2022 Annual Awards Banquet

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Congratulations to our students of German and their teachers!

The Annual Awards Banquet took place on Friday, May 6, 2022 at the Norwalk Inn in Norwalk, CT.

The AATG thanks Kristin Haase, Lieselotte Sippel and Eileen Wilkinson, for organizing the banquet, and The Norwalk Inn for hosting the event.

The AATG/PAD National German Exam Scholarship was won by Asya Tarabar, Anna Pociu, Lily Watson

(Cheshire High School)

Students from Cheshire High School, German School of Connecticut in Stamford and West Hartford, The Hotchkiss School, and Wilton High School received Gold, Silver or Bronze level certificate for their achievements. Below you see Frau Kochefko Higgins  (middle) with students Lucia La Orden Oro, Chris McCann, Lukas Witzke, Frau Kochefko Higgins, Mia Elias, Thomas Fletcher (from left to right).

In addition to the certificates, five special awards were given to students for Excellence in the Study of German Language and Culture.

All five students study German at Cheshire High School, where Frau Haase and Dr. Gulielmetti are the German teachers.

Carol Kochefko Award—Anna Pociu

Krishna R. Winston Award—Lily Watson

Klett World Languages Award—Asya Tarabar

Zoltan Toman Award—Katherine Voong

 

Student Awards for Excellence in German were given to the following students.

Cheshire High School: Dr. Angela Gulielmetti & Kristin Haase, Teachers

William Borland, Marcus Haase, Ian Harrington, Michael Herscovici, Anna Pociu, Zachary Schnitzer, Haley Shaw, Taruni Singanamala, Lianna Sogliuzzi, Asya Tarabar, Tobias Tello, Katie Voong, Silas Wang, Lily Watson, Andrew Xu

German School of Connecticut, West Hartford: Christine Pajouh & Bärbel Roder, Teachers

Jolie Agban, Diego Gonzalez, Catherine and Sebastian Kohncke,  Amelie Lambert, Luka and Matej Mijanovic, Nadine Schmitt, Anselm Peters, Paul Sturm, Anna Maria and Daniela and Isabela and Nicolas Tippner

German School of Connecticut, Stamford: Dr. Eileen Wilkinson, Teacher

Robert Abele, Lucas Ausfahl, Hampton Bartos, Damon Bond,  Catherine and John Beckett, Gerhard Dobler, Luke Elmarsafy, Victoria Green, Andrew Gotlin, Bridget Hadden, Niklas Hofmann, Mika Hori, Elias Kasoff, Maximilian Lele, Josephine and Lucas Lewertoff, Alessia MacKinnon, Lukas and Nikolas Mischkulnig, Aedan and Dane Mitchell, Tessa Negri, Mia and Nico Nobile, Anne-Eva and Claire-Helene Ritter, Lukas Kemmerer, Julian Krotmeier, Jan Kuznik, Melanie Lahrkamp, Alexander and Caitlin and Eva and Sophie Lammer, Nadja Roesser, Johannes Schieker, Eliza Swaggert, Noah Tomasovic, Mark Wermuth

The Hotchkiss School: Marc Dittmer, Teacher

Brendan Bullock, Hongquan Chen, Yihan Ding, Zoe Froimovitz, Noam Ginsparg, Amelia Kain, Alan Lizatovic, Teddy Loescher, Siri Nellutia, Samarth Rastogi, Emmett Roswech, Mazie Witter

Wilton High School: Christine Kochefko Higgins & Matt Kelly, Teachers

Aislynn Conway, Mia Elias, Thomas Fletcher, Caelah Kennedy, Lucia LaOrden Oro, Christopher McCann, Cindy Rodriguez- Jimenez, Agni Tsirikou, Matthew Tully, Ryan William, Lukas Witzke, Daniel Zoubarev.

