About the "Alle lernen Deutsch" website and committee
With the assistance of expertise from the Language Learning Center, this website was developed during a workshop hosted by The Department of Linguistics & Languages and CLEAR at Michigan State University July 27-31, 2005.
The work of the "Alle lernen Deutsch" Committee represents a long-standing initiative that has evolved from the AATG's strong commitment to affirming diversity in the study of German language and German-speaking peoples and their cultures. In 1989 Renate Schulz, then president of the AATG, established the Committee for the Recruitment and Retention of Minorities, a national task force charged with constructing recommendations on promoting the benefits of the study of German for all students at all levels. Thus, Committee membership included teachers representing the broad range of instruction from kindergarten to the post-secondary level (K-16) who reflected the diversity of our nation and who sought to formulate guidelines for developing a culturally relevant pedagogy that would advance intercultural awareness in German classes and increase the involvement of underrepresented populations in German studies.
The Committee developed a mission statement at its first meeting in 1990, and in 1992 a national workshop hosted by the Committee resulted in the initial compilation of materials addressing issues related to multicultural perspectives and diverse participation in the German classroom. A special issue of Die Unterrrichtspraxis: Focus on Diversity (25.2, Fall 1992) highlights the outcomes of the workshop. Subsequently, the Committee met annually at the meeting of the AATG and developed a list of experienced language educators who agreed to serve as consultants [link to list pf AATG consultants] to promote program initiatives and offer local and regional workshops to offer strategies and resources for making connections between diversity in our nation, the classroom, and German society. These developments led to the AATG decision to support the Committee's recommendation that the task force be designated a standing committee, which was then reconstituted in 1996 as the Minorities Steering Committee. Workshops held in Cincinnati and St. Louis culminated in the production of a resource packet, Diversity and Multiculturalism in the German Classroom: Strategies and Resources, which was published by the AATG in 1997.
Since that time the Committee, renamed "Alle lernen Deutsch" in 2001, has devoted its efforts to continued development and dissemination of information about minorities in the teaching and learning of German through presentations at the annual meeting of the AATG, through summer workshops sustained by the generous support of the AATG and grants from the Ständiger Ausschuß Deutsch als Fremdsprache (StADaF), and through construction of this web site, through which teaching strategies, resources, and other current developments related to the Committee mission can be received, updated, and shared electronically.
Mission Statement
The American Association of Teachers of German (AATG) affirms the diversity of the citizenry of the United States and the wealth of a multicultural society. The Association recognizes the importance and the obligation of providing increased access to and equity in all program offerings at all levels of education and espouses the principle that the offerings must consciously and consistently reflect adherence to appropriate standards.
The AATG acknowledges its responsibility to ensure the study of German by a diverse American population taught by a profession whose members themselves reflect the racial and ethnic composition of our nation. We recognize our obligation to ensure that present and prospective teachers of German have access to up-to-date information on German-speaking people and their cultures. We therefore affirm the principle that the multicultural composition of the contemporary German-speaking world be accurately reflected in the instruction of German.
Members of the "Alle lernen Deutsch" committee:
- Reginald A. Bess
- Mary Bronfenbrenner
- Donna Evans
- Megan Foldenauer
- Karen L. Fowdy
- Christina Gerken
- Margaret Hampton
- Carolyn R. Hodges
- Leroy Hopkins
- John Long
- Mildred Long
- Janice D. M. Mitchell
- Kamakshi P. Murti
- George F. Peters
- Anita Ratwik
Here are the members of the "Alle lernen Deutsch" commitee at the workshop, July 2005:
