Enlarge image Dr. Britta Bothe, USC, Nancy Martorelli, GICS Principal and M.E. Purnell meet to prepare internship program. (© Frank Duscha) The University of Southern California and the Goethe International Charter School of Los Angeles have joined forces to launch a new student teaching internship program that will  benefit German language students at both institutions.

Since September of this year, German language students at USC who are interested in pursuing a teaching career, have the opportunity to gain valuable work experience by participating in a student teaching internship at the Goethe International Charter School in the Marina Del Rey neighborhood of Los Angeles.

Enlarge image Students enjoy their class with the first intern, M.E. Purnell. (© Britta Bothe) GICS is a charter elementary school that offers a dual language immersion program in English and German in grades K -5, and follows the International Baccalaureate curriculum that provides a bilingual education including intercultural and global subject matter.

Nancy Martorelli, GICS Principal, and Dr. Britta Bothe, Associate Professor for German Studies and Language Coordinator at USC, established the six-week internship program. 

Enlarge image K1 teacher Ilona Schmid introduces intern Margaret M. E. Purnell, right, to her class. (© Britta Bothe) The USC interns taking part in the project will first sit in and observe several classes at GICS before they prepare their own lesson plan to teach to the students. Afterwards, they will be evaluated on their lesson plans as well as classroom teaching skills by a mentor and representative from USC.

With this internship program, the educators seek not only to give interns valuable hands-on experience but also offer support should they decide to become German language instructors.