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Celebrating German Culture Through High-Tech Learning

German professor Christine Goulding finds the computer an ideal crossroad for her two academic interests -- German literature and language pedagogy. As she begins her fifth year on campus with the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, Goulding continues to champion computer-assisted language learning.

"Computers assist immensely in the rote aspects of language learning," Golding said. "They facilitate communication and direct access to otherwise seemingly remote foreign languages and cultures. I've used technology in all of the courses I've taught at CSU, Chico. Bulletin board discussions, online homework assignments, and one class hour per week in the department's Multimedia Language Learning Center are a regular part of my first-year language courses."

Goulding, along with German professor Magda Mueller, has organized this year's German Day, to be held Oct. 9, when more than 400 area high school students who are studying the language will converge on campus to participate in a celebration of German culture. The event falls within the 12-day span of German American Heritage Days, coordinated by Goulding.

This year, CSU, Chico first-year German students have created posters illuminating the connections between German and American cultures. The posters will be on display in the Humanities Center Gallery in Trinity Hall. The PBS documentary The German Americans will be shown Sept. 30 at 5 pm in Taylor 207.

"The project is as much for the students as it is for the public," noted Goulding. "They learn through their research that German is not just a distant language attached to a remote country and culture, but that it has an integral place in their own culture."

Making such connections helps students learn, Goulding believes. "Many students come to first-year language classes somewhat apprehensive, but by the time the semester ends, they wish they had started learning a language earlier in their academic careers," she said. "Part of my job is helping students identify their own learning styles so they can develop strategies that will help them learn best -- especially when they feel they've failed in learning languages before."

With that in mind, Goulding and Cindy Jorth, director of CSU, Chico's Multimedia Language Learning Center, have created computer-based materials for a first-year German textbook published this year by McGraw-Hill.

"Miscommunication and lack of understanding are great sources of conflict in the world, and I believe that learning languages is a giant step in the direction of solving international differences," said Goulding. "Every college student should be required to learn a language, if for no other reason than to develop an informed awareness of other peoples and cultures."

Taran March