WPWV Chapter of the American Association of Teachers of German

WPWV AATG Fall 2012 Chapter Meeting Saturday, November 12, 2012

Fox Chapel Area High School     Meeting opened at 9:30 a.m., adjourned at 10:30 a.m.

In attendance:  Andrew Richards, Leah Turner, Cynthia Chalupa, Peg Meyers, Josi Smith, Gabi Thorell, Cathy Altmeyer, Bob Chaney, Amy Minnetti, Gabi Eichmanns. 

 1. Nominations for Chapter Vice-President from the secondary level.  Term to begin at the conclusion of the spring chapter meeting.  Leah Turner was nominated and is   considering the nomination.  Other nominations will be solicited from the membership and a ballot will be sent out by Chapter President Drew Richards via survey monkey or something similar.  Nominations/write-ins will be accepted through the end of the election.  Gabi Eichmanns will become Chapter President at the conclusion of the spring 2013 meeting.

 2. Three Rivers German Day, Thursday, March 7 at Washington & Jefferson College.   Same cost as last year $13 which will include lunch, registration and a t-shirt.  School buildings will be limited to 40 participants each. Cynthia Chalupa will contact WV schools to encourage them to participate.  

Three Rivers German Day t-shirt ideas: SMS messages,   Grimm 200 year anniversary

German language black and gold spirit towels will be ordered as prizes this year.

A summer language camp list, and list of local German companies will be distributed in prize bags and teacher bags.  Leah Turner will help us with a poster promoting German specifically for Western PA/West Virginia, and we will have those made up (possibly at Fox Chapel) to give to teachers at German Day for use during school open houses.

 3.  Christmas markets: at Columbus, Akron, Harmony, Pittsburgh, Mifflinburg PA.  Possible meeting next fall—W&J can reserve vans for 12 people.

 4.  Gabi Eichmanns, our chapter VP,  will attend the Chapter President’s Assembly at ACTFL to represent our chapter. 

 5. Membership building.  Lists of former and possible members were distributed.  Attendees were asked to contact people on the list and encourage them to join/rejoin AATG.  Our chapter will pay for the membership of the first 10 former or new members to respond.

Next fall, we will hold a drawing from the membership for a $500 award to help cover the cost of attending ACTFL in Orlando.

5. Spring meeting ideas? One member requested that we set up the meeting so that others could dial in via Skype.  Fox Chapel has this capability so we will likely hold the meeting there again.  Washington & Jefferson College is another possibility.

April 13 was suggested as a possible date. 

-Ohio gave a recent workshop on how to present the European economic situation in the classroom, Greece, the Euro, coming elections in Germany.  Peg Meyers will contact a possible presenter.  We may combine this with business German in the high school classroom, led by business German professors Gabi Eichmanns, Cynthia Chalupa, Guido Halder.  (Give high school teachers the tools to have their students write a resume, application, and do  mock interviews with native speaker community members)

 -Handicapped in Germany—also done in Ohio, possible future topic

 -An overnight immersion weekend was suggested.  The WV chapter did this successfully, using members’ homes as ‘host families’ for lodging.

-Workshop to arrange classroom visits—college professors visit high schools, high school teachers visit college classrooms.  This has been done at Ohio State. 

-TPRS  workshop—Rob Williams, etc.

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WPWV AATG Spring 2012 Meeting Minutes              

Saturday, April 14, 2012, Osborne Elementary School, Sewickley PA

8:30 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.

Present:  Andrew Costigan, Drew Richards, Doug Wilkinson,  Colleen Richards,  Cathy Altmeyer, Peg Meyers, Leah Turner, Josi Smith, Ed Heinlein, Amy Karst

1. Election Secretary/Treasurer.  Cathy Altmeyer was unanimously reelected.

2. Summer WPWV AATG Picnic, Cooper’s Rock State Park near Morgantown WV. Pavilion #2 near the overlook. Sunday, August 19, noon to ?  Family, dogs on leashes welcome.  Bratwurst/vegetarian hot dogs, drinks, cups, plates, etc. provided, please bring a dish to share.  Handicapped accessible, but path is a little rough. Central PA, MD Chapters have been invited as well.  Extra 2011 Chapter Grant Funds will be used to help defray expenses.  Drew Richards will be our Grillmeister.

