Taking Center Stage: Lessons of Austrian Comedy in an Advanced German Course

The German classroom should prepare students for the linguistic diversity of the target culture, including regional varieties and German spoken outside of the D‐A‐CH region. Because textbooks do not often include materials on regional varieties, this article presents a model to incorporate Pennsylvania German (PG) into the curriculum. The model does not aim on learning PG but employs PG to support the acquisition of Standard German and the development of language awareness. Furthermore, PG can be used as a basis for lessons on culture, critical thinking, and intercultural competence. Teachers can implement the model without PG experts or adding large amounts of content to the classroom. The article presents basic knowledge about PG, its speakers, and their cultural context, as well as information on easily accessible PG texts and dictionaries. Furthermore, the article outlines learning goals and provides suggestions for lessons. An appendix lists readily available resources for more information on Pennsylvania German culture.

“…Working with translations minimizes the linguistic barrier. I support Parkes’ assertion that linguistic and culture exercises can be stimulating and easily understood (, p. 150).…”

Section: Teaching the Linguistic Diversity Of The German‐speaking Worldsupporting

confidence: 59%

Enriching the Curriculum with Pennsylvania German

Meindl

2016

“…Embodied learning (or drama pedagogy), improvisation, and full‐fledged theatrical productions in the world language classroom present numerous benefits for teaching language and literature, which have been well documented elsewhere (Bell, 2010; Bräuer, 2002; Crutschfield & Schewe, 2017; Even, 2008, 2011; Matthias, 2007; Parkes, 2012, 2015; Ryan‐Schuetz & Colangelo, 2004; Schewe, 1993). Attention not only to the lines but also to what lies between the lines is precisely the kind of stumbling block to interpretation of the language text, where the tendency to “decode” is so often paramount, even at the advanced level.…”

Section: Embodied Interrogationmentioning

confidence: 96%

Transitional Stages: Transcultural Competence through Performances of Migration and Identity

Parkes

2020

Self Cite

In offering an account of teaching and performing Nurkan Erpulat and Jens Hillje's Verrücktes Blut (2010) with advanced German students, this article reflects on the theme of cultural identity, particularly with regard to current issues related to migrant populations. As a play that showcases theater as a transitional space where linguistic and cultural identities may be negotiated, and where social and linguistic agency are interdependent, this particular play affords many rich learning opportunities for language students in today's global context. The play's ingenious staging devices – formulated as a play within a play within a play – provides an ideal opportunity for investigating the complexities and nuanced difficulties of ethnic identity and cultural expectations.

“…Introducing the Hörspiel in the language classroom is an opportunity for students to improve their listening proficiency by focusing on listening for context. Hörspiele , like stage dramas, have particular, recognizable linguistic patterns, primarily dialogue, which must relay a certain set of information about setting and time as well as the social identity and subject position of the characters (Parkes, ). Unlike the experience of theater in performance, however, the radio play is an exclusively acoustic genre, so the listener cannot depend upon visual indicators to help fill in the blanks about characters, plot, and setting when they encounter words in the dialogue that they do not understand.…”

Section: Using the Hörspiel To Develop Listening Proficiencymentioning

confidence: 99%

Cultivating Critical Listening: Hörspiele in the German Classroom

Kita

Eley

2019

This article examines how the radio drama, or Hörspiel, might be successfully implemented in the German classroom to train students’ ability to listen for context. Hörspiele can help students reduce their dependency on visual stimuli, develop critical and discerning listening skills, and acquire familiarity with a lesser‐known literary genre and its historical and cultural context. Offering a sample five‐day unit modeled on Heinrich Böll's radio play, Doktor Murkes gesammeltes Schweigen, this article outlines three ways that this Hörspiel can be used in the German language classroom with intermediate‐ to advanced‐level language learners: (1) to develop students’ ability to listen for context through an acoustic literary genre, (2) to reinforce and contextualize grammar concepts such as case and noun declension, and (3) to introduce postwar German culture and the concept of Vergangenheitsbewältigung. The unit's overall aim is to teach students to think critically about how contextual clues such as the quality of voices, background noises, and other acoustic elements help convey meaning. At the conclusion of the unit, students demonstrate their knowledge of the genre and its acoustic markers by creating their own original Hörspiel or radio play adaptation of a short story.