Editorial Board
for Volume 2, 2006
Publishing date: 9 April 2007
Editor:
- Katherine Arens
U of Texas at Austin
Editorial Board:
- Craig Decker
Bates College
- Ruth V. Gross
North Carolina State University
- Susanne Kelley
University of Nevada, Reno
- Kirsten A. Krick-Aigner
Wofford College
- Isolde M. Mueller
St. Cloud State University
- Willy Riemer
University of Delaware
- Walter Tschacher
Chapman University
- Felix Tweraser
Utah State University
- Joseph W. Moser
Washington and Jefferson College
- Neil Christian Pages
Binghamton University SUNY
- Christine Rinne
Indiana University
- Janet Swaffar
University of Texas at Austin
- Gregor Thuswaldner
Gordon College
- Jacqueline Vansant
University of Michigan - Dearborn
- Anne Close Ulmer
Carleton College
[ISSN 1557-2854]
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Volume 2, 2006: Table of Contents
From the Editor: Learning the Ropes
This is the first regular issue of Teaching Austria -- an issue marked by the
normal birth pains of a new periodical with a new editor. I would like to thank
the authors of the essays included here for their infinite patience with what justifiably
seemed like interminable delays. Many thanks too for the readers of these essays,
who were generous with their time and advice and who brought great critical acumen
and care to their readings and commentary. The authors, in their turn, showed uniform
great grace in meeting the issues raised by the readers. The next issue will profit
from what they all have taught me.
These essays are of very different kinds, but they share a passion for making
Austria in all its permutations visible and comprehensible to their students.
The majority are "how-to" articles. They report on local and successful course designs
and initiatives. Most critically, each essay describes precisely the conditions under which
its innovations came to be and came to succeed. Who the students are, at what level
they function and with what prerequisites they enter the classroom, the kind of institution,
what requirements are fulfilled, what resources are necessary, where in the curriculum the
course is settled, what kinds of assignments, materials, and assessment tools are used --
these are the minimal requirements for making a "how to" useful for new readers.
The articles in this issue move beyond those minima in various ways: they place
Austria into new instructional contexts, introduce new kinds of materials and new
curricular initiatives, and challenge their students to think critically as they learn how
to write, analyze, and expand their capacity for self-expression (in German or another
language). Some come from Europe, and others from North America:
the differences between the instructional contexts allow for very different kinds
of creative teaching opportunities.
So come in and see how many different ways our colleagues in wide-flung
locales have "taught Austria." And consider sharing your own work for the next volume.
Teaching Austria: Global
Teaching Law and Literature:
A Successful Interdisciplinary Challenge
Ester Saletta,
University of Bergamo, Italy
Abstract
This contribution focuses on the importance of an interdisciplinary approach to law, bridging
the gap between scientific and literary disciplines. It presents a course implemented
in the Law Faculty at the University of Bergamo, Italy. Barbara Pezzini,
chair of the Law Faculty, and her staff successfully designed and taught
a six-credit course "Equal Opportunities and Gender Construction in Law and Literature"
to second-year students of the Law Faculty. The course, coordinated by a tutor,
is structured in nineteen face-to-face lecture sessions and six hands-on workshop
sessions held by specialists of different disciplines and specialization areas.
In the course, students learn to integrate their legal know-how
with skills deriving from the humanities. (ES)
(Abstract and article copyright ES;
contact ester.saletta@tin.it)
[article PDF (772 KB)]
Endlich Österreich! Ein Unterrichtsvorschlag aus Irland
Regina Standún,
National University of Ireland Maynooth
Abstract
Ausgehend von einer Umfrage durchgeführt unter irischen DeutschstudentInnen,
die im dritten Studienjahr mit dem Bachelor of Arts abgeschlossen haben,
soll dieser Unterrichtsvorschlag exemplarisch darstellen, wie man Österreich
und vor allem das Österreichische spielerisch und unterhaltend für jugendliche
DeutschlernerInnen in den Sprachunterricht einbringen kann. Vermittelt werden
sowohl landeskundliche Informationen, aber vor allem auch sprachliche Eigenheiten.
