GLSC News 26-1

SCHOOL CONFERENCE
GL
SC
GERMAN LANGUAGE
Winter 2005
Newsletter
www.germanschools.org
Crawford, Schroeck
Receive Germany
Friendship Awards
T
he 9 of October brought a
pleasant surprise for two of
our most dedicated members:
Dr. Peter J. Schroeck and Marjorie
Crawford received a prestigious
award for their accomplishments in
the area of German language and
culture, The Federal Republic of
Germany Friendship Award. Dr.
Renate Ludanyi, President of the Organization, expressed her thoughts
on the award recipients:
th
I still remember the day when Peter Schroeck joined the Board of
Trustees of the GLSC. It was in the
fall of 1980 when we were meeting
at a coffee shop on the corner of Lexington Avenue and 63rd Street in New
York. Soon after that, he became
Secretary of the GLSC. Some years
later, when Hans Ludscheid, one of
the founders of the organization, retired, Peter also took on the duties
of the treasurer. Since that early beginning we owe much to him.
Where to begin? Peter has always
been a voice of reason and thoughtfulness in a growing organization
that often has to test the waters. In
addition to fulfilling his duties as
secretary and treasurer, Peter always
is instrumental in the multipart
preparation of the Annual Conference and is responsible for preparing and running the registration procedure. Also, he is the editor of the
Continued on Page 2
Vol. 26, No. 1
NJ Assemblyman Corodemus and Award
Recipients Highlight Annual Conference
O
ver 100 educators
assembled on October 9th in the Deutsche
Haus in New York for
the 25th annual meeting
of the German Language
School Conference.
One of the highlights
of this anniversary conference was the keynote
address delivered by
New Jersey AssemblySteve Corodemus and Grethe Ridley
man Steve Corodemus,
the major driving force behind the
students to learn a foreign language
passage of legislation in New Jerin order to prepare them for success
sey that allows students to gain gradand to gain a competitive advantage
uation credits for their language
for the future.
skills acquired at non-traditional inSteve Corodemus was followed to
stitutions, such as Saturday language
the rostrum by Hubert Kolb, Head
of the Cultural Section of the Gerschools. He provided a snapshot of
man Consulate in New York.
the path he followed in getting the
Mr. Kolb welcomed the educators
World Language Bill enacted in Auand assured them of the value the
gust of 2001, eight years after he
German government places in their
first introduced it. He invited anywork and its appreciation of their efone interested in getting similar legforts. He then presented The Fedislation passed in their state to coneral Republic of Germany Friendtact him for advice and assistance.
ship Award to Marjorie Crawford
Mr. Corodemus stressed the need for
and Dr. Peter Schroeck
for their never-tiring
dedication to the German language.
The first part of the
Conference was concluded with the presentation of the GLSC
Merit Awards to Grace
Whealan, a teacher at the
Deutsche Sprachschule,
Union, and Margaret
Wallis, a third-grade
teacher at the German
Language School of
Hubert Kolb congratulates Dr. Peter Schroeck
Morris County.
as Marjorie Crawford looks on
Germany Friendship Awards
Continued from Page 1
GLSC Newsletter. When we entered
“modern times” and computer skills
became necessary, again, it was Peter who took over. He created our
website and has been maintaining it
ever since.
Peter devotes much of his time to
the GLSC, and for this we are very
grateful. We thank him for his enthusiasm, commitment, and patience. The GLSC could not be as
successful as it is now without
Peter’s efforts and dedication.
Marjorie Crawford, whose powerful, but unassuming and understated personality is a valued asset
to the GLSC, has been associated
with our organization for several
years. Not a native from a Germanspeaking country, she presents the
“American voice” to the GLSC
Board. As the organization grows
larger and its goals become more demanding, Marjorie’s opinions and
contributions become increasingly
appreciated. In particular, the GLSC
profits from Marjorie’s legal knowledge and experience. She represented the GLSC at the important
meeting convened by the Department of Defense in June 2004 in
Maryland, and she will continue to
work in the area of legislation and
public relations. When the Nomination Committee suggested her candidacy as a Trustee, she respectfully
declined: “There is only a limited
number of Board positions; please
don’t block them with me. You need
these positions for others. I will continue my services in any case.”
The GLSC is indebted and thankful to Marjorie Crawford and I am
also very fortunate to have her as a
colleague and a friend.
2
A
Two Educators Receive
Merit Award
schools to participate in the activit this year’s Annual Conference
ties. Most recently she held a sucthe GLSC Merit Awards were
cessful workshop at a meeting of the
bestowed on two well-deserving
N.J. AATG Chapter.
teachers, Grace Whealan from the
Grace Whealan is always willing
Deutsche Schule Union in Winfield,
to learn and improve her teaching
N.J., and Margaret Wallis from the
skills and attends every workshop
German Language School of Moravailable
ris County,
to her, alN.J.
ways open
Accordand receping to her
tive to new
Principal,
ideas.
