Northern Illinois AATG Rundbrief
Spring 2024
Von der Präsidentin
Liebe Kollegen und Kolleginnen,
für die meisten von uns hat der Endspurt des akademischen Jahres begonnen! Ich wünsche euch und euren SchülerInnen und StudentInnen viel Erfolg bei allen Prüfungen zum Ende des Semesters.
Die Northern Illinois war seit unserem letzten Rundbrief wieder einmal sehr aktiv: Es gab das alljährliche Immersionswochenende in New Glarus, den German High School Tag bei UIC (zum ersten Mal seit der Pandemie wieder „live“), den College Immersionstag bei der University of Chicago, und einen super-interessanten Workshop über KI am Goethe Institut.
Die Planung für das nächste Jahr hat auch schon begonnen. Im Oktober werden wir voraussichtlich die Möglichkeit haben, ein Konzert inklusive Workshop des sächsischen Musikers Friedrich Rau für Deutschlernende in High Schools und College anzubieten. Ich hoffe, dass viele Schulen und Universitäten dabei mitmachen werden.
Ohne engagierte Leute, die freiwillig ihre Zeit für diese Projekte aufopfern, könnten diese Veranstaltungen nicht stattfinden. Daher vielen Dank an unsere neu- und wiedergewählten Vorstandsmitglieder:
- Fundraising Chair: Anna Hog
- Immersion weekend & Program Co-Chair: Cherie Lodl, Danielle Katz
- Membership Chair: Rob Ryder
- Secretary: Janet Stock
- Social Media Chair: Ingrid Zeller
Herzlichen Dank auch an Rachel Kern, die in den letzten zwei Jahren hervorragende Arbeit als Program Chair zusammen mit Cherie geleistet hat!
Wir hoffen, dass wir euch bei Veranstaltungen im nächsten Schuljahr sehen werden!
Herzliche Grüße,
Antje Perrin
FORTBILDUNGSANGEBOTE
NoIL AATG Profession Development Grants
The next deadline for applications for the NOIL AATG professional development grants for
members actively teaching and for post-secondary student members is May 15, 2024. Please
see the NoIL AATG website for more information.
Northern Illinois AATG Spring Meeting 2024
It was wonderful to see many AATG colleagues at the Northern Illinois AATG Spring 2024 Meeting and Workshop, which took place on Saturday, April 13, 2024! Thank you so much to Dr. Simone Smala, Queensland University, Australia, for holding an excellent workshop on Next Generation AI in the German Classroom, and thank you again to our partners at the Goethe-Institut Chicago for organizing this event! Special thanks to Franziska Trepke and the two Praktikant*innen Julia Zimmermann and Benny Brow at the Goethe-Institut. We learned a lot and had the opportunity to experiment with numerous new tools. Vielen herzlichen Dank!!! @aatgonline, Goethe-Institut Chicago, @noilaatg #aatg #AI #KünstlicheIntelligenz #deutschisttoll #DeutschmachtSpaß
Immersion Weekend 2025 - save the date + call for presenters
If you have never been to the Immersionswochenende, it is a great opportunity to network with colleagues, speak German (to adults 😉) and learn A LOT from some amazing educators. Presenting at the conference is a great way to share what you are working on in your classrooms and to get feedback on your ideas in a low-pressure environment.
So please consider presenting! The tentative theme for 2025 is: "Deutsch macht Spaß!" This theme would allow a lot of flexibility to present on a number of topics such as: gamification in the German classroom, fun bell ringers, easy "low tech" games/activities, activities involving "basteln" and hands-on fun, etc.
Interested?? Please email your IL-Planning team the planning team Cherie Lodl clodl@hinsdale86.org, or Danielle Katz danielle.katz@chsd117.org for more information!
The tentative 2025 IW dates are: February 14-16, 2025
ICTFL Fall conference, October 17-18 2024 at NIU Conference Center Naperville - save the date + call for proposals
NEUES VOM GOETHE INSTITUT CHICAGO
Immanuel Kant Essay Competition
Achtung, Deutschlehrkräfte an US-Highschools, Colleges und Universitäten! Ihre Schüler*innen und Studierende können mit unserem Aufsatzwettbewerb "Sapere Aude - Wage es, Dich Deines eigenen Verstandes zu bedienen!" in Kants tiefgründige Ideen eintauchen. Die besten Aufsätze werden mit Sprachkursstipendien sowie einer Einladung an die Deutsche Botschaft in Washington, D.C. prämiert. Aufsätze können bis zum 3. Oktober 2024 eingereicht werden.
