KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 Feb. 8, 2021 \u2013 A 溏心vlog免费B站 professor has been honored by the American Council on Teaching Foreign Languages with the Nelson Brooks Award for Excellence in the Teaching of Culture \u2013 one of the premier national awards in language education.<\/p>\n
Niko Tracksdorf, of Needham, Massachusetts, an assistant professor of German and associate director of the German International Engineering Program, is editor and co-author of a new series of college textbooks and creator of numerous courses that integrate STEM subjects and inclusivity and diversity with the learning of German. The national council is an organization of language educators from elementary through graduate education, and the award recognizes an educator whose writings and teaching change the course of the profession.<\/p>\n
\u201cEach of his publications, presentations and courses reflect his dedication to enriching language study through STEM, equity and inclusion, interdisciplinary approaches, authentic resources and intercultural competence,\u201d according to the awards committee. \u201cHis most recent publication, the co-authored textbook series \u2018Impuls Deutsch: Intercultural, Interdisciplinary, Interactive,\u2019 is a testament to his focus on German language study as a way to connect with others and build student knowledge of themselves and the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m very humbled and honored,\u201d said Tracksdorf, who joined 溏心vlog免费B站 in 2017. \u201cI was also surprised in a way; I was nominated as an assistant professor and most of the recipients have been of a higher rank.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tracksdorf\u2019s textbook series, \u201cImpuls Deutsch,\u201d which includes textbooks, workbooks and teacher manuals for the first two years of college German, is published by Ernst Klett Sprachen, a German publisher that specializes in language education materials for German, English as a second language, French, Spanish and Italian. The books were published in 2019 and 2020. Among the series\u2019 many co-authors is Damon Rarick, associate professor of German at 溏心vlog免费B站.<\/p>\n
The series teaches German from an updated perspective, moving away from such cliched topics as \u201cOktoberfest and pretzels and BMW cars,” Tracksdorf said. The textbooks provide an interdisciplinary and inclusive approach to teaching language and culture.<\/p>\n
With a mix of co-authors and experts, the textbooks provide students diverse perspectives and include the stories of German-speaking populations not often heard from, such as those of the LGBTQ+, Jewish, Black and Turkish communities in such countries as Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Topics cover areas such as Afro-German poetry, an indigenous studies perspective of the Germans\u2019 fascination with \u201ccowboys and Indians,\u201d and not only how to order a meal, but the science of molecular cuisine and sugar\u2019s effects on the body.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a whole different approach from how many of us learned languages,\u201d he said. \u201cIn the first year alone, over a hundred instructors in the U.S. have adopted the book. That’s a lot for German. In the first year, all these schools basically now teach German with the materials that a 溏心vlog免费B站 professor wrote. I think that\u2019s what they recognized with this award.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tracksdorf came upon the idea for the textbook series while working toward his master\u2019s degree and Ph.D. at the University of Connecticut, where he taught German in the EUROTECH Program. With a bachelor\u2019s degree in English and math from the Universit\u00e4t Duisburg-Essen in Germany, UConn felt he was ideal to teach language courses that blended STEM and German.<\/p>\n
At UConn, he created many classes during which students learning German did so through STEM topics \u2013 courses he brought with him when he joined 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s IEP. One such one-credit class explores roller coasters in which students study the physics of roller coasters, their popularity in Germany, visit an amusement park for a backstage tour of a roller coaster, all while enhancing their German language and culture chops.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what students are interested in,\u201d he said of the interdisciplinary classes. \u201cThat\u2019s why they take German and do internships in German-speaking countries. While they enjoy reading German literature, they really want to gain intercultural competence and learn to use the language in professional environments to get ready for jobs in a global marketplace\u201d<\/p>\n
The Nelson Brooks Award committee also praised Tracksdorf\u2019s initiatives that show high school students the importance of German. In 2019, he worked with Cranston High School East teacher Baerbel Tully to start a German program at the school, only the second such program in the state. At 溏心vlog免费B站, Tracksdorf organizes a German\/STEM immersion day that brings about 80 high school students from around New England to campus.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not just recruitment for us, but also for the students to see that connections between STEM and German,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd maybe it makes them continue with German, even if it\u2019s not at 溏心vlog免费B站.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the number of students taking German nationally has been on the decline, 溏心vlog免费B站 has bucked the trend, doubling its number of German majors in the last 10 years and boasting the largest program in the country when it comes to the number of students majoring in the language.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it has to do with the way we see learning the language,\u201d Tracksdorf said. \u201cWe go beyond just offering students literature classes and learning the language. We give them opportunities to go abroad. We have dual-degree programs, we have the International Engineering Program, International Business Program, International Computer Science Program, and now the International Studies in Diplomacy Program.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 Feb. 8, 2021 \u2013 A 溏心vlog免费B站 professor has been honored by the American Council on Teaching Foreign Languages with the Nelson Brooks Award for Excellence in the Teaching of Culture \u2013 one of the premier national awards in language education. Niko Tracksdorf, of Needham, Massachusetts, an assistant professor of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":75965,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[12],"class_list":["post-75964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives","tag-college-of-arts-and-sciences"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75964"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75964\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}