AATG Virtual Membership Meeting

Dear Friends and Fellow AATG Members,

Summer 2021 has now drawn to a close and especially for those of us in the more northern regions, the seasons are indeed changing. While I fully appreciate summer, I also like the autumn as a time to watch nature change radically, meet with friends, and plan for the upcoming months. While my Iowa hometown is filled primarily with maple trees whose leaves turn resplendent colors in the fall, I now live in Colorado where the aspens and birches turn the mountainsides into rivers of gold. I am glad we have the seasonal changes.

Two new colleagues recently told me that I seem to be a grateful person, and I replied that I try to make gratitude a foundational point in my own life. With the new school year, another recent birthday for me, and the continued uncertainty of our lives, I have found that being grateful helps me to move closer to my own goal of being the person I want to be. With all of this in mind, I want to first thank each of you for being members of our AATG and for working to improve our world through educational instruction, research, humanitarian work, and generosity. You truly are making differences that will carry forward for many years. I know that part of my foundation of gratitude is due to the amazing AATG colleagues with whom I have been able to work over the years. The phrase about standing on the shoulders of giants may be considered something of a cliché, but I truly feel that when I think back to all the people who have taken, and still take, the time to lead in AATG and how they have influenced me greatly. Our national association is recognized by many other organizations for our record of doing things like creating successful programs, nurturing people, and training future leaders.

The AATG has a history of leadership training cohorts that goes back many decades. In the early years of this century, we received a very generous grant from the German government to fund four years of TraiNDaF leadership training, which was followed by two years in 2009 and 2010. In 2016 we reimagined the leadership training as NextGen, focusing on younger German instructors. This year we have been able to have a new cohort of NextGen, due to another very marvelous German government grant. The 2021 cohort is drawn from people who have varied backgrounds, as well as people who are in their opening years of teaching. Due to the pandemic, this cohort is smaller in size, but the seven members of it

International Student Guide

View of Mount Quandary in Colorado, © Doug Philipp.

NextGen participants and AATG staff at the Goethe Institute Washington

Members of the 2021 NextGen cohort listen to a presentation by Susanne Rinner at the Goethe Institute, Washington, DC.

are all fully dedicated to becoming better leaders and to helping our organization grow and flourish.

Do I believe this NextGen cohort, like other leadership cohorts we have had, will be up to the challenges that we face? Yes, I sincerely do, and my trust is built upon the records of success we have from previous leadership cohorts. From the TraiNDaF cohorts alone we have had four national presidents, and in October that number will be-

come five when our 2021 election results are announced. Numerous people from TraiNDaF and the first NextGen group have served, or do serve, on our board of directors, as well as chapter officers, on committees and in SIGs, and/or are heavily involved in promoting everything related to German in our chosen areas of the educational world. Several others have gone on to become leaders of other language organizations, where they are helping to shape the policies and programs that focus on world languages, especially in the United States.

Coordinating with our friends, led by Anne Schönhagen at the Goethe-Institut, we had a weekend workshop for the 2021 NextGen cohort in early September in Washington, DC. While Mike Shaughnessy, Juan Carlos Morales, and I got to lead much of the workshop, a great amount of organizational work was done by our Director of Member Services, Marisa Minard, who also led some discussions. With deep gratitude, I want to acknowledge especially these three and all countless hours they worked to help to bring the whole leadership training to fruition. I know that I am very fortunate to be able to work with them.

With the entire cohort, we explored themes focused on German instructional data, leadership, leadership methods, and current programs. Susanne Rinner joined us via Zoom to present program offerings that we have in conjunction with the Goethe-Institut. We discussed how to get involved and worked out plans for future projects for them and AATG to undertake. We were graciously hosted for a presentation at the German Embassy by Anke Popper and Kathari-

(Quick selfie with Mike Shaughnessy, Juan Carlos Morales, and me.)

Members of the 2021 NextGen cohort participate in a workshop with AATG leadership at the Goethe Institute, Washington, DC.

na Grüninger of the Kulturabteilung. All of us who were leading the weekend spent a lot of time talking with cohort members, listening carefully to them, learning from them, and answering questions. This NextGen group will continue to meet via Zoom links for more sessions into the future, making the most of our current situation of life.

As a member of TraiNDaF 2003, I came away from this recent Washington weekend with renewed confidence in people in our specific field of education. There was/is a lot of energy in the group, and this energy is becoming focused on how we can continue to help all our members, whatever their backgrounds, to achieve the various professional goals they set for themselves. I am grateful that I have been able to work with this specific leadership cohort, because I know they will influence our organization on many levels for good far into the future.

If you are wishing you could become more involved in some aspect of the AATG, please spend some time exploring options on our website, as well as informational articles in our newsletters. Our entire Board of Directors is also very willing to communicate with you as well. While we do not know exactly what our life situation will be in 2022, we are planning a broad spectrum of programs and activities now. In the coming months we will announce a variety of programs on our website and via official emails. Through tremendous engagement with our partner organizations, we are going to offer numerous options that I hope you will find interesting and with which you will also want to engage.

Some of the strategic courses include long range planning that the Board of Directors and I are undertaking this fall. We will be looking closely at past plans, considering carefully what has been accomplished, and what needs to be still done from those plans. We will also discuss the new realities in which we are all living and how those impact each thing AATG does. Our national office is working on plans for increasing our summer offerings, revamping our online store, and seeking ways to make sure that all members receive the most for their memberships. We are also planning to build up our foundational funds to keep them strong and vibrant far into the future.

It is through the efforts of many people that we can accomplish so much at AATG, and that fact has been proven to be true countless times. Please know that I am always glad to work with you, and I’m grateful for everything that each of you do for all our students and our organization.

All the best,

Doug