What's happening in German in Utah?

Welcome to October.
In this month's issue you'll find a friendly reminder about upcoming events in October. As always, we'll direct you to the information on the website. This month we have another issue of Kellings Korner for you to check out. There's a link to provide feedback about future topics you would like to hear about. These can be cultural, language, or literary in nature. In trying to make the AATG more meaningful for us all, you'll also find a link to a blog in which we hope you will post (in just 3-4 sentences, that's all though more would be welcome) what you have found works for getting students involved in the National German Test. We call this segment "Build Your Program." Hopefully together we can share insights that can help one another without a lot of time commitment.

Thanks for all you do!

Laura Catharine Smith
President, Utah AATG Chapter

See below for a request for insights and your experience for our first "Build Your Program" segment.

National German Placement Test Announced

By now you should have received news that registration for the National German Exam is open. Registration remains just $5 per student which will hopefully allow all students to participate. Let's encourage all eligible students in the state to take part and to that end, let's get word out to our colleagues who are not currently members of the AATG so their students can benefit from this great opportunity. One of my current students is a former winner of a trip to Germany thanks to the German Exam!

Help us get word out. How many students can we get involved this year?

Check out the information here: http://www.aatg.org/?page=NGE

Deutscher Tag

Our annual Deutscher Tag festivities take place this week on October 9! If you're participating (and we hope you are), we look forward to hearing about how things go at your location. Stay tuned to send in your reports and photos (with permissions to post) that we can share with our membership!

Have fun! And thanks to all those involved in planning, organising and mentoring!

International Immersion Conference

It's not too late to sign up to participate in the International Immersion Conference in Salt Lake City. Workshops and School visits will take place October 15 and 16 with the conference at the Grand America Hotel October 17 and 18. We'd love to have a strong participation from our state German colleagues which would help strengthen our case for growing our Dual Language Immersion programs.

If you will be attending, please let us know! We would love to reserve enough space to sit together at the luncheon on Saturday!

Sign up by clicking here: https://umarket.utah.edu/um2/l2trecconf/index.php?storecookie=1

New on the Utah AATG Website:

Kelling's Korner
Elections have taken place in Germany. Check out Kelling's Korner for an overview of the results!

Click here to send your requests for future topics: http://aatg-utah.weebly.com/kellings-korner.html

Build Your Program: The Blog
In our new blog, we'll share tips and experiences that can help one another in our quest to build and strengthen our programs. We're all pretty busy, so we'll set this up as a blog so you can share your ideas in even just 3-4 sentences that can provide beneficial insights.

This month's theme:
How have you been able to encourage students to participate in the National German Exam? What makes a difference in inspiring student participation? How do you celebrate your students' accomplishments?

http://aatg-utah.weebly.com/build-your-program.html#/news/

Future themes:
German Clubs: Does your school/program have a German club? What has worked for you? What types of activities have you had? How have you attracted students to your club? What suggestions would you give to colleagues to build successful programs?

Christmas in German-speaking countries: How do you incorporate German Christmas traditions into your classrooms?

Check out Dr. Hans Kelling's latest contribution on German language, culture and current events.
This issue: Recent German elections.

Our newest addition: A forum to help share ideas that can help us build our programs and improve our teaching. Responses can be short, to the point, and most importantly, helpful to colleagues without a lot of time commitment! Add your 2 cents worth = 3-4 sentences.
This month: How do you get students to take the National German Exam?

Calling for proposals for UFLA's meeting. We've got 3. We need 2 more (though we'd love more!)! Come share your insights with your fellow language educators from German and other languages!