Dr. Heidi
The secRöhrs,
ond award
G r a c e
recipient,
Whealan
M a rg a r e t
has been
Wa l l i s ,
an
outFrom left to right: G. Ridley, M. Wallis, G. Whealan, H. Röhrs has been
standing,
successdedicated, conscientious and loyal
fully teaching German in the third
educator, whose enthusiasm and
grade for 20 years. Grace Ridley,
competence have been highly valPrincipal of her school, comments
ued for 24 years. She is convinced
that Margaret Wallis always preof the importance of her profession
pares her lessons thoroughly and
– teaching German language and
makes them very exciting and interculture to all students in her care.
esting, like her famous “Vegetables
She is loved and respected by her
& Fruits” Lesson, where students
pupils, who respond joyfully to her
enjoy figuring out if they have
innovative teaching methods and
enough Euros to purchase their facaring manner.
vorites. She taught courses at Drew
Grace Whealan is an irreplaceable
University, Madison, N.J., and holds
asset, an example of professional
a Master of Arts Degree in German
conduct and expertise to the teachPhilology from New York Univering staff. Just a few weeks ago, she
sity and a Bachelor of Arts Degree
demonstrated her academic ideas
in French and German from Drew
and professionalism in an excellent
University, earning summa cum
workshop for her colleagues. Everylaude in German.
body was impressed and enriched by
Mrs. Wallis attended every annual
her innovative ideas. For the past six
GLSC Conference and participated
years Grace Whealan has planned
in the Bildungsserver Workshop as
and organized a full-day total immersion workshop known as
well as the 2004 SOPA Seminar in
“Deutscher Tag” at the Deutsche
Washington, D.C. She has been a
Klub Clark for about 100 high
great asset to her school and the
school students. She motivated five
GLSC for two decades.
Summer Program for Young Students Highly Successful
O
n July 3rd, 2004, a very excited
group of 11 students from Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts and
New Jersey departed from Newark
Airport on Lufthansa Flight 403 for
Frankfurt with Teacher/Chaperone
Katharina Eldada and me as their
Group Leader.
who was awarded with a certificate
and a check for $25.00 at the GLSC
Annual Conference.
One of the highlights of the trip
was taking water samples of the Selz
River and examining the small fish,
insects, and larvas under the
The three-week study and sightseeing trip ended in Stuttgart, where
we stayed at the Hostel Alex 30. The
visits to the Wilhelma Zoo with the
world’s biggest monkey collection,
Ludwigsburg Schloss, and
Tübingen University were all great
hits. We also enjoyed a guided walk-
Grethe Ridley, right, with the GLSC summer program students, their hosts and teachers from Ingelheim
After a very warm welcome at
Frankfurt Airport we were driven to
our host families in Ingelheim-amRhein. We stayed here until July
18th, and the students attended daily
classes at the Kaiserpfalz Realschule
with their host brothers and sisters.
On July 7th, we were honored by
Oberbürgermeister (Grand Mayor)
Dr. Joachim Gerhard at the
Ingelheim City Hall and enjoyed a
movie presentation about Ingelheim
and later a guided tour through the
historic city.
I am proud of all of the students’
progress in German and their learning the German idioms which I
taught daily. All the students kept a
daily journal, where they reflected
on the main events of the day and
described what they had learned.
The honor of keeping the best journal went to Timothy David Marzik,
3
Kaiserpfalz Realschule lab microscopes. Our GLSC students worked
with their German host students,
classifying the specimen and writing reports. It was a great hands-on
lesson for all.
Both the Ingelheim and the GLSC
students enjoyed the guided tours of
the Cologne Cathedral and the
Stollwerck Chocolate Museum, as
well as the Mainz Cathedral, and the
Gutenberg Museum and Print Shop,
where they made some impressive
posters. After a scenic boat trip on
the Rhine River, our students put on
a memorable farewell-party performance of the Lorelei-Lied, acting
out the song without any musical accompaniment. Each student made an
appreciative thank-you speech in
German to their host student and
family.
ing tour of Stuttgart and the spectacular view from the tower of the
main train station. For the boys, the
visits to the Mercedes Benz Museum and Porsche Car Factory were
no doubt the most exciting, along
with skateboarding.
From September 26th to October
10th, 11 Ingelheim students and their
teachers paid us a return visit. The
teachers stayed with me while the
students stayed with Vernon host
students, with whom they attended
daily classes. There wasn’t a dry eye
when the German students and
teachers bid a fond good-bye to their
host families!
