Text Set #2

Text Set #2

Anton van den Berg

REED 461

Topic: The German Government and Political System

1.      http://www.germany.info/Vertretung/usa/en/Startseite.html

This site is for the German Missions in the United States. It contains links to the state department here in the U.S., the embassy, consulates, and other institutions in the U.S. It also contains information about Germany’s foreign policy. This website is at about a 9^th grad reading level.

2   http://www.economist.com/topics/german-politics

This is from the Economist. It contains current, up-to-date information about Germany, including: current events, stocks, politics “this week”, news, foreign policy and agenda setting. This website is at about an 11^th grade reading level.

3.    http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/guide-to-german-political-parties-a-886188.html

This article comes from a very renowned magazine in Germany der Spiegel (the mirror). It contains a list of each current German political party and a few of their stances, policies they have made, and other information on their affiliation within the German political system. 10^th grade reading level.

4.     https://www.btg-bestellservice.de/pdf/80201000.pdf

This is a PDF straight from the German Bundestag. It lists the basic law for the Federal Republic of Germany. This would be a great resource for anyone wanting to compare German and American laws in dept. This source would be at a college reading level when translated into English.

5.    http://www.cdu.de/

This is a direct link to Germany’s Christian Democratic Union party. The current chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel, belongs to this party. It has links to their policies and stances on certain issues as well. This website, when translated into English, would be at a 9-10^th grad reading level.

6.    http://www.spd.de/

This is a link to Germany’s Social Democratic Party (Sozialedemokratische Partei Deutschlands). It also has links to their stances on issues, legislation they have passed, and news. This would also be at about a 9-10^th grad reading level when translated into English.

7.     http://www.die-linke.de/die-linke/aktuell/

This is a direct link to the Germany party, Die Linke (the left). They stand for democratic socialism, and they are a prominent party in Germany, but not the most prominent (the previous two are the leading parties). This link also provides information about their legislation, involvement in the German government, and causes. 9-10^th grade reading level.

8.     http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09644009708404464#.Upvq02Tk-JM

Here is the link to a book entitled, German policy towards the European Union: The effects of historical memory. This book looks back at German policy making and how the evolution of the German government plays a role in the way they act today. This book would be at a 12^th + reading level.

9.     http://www.gruene.de/startseite.html

Here is a direct link to Germany’s political party, Die Grünen (the greens/green party). This site allows access to all of their initiatives, policies, and influence on the German government. This party plays a much bigger role in their government than our version of this party. This site in English would be at about a 9-10^th grade reading level.

10.  http://www.npd.de/

This is an interesting site, because I would bet that the majority of the general public would either assume that Nazis did not exist in Germany anymore, or they would at least not be allowed representation. Both would be correct in some way. The NPD (Nationalsozialistische Partei Deutschlands-Nazi Party) is not allowed representation in the Bundestag (at the national level), but due to free speech and diversity in their constitution, the party is allowed to be heard at state levels. So this site lays out their policies and anything they have been a part of. This site is at about a 9-10^th grade reading level.

11.  http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/EN/Europa/DeutschlandInEuropa/entscheidungsfindung_node.html

This is a link to the Federal Foreign Office of Germany. It deals mainly with policy making in Germany and how they go about it. There are also links to the European Union policymaking sites. 9-10^th grade

12. http://www.bundestag.de/kulturundgeschichte/architektur/reichstag/

Every nation has a building that is synonymous with their government, and in Germany it is no different. This is a link to the German Parliament building (der Reichstag). It has links to the history of the building, the architecture, its use and effectiveness in the German government and what goes on in the building. 10-11^th grade reading level.

13. http://cadmus.eui.eu/handle/1814/24356

Germany is a pretty liberal country compared to the United States, and its political system shows that in its diversity of party representation. This is a link to an abstract for a book titled Alternative Politics: The German Green Party. This book takes an in depth look at the party itself, its policies, and formation. This book would be at a 12^th grade reading level.

14. http://users.ox.ac.uk/~trin1631/texts/religionpolitics.pdf

This is a link to a PDF that compares the relationships and involvement of religion in politics in Germany and the United States. This is interesting for anyone curious to see how the government makes a governmental system without a clear separation of church and state work effectively. This would be at about an 11^th grade reading level.

15. http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/EN/Startseite_node.html

This is a link to the German Foreign Affairs Office. Here you can find information about Germany’s foreign policy and their influence economically and socially around the world. 9-10^th grade reading level.

So What?

Anton “Xandy” van den Berg                                                                        December 1, 2013

REED 461

So What?

Ware, P., & Kramsch, C. (2005). Toward an intercultural stance: Teaching german and english through telecollaboration. The Modern Language Journal, 89. 190-205.