Beginnend mit einem Cartoon oder einem Text, der von einer Übersetzungsmaschine
zusammengestellt worden ist, werden die StudentInnen auf sprachliche Besonderheiten
aufmerksam gemacht. Dann wird mit ausgesuchtem Wortmaterial weitergearbeitet, was
in einer persönlichen Textproduktion enden soll. Der Aspekt des lustvollen und lustigen
Lernens ist besonders wichtig, wobei jedoch die der Spracherwerb und der Informationsgehalt
nicht außer Acht gelasssen wird. Das am Ende angebotene Beurteilungsraster kann für
die Evaluation von kreativem Arbeiten hilfreich sein.
(RS)
(Abstract and article copyright RS;
contact Regina.Standun@nuim.ie)
[article PDF (532 KB)]
Servus in Österreich!: Interkulturelle Landeskunde-Materialiensammlung
für Germanistikstudierende
Erika Grossmann,
Universität Szeged, Hochschulfakultät für Lehrerausbildung "Gyula Juhász"
Abstract
Der Beitrag setzt sich damit auseinander, wie, mit welchen Unterrichtsmaterialien eine
Seminarreihe Landeskunde Österreich mit DaF-Unterricht, d.h. mit Förderung der fremdsprachlichen
Kompetenz kombiniert werden kann.
An der Hochschulfakultät für Lehrerausbildung „Gyula Juhász" der Universität
Szeged werden für Germanistikstudenten im Laufe des Studiums die Seminare Deutschland,
die Schweiz und Österreich in je einem Semester als obligatorisches Fach angeboten.
In 12 Seminarstunden (mit jeweils 90 Minuten) werden insgesamt zehn solche, für die Alltagskultur
charakteristischen Themen angeboten, die mit Hilfe von didaktisierten,
authentischen Lese- Video/DVD- oder Hörtexten mit den Studenten gemeinsam erarbeitet werden.
Die Erweiterung der landeskundlichen Kenntnisse wird somit mit der Förderung
der Fremdsprachenkompetenz kombiniert.
Im Hinblick auf die Tatsache, dass ab dem akademischen Jahr 2006-2007
die europaweit verbreitete Bachelor- und Masterausbildung eingeführt wird, stellte
die Autorin eine Landeskunde-Materialiensammlung mit dem Titel Servus
In Österreich! zusammen (Co-Autorin: Tünde Sárvári).
Der Beitrag gibt eine „Kostprobe"
aus dem ersten Kapitel dieser Materialiensammlung, die in Kürze in Form
einer CD herausgegeben wird.
(EG)
(Abstract and article copyright EG;
contact grossmannerika@hotmail.com)
[article PDF (1 MB)]
The "Regionalist" Approach
to Austrian History:
Austrian Studies within the Context of German and East European History
Alexander Maxwell,
Victoria University, New Zealand
Abstract
A regionalist approach to teaching European history at the undergraduate level enables
Austrian history to be integrated into broader historical narratives that may attract
significant student interest. This essay describes two upper-division courses organized
around a regionalist philosophy, "Eastern Europe and the Balkans" and "The History of
the German-speaking Peoples," and suggests a series of lectures and assignments
in line with the aims of this philosophy.
(AM)
(Abstract and article copyright AM;
contact amaxwell[at]zworg[dot]com)
[article PDF (788 KB)]
Teaching Austria: US Contexts
Teaching the Intersections of Self and Society Through
Austrian Literature:
Erich Hackl's Abschied von Sidonie and
Elisabeth Reichart's Februarschatten
Kirsten A. Krick-Aigner,
Wofford College
Abstract
"Teaching the Intersection of Self and Society Through Austrian Literature"
examines how Erich Hackl's Abschied von Sidonie and Elisabeth Reichart's
Februarschatten
offer valuable insights for the teaching of literature, history, and culture in an upper-level
undergraduate German literature and culture course. An outline of the course format
and content is followed by a discussion of literary themes such as "otherness"
and victimization, as well as the history of the Roma and Sinti in Austria,
and the murder of Russian soldiers who had escaped from Mauthausen,
which raise awareness of historical events of the Holocaust and
World War Two in Austria. While such a course broadens students'
perspectives on German-speaking cultures and history, it also offers
the opportunity to explore the importance of personal responsibility
while building vocabulary, exercising writing, communication, presentation, and technical skills.