Frau Kochefko with award winner Agnes Tsirikou

News from Wilton High School 2021

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It is so wonderful to have our students back in person! Beginning German students have been rapidly growing in their language skills!  They have been using new technologies like ThingLink to describe their house and family and immersing themselves in song, language, and culture. Last Spring, we inducted new members into the German Honor Society and this year, they have been busy planning events for the school year.  The first event was a collaboration with the preschool students at WHS.  German Honor Society and German 4 Honors students taught and acted out the legend of Martin, a man known for his generosity with the poor.  They helped the preschoolers make paper lanterns whose light symbolizes radiating goodness into the world.  Martin’s Day is celebrated in parts of Europe and children go door-to-door with their lanterns, singing songs, receiving candy, and collecting money for the poor. The UCONN/ECE/4H students collaborated with the LLC and Ken Dunaj and Tara Peterson to use Noodle Tools, online databases, and to research more about the former East and West Germany.  The project required students to write journals from the perspective of E/W Germans living in Berlin at the time of the Cold War.  These students also analyzed the art of the East Side Gallery in Berlin and put examples of this art on their “piece of the Berlin Wall.” The classes’ symbolic Berlin Wall is currently on display in the LLC to commemorate the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989.  Students also Zoomed with Professor Anke Finger from UCONN to share their projects and hear about her memoir about life in East Germany and her novel, Memoryland.  Students really reflected on the notion of freedom. This German 4H/ECE course simultaneously gives WHS German students a chance to earn six (6) college credits through UCONN.  Lastly, before Winter break, students learned about the house and family in the beginning levels of German, the fairy tales, the history of Gingerbread and in the upper levels, both forms of the past tense!  Students used their creativity to design a Gingerbread house and complete a written project (tailored to their respective levels).  The German classes and the German Honor Society hosted the annual Gingerbread competition in the LLC and the school had a chance to vote!  A great time was had by all!

New from Cheshire High School 2021

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The students were all so happy to be back in person! The German Club started up right away, and activities thus far have been: making personal Schultüten, pumpkin painting contest, Haribo Gummibärchen Tasting Contest (which color is which flavor?), decorating Lebkuchenherzen (paper cut-outs) and making lanterns for St. Martinstag. 

At the beginning of October we took part in the “Meet a German” program, and were able to have a live Google Meet with a teacher in German. The students learned a lot about school life!

At the end of November each class took a tour of the on-line Wanderbus, and in December, my mother joined us on a Google Meet to teach the classes a paper craft to create large snowflakes. She is a retired math teacher, so we included the German terms for shapes, angles and folds into the lesson. 

At this time we are getting ready to take the National German Exam, and planning more activities for the Spring. 

Dr. Michela Bunn, German School’s new principle

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Dr. Michela Bunn is the Principal and President of the German School of Connecticut.

Michela grew up bilingually in Italian and German and lived in both countries for many years. Michela holds an M.A. in Political Science, Italian Philology, and Transport Management and a Ph.D. in Italian Philology from the University of Bonn, Germany as well as a Certificate in Early Childhood Education from the Westchester Community College in Valhalla, NY.

Michela has been working at many different schools and school types and can now look back onto 19 years of vast teaching experiences from several countries, Germany, the UK, and the USA. Michela lives in White Plains, NY with her husband Oliver and their two daughters, Helena (9) and Dorothea (1).

More information about the German School of Connecticut.

From the Refugee Crisis to Black Lives Matter – Teaching about Diversity, Anti-Racism, and Equity in German-speaking

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Webinar am 1. Dezember 15:30-17 Uhr

Lieselotte Sippel ist AATG-CT Testing Chair & Lektor an Yale University,

Ingrid Zeller, Associate Professor of Instruction an Northwestern University und AATG Chapter Presidents’ Representative.

Dieses Webinar wendet sich an High-School und College Unterrichtende.

Fragen?  Emailen Sie Marion Gehlker

Klicken Sie auf  ANMELDUNG, um sich anzumelden!

 

Help celebrate Keith’s retirement as AATG Executive Director

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Recognize his many valuable contributions to language education everywhere

About this Event (click here for a free ticket!)

