Language Events

The German band Artig, Kerstin Hopkins from the German Language School (tour director) in Washington D.C., and myself at the concert at the Vereinigung Erzgebirge in October 2014. I arranged for and organized the concert in Bucks County. Locals schools, as well as some from between 1 and 2 hours away, brought students to the concert. (Photo Credit: Susanne Weers, Photographer)

Events Organized:

October 7, 2014 - German-language concert by the band Artig for German-learners in Bucks County. Facilitated by Kerstin Hopkins at the German Language School in Washington D.C. I organized the venue, the equipment, the accommodations for the band, and the attendance of the other school districts.

October 8, 2012 - German-language concert by the band Pixie Paris for German-learners in Bucks County. Facilitated by Wolfram Hermann from www.kulturbuero.us . I organized the venue, the equipment, and the attendance of the other school districts.

Most, if not all language teachers will tell you that events and field trips carry a good deal of weight when attracting students during course selection time.

Just as important for the longevity and quality of your language program is, in my experience, the takeaway of students and other stakeholders from said field trips or events.

For my students and their parents, the concerts were an engaging, exciting experience from beginning to end. After the Pixie Paris concert in 2012, the two artists told me that they were astonished when they saw these young 13, 14 and 15 year-old American students singing along with their songs. Naturally, many teachers had designed lessons around the songs in the weeks before the concert! I wanted this concert to be a positively-charged target-language experience which showed my students how much they could understand in such a short time (particularly for my 8th graders, who had just started German) and also a "fun field trip."

Districts from all over the Greater Philadelphia area, as well as local school districts such as Lower Moreland and Upper Moreland, attended the concerts.