Request for volunteers to bring needed items will be sent to the listserve.

(Costs will be reimbursed.)

bratwurst—Drew Richards

plates, cups, silverware, napkins, serving utensils—Cathy Altmeyer

still needed: buns for bratwurst, condiments, drinks with ice

3. German Day:  333 participants, 10 judges, 35 W&J student volunteers.  Technology competition judge requests that this category be eliminated as of next year due to lack of entries.  Several teachers stated that students had started projects but did not complete them on time and requested that we keep this category. 

4.  Membership Contest—winner of $50 VISA gift card from members who renewed for 2012 by January 1, 2012:  Kerry Werner.  Winner of $50 VISA gift card from members who have signed up for auto-renewal:  Ed Heinlein.

5. National German Exam:  Study Trip Nominee and Winner: Michaela Culley, Burgettstown MS-HS

2012 Duden Award for excellence in teaching (based on National German Exam results)  Mark Demkee from North Allegheny Intermediate School

2012 Langenscheidt Award- Daniel Madler, student at  North Allegheny Intermediate School.

There were NO senior trip applications this year.   Peg Meyers noted that 5^th year students can take the 4^th year exam; we will ask the Testing Chair to help to encourage teachers to give the exam to seniors next year.  Fewer study trips were awarded nationwide, so this is not isolated to our chapter.

6. Peg Meyers and Cathy Altmeyer will work on next year’s chapter grant application, due in early May.

7. Pitt Graduate German Program may be cancelled—Dr. Lyons asked for letters of support to be sent to the dean. A petition is also circulating and has been sent to the listserv. Please see the news pages on the website for details.

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WPWV AATG Fall Meeting Minutes, October 29, 2011, Washington & Jefferson College

Present: Drew Richards, Cathy Altmeyer, Gabi Thorell, Chris Godwin, Leah Skrpek, Cynthia Chalupa, Peg Meyers, Budimka Uskokovic, Megan Kramer, Leah Turner, Jennifer Scott, Dana Burgard, Harald Menz, Amy Karst, Mary Barliakos

1. German Day Tuesday, March 27, 2012. Washington & Jefferson College.  Cost per participant $13

Chapter will chip in about $500 to keep the costs down for students.

Grants expected: $500 AATG, $500 Bayer, $500 Hogfather’s

Typical costs: $150 certificates/frames, prizes $700 (but we have a lot of free stuff this year—we must spend $500 per AATG grant requirements.), tshirts $2700, lunch $2700= $6250

About 360 paid participants last year=$17.36 each

Subtract $1000 in grants from cost=5250/360=$14.58—Chapter will cover enough to make it $13.

2. National German Exam   New testing chair Dr. Michael Shaughnessy.  Send him comments and questions.  german@washjeff.edu

How to Use the National German Exam in Your Classroom. Online at:

http://www.aatg.org/files/NGE-Using-in-Class.pdf

http://www.aatg.org/NGE

The deadline for orders is November 15, 2011. Administration of exam: 12/6/11 to 1/20/12.

3. Recruitment/Retention Ideas wanted: Please send to helene@aatg.org

•       If you have a strong long standing program, what do you do to keep it that way?  (Best Practices)

•       If anyone has started a new program recently,  what steps did you take to accomplish that?

•       If your program was threatened and saved, what steps did you and others take to accomplish this?

If you have statements from parents, students, colleagues, administrators, community members etc. that would support any of the above, please include them (no names needed, just positions).

4. Member announcements:

Amy:  new book Neuland, Gedichte, Gedanken und Bilder, by Josef Immergruen Karst, amazon.com

   Could be used in class as contemporary literature.

Cynthia: AP Prep Book in the works.  Suggestions needed. cynthia.chalupa@mail.wvu.edu

5. Membership Drive   We will run a membership drive, led by Michael Shaughnessy. 

$100 Visa gift card for the member who recruits the most new (or lapsed 2 years or more—no 2010, 2011 membership)

$50 Visa gift card drawn from new members from this drive.

