CAUTG / APAUC

Traditions and Transitions: German Curricula

26. – 28. August 2010
Waterloo Centre for German Studies
University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario

This conference intends to bring together international scholars whose research investigates various facets of the postsecondary curriculum for teaching and learning German as a foreign and/or second language and culture.

Currently, the potential new influences on the discipline of German seem many and varied. New digital technologies, the information economy, globalization and multiculturalism, altered international spheres of influence, the changing manner of communication, the internationalization and corporatization of universities, the rise of cultural studies especially in the English-speaking world, second language acquisition research, and critical applied linguistics are just a few of the current external and internal influences. As a result, many traditionally widespread ideas and approaches in German postsecondary curricula have recently been challenged. The conference attempts to provide a forum for discussing the challenges of current transitions and their impact on German curricula.

The keynote speakers are:
Claire Kramsch, University of California, Berkeley Alice Pitt, York University, Toronto Dietmar Rösler, Justus-Liebig Universität, Giessen

Deadline for proposals:
*June 15th, 2009*

We would like to encourage colleagues from all fields of German Studies to participate!

Please direct all questions or comments etc. to the conference organizers, John Plews (jplews@smu.ca) and Barbara Schmenk (bschmenk@uwaterloo.ca).

Jennifer Ruth Hosek of Queen’s University is one of two winners of this year’s Women in German Best Article Prize for her essay “Buena Vista Deutschland: Nation and Gender in Wenders, Gaulke and Eggert” (German Politics and Society 25:1, Spring 2007).

According to the prize selection committee, her article

provides an excellent, very rich mapping of the displaced working through of reunification onto Cuba. The essay negotiates several difficult coordinates: the question of how cinematic representations of Cuba de facto relate to the unification process and how this representation in turn is gendered. This essay is equally well-written and covers equal ground in terms of the density of the argument, the different interconnected subtopics, and the different national and transnational contexts. In Hosek’s essay questions of power, in regard to the East-West, generations, and gender dimensions are central, as well as the question of high and purportedly low art.
(WiG Newsletter [Winter 2009]: 10).

“Kanada auf Deutsch” heißt das neue Kommunikationsmodul, das das Department of German Language and Literature an der Queen´s University in diesem Semester für Deutschlernende anbietet.

Studenten der 200-400er Kurse drehen Videobriefe und erzählen dadurch persönliche Geschichten aus Kingston zum Thema “Kanada auf Deutsch”. Die genaue Umsetzung des Themas ist den Studenten überlassen. Videoclips, Fiktionen sind ebenso willkommen wie Dokumentationen! Es gibt nur eine Bedingung: die Sprache des Films soll Deutsch sein. Nach Fertigstellung werden die Videobriefe auf youtube unter Videobriefe aus Kanada onlinegestellt um andere deutschlernende Studenten in Kanada und weltweit zu kontaktieren.

Das Ziel des Projekts ist nicht nur die Förderung der mündlichen Kommunikationsfähigkeiten, sondern auch die Belebung des Austausches Deutsch lernender Studenten in Kanada. Deshalb werden Partneruniversitäten von Vancouver bis St Jones gesucht, die gerne am Projekt teilnehme möchten.

Finden Sie dieses Projekt interessant? Dann machen Sie mit! Drehen Sie mit Ihren Studenten auch einen Videobrief und erzählen Sie eine deutsche” Geschichte aus Ihrer Stadt!

Projektkoordination und weitere Informationen:

Krisztián Fonyódi
Ph.D. Candidate
Department of German Language and Literature der Queen´s University
Email: 4kf12@queensu.ca

Krisztián Fonyódi ist im 4. Jahr seiner Promotion, schreibt seine Dissertation über den
„Handlungsbegriff im Sturm und Drang” bei Dr. David Pugh. In DaF-Didaktik spezialisierte er sich
auf die produktive Anwendung neuer Medien im Deutschunterricht, worüber er 2006 an den
CAUTG und CATG Konferenzen referierte. Seit 2005 leitet er im diesem Bereich regelmäßig
Lehrerfortbildungen, Seminare und Workshops in Kanada und Deutschland. Seine bisherigen DaF-
Videoarbeiten und sein zu diesem Thema mit dem Titel “Filmsprache muss keine Fremdsprache
sein” sind online zu erreichen.

The Department of Languages and Linguistics at the University of Saskatchewan invites applications for a full-time tenure-track Assistant Professor in German and Linguistics position, effective July 1, 2009. Applicants must hold a Ph.D. in a relevant area, possess native or near-native fluency in German and English, demonstrate a strong record and promising programme of research, as well as excellence in teaching.
Preferred areas of research focus are German language acquisition and modern German language studies. Expertise in other areas of German studies, Applied Linguistics and Linguistics would be an asset.

Send your letter of interest, a curriculum vitae, a statement regarding research interests and projects, sample publications and teaching evaluations, and arrange for three letters of recommendation by 21 February, 2009 to: Dr. Richard Julien,  Department of Languages and Linguistics, College of Arts and Science, University of Saskatchewan, 9 Campus Drive, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5A5

See the complete ad at: http://artsandscience.usask.ca/college/employment
Contact richard.julien@usask.ca