking the German Classroom: Der Gezielte Einsatz" (November 1998),
and "On the Air, On the Screen: Radio Shows and Video Productions in the
Classroom" (November 1997).
- In November
2001 at the annual ACTFL convention
in Washington, DC, I gave a presentation on the "Wise
Guys im Deutschunterricht," a German a cappella group from Köln am Rhein. I also was
asked to supply practical exercises for three of their songs which were
included in a special edition of "The
Poet and the Poem," a one-hour radio program featuring the "Wise Guys"
hosted by Grace Cavalieri. The
CD: The Wise Guys - An A Cappella Group from K�ln am Rhein along
with the exercises in PDF-format was published in June 2002 by the Goethe-Institute
Washington and the American Association
of Teachers of German (AATG). In October 2002, the "Wise Guys" came back and gave concert in five US cities and in Montreal. I offered some workshops
either before or after the concerts on how to use the songs of the Wise
Guys in the classroom. In March and July 2001, I also gave two workshops
at Dickinson College and Miami University in Ohio on how to use modern
German music in the classroom.
In the Spring of 2008, an article entitled "Musik im Deutschunterricht - Der gezielte Einsatz" was published in the spring issue of the Die Unterrichtspraxis,
Volume 41, No. 1, Spring 2008. Another article "Viele 'Vehikel' führen
nach Rom: Sprichwöter und Redensarten im Deutschunterricht" was published
in Die Unterrichtspraxis,
Volume 32, No. 1, Spring 1999.
For
the last 10 years, I have also been offering training workshops for German
teachers on how to effectively use German music in the classroom. Here
are some examples:
- Immersion
weekend for German teachers at Dickinson College (March 2001)
- Jump
Start Summer Institute at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio (July 2001)
- Michigan
Foreign Language Association (October 2001)
- ACTFL Annual
Convention in Washington, DC (November 2001)
- Train
the Trainers at the Goethe-Institute Chicago (March 2002)
- At the
Northeast Conference on Teaching Foreign Languages hosted by the Goethe-Institut
New York (April 2002)
- Minnesota
Chapter of the American Association
of Teachers of German (AATG) (April 2002)
- Deutsche
Woche in Bar Harbor, ME (July 2002).
- New Jersey
Chapter of the AATG (September
2002)
- Goethe
Institutes Montreal, New York and Washington, DC (October 2002)
- Indiana
Chapter of the AATG (November
2002)
- Western
Pennsylvania Chapter of the AATG (April
2003)
- Kenntucky Chapter of
the AATG at the annual
conference of the Kentucky World Language Association (KWLA) (September 2003)
- Ohio Chapter of the AATG (November
2004)
- San Diego Chapter of
the AATG (March
2005)
- Indiana Chapter of the AATG (November
2005)
- Southern California Chapter
of the AATG (February
2005)
- San Francisco Goethe
Institute Trainer Netwzwork (March 2006)
- Alaska Chapter
of the AATG (October
2006)
- Maryland Chapter of
the AATG (November
2005)
- Massachusetts Chapter
of the AATG and MaFLA (October 2006 and 2007)
- Multiplikatoren Fortbildung in Arnprior, Canada (August 2008)
- Oklahoma Chapter of the AATG (September 2008)
- Southern Illinois and Wisconsin chapters (Feb. 2009)
- Florida AATG (March 2009)
- Southern Texas AATG (September 2009)
- Sprachbad for Florida AATG (March 2010)
- 25. Deutsche Woche-Kansas AATG (October 2010)
- ACTFL Annual
Convention in Nashville (November 2006) (Berlin im Lied)
- NECTFL Annual
conference in New York City (April 2007) (Islam and Muslims in Europe and Rammstein im Deutschunterricht)
- ACTFL Annual
Convention in Nashville (November 2007) (Rammstein im Deutschunterricht, Germanophone Literature, and Illustrating, Performing and Digitizing Goethe's Erlkönig)
During the January term, I organize study tours to German-speaking
countries. My most recent study tour was in January 2008 entitled Treasures of Central Europe. In
1995, I have started "German-American
Day at McDaniel College," an outreach program for high
and
middle
schools
in
Maryland,
Washington, DC and Northern Virginia.
In 1999, my advanced German students and I started an afternoon German
Enrichment Program at William Winchester Elementary School in Westminster. I love to take students on field trips to the Embassies of Germany, Austria and Switzerland, the Holocaust
Memorial Museum and the Goethe-Institut
Washington .
In Spring 2003, I have
started teaching a class on "The Arab World," which was also offered as part of the Honors Program at McDaniel
College, and since 2008 as part of our Interdisciplinary Sophomore Studies Seminar (SIS).
In the Spring Break 2007, I took a group
of 26 students and community members on a "Study
Tour of Egypt." The trip was so pupular that the Office of Alumni Affairs at McDaniel College asked me to offer the trip for the college's alumni's and their familes again in June 2008.
I served
as the 1st Vice-President of the Maryland
Foreign Language Association (MFLA) for
two years and in October 2004 became its president until 2006. I
served
as President of the Maryland Chapter
of the American Association of German Teachers (AATG) from 1994 until
1999 and as Treasurer on the Executive Board of the Maryland
Foreign Language Association (MFLA) from 1996 until 2000. I organized
and hosted numerous workshops, immersion weekends, and conferences for
German and other foreign language teachers. In December of 1998, we hosted
a leadership conference on "The Future of German language Instruction in
Maryland, Washington, DC and Northern Virginia", in March of 1999 the MFLA
Spring conference on "Technology
in the Foreign Classroom: The Lesson Plan ..." and in March of 2000 "Technology
in the Classroom: Enhancing Teaching and Learning in the New Millennium".
In December 2001, we also offered a German immersion weekend sponsored by the Goethe-Institut
Washington was "WWW
and the German Curriculum: Web Page Design and Learning Scenarios" (December 2001). Another immersion weekend: Bilder
als Sprech- und Schreibanlass im Deutschunterricht" was offered in
September 2000. I also helped organize the third part of the leadership
conference entitled "Future
of German: Extracurricular Enrichment Programs" which took place at
the Goethe Institut InterNationes in Washington, DC on May 12, 2001. |
