On a recent Saturday morning, about 50 parents flocked to the auditorium on the 5th floor to attend our “double-hitter” morning program, the official PASCH plaque ceremony followed by a presentation on raising a bilingual child by Dr. Naomi Steiner, also a parent at our school. Judging from the conversations parents had afterwards over coffee and donuts outside the auditorium, both programs were well received! Here’s a quick glance at what this was about: 

 
Heri Sontgerath, chair of the school committee, introduced Friedrich Loehr, the Consul General of the Federal Republic of Germany, who had brought the official PASCH plaque with him. Mr. Loehr, who visited the German Saturday School for the first time since the beginning of his tenure in Boston last summer, explained that the PASCH initiative (“Partnerschule der Zukunft”) is the brainchild of the current German foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who believes in the importance of teaching and learning the German language outside of Germany. By now, there are about 1000 schools connected through the “Partnerschulen” Network around the world and they all have in common that they offer the German Language Diploma (DSD = Deutsches Sprachdiplom) – the highest form of German language testing. This is where Dr. Inke Pinkert-Saeltzer, who serves as the official language consultant from the central office for German Schools abroad, comes in: Before heading to a classroom and into her official (and main) role that day, namely to administer the oral DSD exams to students from our 10th and 11th Grade classes, she shared her own excitement about the PASCH initiative and the endless opportunities for future communication and collaboration between German schools all around the world. On this note, we’d like to thank Dr. Pinkert-Saeltzer for her support, help and new ideas she brought to our school in particular and her work in general on behalf of German Saturday Schools in the United States as she is winding down her time in Washington, where she was based for the last few years, and heading back to Germany.

 
Following the unveiling of the PASCH plaque (which will get a permanent spot on one of our library cabinets for everyone to view), Dr. Naomi Steiner jumped into the subject of bilingualism – for obvious reasons very near and dear to all of the parents sitting in the auditorium.  Her presentation covered the different levels of bilingualisms, the myths around it (“bilingualism leads to language delay” when in fact there’s no scientific research to support that), the expectations and goals (bilingualism is, in essence, a parenting decision and should ideally be made when the child is born) as well as a few strategies to go about it (OPOL: One-Parent-One-Language being one of them). And yes, Dr. Steiner admitted, it's not alwasy easy - the road to bilingualism can be rocky, but is eventually absolutely worth it (she's never heard a parent complain about having raised a child bilingually, but she's heard a lot of parents regret it if they didn't but had the chance). All in all, a very insightful and entertaining presentation by Dr. Steiner and we thank her for her time and insights into this challenging subject.

We’d love to hear your comments about the two events on Saturday morning. Send them to news@germansaturdayschoolboston.org.
To view photos of the event, click here:
 
Friedrich Loehr, Consul General, unveils PASCH plaque
Friedrich Loehr, Claudia Bonmassar, Heri Songerath, Dr. Inke Pinkert-Saeltzer
Dr. Naomi Steiner and Heri Sontgerath