(KK-A)
(Abstract and article copyright KK-A;
contact KrickAignerKA@Wofford.Edu)
[article PDF (1.1 MB)]
The Vienna of Hitler and Freud:
An Undergraduate Seminar Course
Ian Reifowitz,
SUNY-Empire State College
Abstract
This essay discusses "The Vienna of Hitler and Freud," a seminar course
that examines the culture of the Habsburg capital in the period from 1867 through 1938,
with a particular focus on the years just before and after 1900. The goal of this course
was twofold. First, it sought to introduce students to broad historical debates about
the nature of Viennese fin-de-siècle culture by having them read political and cultural
histories about that society. Then, it asked them to read important works of fiction
and non-fiction produced in that society and attempt to assess how accurately
these works reflected each of the historical arguments they had previously discussed.
More broadly, the goal of this kind of seminar is for post-secondary students to gain an understanding of how
to study in depth any historical topic or period of time.
(IR)
(Abstract and article copyright IR;
contact Ian.Reifowitz@esc.edu)
[article PDF (644 KB)]
Teaching Austria, Extramural
Vienna as Seen From Miami:
Three Colloquia on the City
Joseph F. Patrouch,
Florida International University
Abstract
This article discusses briefly the results of 3 senior-level colloquia centered on images
of the city of Vienna as reflected primarily in twentieth-century Austrian literature by
the authors Roth, Bachmann, Bernhard and Jelinek and in the collection of the Wolfsonian-FIU
museum in Miami Beach. These colloquia were taught at the public research university in Miami,
Florida International University, over the last decade. Contemporary events such as the
second Austrian presidency of the EU, the 2006 Winter Olympics, and the theft of
the famous Cellini sculpture from the Kunsthistorisches Museum were also incorporated.
Students found many parallels between their experiences and understanding of Miami
and the images of Vienna presented in class. A study tour sponsored by the University
of Vienna in Spring, 2006 allowed Miami students to meet Vienna students and
compare images as well.
(JFP)
(Abstract and article copyright by JFP;
contact patrouch@fiu.edu)
[article PDF (308 KB)]
Teaching "The Culture of Vienna"
as an Enrichment Course
Pamela S. Saur,
Lamar University
Abstract
This article reports on the experience of teaching a one-credit-hour college
enrichment course in English, "The Culture of Vienna" in 2004. Included is a
sample syllabus and a handout on "common images" of Viennese culture.
Challenges addressed include balancing touristic and scholarly material,
presenting useful generalizations while attempting to avoid over-simplification,
as well as taking either too positive or too negative a viewpoint, and selecting
material from such relevant disciplines as history, architecture, music, dance,
art, literature, film, psychology and philosophy. Ideas are presented as suggestions
that instructors can adapt to their own backgrounds and those of their students,
and to the design and goals of their particular courses.
(PSS)
(Abstract and article copyright by PSS;
contact saurps@HAL.LAMAR.EDU)
[article PDF (308 KB)]
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Dream and Reality:
Turn-of-the-Century Vienna -- With On-Site Field Trip
Anne Close Ulmer,
Carleton College
Abstract
This presentation reports on an upper-division course offered during
the 2005-2006 academic year at Carleton College, designed and offered in
tandem with a two-week winter-break field trip to Vienna that counted
as an additional half-credit course. The winter-break trip was in turn
followed by another (required) half-credit course consisting of student
papers and presentations, given during the subsequent trimester. Topics
and materials for the course are outlined, as well as the conditions for
the fieldtrip. The result was a fruitful combination of instruction and
college visibility that allowed students practice with their language skills,
international experience, and enrichment of their sense of cultural history.
(ACU)
(Abstract and article copyright by ACU;
contact aulmer@carleton.edu)
[article PDF (400 KB)]
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