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Updates for parents of German students at Frontier Academy |
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Parent update by date
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Dear Parents, Wilkommen! Welcome to German I and German II! I am really looking forward to working with your student this year! Last year, I was the German long-term substitute for Ms. Lloyd when she left on maternity leave, and I am back this year to teach German I and II. I will also offer support in the new library, will team teach a Learning to Potential theater course, and will help in whatever other areas I can. A bit about me: I am a Colorado native and have lived here all my life except for the four months while I studied as an exchange student in Germany. I graduated from UNC last spring with my B.A. in Human Communication. I love to travel, be outdoors, watch movies, and read good books! I am also a web site designer and am certified in massage therapy. People will often talk about how they want to “pick up” a language. This just doesn’t happen. Learning a language in a country where it’s not the dominant or even secondary language used takes time, effort, and patience. As an example, on the average, your student will spend 200 minutes per week (or 7200 minutes total) in their German class this year. That may sound like a lot, but in truth, they will have only spent ten 12-hour days in German by the end of the year. This means that your student will be LESS THAN TWO WEEKS OLD in German by the end of the school year. With Spanish, immersion is easier in the Greeley area because there are many opportunities to hear Spanish spoken; on TV, on the radio, and in the community at large. However, if your student is serious about learning German, they need to actively seek out their own opportunities for learning the language outside of the classroom, which can prove to be difficult if you don’t know where to look. From a parent perspective, it would be helpful if you can help them work through that difficulty by making sure they are getting their homework done, seeking out opportunities to use the language, and even, if you would like, by learning and using German yourself. From my perspective, I find myself using my German on an almost daily basis in Greeley because I know where to find the opportunities to use it (outside of teaching at Frontier of course). In my teaching, I will be sharing those opportunities with your student and with you. One way I will be doing this is by setting up a web page, which will have additional resources for students to learn German. This will include a calendar of local, regional and state activities, links to web sites with games and activities, and a page with language learning products, which can be purchased to help students of German gain a greater knowledge of the German language, history, and culture. This page is under construction, but will be located at http://www.strive4impact.com/frontier_german I am glad that your student has chosen to take German this year! My approach to language learning is somewhat unconventional, because I believe that the only way a language can be learned is through total immersion. One part of immersion is to recognize that language is always tied to culture and customs, so we will not only study the language, but also the history and culture of Germany and Germanic peoples. The other part of immersion is to hear and use the language, so I will be teaching a lot of the class in German, and will be asking your student to do the same. Please feel free to contact me at any time with questions, and I look forward to meeting you and working with your student!
Jonathan Kraft |