Purpose of article:  Ware and Kramsch want to depict the challenges of Web-based teaching for language teachers, and they want to highlight this depiction through a misunderstanding between learners of German in the United States and learners of English in Germany. They say that discussions of such misunderstandings can be valuable learning opportunities for students and teachers.

What was studied/discussed:

Important terms: telecollaboration, technology-mediated learning contexts, intercultural growth

Results: Ware and Kramsch’s findings came out of a qualitative study of telebollaborative project involving 9 university students in the southwestern United States studying German and 12 students in northeastern Germany studying English. The students interacted for 3 weeks by writing on an asynchronous discussion board, to which they were require to post messages at least twice a week. They found many instances of misinterpreted words such as “little”, colloquial speech that had many topics get lost in translation, and the lack of face-to-face interaction left some of the subjects realizing that some misunderstandings would have been avoided if the tone or inflection of certain phrases could have been heard. Kramsch and Ware realized after conducting the study that the blame can often be thrown on the teacher for some of these misunderstandings. The results can leave them feeling anxious or at fault, but with in making assignments like these, it is important to know that clearly, carefully constructed assignments that are made pedagogical precautions, taken in order to reduce misunderstandings is important. Also, clear instructions and guidelines are necessary.

So What? I chose this specific article, because it fell directly in line with issues and discussions that I have everyday in my school. I work in a 1 to 1 school (Bearden High School), and we are being challenged daily to come up with ways to involve technology and telecollaboration as it is defined by this article, communicating with other language learners or speakers of the target language using technology. This article critiques the traditional role of the teacher and notes that it is coming in to question in this current day and age. What should the teacher do with all the resources that they have available to them, and how should they facilitate the instruction using those materials? In the 21^st century it is becoming more common to have students using all kinds of technology in schools, and it is even becoming a norm to have schools instructed in large part using technology. This means for certain subjects, especially foreign language, teachers are finding ways to communicate with technology and find ways to reach out to native speakers of the language they are teaching. Some teachers see it as a respite from teacher-led instruction, and a way for the students to be independent and control their learning. What episodes of misunderstanding can occur in a telecollaborative, technology-based learning environment? What might that do to a students’ ability or willingness to learn new things in the target language? In the project designed by Ware and Kramsch, the objective was to examine how participants on both sides of technology-based exchanges engaged with language learning online and how they evaluated experiences in the exchange.

I am left wondering after reading about this study if a face-to-face technology-based interaction could work better in the future. This study was conducted before Skype or FaceTime became tools that teachers could use in their classroom. But, with these things available to us, is it more beneficial to allow students to have these telecollaborative interactions in a face-to-face technological environment?

Web Resource Review II

Web German: Foreign Language Learning Resources

This website is called webgerman.com. It is a site that offers many exercises that are very relevant to any German classroom, from the beginner level all the way up to AP and college level courses. It offers activities that cater to visual and auditory learners with grammar exercises, picture matching, audio recordings accompanied by text, stories, fill in the blank activities, and conjugation review. This is a site that I use very often in my classroom, especially because we now have computers in all of our students hands everyday. 

Pros:

-easily accessible when the internet is working

-versatile 

-many different activities

-different way to learn German than just memorizing terms and grammar rules

-interactive

-authentic

Cons:

-could be problematic if students do not have access to the internet outside of school

-could be tough to access in school if computers aren't readily available

-lacks written exercises

-the auditory exercises do not always provide an authentic German accent

Text Sets #1: Cultural Differences and Traveling in Germany

Text set Collection #1

Anton van den Berg

October 28, 2013

Topic: Cultural Differences and Traveling in Germany

1.               1. www.bahn.de

This website is the main site for Germany’s national train/rail system. It offers transportation in and around Germany, price comparisons, and cultural information. It is a 7-10^th grade reading level when translated into English.

2.             2. http://www.mitfahrgelegenheit.de

This is a similar site to the German rail road system website, but this particular site offers a different means of transportation within Germany. It is an organized hitch hiking website that I personally have used and is extremely helpful to get around Germany. It is affordable and safe transportation. I would put this site at about a middle school reading level when translated into English.

3.             3. Regions of Germany

This is a book highlighting the many regions of Germany and their cultural differences, which would be a great help to anyone wanting to travel around Germany. 10^th grade reading level.

          4.       http://www.eurail.com/?gclid=COTkucTauboCFSEV7AodwjUAsQ

This site is another transportation site that I personally have used. It is allows transportation throughout Europe during certain periods of time for varied prices. 8th grade reading level

5.       http://www.fodors.com/world/europe/germany/

Traveling around Germany can be difficult if you are not sure where you are going or what you want to do, so this travel guide offers cities, regions, cultural information, tourism hotspots, scenic locations. 10^th grade reading level.

