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- What's your grading policy?
- How should parents contact you?
- Why study German? Isn't Spanish a more important and useful language?
- How many years should I study German?
- Why did you decide to teach German?
- What if I embarrass myself in class?
- How can parents help their German students?
- Do you ever get nervous speaking German?
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What's your grading policy?
Please go to the "For Parents" page located elsewhere on this site. You
may download the entire rules and grading policies document (in Word
format) from there. If you have problems opening the document, please
contact me by email or phone and I'll be happy to send you a paper
copy.
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How should parents contact you?
Email is generally the best means of reaching me. My address is
Lhavas@mtsd.k12.wi.us.
If you prefer to leave me a voice mail, you may do so at 262.238.5984. I
will return your call as soon as I am available.
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Why study German? Isn't Spanish a more important and useful language?
Why German?
If you are planning for any profession or career that might involve the
European context, German is an excellent language to learn. In Europe,
more people speak German as their native language (approximately
100 million) than English, French, Italian, or Spanish. In Eastern
Europe, German ranks even before English as the major second
language. Germany plays a central role in the European Union, and is a
major economic and political power. German has been and remains an
international language in many disciplines, including philosophy, social
sciences, physics, engineering, medicine, music, and art history.
Whatever you decide to major in, many important texts relevant to your
field are to be found only in German. Our German majors have told us
that a knowledge of German has been the key to a life of adventure,
giving them opportunities for travel and life experiences they would have
never had without knowing German. And, they add, knowing German
most definitely improves job prospects as well.
Career Opportunities
Knowing German will greatly enhance your career opportunities in
international business, foreign service, publishing and journalism,
commerce and industry, teaching and scholarship, engineering, and
international aspects of most other fields. "Almost one thousand
American companies do business with Germany, and over one
thousand companies based in German-speaking countries have
subsidiaries in the U.S. In all of these firms there is a need for workers
with an understanding of both languages and of the differences
between the two cultures. Knowledge of German not only
helps one get a job, but often is a significant factor in advancement
within a company. In a number of high-tech companies [...] German is
the language named as the foreign language they would most like job
applicants to know."*
* UGa German Webpage
Research and Professional Development
Knowing German will give you access to a rich body of knowledge in
many disciplines. Not only is German is the language of many great
thinkers, artists, and scientists (think of Einstein, Nietzsche, Freud,
Marx,
Kafka, not to mention all those great Expressionist artists and classical
composers!); it also plays a central role in many contemporary
economic, political, and cultural developments. Whether you are
studying philosophy or mathematics, music or art history, theology or
engineering, political science or literature, advanced study in these
fields will be greatly enhanced by a knowledge of German.
Source: Duke University
(http://www.duke.edu/german/German/ystudger.html)
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How many years should I study German?
As many as humanly possible. All four years in high school, college,
study abroad, live abroad, make it a lifelong project! Pick up another
language along the way while you're at it. The world is shrinking, and
multi-lingualism is in demand more than ever. The opportunities that
result are innumerable. Take advantage of all of them!
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Why did you decide to teach German?
My grandmother was born outside of Köln, and I loved my German class
in high school. After my first trip to Germany in the summer of 1988, I fell
in love with the language, country and culture and I knew that I wanted to
become a German teacher. During my senior year of high school, I took
a Spanish class to fill an odd hole in my schedule, enjoyed it as well,
and decided to add it to my course of study in college. (Small world alert:
Sra. Solorzano was my college Spanish instructor in 1993!!) :)
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What if I embarrass myself in class?
There's a Spanish proverb that states: "Vivir con miedo es como vivir a
medias," which means "A life lived in fear is a life half lived." Don't be
afraid to make a mistake, or to sound wrong, or to do something
incorrectly! Making mistakes is a critical part of the learning process.
Besides, I will embarrass myself WAY more than you ever will.
(Ask anyone who's ever heard me sing in class.)
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How can parents help their German students?
· Check your child’s German writing assignments.
· Ask your child about his / her personal progress in German class.
· Have your child recite the oral assignments to you (e.g. in Chapter
1 – the numbers, ABCs, greeting dialogs, sing songs, introduce self
and class, family). You may not recognize mispronunciations, but you
will see right away whether your child has really learned the material.
If your child is absent, ask him/her whether he/she has determined what
he/she needs to make up. The assignments will be posted on the
"Hausaufgaben" page of this website daily.
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Do you ever get nervous speaking German?
Only if I'm saying something that might get me into trouble if I were to say
it in English. ;)
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