Score with German – Learning German through Soccer
-
- Enlarge image
- (© Score with German)
This summer’s soccer World Cup will capture the imagination of hundreds of millions of fans from around the globe, and the German national team is considered one of the top favorites. In 2011, Germany will host the Women’s World Cup and hopes to defend its title against strong competition from Brazil and the United States. With these two major soccer events on the horizon the American Association of Teachers of German (AATG) and the Goethe-Institut San Francisco have joined forces to promote German language and culture through the world’s number one sport.
The Goethe-Institut is no novice when it comes to “Fußball,” as soccer is called in Germany. German Plus Soccer, its most successful youth course in Germany, is always fully booked months in advance. At this summer camp, an international group of young students tackles German in the morning and plays soccer in the afternoon – a wildly popular combination!
In England, the Double Club, a joint project by one of Europe’s top soccer clubs, Arsenal FC, and the Goethe-Institut, has received the prestigious European Award for Languages for its innovative approach to developing language skills. This award-winning concept is now coming to the United States.
-
- Enlarge image
- Jürgen Klinsmann, one of Germany’s all-time soccer greats, is honorary chairman of the Transatlantic Soccer Bridge.
- (© Score with German)
In the US, the Goethe-Institut San Francisco is perfectly suited to coordinate all language and soccer activities. Since 1997 it has been organizing the Transatlantic Soccer Bridge, a soccer tournament for high school students enrolled in German. Honorary chairman of the Soccer Bridge is none other than Jürgen Klinsmann, one of Germany’s all-time soccer greats, winner of the 1990 World Cup and former coach of Germany’s national team as well as FC Bayern München.
In January 2010, the Goethe-Institut and the AATG launched their latest project – Score with German. German teachers and students worldwide can now turn to this web portal to find teaching materials that focus entirely on the world of soccer. Video clips, podcasts and vocabulary exercises bring the excitement of soccer into the classroom; boring grammar drills are immediately shown the red card!
-
- Enlarge image
- At the German&Soccer summer camps, participants will learn German and improve their soccer game.
- (© Score with German)
These teaching materials are also the center piece of the German language curriculum for the German&Soccer summer camps. In these camps, which offer both residential and day options in Northern and Southern California, student-athletes will learn German the fun way while at the same time improving their soccer skills. After talking about the Bundesliga and its stars and learning the FUNdamentals of German in the classroom the campers hit the soccer field. Soccer coaches from Germany make sure that elite as well as recreational players will get a kick out of German&Soccer.
Score with German was made possible by the generous support of the German Program for Transatlantic Encounters (Transatlantic Program). The Transatlantic Program is financed by European Recovery Program (ERP) funds provided by Germany’s Federal Ministry of Economics and Labor. The purpose of the Transatlantic Program is to keep the memory of the Marshall Plan and General George C. Marshall alive and foster transatlantic partnership in line with his wishes.
Related Links:
