2024-2025 Events for Utah DLI German Teachers

April 17, 2025: BYU German Fair

April 18-19, 2025: AATG Utah Retreat at Bear Lake

July 28 - August 1, 2025: AUDII

July 30-August 1, 2025: Summer Bridge Institute

November 21-23, 2025: ACTFL Convention in New Orleans

Pippi Langstrumpf Project at

Summit Academy Independence

Summit's 3rd grade DLI students read and learned about a classic children's book character: Pippi Langstrumpf. Many of the students' parents might remember this fictional character by Swedish author Astrid Lindgren. Pippi wears iconic mismatched stockings, has carrot-colored hair and freckles, possesses super-human strength and resilience, and takes her friends Tommi and Annika on wild adventures. The 3rd-grade German DLI students unleashed their Pippi-like creativity by designing the character's mansion, including Pippi's horse, monkey and her best friends.  3rd-grade DLI students then shared their projects with the 2nd-grade DLI students. To quote Pippi: "I've never tried that before, so I think I should definitely be able to do that!"

Picture source: https://www.astridlindgren.com/gb/characters/pippi-longstocking

Summit's German Wax Museum

Every year, 5th- grade German immersion teacher Heike Überjahn-Walkey motivates her students to express themselves in paragraph-length discourse by engaging them in a wax museum project. Students research and dress as a historical figure, then stand "still" as a wax figure, reciting a prepared speech when a visitor presses a "button" (or otherwise activates them) to learn about their chosen figure. Students research the person and the field of their accomplishment deepy prior to the event.  Here are some impressions - you can see how proud these students were of their hard work! What a wonderful way to showcase all their learning to the school community and their parents.

Utah DLI Core Instructional Strategies

Do you remember the six core instructional strategies from your AUDII training? Can you name them from the top of your head? We will highlight one core strategy each month until the end of this school year to refresh our memory. This month, we are moving to the last core strategy: Checks for Understanding!

Core Strategy # 6: Checks for Understanding

Our last instructional strategy that we are reviewing from our AUDII training is the check for understanding. We check for understanding to know that students have learned what we taught them. Just because we are teaching a content does not mean the students have learned it. Have you ever wondered what students were taught in the prior grade level? It is safe to assume that they were taught the content but the students might not have learned or internalized it yet. Teaching does not equal learning. We have to make sure that our students understand, learn, and apply the content. For students to learn, they must be exposed to the same content several times,  must have had opportunities to use and practice it, and finally apply the content to a new situation. Checks for Understanding provide teachers the feedback that students are on the right track and that they can perform the steps that we just taught them. Checks for Understanding are often quick, brief, and formative e.g. whiteboards, response cards, turn and talks, air writing, etc. It provides the teacher necessary feedback if the students "got it" and it is time to move on. 

If a good number of students did not get it, it is time to reteach - there is no shame in reteaching. Actually, it is a badge of honor because it means the teacher recognizes that the students' learning is the most important part about teaching. 

Have you ever thought about collaborating with your partner teacher on checks for understanding? Streamlining checks for understanding with your partner teacher means you are both honing in on shared learning targets. 

Are you looking for more ideas for quick checks for understanding? Check out the first article below.

Articles Worth Reading

Since we just talked about Checking for Understanding, check out this great Edutopia article. Checks for Understanding are not just for immersion classrooms, they are "just good teaching" strategies in general. Click here to read the full article, including videos.

According to the article below, sound comprehension skills are better predictors of success on math word problems than sound math skills. Read the article below to boost your students' comprehension skills to be successful on math word problems. Click here to read the full article.

Teachers have insisted on the importance of writing by hand for a long time. Research agrees, it is even more important now that our students grow up in a digital world. Here are some tips on how to practice handwriting. Read the article and listen to the podcast here.

Middle school DLI students still need supports and scaffolds when writing, especially since we are tasked to prepare them to achieve higher proficiency levels and more accuracy. Here is a great article with some new ideas how to do that. Check out the "During Writing" suggestions! There are some great ideas. Click here to read the full article.

Middle and high schoolers benefit from routines just as much as our elementary DLI students. Consider these weekly speaking routines to push our secondary students to extended discourse! Click here to read the full article.

We get what we ask for. The way we ask questions determine the answers we receive from our students. We know that when we want to elicit intermediate-level questions that we need to pose an open-ended question to get more than a one-word response. But how do we elicit precise content responses that guide our students to deeper thinking. This article has some great ideas.

Lernmaterialien

Lernmaterialien vom PASCH-Netzwerk

Alle PASCH Materialien im Überblick gibt es hier. Man kann es nach Themenbereich oder Sprachniveau filtern. Eine wunderbare Ressource, wenn man auf der Jagd nach authentischem Material ist.

Das ist ein Thema, dass Ihre Schüler sicherlich interessieren wird: Meine Schultasche! Hier gibt es fünf Texte auf A2 Niveau, die man sehr gut als Schreibanlass nehmen kann!

Viele unserer Schüler kennen die Feste und Feiertage in Deutschland und natürlich in den USA. Aber was und wie feiert der Rest der Welt? Hier ist ein toller A2/B1 Beitrag, der sich damit befasst.

Es geht auf die Reisezeit zu! Viele träumen vom Reisen und gleichzeitig Geld verdienen. Diese Leute haben das gemacht. Hier ist ein interessanter Beitrag auf B2, wie man mit dem Reisen Geld verdienen kann.

DAAD Updates

The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research has a website with lots of information for U.S. students that are interested in studying in Germany. The website is in English and German: https://www.study-in-germany.de. Please share with interested students!

LTI's New DLI Website

Language Testing International (LTI - the company that designs the AAPPL test) launched a new website specifically for DLI. Access the website here. It hosts links to research articles, webinars and several downloadable resources.

Grants and Scholarships

AATG Grants and Scholarships

AATG has multiple grants and scholarships opportunities. Please click here to see them all.

Would You and Your Students Like to Be Featured in the May Newsletter?

Send pictures and blurbs to Michaela at mclaus-nix@utahdli.org by April  30, 2025.

Please share your hard work and the accomplishments of your students so that we can celebrate you!