$50 Visa gift card drawn from all members who signed up for continual renewal of membership or lifetime membership by 12/31/11.

We will modify and distribute the flyers used by another chapter to help with this drive.

6. Free Film Screenings for Schools, South Side Works. Pittsburgh Jewish Film Forum.

•        Holocaust, historical, social topics.

•        Pre-selected screening dates or individual scheduling for 100 or more. Next screening date11/15

•        Teacher Guides available

•        In-classroom pre-screening preparation, led by one of our educators, is available by request.

•        One of our educators always leads a post-screening discussion at the theater.

Contact: Lori Sisson lsisson@jfilmpgh.org      412-992-5213

7. Chapter will donate $200 in honor of Helene Zimmer-Loew’s retirement for her celebration and for a gift.  Any monies leftover from these donations will be put in the schlolarship fund.

WPA AATG Spring 2011 Meeting Minutes

Meeting opened at 10 a.m.  30 April 2011, Burnett Center, Washington & Jefferson College

Present:

Michael Shaughnessy, Cathy Altmeyer, Chris Squire, Andrew Richards, Henry Lenz, Uli Taylor,  Josi Smith, Brad Martin, Deborah Janson, Eichmanns, Ed Heinlein, Gretchen Gyrich, Cynthia Chalupa, Amy Karst, LuAnn George, Peg Meyers, Harald Menz, Heiko e ter Haselborg, Kathy Fegely, Leah Turner

1. Chapter VP election—Gabi Eichmanns unanimously elected

 2. Constitution vote—chapter dissolution clause required by IRS was added

Dissolution of the Chapter

The Chapter may be dissolved only 1) at a special meeting called for that purpose,  2) through a vote by a majority of the remaining members of the Chapter or 3) through clear evidence that the Chapter no longer is active. No member of the chapter shall be entitled to any distribution or diversion of its remaining property or proceeds.  The balance of the money, other property or assets received by the Chapter from any source shall be distributed for exempt purposes to qualifying charitable beneficiaries, preferably the national organization, the American Association of Teachers of German which is registered as a 501 (c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code.

3. Vote on merger of WPA Chapter with WV Chapter –unanimously accepted

 Name change?  WPWV AATG chosen

 Questions on merger:

Finance—       

WV treasurer will transfer funds to WPA account

WPA account name will be changed

Dues will begin to be credited to the new chapter next January since we have already received this year’s portion of national dues.

 WV officer terms will end upon merger.  WV members can stand for election at the next

opportunity.

 Meeting locations—will be determined by members.  We will try to use Skype to aid

members who live far from the meeting location.  Kathy   Fegely suggested that we

alternate meeting locations, and that when meeting in the north, a central location should

be chosen in the south and vice versa so that members will still be able to meet as a

community.

Some workshops in the past featured book reviews-- this might interest some members.

5. German Day March 6 or 27 are possible—27^th was chosen.

Please let Cathy Altmeyer know of any publicity your program has received.

6. financial report attached—The chapter is in good shape.  Please use auto renewal for membership so that we can receive a portion of your national dues.

7. change in leadership.  Mike Shaughnessy handed over the presidency to Drew Richards, and was presented with a gift, card, and a cake to thank him for his service to the chapter.

WPA-AATG Fall Meeting, Saturday November 13, 2010, Carnegie Museum of Art Cafe

Present:  Michael Shaughnessy, Cathy Altmeyer, Drew Richards, Richard Hough, Josi Smith, Chris Hallstein, Amy Karst, Lauren Poetain, LuAnn George, Ingeborg O’Mahony, Leah Turner, Bob Chaney

Meeting began at 10 a.m. and ended at 10:30 a.m.

Peg Meyers has been on extended sick leave.  Flowers were sent to her from the AATG, and she sent us a thank you card, which was read to the membership. 

We will elect a new chapter vice president in the spring.  It should be someone from the post-secondary level, according to chapter rules.  Chris Hallstein will speak with his colleagues at CMU to see if anyone would like to run.  If no candidate from post-secondary is available, we can nominate someone from secondary, provided that at least one officer remains from the post-secondary.  We will take nominations up to and at the spring meeting.

