President’s Letter

Dear AATG Members,

First of all, I want to congratulate the newly-elected members of the AATG Board of Directors: Kyung Lee Gagum, incoming AATG Southwest Representative and Mariah Ligas, incoming AATG Central Representative.

Secondly, I look forward to seeing members this fall at the Annual ACTFL Convention, which will take place November 18-20, 2022 in Boston, MA. Please check out the program to see what kinds of German panels will be taking place: actfl.org/convention-

and-expo/online-convention-program

There are several applications due in the next few months for programs. We have moved up the deadline for next year’s Audre Lorde Scholarship for students from underrepresented groups. The new deadline is December 15, 2022. Please inform your students of this opportunity. I created a video discussing Lorde’s connection to Germany and a brief history of Black Germans that can be accessed in GETMAPP on the AATG website:

aatg.app.box.com/v/GETMAPP-

GermanTeaching/file/909697081273 You can use this to tell your students about the scholarship.

And we will soon be soliciting applications for the first phase of the DiVDaF project, a transatlantic expert-seminar in the summer of 2023, scheduled for July 17-19, 2023 at the Universität Leipzig. The inperson seminar will consist of twenty experts (ten each from the US and Germany) who receive grantfunded support. You can find the application and more information here: aatg.org/page/DivDaF

I recently started an after-school German Club at my oldest son’s elementary school. I had around fourteen 3rd through 5th graders there. The idea came from SPARK for German, a program offered by the Goethe-Institut. I have to say, after just one hour of teaching elementary students German, I take my hat off to all of you K-12 teachers. It was one of the hardest things I’ve done! If you know of a school in your community that could benefit from an after-school club, see more information about SPARK here: sparkforgerman.org

Finally, together with Kira Thurman (University of Michigan), I recently co-wrote the introduction to a special issue of The German Quarterly on Black German Studies which will be published in early November. Look out for it!

On behalf of the AATG Board of Directors, have a great fall and see you at ACTFL!

Priscilla Layne AATG President Professor of German University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill layne.aatg@unc.edu