School Seminars

The AmerikaHaus NRW e.V. provides students learning English at schools across NRW with the opportunity to meet a native speaker and participate in seminars on the American Dream, US Education, and US Elections. Our American Dream seminar presents the fundamentals, successes, and shortfalls of the concept and traces its complicated past and present, our US Education seminar explains the structure of the US education system and reflects on its portrayal in TV and film, and our US Elections seminar offers an insight into American democracy and the US political system, with a special focus on the important and often confusing Electoral College.

Seminars are free for participating schools and can be tailored to fit the needs and interests of students.

For more information and booking details please contact us at info@amerikahaus-nrw.de

 

Questions to be discussed

in The American Dream Seminar

• What is the American Dream?
• How does it change through the centuries? What are its origins? What is it now?
• How does the American Dream compare with the real lives of Americans?
• How do different ethnic, religious, and economic groups experience this "dream"?
• How is the American Dream represented in American literature? American politics?

in The US Education Seminar

• How is High School portrayed in US media? How does that compare to real life?
• What are the differences between German and American high schools? Between German and American universities?
• How important is a university education in America? What factors go into choosing whether or not to go to University?
• How do international students apply for US universities?

in The US Elections Seminar

• What are the fundamentals of democracy in the USA? Who votes? How do they vote? Who do they vote for? How is this different from voting in Germany?
• How did US democracy develop? Who had the right to vote when the US was founded? Who has the right to vote now?
• There will be elections this November for President and Congress! What will that look like? Why does it matter?
• What is the electoral college? Why does it exist? How does it work?

US poet gives Workshop at the Trude-Herr-Gesamtschule in Cologne

On May 30^th 2022, in cooperation with Holtzbrinck Berlin, we initiated a new event format which we’ve titled “Authors@School”. Berlin based U.S. Poet Tracy Faud visited the Trude-Herr-Gesamtschule in Cologne-Mülheim for a workshop which, geared toward older students, focused on the discussion, and writing of their own poetry.

 

Tracy Faud, born in the Mid-West, began writing poetry in her youth but it was only after working as a middle school teacher after finishing her time at University that she became a professional author. Since then she has published several books and has used this newfound experience to not only continue her writing but too, to continue teaching.

 

The Tude-Herr-Gymnasium’s pre-planned Project Day provided the ideal structure for an intensive two-part workshop. Tracy Faud spent the morning session teaching the fundamental characteristics of poetry in order to give students a foundation on which to begin working creatively. During a longer lunch break students worked with the previously analyzed poem I Remember by Joe Brainard which was used as a blueprint for their own creative work. The second half of the workshop saw participants presenting their work to much excitement and emotion. Faud relaxed the atmosphere by talking about her career as an artist and about her daily life in the USA. The latter aroused palpable fascination as many of the students were excited by the prospects of potential travel to the United States.

 

This personal insight, into writing and into the USA, has already posited “Authors@School” as a special new program that we are looking forward to continuing in the future. We would like to thank Holtzbrinck Berlin, Tracy Faud, the Tude-Herr-Gymansium, and all of our participants for this wonderful opportunity!

Intra-German School Project "East Meets West"

More than thirty years after European and German reunification, it has remained as important as ever to continue getting to know one another and to grow together again. The school project "East meets West" aims to promote a dialogue between students from the eastern and western parts of Germany about the coexistence of memory and contemporary perspectives. The project asks: what are the differences students experience coming from eastern or western Germany? What connects these groups? What separates them? 

Two 9th grade classes from the Rahn Education Freie Oberschule Leipzig and the Waldschule Eschweiler are participating in this project. Students will enter into an exchange with one another through a three-stage process: first, the participating students will send each other packages with typical local objects, then they will talk to contemporary witnesses about their experiences during the times of the GDR and DDR, and ultimately exchange ideas about the realities of today and the future of these issues.

The project takes place in cooperation with the Deutsch-Amerikanischen Institut Sachsen (DAIS) and the Education Office of the Region of Aachen.

Field trip to the Military cemetery Henri-Chapelle, Belgium, and Vogelsang IP

Military cemetery Henri-Chapelle, Belgium, and Vogelsang IP

What do students know about recent German history? They might know some things from class and history books, but they rarely have the opportunity for direct contact with historical legacies. Only a few kilometers away from Aachen, Düsseldorf, and Cologne, this history can be experienced up close, in person.

The field trip “Ziemlich Beste Freunde. Germany – Europe – USA” is a one-day trip that we have run with history classes from schools in NRW. Students first visit the American war memorial in Henri-Chapelle, Belgium, before visiting Vogelsang IP,  former NS-recruitment and educational site, a stark contrast to the memorial as a place made by and for perpetrators, not of or for victims. The goal of this excursion is twofold, an the engagement with this dark chapter of German-American relations, and the acquisition of insight into the contemporary coexistence between Americans and Germans in a European context.

Seminars, Role Playing Exercises, and Summits

One example of our work in schools: in cooperation with Dr. Andrew Denison, director of Transatlantic Networks, AmerikaHaus NRW e.V. organized an event in the Ernst-Mach-Gymnasium in Hürth. Students of the advanced English course simulated a summit meeting between the US and Germany. During the first unit, the students were given a basic understanding of the political system in the US, and in the second unit they learned the basics of political decision-making structures. After which students focused on transatlantic cooperation and in groups, role played different political scenarios based on real life examples that they came to through research and discussion.