Deutsch 5-H und Deutsch 5-AP

Warum?

Work Load:• German 5-AP: Somewhat faster-paced than

Ger 4-H, with more writing assignments.

• Much more speaking practice.

• Homework: a bit more on average than Ger4-H

• (20-30 minutes per night average, most days)

• German 5-H: Slower pace than German 4-H, Homework: less than German 4-H (10-15 minutes, 3x a week on average).

General benefits of continuing in German 5:

• 1. Refine your German skills, esp. speaking, listening, reading. You’ve spent a lot of time putting the basics together, why not get even better and get more out of what you have so far worked on?

• 2. Colleges will be impressed that you have committed to learning the subject and that you

stuck with it.• 3. Being better at the language will help you in

study-abroad programs, not just for German but also for music, business and even

science.

Just a few life-long benefits of continued German study:

1. Business & Travel: more than 120 Million people speak German fluently, and you never know when it will come in handy!

2. Germany is the world’s #2 exporting country3. German is the most widely-spoken language in the

European Union after English.4. Many important original works in math and sciences have

been written in German. You may have the opportunity to research in the original language.

5. German language ability opens the door to understanding and appreciating a wealth of music, literature and culture.

6. Continuing to learn German is great for your brain!7. Keeping up your German can help you take advantage of

many cross-cultural opportunities. You may make some great friends because you kept up your German!

Concrete benefits at college for taking German 5-AP:

• 1. Scores of 3, 4,or 5 may give you up to 9 credit hours free at a college or university:University of Illinois tuition = ca. $5,700 for

6-8 credit hours (2010) U of I accepts AP score or 3 or higher In 2009, of 13 AP test takers at LZHS:

8 students in got a 3 on the AP,4 students got a 4.

** In 2009, 12 of 13 LZHS students scored well enough to receive AP credit at many colleges and universities!

• Many students have been placed in advanced German classes after taking German 5, even without getting AP credit! (See examples coming up.)

Some students have received up to 17 credit hours for having done well on a German placement exam and for continuing to take German classes in college. In one case (2007) this was worth over $15,000 to the student!

News from fifteen former LZHS German 5 students :

• 7-2008• Herr Z,

Wie geht es Ihnen?  Ich habe gedacht, dass ich sie anschreiben muss.  Ich werde im Herbst Deutsch studieren.  Während meiner Universität-Orientierung habe ich eine Prüfung geschrieben, und ich habe eine tolle Note bekommen.  Jetzt bin ich in einer Klasse die ich normalerweise im sechsten Semester nehmen werde.  Wenn ich die Klasse gut fertigstelle, werde ich Kredit für vier andere Deutschklassen bekommen, siebzehn Stunden Kredit ingesamt!  Aber die Klasse wird schwer sein, und ich muss [üben].

Viel Gruß und vielen Dank,Herr Baum

• Hey Herr, 9/9/08I just wanted to say thank you for everything that you have taught me the past couple years. I got into my German class the other day and found out I was the only freshman... everyone was surprised cause they were all over 20 years old. Also, we've been doing some readings and I can completely understand what the professor is saying but he has to stop and ask the class if they know what "sparsam" is... But I just wanted to thank you for preparing me for this class and college and because of you I find this German class very easy.Thanks,Justin Pennino (Indiana U.)

• Adam Drake (2005)

Although he didn’t take German in college,

keeping up his German through German 5 enabled Adam to place into a semester-abroad business program in Vienna.

He was chosen over others who did not have as much German background.

• Hallo Herr Z! 9/20/07In case you couldn't tell from the e-mail address, it's Christine Evans (University of Illinois). I'm finishing the third full week of college and just took my first college German test! It wasn't particularly difficult, but there are a lot of places where I could have made silly mistakes. In case you are interested, the test included writing a 4-sentence picture description, da-compounds, differentiating accusative and dative case (motion vs. no motion), vocabulary, and some basic short answer questions. My class is mostly sophomores and juniors, and I think I am the only freshman! It's a little bit intimidating, but my teacher says I'm doing fine. I'm most excited about the novel we are reading (Am kuerzen Ende der Sonnenallee by Thomas Brussig).

