SPRING MEETING OF THE VIRGINIA CHAPTER OF AATG
April 19, 2008
Williamsburg, Virginia

This meeting was part of the annual German meeting sponsored by the CLA of UVA.  The theme of the spring meeting was “Teaching about German Americans and Germans in America”

The meeting was called to order after lunch by President Larry Becker.

There were 21 members present:
Officers present:
         Larry Becker – President
         Vera Niebuhr – Vice-President for Colleges
         Cindie Kelly – Treasurer
         Willy Wurm – Secretary
         Susanne Böer – Member-at-Large for High Schools
         Ann Thorsen – Board Member
Officers absent:
         Marion Salm – Vice-President for High Schools
         Marcel Rotter – Member-at-Large for Colleges

The Treasurer’s Report was given by Cindie Kelly.

The PAD Interviwers, Charlie Kendric, Marcel Rotter, and Vera Niebuhr, were recognized and thanked.  Faye Rollings-Carter was the PAD coordinator for Virginia.

Ann Thorsen, the Coordinator of VOGS, announced that the Spring Convention at Maury High School had to be cancelled, as there was not a follow on the part of the host school.  Next year 2009, Cinie Kelly will be hosting the spring convention of VOGS at Massaponax High School.

Ron Horwege then spoke about the Fall 2007 Immersion Weekend on the weekend of September 29 to September 30 at Sweet Briar College.  There were 35 people present.  This is more than was planned.  The theme was Jugendkultur und Jugendliteratur (Youth Culture and Youth Literature). Renate Ringstad, who teaches in Connecticut, and Joan Campbell, the developer Of German On-line: Distance Education Network (GOLDEN) led the program. The program was enhanced once more with the Volkstanzen (folk dancing) led by Larry Becker, and presentation of classroom materials by Stefan Brunner from the Goethe-Institut. Ron thanked the Goethe-Institut in Washington and the Commonwealth of Virginia for helping to sponsor the weekend.  Also the Fall 2008 Immersion Weekend has been scheduled at Sweet Briar College for the 3rd weekend in September, September 19 – 21. The theme will be music in the German classroom and Charles James (University of Wisconsin, Madison) will be the main presenter. These weekends continue to be a great success.  At this point, Larry thanked Ron for his work on these weekends.

Ron also announced that the annual TPRS Workshop will be held at Sweet Briar College the week of July 23 – 28.  It remains the only TPRS workshop organized especially for teachers of German.  Last summer was the fifth annual session. 

Also a request was made for presenters for the Fall FLAVA Conference on October 31 and November 1 at the Koger Center.  The deadline for proposals is May 1, 2008. It was mentioned that the efforts of the Virginia Chapter to enhance participation by German teachers in this conference was clearly visible. This year ten presenters from our chapter offered eight different sessions and Cindie Kelly received the distinction of “Best of FLAVA” for her presentation on the use of Photostory.  Also it was mentioned that the FLAVA bulletin was probably going to be online.

A motion was put on the floor to give Beverly “Bly” Straube a $200 honorarium for her presentation on the archaeological finds and work at Jamestown. The motion was approved.

The Spring Board Meeting was scheduled for the first weekend in June.

Chesterfield County teachers Claudia Weisner-Combecher and Elke Bleecher were recognized for their organization and presentation of a German evening in their school district.  The purpose was to promote German and .

Also it was announced that the University of Richmond was having a presentation on German political parties on April 24 at 5:30 p.m.  The speaker would be Arthur Gundlick.

The meeting was adjourned.

These minutes were submitted by Willy Wurm and at the Spring Retreat of the board (May 31, 2008) were edited and accepted.

Return to: AATG-Virginia Meeting Minutes