German Teacher's Page, St. Louis School District
2. Conversation & Composition Tools:
Web Exercises, Internet Reports, Cyberspace Commentaries,
Presentations
The World Wide Web with its multimedia links to foreign language
archives,
research
sites, and museums offers students
on all levels of proficiency an elaborate and open-ended forum for
speaking and writing assignments. The scope of activities is almost
unlimited, ranging from World Wide Web exercises to newspaper reading assignments, and
research projects.
Sample Student Assignment: Enter the World Wide Web, and visit,
for example, the Berlin based Kulturbox. Click on a
project link of your choice, and download at least two documents and/or
images regarding your topic. Bring these printouts to class and present
an oral and/or written report.
Digital Lab Exercises. Deutsche Internet Chronik
Deutsche Kinderliteratur. Froschkönig, Max und Moritz, etc.
Der Spiegel. Deutsches Nachrichten-Magazin
Women in German. Feminist approaches to German literature and
culture
3. Foreign Language Entertainment:
MOO Chat Groups, Electronic Shopping, News Groups
Unique digital learning tools for our language students involve online chat
groups, MOOs (multi-object oriented), MUDs, and other forms of
electronic entertainment, including shopping catalogs, and news groups. The most popular among students are chat groups where participants exchange notes
which can be read on screen by everyone present in the virtual space. MOOs offer students excellent opportunities to improve their foreign language proficiencies, contact native speakers, participate in authentic conversations, discover idiomatic express
ions, and learn about current topics and affairs abroad. After mastering the basic rules for on-line talk, students can participate in MOO conversations according to their own interests and skills.
Sample Student Assignment: Enter a foreign language MOO as a
"guest", follow the conversations online, and participate as much as
possible. Prepare an oral or written report about your MOO encounters,
and discuss it during class.
Diversity University MOO. telnet moo.du.org 8888
Morgengrauen. MOO der Universität Münster
Wildpark. Unterhaltung, Info-Pool und E-Bar
4. Intercultural Communications:
E-Mail, Digital Exchanges, Internet Conferences, Virtual
Connections
A rewarding way to involve students in reading, writing and speaking
activities centers around e-mail exchanges with native speakers
abroad. Through special listservs and the Goethe Institute's
matching service, high school and college students can link up
with interested counterparts or "keypals" in foreign countries, and
engage in correspondence involving personal and academic subject matters.
The concurrent classroom assignments focus on oral or written reports
about these information exchanges, or better yet, encourage students to
visit each other abroad.
A didactic expansion of the e-mail based project involves posting
information directly on the world wide web through message
galleries and multimedia course books or yearbooks. Illustrating
the materials personalizes the information exchanges, and allows for more
flexibility in the design of the projects. For more information, consult
the innovative academic exchange archives created by Lt. Colonel Richard
Sutherland at the Unites States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs
and Prof. Donna Van Handle at Mt. Holyoke College.
SchulWeb. Der deutsche Server für Schulen im Internet
University German Departments around the World
Prof. Mark Warschauer. Virtual Connections: This 417-page edited book
(ISBN 0-8248-1793-1) contains 125 contributions on the use of the
Internet for language teaching, online activities and projects for
networking language learners.
5. Research Ramps:
Web Bibliographies, Archive Links, Webfolios
Utilizing the web as a research tool encourages students to become
information scavengers and collectors. Numerous search engines provide
students with
well-marked
tracks for information hunting and gathering, all of which are very
simple to use. The results of these web inquiries can be posted as
interactive bibliographies or webfolios. Publishing the clickable
resource lists on an Internet course page provides teachers with an
oportunity to assess and exhibit students' works in public. The
conceptual framework behind these course pages resembles the notion of
museums or galleries where
visitors can explore the exhibits at their own pace.
Sample Student Assignment: Chose a special project related to the
course curriculum [Kafka, theater, Popmusik,
women, minorities, Berlin Wall, etc.). Create your own World Wide Web page. Surf the Internet in search of archives or
research sites, collect their URL addresses, and post them on your
home page in the form of interactive links. Prepare to write your research paper with references to at least two such
Internet archives, and talk about your findings in class.
Virtual Germanistik. Studentenseite von Steven Clagg, U of Washington
Riotmädchen. German Students' Page
Nachrichten zur Frauenliteratur. Ariadne Newsletter
6. Publication Forums:
Student Essays, Reports, Papers, and Projects Posted on Listservs and
the Web
a. Class Listservs
To jump-start classroom
discussions on reading assignments, articles, and literature
selections, class listservs provide excellent tools to disseminate
students' papers and critical commentaries. Such assignments are simple
to organize, generate interesting exchanges among class members, and
expand the academic discourse beyond the classroom. To provide the forum
for such exchanges, class listservs are set up through the campus
computing center, and all students enrolled in the class become
subscribers.
Sample Student Assignment: Compose and post an essay [on an
assigned topic] on the class listserv before the next class meeting.
Read the posted essays of other class members, and respond to at least
two essays of your choice by writing and posting short commentaries on
the listserv prior to class. Then prepare to
summarize your paper and your commentaries during oral discussions in
class.
Syllabus Web. Educational E-zine, List of Resources, Trends, Ideas
b. Web Publications
For foreign language students involved in writing course journals or
seminar papers, the web offers unique opportunities to publish their
writings. In order to do so, students obtain their own home pages on the
web [usually through campus accounts], and format their final papers as a hypertext document [html]. Instructors provide links to their students' home pages through special class page which allows course members to read and comment
on each others works. This interactive format motivates students to compose quality essays, react to critical commentaries, and revise their papers for online publications.
Sample Student Assignment: Chose a paper topic, create your own web
page, and start your Internet publication by collecting entries for a
"Web Bibliography" on your topic. The bibliography should contain
references to printed books, journals, and articles, but also contain
entries referring to Internet addresses and web sites. As you work on
your article, post preliminary abstracts, outlines, and drafts on your
home page under the project's title. The complete paper should be ready
for publication on-line during the last week of the semester.
Brigitte Gastel. Webpage
7. Open-Ended Trails:
Teaching Leads and Links on the Web
Foreign language instruction with the web can be as innovative and
diverse as your imagination. Here are some examples involving Lutheran
course materials, educational technology, independent
study resources,
and interesting European pages. Browse
through the sites for further inspiration
[outstanding course web by Prof. David Shepherd] or entertainment. The
last links lead to search engines in Germany and the United States. You can also search
for more information concerning e-mail listservs for FL teachers, and research oriented interdisciplinary
sites in Germany.
Prof. Lauren Rosen. Using the Web: Ideas for Instructors.
Prof. Manfred Prokop. Jump Stations to German Resources
Prof. Peter Göltz. German for Beginners: Web Exercises
AATG. World Wide Web Resource Guides
WWW "How-To" Resources and Guides. Library of Congress
German Multimedia Catalog. CD-ROMs, Reclam Spezial, Directmedia
German
Studies Trails
Andreas
Lixl-Purcell. Home Page
UNCG German,
Russian & Japanese Department
UNCG International Programs
University of Texas at San Antonio
Goethe Institut