• 3-04-08 (re: Sara Lloyd, music student, 2006 grad)• Guten Tag Herr Ziarnik!• Sara has really enjoyed and excelled in her foreign language

studies at U of I, with much credit due to her time studying German with you. She learned Spanish on her own for her recital (with the help of her voice professor, who is of Spanish heritage), while taking French. I think that she may be taking German diction now along with another semester of French. Last year was Italian and Italian diction. She is considering studying abroad in Vienna next January. I know she would love to see you if you are able to attend her recital!

• So nice to hear from you.• Frau Lloyd• (NOTE: Sara Lloyd did have a successful time studying

abroad in Vienna for voice.)

• Herr Z, 8/20/07 I received my AP test score today and I got a 5. Since this would have been impossible without your guidance, I wanted to thank you once again. I hope you and your family are having a nice summer. I also hope that you had a great time in Germany. I promise to stay in touch.

Viele Gruesse!Nikki Winiarski

(Nikki later had plans to study psychology in Germany.)

• Guten Tag Herr Ziarnik, 9-2007• I am at the University of Iowa and I wanted to let you

know how things were. I received my AP Test score… Although I got a 3,I do not get any credit, but that is okay, because I am getting double the credit for continuing German at Iowa. I am enrolled in the Conversation and Composition German class. Classes start next Monday, but I have my books, and a lot of the grammar looks like review... We are going to be reading "Der Richter und sein Henker." I looked at it and I do know what some of it means...I think I can handle it. Good luck with my brother 9th hour.

• Sincerely,• Katlin Friebus

• 9-16-08• Hi Herr Z!! • It's Megan Sue. I hope the school year so far has

been good for you. As for Indiana University, I'm taking a 300 level course that focuses on grammar (which so far, I've known pretty much everything because of what we learned in high school) and we really only speak in German. I'm a bit out of practice with speaking (over the summer, I didn't really speak much German), but I'm getting better at it. I might even be minoring in German! I hope all is well!

• Thank you!• Megan Sue

• 2-2-2009• Herr... all I can say is thank you so much for the knowledge you

have given me in German. Right now I am in a third level conversational German class because I wasn't confident my German was good enough to start in German four. We had our first presentations last week where we had to talk for 20 minutes. My German has become very fluent and I just cannot believe that I can speak that long. I didn't use any notes either, I spoke from my head. I just wanted to say thank you for everything you did for me in high school. And I wish I would have been more attentive in your class so I could have lived up to my full potential. I am planning on minoring in German, and am applying for an internship in Germany this summer. If all goes well, I also hope to study abroad sometime next year.

• Thanks for Everything,• Ian Lincoln

• Hallo Herr Ziarnik, Sept 2009• I know when I saw you a few months ago you told me to

send you an email and well here it is a few months later. …I am attending Carroll University in Waukesha, Wisconsin and I am double majoring in History and International Relations with a German minor.

• Additionally, my trip to Marburg, Germany was really amazing this summer. My class participated in a Grimm Brothers Scavenger Hunt and walked the 500 steps up to Marburg Schloss quite a few times. I now know first hand just how fast a ICE train goes.

• I hope your German students this year do well and I will have to stop by LZHS for a visit soon.

• Sincerely,• Laura McCormack (2006 grad)

Hey Herr (August 2009)

It's Herr Minogue from your favorite AP German class last year!! I'll be starting school at Indiana University in Bloomington in a couple of weeks, and yes you will be proud to know, that I'm taking German. I've been meaning to email you to let ya know about all the college credit I got thanks to your excellent teaching, obviously!