Western PA AATG Spring Meeting March 27, 2010                            Minutes

Meeting began at 9:30 and ended at 9:55.

Present:

Cathy Altmeyer, Wendy Burgbacher, Amy Karst, Josi Smith, Lauren Gates, Leah Turner,

Robert Chaney, Gabriella Thorell, Zsuzsa Horvath, Drew Richards, Gretchen Gyrich, Ingeborg O’Mahony

1.  Election of Chapter Vice-President to complete the term of Colleen Richards, who has resigned.  Drew Richards was elected with a term to begin immediately and to end in March 2011.

2.  Cathy Altmeyer was re-elected as Secretary/Treasurer.

3. Rules regarding next year’s VP election were discussed.  Our chapter rules dictate that the candidate should be from the university/college level, but if this is not possible, it is permissible to have someone from the secondary level, since our Secretary/Treasurer is from the post-secondary level.

4. German Day report—426 participants from 18 different schools.   Suggestions for next year were made: Hogfather’s Restaurant would like to either donate $400 for prizes, or perhaps a luncheon for a winning school.  Pepinos Restaurant in Washington might be another possible donor—this restaurant is owned by a participant’s parents. (Anthony Verardi).  A new art category was suggested: culinary arts.  There were many good handicraft entries this year, and making a separate cooking category would help the judges and give the students another opportunity to compete.

 5. There will be another spring workshop on Sunday, April 18, at the UJF Holocaust Center in Squirrel Hill from 1-3 p.m. Cost is $5.   Topic: Teaching the Holocaust through Comic books.  Workshop will be led by Zsuzsa Horvath and Beverly Harris-Schenz.

 6. Nominations from our chapter:  Amy Karst has been nominated to the Executive Council of the AATG.  Elections will be held in the fall.  Peg Meyers will be nominated as German Educator of the Year.   Bayer Corporation will be nominated for the Friend of German Award for its support of German Day and other programs.

 7. Additional announcements. 

Chapter members were asked to submit any press on their students from German Day, the testing program or other awards. 

Ingeborg O’Mahony’s student was interviewed for a story on the Congress-Bundestag program.

Uwe Kind concert at Fox Chapel High School on May 11 from 9:30-noon. $5 per person.  There is a park nearby where students could stop for a picnic lunch afterward—Squaw Valley Park. 

Carnegie Museum of Art has a good collection of German art.  Ingeborg O’Mahony took a group of students there for a one hour tour of the collection.  Please contact Ingeborg for more information: iomahony@sewickley.org

Minutes-- Fall 2009 Business Meeting WPA-AATG

October 24, 2009

Teutonia Männerchor

Meeting began at 10:00 a.m. and ended at 10:35 a.m.

 Present: Dr. Michael Shaughnessy, Cathy Altmeyer, Dr. Zsuzsa Horvath,

          Robert Chaney, Richard Hough, Josi Smith, LuAnn George,

Greg Smolinski, Doug Mills, Gabi Thorell, Drew Richards, Donna Nofzinger, Dr. Edith Krause, Amy Karst, Gretchen Gyrich, Elliott Bergman, Beth Roadman

 1. Financial report is attached.  We’re in good financial shape with a balance of $4032.46. 

2. Membership drive.  We currently have 94 members, not all of whom registered in time for us to receive a portion of the membership fee.  Members need to renew by early March at the latest in order for our chapter to receive a portion of the dues.  The membership no longer begins in September—it begins in January.  Mike Shaughnessy is looking into contacting some new teachers in the area, and all members are encouraged to approach colleagues about membership.  We need more members from the university level, including graduate students who may wish to teach German at the secondary or post-secondary level.

Previous membership numbers: 2

2004            92

2006            96

2007            102

2008            84

2009            94

 3. There will be an election in the spring for Chapter Secretary/Treasurer.  Cathy Altmeyer was nominated for the position and has agreed to run again.

