Teaching German in the US as a Fulbright Language Teaching Assistant (FLTA)

Vanessa Erat finished her MA in English and American Studies with a thesis on “Elves and Empire: Challenging the Ludonarrative Colonialism and Othering in Dragon Age: Inquisition” in May 2018 and then left for the United States in August 2018 to work as a Fulbright Language Teaching Assistant (FLTA) at the University of Oklahoma (OU) in the academic year 2018-2019. Today, she joins us to talk about some of her experiences and to offer advice to everybody who would also be interested in spending a year in the US teaching German as a foreign language.

Student Bloggers Wanted!

Do you have a passion for writing? Would you like to gain more writing experience? Then why not write for the Department of English and American Studies’ blog?

We are currently looking for student writers to write about a variety of topics, ranging from their experiences studying English at the University of Klagenfurt to their top language learning tips.

A typical post for the blog is approximately 400-500 words. As all articles will be proofread by a member of staff in the English Department, this is a great opportunity to receive feedback on a text and learn more about the writing process. In addition to providing a text, students should also include a photograph with their article that can be used on the blog. Please note that it is important that writers own the rights to any photographs they submit, and they must have permission from any people shown in the photograph for their image to be shared online.

Students’ blog posts will be seen by anyone visiting the Department’s homepage, and writers will be able to share their posts with friends and family across their social media by using the sharing tools available (including Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram). For students who are hoping to go into a career in writing and publishing this is a great opportunity to gain some experience and develop their CV.

Whether you are a new student in the Department or an alumnus, we are looking forward to hearing from you!

If you are interested in writing for the blog, or if you have any questions, please contact Natilly Macartney at natilly [dot] macartney [at] aau [dot] at .

Österreichische Gesellschaft für Fachdidaktik Symposium 2019

On Monday 23^rd September, Senior Lecturers Gregor Chudoba and Natilly Macartney presented a current research project of the English Department at the Österreichische Gesellschaft für Fachdidaktik Symposium (ÖGFD) in Klagenfurt. The presentation of the project titled “How Austrian Students Learn the Pronunciation of English (HALPE)” took place during a poster session in the afternoon.

HALPE Project

In a mixed methods approach, Dr Chudoba, along with colleagues from the Department of English, conducted semi-structured interviews and used questionnaires to discover what distinguishes successful learners of English pronunciation from less successful learners. Factors that were investigated included, amongst others, musicality, language awareness, motivation, sojourns abroad and learning strategies.

What factors were significant?

The findings were surprising and revealed that musicality and sojourns abroad did not feature as a distinguishing factor in the successful learners who participated in this study. However, the values of factors such as determination and ambition as well as adopting a well-structured approach to learning were all shown to be significantly higher in the successful learners.

The ÖGFD symposium, founded in 2012, brings together researchers and practitioners from a vast array of subjects, ranging from mathematics to sport. Commenting on the day, Gregor Chudoba said, “I found the exchange with fellow researchers, mainly from other universities in Austria, most stimulating. Two or three also expressed a concrete interest in co-operating on an extended HALPE project, the one we presented at the conference. Generally, critical thinking appears to be a hot topic in secondary school didactics, which is bound to find its way into university teaching, too.”

The HALPE poster is available in the gallery images below. If you are interested in the study and would like to know more, or if you would like to get involved with the HALPE project, then please contact Gregor Chudoba at gregor.chudoba(at)aau.at.

“O Canada” – Part 4

In her final post in the O’Canada blog series, Tamara Urach, student on the teacher training programme, reflects on this year’s student excursion to Canada and decides whether it’s an opportunity worth taking.

Looking back – going back?

It has been a few weeks since we arrived back home from our trip to Canada, and the question now is – what remains? What remains are many memories – good ones, funny ones, awkward ones and also slightly unpleasant ones, but this is what makes an awesome journey.

We experienced many hilarious things, such as a woman dancing with her shoes to Paramore’s “Still into You” (in case you’re wondering, no, she wasn’t sober) as well as people trying to sell us their EP’s on the street. We were also the ones who acted weird at times, for example, when we visited the botanical garden in Montréal and sprung a question on a local lady about whether she knew the whereabouts of Mother Earth (a famous live sculpture at the gardens). We must have appeared to be religious missionaries. Some of us also went crazy about the French word “arrêt” on stop signs (I blame Guido).

Our memories are mainly funny and good ones. Some of us lost our sympathy for dinosaurs after our museum guide in Toronto tried to explain Canada’s nation building with dinosaurs. Far cuter animals were raccoons – some of us immediately fell in love with Dash (yes, he introduced himself to us), a sweet raccoon who begged us to give him some sweets on Mont Royal in Montréal. Most importantly, we discovered that Canadians are really friendly people (except from the one or other bus lady). Some of us got lost in the underground cities and on the Metro multiple times, but we were always helped by friendly locals.

Is it worth going on this excursion with the university?

The answer is short and simple – YES, definitely! The tour was worth the money and the experience was extraordinary. If you have the chance as a student to go on this excursion, go for it! We did not have to worry about anything as we were picked up from and dropped off at the airports and train stations, the hotels were booked, the staff were always very helpful, and we had a great programme that was well suited to the topic of the course “The Founding of Canada – Canada’s Development from Settlement to Nation.”

We learnt a great deal about the various aspects of Canada’s history, especially the First Nations and the Colonial era. Furthermore, because our programme mainly took place before midday, we were able to visit places that were interesting to us during the afternoons. Even our evenings were full of fun activities, such as going to the cinema, enjoying a good meal with friends and colleagues, or simply relaxing by the pool in our hotel.

One of the best parts of this excursion was that we were able to get to know many new people. Before the trip, some of us did not know each other at all, so it was a nice opportunity to meet new people and form new friendships. We got along very well with each other and our teachers René, who put so much effort into planning the excursion, thank you so much, and Natilly, who was willing to go on an adventure with this bunch of students and even sang karaoke with some of us.

So to end this series, here’s to a trip that none of us will ever forget, and hopefully, to another trip to Canada in the future, which we will consider taking part in again.

Text and photo by Tamara Urach