Weekly Email for German 101-231 – 3. Juni 2019

German Lab, Schokoladenstunde, Max Kade Kaffeestunde & Deutschtisch, the Conversation and Free-Writing Hour, and German Club events will resume in the Fall.

Deutschtisch

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 Please notify the LRC if you notice problems (e.g. outdated records etc.).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!

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, but more limited availability in Spring/Summer. Please use the email info or the link below to contact them!

• Mary Rodena-Krasan (MLB 3128; mkrasan@umich.edu)
• Karl-Georg Federhofer (MLB 3422; kallimz@umich.edu)
  • Kalli is available this week at the following times:
  • Monday, June 3: 10-2 p.m., [apologies that I’m sending this email too late for these times!]
  • Tuesday, June 4: 10-1 p.m.,
• To reach either advisor: germanadvising@umich.edu
• You may also be able to 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 availability may be limited in the summer! The peer mentors’ 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
• German Bundestag Internship Program 2020 (Wednesday, July 31; Application Deadline)
• 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)

[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.

“How to Learn a Foreign Language” – study tips for students

Here is our German Department page with General Language Learning Advice, For more specific advice (e.g, for vocabulary practice, listening practice, self-study, etc.), visit the German Department Lernstrategien page. You can also visit this page with advice for studying a foreign language, compiled by LSA Advising.

Interesting article on language and thought

I highly recommend this interesting summary of some experimental research on connections between language and thought. Here’s an excerpt, on language and gender: “For example, when asked to describe a ‘key’ — a word that is masculine in German and feminine in Spanish — the German speakers were more likely to use words like ‘hard,’ ‘heavy,’ ‘jagged,’ ‘metal,’ ‘serrated,’ and ‘useful,’ whereas Spanish speakers were more likely to say ‘golden,’ ‘intricate,’ ‘little,’ ‘lovely,’ ‘shiny,’ and ‘tiny.’ To describe a ‘bridge,’ which is feminine in German and masculine in Spanish, the German speakers said ‘beautiful,’ ‘elegant,’ ‘fragile,’ ‘peaceful,’ ‘pretty,’ and ‘slender,’ and the Spanish speakers said ‘big,’ ‘dangerous,’ ‘long,’ ‘strong,’ ‘sturdy,’ and ‘towering.'”

Click the link to see a New York Times article expanding on some of the same ideas about the connections between language and thought.