Annual Seminar for German Saturday School Teachers
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- Consul Michael Ott (5th from the left) joins GASA school directors and teachers at the organization's yearly seminar.
- (© Consulate General Los Angeles)
The German-American School Association of Southern California (GASA) held its annual seminar for teachers at the Phoenix Club in Anaheim on Saturday, September 12, 2009.
The school directors and teachers of GASA's ten German Saturday and two Kindergarten schools traditionally meet before the first day of school, which this year falls on September 19th, to discuss new school policies, teaching resources and curriculum.
The main focus of the seminar, led by GASA President Rita Reiff, is to develop lesson plans in order to make learning German a fun and rewarding experience for all students. To this length, new teaching methods and short films, created by Julia Koch of the Goethe-Institut in San Francisco, were introduced to the teachers during the day-long seminar. Highlighted also were teaching tools to simplify and reinforce the learning process for students in all three levels of German language instruction: Kindergarten, Beginning/Intermediate and Advanced..
The Saturday schools are a valuable resource in providing a means for a German lanuage education. With the instruction they offer, they are able to prepare students at the intermediate and advanced levels for the American Association of Teachers of German (AATG) tests for possible high school credit and/or placement, for AP (Advanced Placement) testing for college credit and now the “Deutsche Sprachdiplom” (the German Language Diploma). With this language certificate, the recipient has proof of having attained the level of German language proficiency required to successfully attend a course of higher education study in Germany.
Michael Ott, Consul for Cultural and Press Affairs at the German Consulate in Los Angeles, expressed the continuing importance of attaining a German language education, especially in today's global world. He praised the Saturday schools for facilitating such an education and in their efforts in furthering German culture in Southern California.
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