So I wish I would of looked this up before that 10 hours of testing, but IU doesn't really care about AP foreign language tests. Instead, at orientation, I had to take a foreign language placement test, so I obviously took German. The next day of orientation they let you know your scores. At IU, they have German 100, 150, 200, 250, and 300. . . (Continued next slide )

(Minogue cot’d:). . .I can't remember exactly what I got, but I got placed in German

300, which is conducted all in German (*$!*!%!). So I automatically get credit for German 100 and 150 (8 credits), and then at the end of the semester once I (hopefully) pass German 300, I will not only get credit for German 300, but German 200 and 250 (9 credits) as well! That means by the end of my first semester in college I'll have 17 credits because of German alone, and I'll have 30 all together, so I'm way ahead of the game! Just wanted to give ya a little update about Deutsch in my life!!

Danke fur alles, Herr! Ich habe von dir viel gelernt!

Herr Minogue

P.S. I know there's no way that any German class you have this school year can top ours last year!!

• Herr Ziarnik, 6-9-09• Hello! You had asked me to send you a quick email about

my doings, and here it is. I just finished up my first year at Rose-Hulman. It was a good year - I got a lot done, and I have enough credits now to be a junior when I go back in the fall. I only got actual credit for German I and II from the AP test - they can't really hand out 20 credit-hours for one test, so they limit it to the first two courses - I was able to place into German VI [That’s German 6!]with no problems because of the AP. I found it pretty cool that I could get the minor with only one course :)

• It was good to get in touch with you again last week. Hope to hear from

• you soon.• -Tim Ekl (2008 grad)

• Hallo Herr!•  • I am taking German this semester in college and my A.P.

scores placed me into German 201 which is the fourth level of German language. There are scheduled movie nights and two of the movies we watched in high school German. Das Verspechen and Im Juli will be shown for German students to watch…. I was nervous starting out but so far all of the grammar we have gone over is pretty much review for me and everything is going very well. My latest assignment is to watch a movie and then write an essay on it discussing theme and plot and characters. I will keep you updated on anything else cool that I do but just wanted to say thank you for preparing me so well for college level German. Hope to hear back from you soon.

•  Sincerely, • Lane Chapman (U of I)

• June 30, 2009:• Hallo Herr! I just thought I'd email you to let you

know that I took a German placement test at Mizzou and placed in the 4th level of German,which means all I have to do is take one class and I get the 3 credits for it + the 13 credits for the classes before it. Taking German inhigh school definitely did pay off.

Danke für alles!

Joe Buzzelli

Herr Ziarnik, May 2010

It was a nice surprise seeing you last weekend.  I was just talking with my friend about my year living in Germany and how I should go back and visit you, and wow there you are.So how are things?

This is what’s new with me.  I graduated from Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE) last May and now I'm working as and Electrical Engineer in Lake Zurich. MSOE has a great exchange program with The University of Applied Sciences in Luebeck also known as Die Fachhochschule Luebeck (FHL), so as a junior I studied abroad there for an entire year. Then my senior year the students I studied with came back to study at MSOE. So the whole exchange program is a two year thing. When I graduated school I received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from MSOE along with a German Diplom Urkunde as a Diplom-Ingenieur from FHL. I am really lucky to have had the opportunity to participate in this exchange program.

My time in Germany was unbelievable, and I was really fortunate to already know so much about the culture and language. Looking back it was nice to have had you as my teacher.

Hope all is well.Talk to you soon,Jim Murray aka Herr Knarf (2004 grad.)

Hey Herr Z,  I hope everything is going well with German club and all the classes you are teaching this year!!  

I took this past semester off of German because my schedule would have been way too crowded. However,

I recently registered for my spring classes and placed into junior year German! I will be taking an advanced German grammar course next semester (eek!)

I was really excited about this, and even more happy when I realized that I got SIXTEEN credit hours worth of German from the AP exam!!!!! That is OVER a semester

worth of classes at University of Texas and I am only two more semesters away from a German minor. The AP exam DEFINITELY paid off for me!!! :) Thanks for being an awesome German teacher! 

-Lindsay Krueger  (2009)

Last words:Perhaps you don’t “need” to take German in your

senior year. BUT: If you can fit it in your schedule, why not take German 5?!

You are sure to LEARN something, and it may take some work, but it will be worth the effort later on in life! Who knows how it may come in handy in your future?

Putting the time and effort in next year can be worth thousands of dollars to you in college, too!