Mehr Informationen zum Wettbewerb hier: Immanuel Kant Essay Competition - Goethe-Institut USA
Martina Hahn Kunstprojekt
Liebe Lehrkräfte,
das Goethe-Institut Chicago hat im Rahmen seiner PASCH-Initiative im letzten Jahr ein Kunstprojekt an der Douglas High School in Box Elder, SD, durchgeführt. Die Zusammenfassung des Projekts ist jetzt bei YouTube verfügbar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joekJZ_4PyY
Die deutsche Künstlerin, Martina Hahn, die in Michigan lebt, steht zur Verfügung dieses Projekt auch an anderen Schulen durchzuführen. Wer Interesse hat, kann sich gerne beim Goethe-Institut Chicago melden unter teacherservice-chicago@goethe.de
VERANSTALTUNGEN FÜR DEUTSCHLERNENDE
German High School Day at UIC
On March 1, 2024, UIC’s Department of Germanic Studies was excited to get the opportunity to host its annual German High School Day in person again for the first time since the onset of the pandemic. We were delighted to welcome hundreds of German students from high schools all over Chicagoland. It was fantastic to reconnect with local teachers, with the Northern Illinois AATG, and with our honorary judges, who represented cultural institutions and consulates from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Most of all, though, we had such an amazing time with all the German students who visited our campus! It was so much fun to get a chance to see everyone display so much ingenuity, creativity, smarts, verve, humor, and wit—and all in German, no less!
Wir haben uns so gefreut, dass Ihr alle hier wart—wir hatten so viel Spaß mit Euch, und wir hoffen sehr, Ihr seid im nächsten Jahr wieder dabei!
Viele Grüße vom ganzen UIC Germanic Studies Department!
11th Annual College Immersion Day: Grüezi, Servus, Moin: Identität und Vielfalt im deutschsprachigen Raum
Herzlichen Glückwunsch an alle! The 11th annual GID (Northern Illinois AATG German College Immersion Day) took place on Saturday, April 6, 2024, and the topic was "Grüezi, Servus, Moin: Identität und Vielfalt im deutschsprachigen Raum!" The group, consisting of 12 professors and approximately 50 college students from area universities and colleges, met, for the first time, on the neo-Gothic University of Chicago campus to explore cultural and linguistic characteristics in the German speaking regions. It was an exciting, wonderful, and informative event!
Workshops for all levels of German included "Musik und Mundart in Wien," "Alles über Salz – das weiße Gold aus den Alpen," "La Suisse / die Schweiz / la Svizzera / la Svizra – Mehr als Uhren und Schokolade," "Wir sind das Ruhrgebiet – Musik aus Deutschlands Megalopolis,” “Queer Berlin,” “Rheinland-Pfalz – Weinland mit US-amerikanischen Einflüssen,” und “Seewind im Norden in Geschichte und Gegenwart ." Lunch was delivered by Edelweiß Restaurant and students were able to win prizes at a Kahoot about German dialects! Later in the afternoon, students had the opportunity to hear talks by Consul General Michael Ahrens and CEO of the GACC and Northwestern alumnus Mark Tomkins and a roundtable discussion on “What can you do with German” with student alumni of German programs!
A huge thank you goes to the sponsors and supporters, including the University of Chicago, Northwestern University, Harper College, Northern Illinois University, UIC, the American Association of Teachers of German, and the Goethe-Institut Chicago, and the German Consulate General in Chicago and the German Embassy Washington for the generous gifts.
Organizers, workshop leaders and presenters included Ingrid Zeller, Kim Jaeger, host Colin Benert, Rob Ryder, Jessamine Cooke-Plagwitz, Katharina Barbe, Phil Cabeen, Martina Kerlova, Domenic DeSocio, Benny Brow, Julia Zimmermann, and Franziska Trepke. Toll gemacht!!! Pictures are by Ingrid Zeller and Kim Jaeger. #GID2024 #aatg #noilaatg #northwestern #uchicago #harpercollege #uic #northernillinois #deutschmachtspaß #goetheinstitut #germanconsulate #germanembassy #GACC
Architecture Tours!