This free online reception on August 16th will start at 5 PM Eastern/4 PM Central/3 PM Mountain/2 PM Pacific on Sunday, August 16, 2020. First there will be a photo show and then time for people to express recollections and good stories, as well as to thank Keith. Please use this Zoom link to access the online reception:

https://zoom.us/j/96984430627?pwd=TzRCcHNWbHdiS0ROc1lZU1dRZU1MQT09 Meeting ID: 969 8443 0627 Passcode: 131563

You may also listen in via phone by calling this number: +1 929 436 2866 (New York) If prompted to enter a meeting ID/passcode, use the information above.

Contact Doug Philipp (thedougphilipp@gmail.com) if you have any questions or need any assistance. If you know one of Doug’s other email addresses, you may write him there.

NEWS FROM AATG HEADQUARTERS

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  1. AATG has put together two wonderful webinars that specifically address our current needs. Thanks to Sarah Floyd, Matt Harring, Andrew Cambron, and, of course, our current president Doug Philipp for sharing such excellent resources!  These range in topics from F-L-A-CH, FILMS, and MUSIC to STEM/MINT, just to name a few  – please be sure to explore them as well. Use the membership code on the AATG site to access them for free–> Click HERE.
  2. Please find Matt Harring’s presentation that he sent since not all of it was visible on the webinar by clicking HERE
  3. AATG has also officially published a list of resources that you might revisit regularly as the sites are updated HERE.

Winston Named Honorary Fellow of the American Association of Teachers of German

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An article by Olivia Drake

The American Association of Teachers of German (AATG) recently named Krishna Winston, Marcus L. Taft Professor of German Language and Literature, Emerita, an honorary fellow of the association. The fellowship is limited to 25 fellows worldwide.

Founded in 1926, the AATG has nearly 3,500 members and “believes that bringing the language, literature, and cultures of the German speaking-world to all Americans is a vital humanistic endeavor, which serves an essential national interest,” according to its website.

To receive this honor, Winston was nominated by 10 colleagues, with the nomination approved by the Honorary Fellows Committee and voted on by the Association membership at its 2019 annual meeting. According to the AATG, honorary fellows are “men and women of letters of international distinction who have contributed to the advancement of German studies in the fields of literary studies, literary criticism, linguistics, creative writing, translation, and second language acquisition.”

Iris Bork-Goldfield, chair and adjunct professor of German studies, made the initial recommendation. She’s known Winston for more than 20 years.

“Krishna has devoted her life to the German language and literature. With her many celebrated translations of works by Golo Mann, Siegfried Lenz, Peter Handke, and of course Günther Grass, just to name a few, she has enabled millions of English speakers to appreciate German literature,” Bork-Goldfield said in her nomination letter. “Apart from being a brilliant translator, Professor Winston has educated generations of American students as a teacher of German. She is a passionate teacher, deeply committed to her students whom she inspires to enjoy German literature, study abroad in Germany, apply for scholarships to teach and /or do research in German-speaking countries, and become engaged citizens.”

Winston, who retired from Wesleyan in 2019, recently published a volume of four film narratives by Werner Herzog, Scenarios III (University of Minnesota Press, 2019), and has just completed translations of a novel and an essay by Peter Handke. Her translation of the address Handke delivered upon receiving the 2019 Nobel Prize can be found on the Swedish Academy’s Nobel Prize website. She is currently working on another Handke essay.

Winston remains actively engaged in campus life. In the fall of 2019, she taught her First-Year Seminar “The Simple Life?”, and she continues to serve as an advisor to the Community Standards Board, support the University’s sustainability efforts, and participate in the nomination process for Fulbright, Watson, and Udall fellowships.

“Krishna Winston has been a great source of motivation and inspiration for everyone around her, in the US and in Germany,” Bork-Goldfield said. “Her lifelong dedication to promoting German, be it as a teacher or a translator, complemented by her and her social activism, makes her an ideal honorary fellow.”