Weekly Email for German 101-231 – 15. April 2019

Schokoladenstunde (with games!): Wednesday 11-12 AND THURSDAY 5-6 in the Language Resource Center in North Quad. NOTE THE CHANGE IN DAYS FOR THIS WEEK!

NOTE: The last Schokoladenstunde for this semester will be on Tuesday 4/23!

• Schokoladenstunde will take place in the comfy seating area between the two computer classrooms in the Language Resource Center. There will be some German chocolate there 🙂  All students at all levels are welcome to come and chat and play games in German (e.g. Tabu etc.). Schokoladenstunde will be facilitated this Wednesday by Silvia Grzeskowiak and this Thursday by Mary Gell.
• If you ask Silvia/Mary to email your instructor that you were there, you can use this to make up 2 “A&P points” in 101-232.

Conversation and Free-Writing Hour: Fridays 11-12, 3117 MLB

NOTE: This will be the last Conversation and Free-Writing Hour for this semester!

• Informal conversation and free-writing activities. Open to all levels of students.
• Conducted by Shubhangi Dabak (dabaks@umich.edu) – contact her for more info!
• If you ask Shubhangi to email your instructor that you were there, you can use this to make up 2 “A&P points” in 101-232.

Max Kade Kaffeestunde (Tuesdays 9-10 pm) & Deutschtisch (Sundays 7-8 pm)

• Kaffeestunde at the Max Kade Haus takes place Tuesdays 9-10 pm in the Said Lounge on the Residential Side of North Quad – but please check this page for occasional updates!
  • The Said Lounge is in the residential portion of North Quad, which is only open to residents ==> when you go, please email Jon (jonjan@umich.edu), so that someone can come to the front door and let you in. You can also just knock on the door of the residential portion and tell a residence staff member that you are there for the Max Kade House event, and you will be let in.
• Deutschtisch in the North Quad dining hall: Sundays 7-8 pm.
  • You will need a meal plan or Entrée Plus to enter, or you can purchase a meal at the door (note that this is not cheap) – but you may also be allowed to come in just to talk and not eat, if you say at the door that you are there for the Max Kade event.
  • The group has yellow signs with “Max Kade Deutschtisch” to identify where they are sitting.
  • For questions, contact Jon (jonjan@umich.edu).
• German students at all levels (101 and up) are welcome at all Max Kade events. You can make up “A&P” points in 101-232 by attending Max Kade Deutschtisch or Kaffeestunde [NOT Spazierstunde!]. Just ask Jon to email your instructor that you were there!

German Lab in Alcove B in the Language Resource Center in North Quad is open Mon-Thu 1-4 pm.

Note: the German Lab will be open through Wed 4/24; it will then close until the Fall!

• The German Lab is open Monday-Thursday 1-4 every week. It’s in Alcove B in the LRC (ground level of North Quad, Room 1500).
• Go to the German Lab for any kind of help (except we can’t proofread your essays for you): if you need help with homework or a test review sheet (we can proofread your test essays for German 101-231), if you need grammar topics explained or reviewed or need more practice, if you just want to speak some German for fun and/or for your AMD etc. If you have time in the afternoons from 1-4, do your homework in the LRC! Then if you get stuck on something, you can just stop by the German Lab alcove so we can get you unstuck.
• Click here for more info!

LRC Conversation Partner Site

Go to this page to sign up or find a conversation partner. Please notify the LRC if you notice problems (e.g. outdated records etc.). Don’t be shy: the more people sign up, the better the site will work!

RC Coffee Hour: Mondays 4-5, Greene Lounge, East Quad

• All are welcome to come to this German conversation hour!
• This is NOT something you can do to make up an absence, but you can still go for fun and/or write about it for an AMD.

Ann Arbor Stammtisch

• A German Stammtisch meets once a week, usually on Thursdays at 8:00 pm at Grizzly Peak or another bar near Main Street. Join the email list to stay up-to-date on where and when the group will meet.
• There’s also a facebook page: look for “German Table / Stammtisch”
• Alternatively, contact Andy Kasten at apkindland@yahoo.de for the current location and for more information. Wherever the Stammtisch meets, he’ll be wearing a VfB Stuttgart soccer jersey — Debitel on the front, Bordon #5 on the back. It’s white with a red collar and stripes.
• This is NOT something you can do to make up an absence, but you can still go for fun and/or write about it for an AMD.

German Club – Dinner at “Metzger’s“ (Wednesday, April 17; 7 p.m., 305 N Zeeb Road)

Questions/Comments: email Parker Hill (pbhill@umich.edu)

Email germaneboard@umich.edu to get put on the email list, or “like” the club on Facebook at facebook.com/germanclubumich for updates!

Please note that by attending German Club meetings, you can make up “A&P” points in German 101-232. Just ask one of the German Club officers to email your instructor (or write a note) saying you were there!

