For a long time now, the German 101 curriculum at Hunter has included authentic German websites that students mine for relevant information, even though they still have limited reading proficiency, because this is an important aspect of digital and web literacy. Recently we refocused that part of the curriculum around a semester-long project in which students virtually study abroad in Marburg, Germany, the university town where the storyline of our textbook is set. In five steps spread across the semester, they use German websites to:

This semester, our Transformative Learning in the Humanities readings and discussions motivated me to add a new step in advance of the virtual semester abroad. I wanted to emphasize the linguistic and cultural diversity of our class, bringing the students’ voices, lived experiences, and ancestors into the project. So I asked them to reflect (in English) on a few questions, either privately or in writing to me:

What languages and cultures are important in your life, and why? How do they relate to your study of German language and culture?

What experiences, if any, have you had abroad, i.e. outside the US? What do you think have been the impacts of these experiences, or the lack thereof?

What impressions or associations do you think of when you hear or read the phrase “study abroad”?

What the students chose to share gave us a better understanding, early in the semester, of the linguistic and cultural diversity of our group, and how it could support our work with German language and culture.

Of course spending time on German websites can’t really approximate the study abroad experience. But the students have thrown themselves into it and played along.

“The idea of studying abroad sounds frighteningly exciting and I don’t know if I will ever get the opportunity to do so but the main idea I had when searching for an apartment was ‘if I were to move out of my parents’ place right now, and having the money to do so, how would I like my apartment to look and where would I want it to be?'”

Alex

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Once settled in, the students found a wide range of places to spend their free time, including local bars, the university’s botanical gardens, and the castle in Marburg’s old town. To end their “semester abroad,” they’re planning weekend trips to places outside of Marburg that they’ve always wanted to visit for all kinds of interesting reasons: to Cologne to take in the architecture, to Frankfurt for its museums, to Munich to hear the Glockenspiel, to Dresden to visit the Slaughterhouse 5 area where Kurt Vonnegut was imprisoned.

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The web project has shown students how much they can do — and might go on to do — after just a few weeks of German study…

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“It makes me feel like I’m actually using my German to interact with real world things outside of class. Being on actual German websites and kind of knowing what things mean is pretty cool and shows me that I’m learning a lot in the class.”

Jalen

“After beginning the web project I began to seriously consider the idea of studying or relocating abroad and began to do more research. One very helpful skill I gained … was the ability to search the web in German and to use German websites.”

Karen