The current VP has decided not to continue, so there will be an election for that position in the spring.  Drew Richards was nominated for the position.  Other nominations for either position may be made by email to the Chapter President, Mike Shaughnessy at mshaughnessy@washjeff.edu before the spring meeting.

 4. There will be a Weihnachtsmarkt in Harmony on November 14 and 15 this year.  Members discussed how the AATG could support and promote the idea of having a Weihnachtsmarkt in Pittsburgh.

 5.  Spring meeting.  Drew Richards suggested an immersion day, similar to the recent and very successful immersion day in Erie.  The PSMLA is trying to arrange an immersion day at the University of Pittsburgh on Saturday, March 27, and we will try to work with them and make this our spring workshop.

 6. German Day is on Thursday, March 18, 2010 at Washington & Jefferson College.  Suggestions were made regarding the judging of the music category to allow for separate judging for small-scale versus large-scale productions.  This will be brought up with the German Day committee.

The new technology category will be tried again this year.

 7. The Modern Austrian Culture and Literature Conference will be held in April 2011 at Washington & Jefferson College.  Approximately 70 scholars from around the world will participate.  Mike Shaughnessy is looking into offering a discounted rate for AATG members for sessions only.  The full conference rate is expected to include all meals.

 Minutes WPA-AATG Spring Meeting 2009

Saturday, March 28, 2009, Fox Chapel Area High School

Meeting began 9:30 a.m., ended 10 a.m.

Present:  Amy Karst, Mike Shaughnessy, Cathy Altmeyer, George Kendares, Colleen Richards, Drew Richards, Meghan Lewis, Greg Smolinski, Josi Smith, Gabi Thorell, Gretchen Gyrich, Bob Chaney, Rita Nieman

1. Election of new Chapter Vice-President.  Candidate must be from secondary level. 

            VP will serve for 2 years, March 28, 2009-spring 2011, then will become Chapter

            President.  Colleen Richards was unanimously elected.

2. Planning Committee will apply for the Certificate of Merit Award for

Dr. Michael Shaughnessy, and for the Friend of German Award for Bayer

Corporation for its support of German Day.  Applications are due in May.  Peg

Grasso will do the application for the Friend of German Award, and Cathy

Altmeyer will assist with the Certificate of Merit Award.

4. German Day follow-up.  Over 400 participants including volunteers, 15 schools

            including 2 middle schools. A video is available for anyone who is interested—

            we just ask for a small donation to cover costs.  $2 for any video that must be

            mailed, $1 for just the video for those picking it up at the meeting.

            There were no valid entries for the Technology competition, but we will run it

            again next year.  We will put links to examples on the WPA-AATG website.

Teachers: please contact local papers, put info on school website for publicity,

and let me know if you get coverage.  National AATG wants to know about any

media attention we get.  Better news coverage is needed for this event—perhaps

we should contact television stations next year, such as KDKA’s Dave Crawley. 

Also, the Washington & Jefferson College media person has been involved in

previous years and perhaps could do more next year. 

Some teachers commented that the $14 cost per student

in addition to charges of up to $300 for a school bus for the day makes it

expensive for the students.

            Judging rubrics were discussed for the music category.   Some entries are very

            different in nature to others--featuring the instrumental or vocal talents of the

students involved or original works.  Could a separate award be given for best

original song or best performance.  The German Day committee will discuss it.

5.  Thank you to outgoing Chapter President Amy Karst.

Welcome our new Chapter President, Dr. Michael Shaughnessy

            6. Announcements: Hofbrauhaus on the South Side is open.  Pittsburgh German Meetup group will be there April 2, 6:30 p.m. 

7.  20^th anniversary of Fall der Berliner Mauer in November—perhaps our chapter could host an event.

WESTERN PA. AATG CHAPTER MINUTES 

WPA-AATG Fall Meeting Minutes, October 11, 2008

 Present: Amy Karst, Michael Shaughnessy, Cathy Altmeyer, Peg Grasso, Josi Smith, Wendy Burgbacher, Chrissy Hartmann, Ruth Scott, Jack Scott, Ed Heinlein, LuAnn George, Pauline Spring, Karen Taylor, Doug Mills, Gabriella Thorell, Goran Thorell, Leah Turner, Beatrice Hook, Mary Zollars, Gabi Eichmanns, Christian Hallstein, Meghan Lewis, Stephen Brockman (23)

 1. Membership renewal: Membership runs from January to December.  Please renew for 2009 before February 1, 2009 to ensure that our chapter receives a portion of each member’s dues.