Faculty Advisors Mary Rodena-Krasan & Kalli Federhofer

• Contact our two faculty advisors, Mary or Kalli, for advice on study abroad, internships abroad, a German major/minor, upper-level German courses, career opportunities in German, study-abroad and work-abroad opportunities, etc. They have frequent office hours in Fall/Winter, as follows:
• Mary Rodena-Krasan (MLB 3128; mkrasan@umich.edu):
  • Her office hours in the Winter term are:
    T,TH 11-4 p.m.
• Karl-Georg Federhofer (MLB 3422; kallimz@umich.edu):
  • His next office hours will take place on these days:
    Monday, April 15: 10-11:30, 1:30-4:30 p.m.,
    Tuesday, April 16: 10-12:30 p.m.,
    Wednesday, April 17: 10-11:30, 1:30-4:30 p.m.,
    Thursday, April 18: 10-12:30, 2:30-4:30 p.m.,
    Friday, April 19: 10-11:30, 1:15-2, 3-4:30 p.m.,

    and by appointment
• To reach either advisor: germanadvising@umich.edu
• You can also schedule appointments with Mary & Kalli by clicking here

German Peer Advisors/Mentors

If you would like to get in touch with a peer mentor in our Department, please write to: germanmentors@umich.edu. Their expertise includes:

• Current classes and potential courses
• Study abroad, internship, and traveling in Germany
• Academic requirements (major/minor, LSA language requirement) and combination (engineering, pre-health, etc.)
• Max Kade House
• Departmental scholarships/fellowships
• On- and off-campus German opportunities (German Club, German Day, etc.)
• Career/job search
• Getting involved – enhancing your undergraduate experience with the German Department

• Study Abroad in Germany – Winter 2020 Term in Tübingen (Sunday, September 15; Application Deadline)
• LSA Internship Funding Page
• Fulbright Program for U.S. Students 2020/2021: General Information Session (Wednesday, April 17; 12-1 p.m., Weiser Hall 447)  
• Mark and Myra Sorensen International Travel Scholarship (Sunday, April 28; Application Deadline)
• LSA Internship Scholarship (Saturday, June 8; Final Application Deadline)
• University of Heidelberg Alumni U.S. (HAUS) Scholarships (Saturday, June 15; Application Deadline)

[This page will only include entries in this category when there is a job/internship etc. aimed at German students at all levels. To see more internship and job opportunities, scroll through Kalli’s blog, addressed to all upper-level German students]

Seeking student with knowledge of PHP for WordPress/Canvas/YouTube project

We are looking to hire a student with knowledge of PHP for a programming project. The student would design a WordPress site that would give instructors a user-friendly interface for entering links to YouTube videos, together with info to help students understand them (lyric videos, annotated and “regular” lyrics online, and any additional info written by the instructors). The site would display a random video each time it is visited. In addition, the student would program a plugin to allow each visitor to the Canvas home page of a participating German course to see what video they would see via the WordPress site if they clicked. Time permitting, the student would also write (or find) a plugin to let students up- or downvote videos they watch. The work would be paid at a rate of $12/hr. If you could do this and are interested, please email Hartmut a short description of your qualifications for the project!

Emilio Zagheni, Director of the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research in Rostock, “Studying Migration Processes” (Monday, April 15; 12 p.m., Institute for Social Research 1430)

Christoph Vandreier, Deputy National Secretary of the Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei, “The Threat of Fascism and How to Fight It” (Monday, April 15; 7 p.m., Weiser Hall 182)

There are two German Department facebook groups:

• “German Advising at University of Michigan” [Read news here!]
  • Join this group to see much of the information you see in this email, as well as other relevant info, in the form of individual announcement posts.
• “German Program at University of Michigan – Vorwärts Blau!” [Post things here!]
  • You are encouraged to join this group to in order to read and post interesting/fun items related to German language and culture. If you have trouble joining the group or posting something, please email Hartmut!

AND there is a German Department facebook page. Check it out: https://www.facebook.com/umichGerman/

You can find weekly updates similar to this email but with lots more content on this blog.

We also encourage you to join us on our LinkedIn site: ‘University of Michigan German Department’

You can also follow us on Twitter: @umichGerman

Conversation Partner Options: Various options for finding conversation partners are listed on this page.

2013 BBC Documentary: Make Me a German

The BBC documentary “Make Me a German” follows a BBC reporter and his wife going to Germany for a month and trying to become “average Germans” according to the statistics determined by a marketing research company. There used to be lots of angry comments in the comments section on YouTube about the video being misleading in various ways – but if one does not hold the video responsible for the impossible task of telling “the truth” about Germany, then it’s an interesting and entertaining hour that provides lots to think about. [The soccer game in which Bayern München beat the Hamburger SV by the memorable score of 9-2 took place in March 2013.]

BBC Podcasts on German history

These BBC Podcasts on German history from 2014 cover a wide variety of topics related to German history, ranging from Charlemagne to sausage and beer…