Weekly Email for German 101-231 – 22. April 2019

Schokoladenstunde (with games!): Tuesday 4/23 5-6 in the Language Resource Center in North Quad. Tuesday’s Schokoladenstunde will be the last one for this semester; thereafter, Schokoladenstunden will resume next Fall!

• 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 Tuesday by Mary Gell.
• If you ask 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: This will resume in the Fall!

• 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) This will be the last public Max Kade event for this semester. Max Kade events will resume in the Fall!

• 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.
• 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 this week Mon-Wed 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 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 events will resume in the Fall!

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 22: 10-11:30, 1:30-4:30 p.m.,
    Tuesday, April 23: 10-12:30, 2:30-4:30 p.m.,
    Wednesday, April 24: 11-2:30 p.m.,
    Thursday, April 25: 10-3 p.m.,
    Friday, April 26: no office hours,

    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 U.S. Student Program 2020-2021 (Friday, August 30; University of Michigan Campus Application Deadline)
• Study Abroad in Germany – Metropolitan Studies in Berlin (Sunday, September 15; 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!

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.

Grammatikspiele!

This is a fun selection of online grammar games. Most of the games require both some grammar knowledge for deciding where you want to go, and some simple video game skills in terms of maneuvering the bug or the car or whatever you’re controlling in order to actually get there (e.g. Käfer Karl needs to get to the correct answer through a moving “minefield” of killer spiders). Each game is preceded by a German summary of the grammar being practiced, and a German explanation of how the game works. Each game is also labelled according to the level for which it is intended (A2, B1, B2).

List of the 500 most common German words

This list of the 500 most common German words is based on the same source on which the Gateway Vocab List for German 221/231 is based.