6.      German Customs- book

This book offers a lot of good general information about German politics, culture, economy, holidays, cuisine (relative to the areas of Germany), and religion that would useful to anyone wanting to travel to Germany for an extended period of time. 10^th grade reading level.

7.      Modern Germany

This book is directed at anyone who is interested about life and society in Germany. It could be helpful to anyone traveling there. 9^th grade reading level

8.      German Slang

I love books like this that are not all about the more serious cultural things and more about contemporary changes to German culture, like German slang. A book like this could get you out of a sticky situation or help you communicate in a less touristy part of a German town. 10^th grade reading level

9.      http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/de(.html

This is an interactive map of Germany. For anyone who does not know the layout of the country of how it is organized, this map provides each of the 16 Federal German states, and you can click on them to find out more about each one. 7-8^th grade reading level.

10.  http://www.visitberlin.de/en

If you are looking to visit the capital of Germany, and its most culturally vibrant city, then look no further. This is the official travel/tourism site of Berlin. From here you can access tours, concerts, bars, clubs, and history of the city. 9^th grade reading level.

11.  Article-Rise in British tourism to Germany

This is an article backing up the popularity of tourism in Germany. If British people are visiting Germany at an increasing rate, you know that it is a hot destination, because the British and Germans are not the best of friends (from my experience). This article discusses many reasons why tourism there is increasing. 10^th grade reading level.

12.  Immigration in the FRG from 1945-2006

Have you ever wondered how diverse Germany is in relation to the United States? Well this book highlights many of the differing cultural and racial groups that migrated into Germany since the end of both WWII and the Cold War. This may not be a book you read for a 2 week trip to Germany, but it is definitely an interesting read for anyone who is curious as to why Germany is made up of so many immigrants and different racial groups now-a-days. 12^th grade + reading level.

13.  TOP 100 things to do in Germny

When I go somewhere new, I usually want to know what I absolutely have to do before leaving! This site is a list of 100 things that are considered MUST DO things in Germany. I can agree with about 50% of these things for sure, because I have in fact seen/done them. 8^th grade reading level.

14.  http://culinarytravel.about.com/od/internationaltravel/tp/FoodiesGermany.htm

As simple as this post is, It is so true and so informative. There a certain things in Germany that you have to eat no matter what when you are visiting, such as the first thing listed “curry wurst.” Little things like this are a huge help when trying to decide what to do on a trip. 9^th grade reading level.

15.  http://www.jugendherberge.de/en/

From my travels in Germany, the places I saved the most money were the places I lodged. Instead of going to a hotel, there are youth hostels scattered all over every city in Germany which offer cheaper accommodations with often times the same amount of comfort and convenience as a hotel. This website is a search engine for youth hostels all over Germany. 

Building Vocabulary: Response #7

Vocabulary is a necessity for anyone and everyone, no matter what they are learning. You cannot build a house unless you know what a foundation, symmetry, dry wall, concrete, brick, wood, drills, nails, hammers, etc are, and the same goes for teaching using vocabulary. It is the foundation on which you build a students knowledge. This is especially true in my subject are, foreign language –German-. You cannot expect a student to learn the language unless they get the proper understanding and exposure to vocabulary. In German, often when you are learning vocabulary, the task is especially daunting because nouns can be accompanied by 3 different articles (der –masculine-, die –feminine- or das –neuter-).

This chapter in our textbook offered many different approaches to teaching vocabulary that I found really awesome. Etymology and morphology can often be used with German words during translation, but German doesn’t lend itself as much to this method of learning and understanding as much as other languages. There are often a lot of false cognates in German that can throw many students off. With German, often the best method is simple memorization, and it is hard for me to explain this to my students, because some rules in German are just rules you have to know with no rhyme or reason (das Mädche “the girl” has a neuter ending). So having a personal glossary that you can refer to at all times is something that can be extremely helpful. 

Blog 6 10/13: Helping Struggling Readers

This weeks readings were both placing emphasis on giving students who are struggling with reading extra support. The readings discussed different strategies to do so. For students in foreign language, it is always extremely important to implement strategies that can help students grasp the content and understand the grammar they are reading. Some things that the readings discussed that I already attempt to use everyday are things like modeling. I model that the students should be reading the selections out loud and then taking breaks every sentence or two to translate the sentences, make them into conversationally correct English sentences, and then read them out loud again. The kids often are overwhelmed if we just quickly read the selections without any checking for understanding.

 I think being supportive is also something the reading really emphasizes, and I really think that it is necessary for students who are struggling with reading. In my class, if a student gets discouraged because they cannot pronounce a word or they cant grasp a grammar concept, if I am negative, or if the rest of the class has a negative attitude, it just kills their confidence and makes the problem worse. So if I can encourage them to take their time, find the problem they are having in the reading and correct it, then they will be much more encouraged and excited about reading in class and comprehending the language.