Soccer: New Goals for the German Curriculum

Grant:

Lecturers' Professional Development Fund (LPDF)

Academic Year:

2014 - 2015 (June 1, 2014 through May 31, 2015)

Funding Requested:

$1,200.00

Project Dates:

Fri, 11/21/2014 - Wed, 04/22/2015

Applicant(s):

kallimz

Overview of the Project:

Sports has been a major theme on our campus: not simply because of the University's past and present athletic achievement but also because of the integration of what seems extracurricular (sports) into the curricular mainstream (LSA theme semester) this term. Last Fall, I proposed a session at this year's ACTFL (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages) Convention in San Antonio (November 21-23, 2014.) This panel, which is titled "Soccer: New Goals for the German Curriculum" and in which I will serve as chair, was approved: other participants include Professor Stephan Schindler (University of South Florida) and the Goethe Institut Chicago. My funding application is to cover expenses to attend the conference.

Final Report Fields

Project Objectives:

The project covered expenses to attended the ACTFL (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages) Convention in November 2014 where I chaired a panel on 'Soccer: New Goals for the German Curriculum' with a colleague from the University of South Florida and the Goethe Institut Chicago. Our goal was to illustrate how the topic 'soccer' can be integrated into an intermediate-level German course and how it interfuses with aspects of religion, history, politics, economics, and geography.

Project Achievements:

What helped was the popularity of the session during the conference: it was encouraging to see how many teachers (high school and college) wanted to learn how to integrate this topic into the curriculum. I have been in contact with some of these instructors at other venues and learned that they adopted the ideas and follow the same teaching patterns.

Continuation:

The connections that I made at this conference were invaluable as I collaborated with the colleagues (Goethe Institut) on refining grammar activities in my own course. This course (German 325/326: Soccer) has been taught every Fall and Winter term for the past few years and generally meets capacity enrollment.

Dissemination:

The contents of the presentations were sent via email to anyone who was interested in them. This strategy proved tremendously helpful as I have been in regular contact with colleagues from other institutions since.

Advice to your Colleagues:

Attending ACTFL is important for anyone who is teaching foreign languages. Attend this conference and attend as many sessions as possible and establish contacts with colleagues.

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