The German Committee’s Most Recent Meeting |
The most recent meeting of the ALL German Language Committee was held on 21st January 2006 at the Goethe Institut, Manchester. The Chair is Jane Hegedus (JH). |
• Jane welcomed members and thanked GI Manchester for providing the venue and for the excellent refreshments. • Warm tribute was paid to Peter Boaks for his enthusiastic and committed support to so many ventures. An appreciation of Peter’s work will appear in the next edition of “Deutsch : Lehren und Lernen” (DLL). • JH will write a letter of thanks to Sabine Gläsmann who has resigned from the GNC, as her present work does not involve language teaching. • Matters arising centred around channels of communication with ALL members teaching German. HQ had replied to questions raised at the September meeting regarding usage of the ALL web site (250 “hits” per day in December) . We are very keen to foster e-contact with German-teaching members but there are some confidentiality problems with passing on members' e-mail addresses for this purpose. • The recent government decision to increase provision for FL teaching at KS4 was the main theme of the Chair's Report. This change of policy needs high profile reporting on the measures due for September 2006 so that Heads are fully aware of the changes and so that pupils’ option choices can reflect these. We need a simple Teacher Guide so that FL staff can bring about change in their schools and are aware of coursebooks and accreditation bodies suitable for a variety of courses to be offered to a wide KS4 ability range. (Several accreditation bodies were mentioned, including ASSET, AQA Entry Level and “Start Deutsch” from the GI - for which GI is seeking QCA accreditation). We also need coursebooks aimed at less able students, as the new rules demand that at least 50% of the KS4 intake have access to FL teaching. • The present language committee structure will cease in Summer 2006 and as yet the exact representation is undecided. The Annual Members’ Meeting at LW 2006 is expected to give further details and a chance for members to air their views. Nomination forms for the new committee will be out in time for LW. • JH will represent the GNC at Language World 2006 by introducing speakers and attending the ALL stand. Several members of GNC were disappointed that the LW 2006 occurs in the middle of the Easter holiday, when FL visits often take place. • ALL had decided that there would be no German Day in 2006 because numbers would be adversely affected as a German Day had taken place in September 2005. We regretted this decision and were also disappointed that there had been little consultation on the matter before it was taken. • Karl Pfeiffer suggested a conference, aimed at KS3, showing teachers how they could include items outside the curriculum in their teaching. The Committee welcomed this suggestion and a Working Party was set up to plan for a June 2007 event. A proposed title was “The madness in my method: planning surprise in the classroom: a practical day for teachers of German”. • The proposed date for the Austrian Day is 7th October 2006. The topic in this Mozart Year will be: Mozart! The main speaker had already been arranged but suggestions for the other speakers were sought and received. • An Austrian half-day would also be possible in 2007, with Leicester the suggested venue. • Carl Pechatschek reminded us that nominations for the GI's forthcoming German Teacher of the Year award had to be in by 31st May. Goethe Institut was also intending to offer a special prize in memory of Peter Boaks. • Goethe Institut London is holding a Music Day on 21st June 2006 to which schools would be invited. Also the GI would be holding live showings of the Germany and England matches in the World Cup 2006! There is also to be a Jugendausstellung in London and Manchester at the end of June with a focus on pop music. • In September-October 2006 a group called Revolverhelden is visiting on a European tour. • Uta Smail reported that the GNC web site will be offering materials relating to articles in forthcoming issues of the magazine Deutsch Lehren und Lernen. Wolfgang Winkler has also offered his PowerPoint presentation on Das Wunder von Bern for use in the journal and supporting material for this would be available on the website for members to download. • Geoff Brammall suggested an online quiz, similar to that run by the Spanish committee. It might be possible to obtain sponsorship from the embassies of the DACH countries. • JH expressed her thanks to committee. She also thanked Goethe Institut and BMBWK for their support of the work of the committee over many years but particularly over the life of the present GNC. [summarised by Jim Flewker from minutes by John Hill and Geoff Brammall - any errors the responsibility of JF!] |