Plans are now being made for next
summer’s Program. The tentative
dates are July 9 – 30 and the price is
$1,695. Please register early to be
assured a place.
Grethe Möller Ridley, Director
Deutsche Sprachschule Union, NJ, Feiert Ihr 70. Jubiläum
I
m Herbst 1934 schlossen sich
deutsche Mitglieder der Emanuel
Methodistenkirche in Newark, N.J.,
zu einer Gruppe zusammen, die sich
das Ziel setzte, der größten
Einwanderergruppe Amerikas ein
Standardwerk der Heimatsprache
der Deutschen ins Leben zu rufen.
Durch die Einführung des Deutschunterrichts sollte die lebendige
Aufrechterhaltung deutscher
Kultur, deutscher Sitten und
Bräuche
in
Form
einer
deutschen
Sprachschule
Heidi Röhrs
gewährleistet
Principal, DS Union,
werden.
GLSC Trustee
So enstand im
Januar 1935 die deutsche
Sonntagsschule mit ihren ersten 15
Schülern, deren Zahl sich schon im
Herbst des gleichen Jahres auf 80
erhöhte. Im Herbst 1940 war die
Anzahl der Schülerinnen und
Schüler auf 180 gestiegen und schon
nach sechs Jahren wurde eine
Abendklasse für Erwachsene
eingeführt. Der Ausbruch des
zweiten Weltkriegs führte am 14.
Dezember 1941 zur erwarteten
Bekanntgabe der Schließung der
deutschen Schule für fast neun
Jahre. 1951 wurden die Schultüren
für mehr als 100 registrierte
Deutschlernende wieder geöffnet.
Die Deutsche Sprachschule
entwickelte sich weiter, geleitet von
Idealisten in der Schulverwaltung
und von ausgebildeten Lehrkräften,
von denen manche fast 30 Jahre die
Schüler mit wachsender Begeisterung unterrichten.
Alle deutschen Kulturereignisse
und Feiertage sind ein wertvoller
Bestandteil des Lehrplans. Jährlich
werden die AATG-Prüfungen
angeboten und seit einigen Jahren
beteiligen sich qualifizierte Schüler
an Sprachdiplomprüfungen und
neuerdings an den ZDP-Prüfungen.
Der Musikunterricht ist ein
wichtiger Punkt jedes Samstagmorgens, genau wie das Computerprogramm, das fest in den Unterricht
eingebunden ist. Seit vier Jahren
finden auch die ganz Kleinen in
einer Spielgruppe Platz und sind
schon im Vorschulalter mit
Begeisterung dabei: sie lernen,
spielen und singen Deutsch.
Die Deutsche Sprachschule, Inc.,
war vor 25 Jahren an der Gründung
der German Language School
Conference beteiligt und arbeitet
seit der Gründung der GLSC mit Rat
und Tat aktiv mit. Ganz besonderer
Dank gilt dabei Herrn Hans
Lüdscheidt, der 10 Jahre
Vorsitzender des Schulrates der
Deutschen Sprachschule, Union,
und 12 Jahre Präsident der Schule
war, und der beim Aufbau der GLSC
wertvolle Dienste leistete.
Heidi Röhrs, Ph.D.
The GLSC Newsletter is published by the German Language School Conference
Ed.: Dr. Peter J. Schroeck. Address: One Hiram Square, New Brunswick, NJ 08901-1271
E-mail: [email protected]. Internet: www.germanschools.org
R. Ludanyi, Ph.D., President
G. Ridley, 1st Vice-President
K. Radicke, 2nd Vice-President
P. Schroeck, Ph.D., Secretary/Treasurer
U. Freymuth
C. Garcia
S. Haas-Belluz
M.Haug
E. Hebrank
R. Losoncy
H. Röhrs, Ph.D.
R. Vonthron
V. Weintraub, Ph.D.
P. Pfaffenroth, J.P./LL.M., Legal Council
Questions and comments should be directed to the President, 154 Middle River Rd., Danbury, CT 06810.
Submit articles typed or on a diskette to the Editor. The GLSC reserves the right to edit all submissions.
4
Location of
GLSC Member
Schools
CT Hartford
Weston
DC Washington
FL Fort Lauderdale
GA Atlanta
IL DANK:
Arlington Heights
Chicago
Mokena
Naperville
Palatine
Springfield
IN Indianapolis
Zionsville
MA Boston
MD Baltimore
MI Bloomfield
Bloomfield Hills
NC Charlotte
NJ Central New Jersey, Warren
Morris County, Morristown
Trenton
Union County, Winfield
Westwood
NY Albany
Long Island
New York
Ridgewood
White Plains
OH Cleveland
PA Philadelphia
Rosemont
SC Spartanburg
TN Knoxville
TX Austin
Dallas
Houston