Meeting began at 9:30 a.m.

9:25 a.m. Meeting started.  35 members in attendance. 
Congratulations to:

       Zsuzsa Horvath on the release of materials for “Die Lisa” through the AATG Materials Center. The book “die Lisa” is also available through the materials center. 

The WPA-AATG Fall 2001 Meeting on Saturday, October 6, 2001, at Seneca Valley Senior High School, was hosted by Josi Smith, who also had a wonderful German-American Day cake made for us. The main topic of the day was German Club ideas/creative projects for the classroom. Participants made: Amish Welcome signs, Nadeligel, Marienkäfer, Herzen für Muttertag/Valentinstag, Strohsterne, Weihnachtsschmuck, Weihnachtsherzen, and other crafts. Presentations were given by Bob Chaney, Anne Green, Kathy Russmann, Josi Smith, and Ingeborg Woodhouse. Each participant received a binder with complete instructions for these and other projects. The day also included a discussion and video about our second annual German Day Competition. A good time was had by all!

Spring Meeting 2001

 

March 9, 2001 was the WPA-AATG Spring Meeting. The speakers for the day were Chris Hallstein from Carnegie Mellon and Kathy Russmann of Baldwin High School. Chris' talk was entitled: "Kunst im Deutschunterricht: Farbe, Form und Fantasie" and he wrote:

 

"Our world assaults our senses daily with a veritual flood of moving images and sounds that force us to become "holistic" observes and listeners. We learn to suppress details in order to cope with this relentless audio/visual onslaught. Consequently, our students are often unaccustomed to searching silent and static images for the details of composition, and their minds are thereby impoverished. When the eye and ear are feed, the mind wishes to be fully engaged in discovery but is often forced to function only as a filter. This workshop will give teachers general techniques and specific materials for helping students become careful observers through inductive examination of works of art by German artists such as Albrecht Dürer, Caspar David Friedrich, Wassily Kandinsky, Käthe Kollwitz, Franz Marc, George Grosz and Anselm Kiefer. Examining artistic images promotes the excitement of discovery and stimulates linguistic production. For the novice, we can focus on colors, shapes and the relative position of objects; for the advanced student, the lack of a linguistic context in an artistic image provides a challenging but natural impetus for more extended discourse. In this approach, close observation of specific works and the production of speech take precedence over art history, artistic style and periodization. All the works used in this workshop are available over the internet, so teachers will have no trouble using this material in their own classes."

 

In the afternoon session Kathy showed how she uses art, color, and "Sprichwörter" to develop language skills.

 

The workshop took place at Carnegie Mellon University, Baker Hall, Room 235A .

 

During the business meeting we elected a new Vice-President of the chapter, Ingeborg Woodhouse. Peg Grasso stepped down following a wonderful job as President and Anne Green stepped up to that post.

 

 

 

FALL MEETING 2000

The WPA-AATG Fall Meeting took place on Saturday, October 7, 2000, at The Kiski School in Saltsburg, PA. David Lane hosted the meeting there. The workshop focussed on two topics: our new German Day competition and Powerpoint, a computer program which aids in the designing of multi-media presentations.

Our first annual WPA-AATG German Day was scheduled for January 29, 2001 at Mt. Lebanon High School. Many of us have seen just how motivating these festivals are for students, and we hope to begin an annual event that will boost enrollment in German in the Pittsburgh area. Participants received materials to help prepare their classes for the big day.

David Lane taught participants how to use Powerpoint in the afternoon session.

SPRING MEETING 2000

At our Spring 2000 Meeting the WPA-AATG was presented a special program, thanks to the hospitality of the Bayer Corporation. Our meeting took place at the Pittsburgh site of Bayer Corp. on Friday, March 17, 2000. The program was entitled, "Cultural Understanding" and was presented by Lyle Knisley, head of the Cultural Communication Alliance. Bayer's program works with local high school teachers and encourages high school students to continue language training. The program also promotes the incorporation of culture into language learning. In this way students are better prepared to work for companies that do business globally, whether on an overseas assignment or at home in Pennsylvania.