The City is Our Classroom! Ingrid Zeller, Professor at Northwestern University, and Certified Volunteer Docent for the Chicago Architecture Center, would like to let instructors know again about the possibility of taking their students on excursions involving architecture tours. Ingrid leads Combination Historic / ModernSkyscrapers and Bauhaus tours in German and English, with a focus on the German influences on the Chicago Skyline. She also gives River Cruises and the Evanston Along the Lake tours. If you are interested in planning an excursion to Chicago with your classes and would like your students to take a tour or if you are interested in materials on architecture or German heritage in Chicago yourself, feel free to contact Ingrid (izeller@northwestern.edu), or, in the case of arranging group tours through the CAC, contact the CAC at grouptours@architecture.org for more information.
SAVE THE DATE: Friedrich Rau Concert @ Northwestern University - October 25th, 2024
The eclectic musician Friedrich Rau -- "Swing meets Electro" -- is planning a tour in the upper Midwest in the Fall 2024, and he will be in Northern Illinois October 25-27. We are tentatively planning a workshop & concert event during school hours on Friday October 25th at Northwestern University and a college immersion day in conjunction with Friedrich Rau's visit on Saturday, October 26th, again at Northwestern University. More infos will be published as they become available.
Ingrid Zeller is the lead person on this project.
TESTING AND AWARDS
NoIL AATG Awards Ceremony - College of DuPage, Sunday, April 28, 2024
At the NoIL AATG Awards Ceremony, our chapter will recognize students who scored at or above the 90th percentile on Levels 2-4 of the National German Exam and post-secondary students who have been nominated by their professors. Again this year our chapter had a high number of students who took the exam (second highest in the AATG), and more than 30 percent of them achieved medals! Special acknowledgement will be given to the 12 students who willingly subjected to an interview in German with a committee of educators that lasted for 15 to 20 minutes as part of the application for the AATG/PAD scholarship (often called the study trip prize). Our warmest congratulations go to Katie Rogers (New Trier H.S.), who has been awarded one of the 36 AATG/PAD scholarships; to Chris Daguinsin (Oswego East H.S.), who has received a Swiss Benevolent Society of Chicago scholarship for two weeks at Concordia Language Villages; and to Madelyn Wright (Vernon Hills H.S.), who has received the AATG Northern Illinois scholarship for two weeks at Concordia Language Villages. The Northern Illinois Collegiate Award of Excellence honors three post-secondary students this year: Kai Lidke (Northern Illinois University), Ava Dahnke (Northwestern University), and Kaleb Garden (University of Illinois at Chicago). This year our chapter will also honor our colleague Heidi Lechner with the Northern Illinois Outstanding German Educator Award of Excellence.
School students at Level 1 or of adult students at Levels 2A-4A are busy taking the National German Exam through April 30, with results expected about May 8. Medals will be sent directly to teachers, but the whole chapter congratulates these students on their efforts and hopes with them for great results!
Northern Illinois AATG
Website: https://sites.google.com/site/noilaatg/
Facebook: facebook.com/NorthernIllinoisAATG
Twitter: @NoIlAATG
Northern Illinois AATG Executive Committee
President: Antje Perrin antje.perrin@lz95.org
Vice President: Colin Benert cbenert@uchicago.edu
Secretary: Janet Stock lstock@lths.org
Treasurer: Karina Duncker Hoffman karina.e.hoffmann@gmail.com
Past President: Kim Jaeger kjaeger@harpercollege.edu
Fundraising Chair: Anna Hog ahog@sd308.org
Testing & Awards Chair: Kathy Betterman kbetter@aol.com and Matt Harring mharring@psd202.org
Membership Chair: Rob Ryder rob.ryder@northwestern.edu
Webmaster: Thea Roessler troessler@y115.org
Program Chairs: Cherie Lodl clodl@hinsdale86.org and Danielle Katz danielle.katz@chsd117.org
Social Media Chairs: Ingrid Zeller izeller@northwestern.edu