Newsworthy

Students who started in our program and are studying or have recently studied abroad

There are generations of RC students who have studied abroad in Freiburg, Tübingen, München or Berlin. This list only goes back students in the last few years. Please let us know if we are missing anyone. Future students who may be interested in studying abroad would surely love to hear about that experience from you. 


Jacqueline Anthenien (2023) Tübingen

Abigail Bartley (2023-2024) Freiburg

Stefan Blazen (2023-2024) Freiburg

Eleanor Durkee (2022-2023) Freiburg

Jesse Line (2023-2024) Freiburg

Ethan Markby (2023) Tübingen




KUDOS for Honored Instructors

April 2023

For the second year in a row, students nominated both of us (Karein and Carla) as "Michigan Housing Honored Instructors." Since 2018, Michigan Housing has provided residential students with the opportunity to honor instructors university-wide who make "a positive impact on their collegiate journey at the University of Michigan." We are full of gratitude and inspired to continue making the language learning experience enjoyable, rewarding and meaningful for our students. We have both chosen to focus our careers on teaching, in particular, because we find the relationship with students deeply enriching and want to share our love of the German language and culture.

Freelance Writer & Journalist Jochen MetzGer Blogs about his Visit to the  Kaffeestunde 

Fall 2022

Mal wieder Gast im Uni-Biotop

Vor ungefähr einem Jahr hat Karein mich zu einer Veranstaltung an der hiesigen Uni eingeladen. Da treffen sich Studierende, die an der University of Michigan Deutsch lernen. Fast alle studieren noch ganz andere Fächer, aber wo man schon mal hier ist … warum sich nicht auch noch nebenbei ne Fremdsprache reinpfeifen? Wann machen die das alles??? Ich bin jedesmal wieder platt, was die Kinder hier alles draufhaben, wie offen und unverstellt sie einem begegnen, wie Erwachsene, die ganz selbstverständlich mit Erwachsenen reden. Nicki sagt: „Das sind Leute, die ihre Highschool mit ner glatten Eins abgeschlossen haben.“ Als Lehrer wär das hier ein Traumort. Natürlich ist mir klar, dass die ganze Institution komplett privilegiert ist und zugeschüttet wird mit Geld, das dann halt nicht anderswo sein kann und so weiter. Alles problematisch. Aber heute ist mir das egal.

Jedenfalls sitzt man während der Deutschstunde beisammen, trinkt Kaffee und Tee, mümmelt Süßigkeiten und redet über irgendwas in dieser seltsamen, sperrigen Sprache aus der alten Welt. Manchmal werden Gäste eingeladen und heute war das eben ich. Ein paar von denen interessieren sich tatsächlich für Journalismus. Weil ihnen das Schreiben Spaß bringt. Oder weil Radio cool ist. Hach. To be young.

Vorher hab ich Karein ein paar mögliche Themen zugemailt und dann durften die jungen Leute bestimmen, was sie am meisten interessiert. Auf dem ersten Platz gelandet ist „Wie man Depressionen mit Psychedelika behandeln kann“. Ich hab gerade für Geo ne große Geschichte darüber geschrieben, die demnächst erscheinen soll. Beim Gespräch ist mir aufgefallen, dass die jungen Leute relativ gut über Magic Mushrooms informiert sind. Einer davon hat mal in einer Apotheke gearbeitet und mich dezent auf ein entsprechendes Detail in der US-Gesetzgebung hingewiesen. Alles eine Freude. Die Zauberpilze sind in Ann Arbor seit einiger Zeit nicht mehr verboten, Microdosing scheint mir nicht komplett unüblich zu sein. Bald mehr davon auf diesem Kanal.

By Jochen Metzger (jochen-metzger.de)

Bilingual Connection 

Winter 2022

Second-Year Intensive German students meet with German high school students via zoom. Conversations range from family, school, music and hobbies to political and social topics, like gun control and climate activism.

Which MLC is for Me?

RC German Alum ('23), Adrian Beyer, talks about combining the Residential College and the Honor's Program.  Adrian includes a photo from a trip to Berlin in the Winter 2020 (just before the shutdown) with Deutsches Theater: https://admissions.umich.edu/explore-visit/blog/which-mlc-me-lsa-honors-program-and-residential-college



Language Exchange Ann Arbor- Bad Oldesloe 

Fall 2021

Students in RC German Readings  (2021)

Students in the Berufliche Schule Bad Oldesloe (2021)

CONVERSATION WITH  AUTHOR JOCHEN METZGER 

Fall 2021

Journalist and Freelance Writer Jochen Metzger talks about his book Alle Macht den Kindern in which he describes an experiment of giving his kids reign of the household for a month. For his blog post on the conversation with RC students: 

https://jochen-metzger.de/meine-erste-deutschstunde/



Ralf Keil Deutsche Wahl 22.9.2021.mp4

GERMAN ELECTIONS  

Fall 2021

Zoom Conversation with Ralf Keil, Masters Student in Peace and Conflict Studies at the Goethe Universität, Frankfurt (Sept 24, 2021). 



Outdoors and (Mostly) Unplugged: Students Are Ready to Be Students in Arb Fall 2020

By Katie Stannard

It’s a simple and timeless concept: go outside. 

During this pandemic, going outside offers restoration, recreation, respite. For University of Michigan faculty using outdoor space at Nichols Arboretum, going outside this fall highlights those same benefits while providing in-person learning-lab opportunities during a largely virtual semester. We caught up with faculty and students for their perspectives on the outdoor classroom experience.

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It’s All about the Here and Now


On a cool, cloudy day that hinted at rain, German-language students settled into folding chairs and blankets spread in a wide circle on the green hillside near the Geddes Avenue entrance to the Arb. “Being outside, being in the greenery, is such a counterpoint, an energetic experience,” said Karein Goertz, lecturer in German. 

Schedule and weather permitting, the Residential College (RC) German 191 and 291 students meet for lunch and practice conversational German, followed by regular class sessions. Goertz and co-teacher Carla Cribari shared that “it’s important to see the gestures and hear the voice” when learning a language. 

Goertz said that she’s always loved the Arb, and really wanted her first-year students to get to know it. “It’s calming and invigorating—being amidst the trees allows us to slow down and be present.”


She also highlighted the important, now often-missing sense of community as they sat in a circle, mindful of social distancing, taking their masks off to eat and breathe fresh air—a welcome tidbit of routine in an atypical time. 

“With screens we multitask so much. In nature, it brings you into the present, the here and now of it.” Mindful of the variety of concerns that preclude some students from meeting in person, Goertz and Cribari meet with them separately. 

Comments from students mirror these sentiments. 


Zoe Bugnaski, class of ’24, from Kalamazoo, Mich., remarked that being able to meet in person outside “lets you speak more fully,” without the lag time due to zoom. She was impressed that in her first week at Michigan, almost everyone was wearing masks outside and around campus. 


Even floor life in the dorms has been translated to zoom—with a few students assigned per RA, group chats were utilized for connecting. Lydia Forhan, class of ’23, from Commerce Township, Mich., had been excited about her East Quad single, until the reality of online classes except for German sunk in. Though the RC language classes have separate dining rooms during “normal” times, “since that’s not possible, it’s nice to have in-person meeting time so we can have conversations and see each other,” says Forhan.

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https://mbgna.umich.edu/outdoors-and-mostly-unplugged-students-are-ready-to-be-students-in-arb-outdoor-classrooms/