FALL MEETING 1999

In the morning session Anne Green of Carnegie Mellon University presented an interactive workshop on the subject of Germany in the European Union, drawing on knowledge and materials obtained the summer 1999 AATG seminar in Wiesneck, Germany. After lunch the program continued with a swap-shop. We heard from members about how you have used WPA-AATG materials in the classroom, good tips for classroom teaching, and experiences from abroad. Topics of discussion also included: successfully applying for seminar grants, middle school teaching, the Fulbright Teacher Exchange, Congress-Bundestag exchange program, textbooks, summer seminar opportunities, the AATG listserve, National German Exam, AP classes and new websites and internet addresses for teachers of German. As usual, participants received a packet of materials to take home and use in the classroom.

SPRING MEETING 1999

Morning Session: "Kinder- und Jugendliteratur im Deutschunterricht"
Presenter: Kathy Russmann
Afternoon Session: "Landeskunde im Deutschunterricht"
Presenters: Peggy Grasso, Father Willy Wurm
At the business meeting, Father Willy was presented with a gift for his successful term as president. Peggy Grasso succeeded Father Willy as president, and Anne Green was elected vice-president.

FALL MEETING 1998

The Fall Meeting took place on September 26 at St. Vincent College in Latrobe, PA from 9:30 a.m.- 3 p.m. Our presenter was Jo Sanders, and the meeting was entitled:

A Formula for Success: Structuring the Class as Family

Jo writes that "by structuring foreign language classes as "families," we can raise the students‚ chances of success, providing a supportive, low-stress, highly motivating environment where students can interact freely. This workshop will share practical ideas on restructuring the class, activities for "families," how to teach, practice and evaluate orally and in writing in family groups. Appropriate for introductory levels or as review and expansion for higher levels."

SPRING MEETING 1998

Our presenter was Dr. Bonnie Adair-Hauck, the 1st Vice-President of the PSMLA. She is a member of the PSMLA's Task Force for World Languages in PA. For the past 4 years, Adair-Hauck has been working on a Title VI grant-funded project on the assessment of oral proficiency in French, German and Spanish.
    During the first part of the morning workshop, Adair-Hauck provided an update on the proposed World Language Standards for PA. For the second half of the program, she shared information on a Title VI grant-funded project "Investigating the SOPI (Simulated Oral Proficiency Interview) as an Assessment Tool for L2 Oral Proficiency". The advantages and disadvantages of using the SOPI as an assessment tool were discussed and project data shared regarding the amount of time needed for students to reach an Intermediate level of oral proficiency, motivation, anxiety and students' self-assessment.
    In the afternoon, we focused on promoting the study of German. Fr. Willy opened the afternoon session by sharing information and materials from the ACTFL conference in Nashville. All participants brought along ideas, handouts, and strategies for promoting the study of German.

FALL MEETING 1997

Fr. Willy and Anne Green led the morning session, which included discussion of taming and using the World Wide Web in the German classroom. The afternoon session, headed by Anne Green, gave participants the opportunity to explore the Internet while able to ask questions.

SPRING MEETING 1997

The Western PA AATG Spring 1997 meeting was held at Seneca Valley High School in Cranberry Township, March 8, 1997.

Our special guest at this meeting was Dr. Robert DiDonato, a professor at Miami University of Ohio and co-author of the textbook, Deutsch Na Klar. Dr. DiDonato presented the workshop "Using Video in the German Classroom." This workshop provided an overview of what is available in German for the classroom. It focused on segments of videos from German commercials, authentic footage to a "Krimi" and a "Kinderserie." Participants learned strategies and techniques for incorporating video into their teaching.

At the Business Meeting, Peggy Grasso of Greensburg Salem High School was elected our new Vice-President. Fr. William Wurm assumed the Presidency. Kathy Russman was presented with a certificate and gift in recognition of her term as president.