Germany's Foreign Minister, Guide Westerwelle, is making it his personal mission to promote the learning of the German language. Although it doesn't look like he will increase the budget on German language education and cultural projects, he may inject some welcome enthusiasm into the existing promotion of learning German. You can read about his efforts (and reasoning behind his campaign) in this recent Associated Press story from February 25, 2010.
 

The German Saturday School Boston, one of the oldest language schools in the country, is looking to fill teaching positions for the 2010/11 school year. Applicants should have the following background:
 

For the music & arts lovers: Ralf Gawlick, professor of music at Boston College, is presenting in two concerts in April the world premiere of his composition of the Children's Crusade (Kinderkreuzzug) Cantata based on Bertholt Brecht's ballad by the same name. The cantata will be performed by the Knabenchor der Chorakademie Dortmund, Treble Chorus of New England and Youth pro Musica. More info about dates, locations and the music for this event on the Goethe-Institut web site. 
 

Registration for the 2010/2011 school year will begin on March 1, 2010.  Registration is online only via our online registration tool . Should you have questions during the registration process, you may refer to a few helpful documents posted under registration. 

The deadline to submit an application for AATG's Summer Study Program is coming up (March 1). This is a program for High School students to spend 3 weeks in Germany during the summer studying language and experiencing the culture. This program has been offered for many years. To learn more about dates, costs, location and to download an application, click here or visit www.aatg.org.
 

Ever wondered if our school has an Honor Society? Well, now it does and last week it officially inducted 12 students from our grades 10 and 11 into the newly formed "National Honor Society for High School Students of German - Delta Epsilon Phi". Thanks to Claire Sehringer and our principal Claudia Bonmassar for making this possible.

Essay writing may not always be the most popular activity for our students - but the ZfA Essay Contest usually rewards all participants well, so it's worth "writing" the extra mile! This year, the contest information came to us a little delayed, so our student writers have to sharpen their pens and go to work very quickly on the topic of "Mein deutsches Lieblingswort/My favorite German word" or "Mein deutscher Lieblingsausdruck/My favorite German expression" for younger students (ages 6-11).

If your child is in 6th Grade and higher, he or she participated in the annual AATG Test (American Association of Teachers of German) back on January 9th. This test was administered on three levels (level 2 correspond to having two years of High School German language classes; level 3 to three years; and level 4 to four years). The test consists of 100 questions which correlate to a raw score of 100. The average raw score for our school this year is almost 90 (89.4), compared with the national average of about 70. Especially impressive are the results of our students who took the level 4 tests (11th, 10th, 9th graders as well as a few 8th graders): their average raw score was 92.5. Congratulations! Students who scored in the 90th percentile (meaning they scored better than 90% of all other students nationwide) will receive an invitation to the AATG Massachusetts Chapter award ceremony to be held in May. Individual results for each student are being mailed out and should be received in the next 10 days.

The German International School Boston (GISB) informed us that their Open House has been rescheduled to Wednesday, February 24th due to inclement weather. Also, there are open slots for students of the German Saturday School at the GISB's After School Program (February - June).

The school administration wishes staff, students and their families a happy and healthy new year - may everyone continue to enjoy and embrace the learning of the German language and culture in 2010!
 
We'd like to apologize for being tardy in updating the online calendar on our Web site. You may have noticed the new calendar feature on our home page (we're still working out some calendar kinks, so bear with us). In the meantime, here's our calendar-at-a-glance (PDF for you to download). Make a note of the following dates:
           January 9: AATG Test for all students in grades 6 and higher
           January 16: School
           January 23: Class photos for year book
           January 30: Report Cards
           February 6: School
           February 13: Vacation 
           February 20: School
 
Also: stay tuned for registration 2010/11 information! Registration for current families will open on March 1, 2010. Check for info here.