Teaching Language, Teaching Film. The Moving Image in the German Language Classroom
The workshop provides a forum for high school teachers of German to network, and to
discuss the role of film for language pedagogy, visual literacy, and cross-cultural
learning. How can film enhance the teaching of German language and culture? The
workshop foregrounds film as a cultural, aesthetic, and linguistic resource that fosters
language learning at many levels. Concentrating on one recent film from Germany,
presentations and discussions shed light on new developments in the German film scene
and unfold the many ways through which language learners can engage with complex
film texts and images.
During the first half of the workshop, University of Michigan faculty present exemplary
film-teaching tools and discuss best practices. The second part of the workshop is
devoted to an overview of current film developments in Germany, followed by the
screening of the feature film Barbara (Germany 2012, dir. Christian Petzold), a film that
portrays a regime-critical woman doctor and small town life in the early 1980s in the
GDR. The film also serves as a springboard for further discussions – about the
pedagogical possibilities and difficulties of integrating the medium of film into the
German language classroom.
Coffee and a light lunch will be served. Contact: Kerstin Barndt (barndt@umich.edu)
