Teaching

I am a professor at the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada, where I joined the German faculty at the School of Languages, Linguistics, Literatures & Cultures in 2019. I currently teach mostly introductory and continuing German language courses, but also courses in German(ic) linguistics and introductory research and analysis in the fields of second language acquisition and literature and culture studies. At Calgary, I have been nominated for teaching awards by my students and colleagues. Some of my previous interdisciplinary and German teaching experiences and my ongoing Open Educational Resources (OER) development projects are described here.

Interdisciplinary Teaching in Language and Society

Can You Hear Me Now?
(Mis)communication
from Neurons to Nations
Marian University Freshman Year Seminar

As part of Marian University's Freshman Year Seminar (FYS) curriculum for Fall semester of 2016, I taught a course of my own design on the nature of linguistic communication and how it can break down.

Often language turns out to be a faulty tool for expressing and understanding ideas in the world, especially between different cultures, but it’s the best tool human beings have. This course problematizes linguistic communication for its limitations, failures, misuses, and abuses as a vehicle to introduce students to the many levels of structure and cultural knowledge in human language. Starting briefly at the level of language in the ear and brain, we move upward and outward through linguistic and social topics into politics and intercultural misunderstanding as we explore how language both helps and hinders us.

All 2016 Marian University FYS courses incorporated Outcasts United by Warren St. John, a nonfiction journalistic book about the experiences of a soccer team of refugee boys, their volunteer coach, and the dynamic social changes brought about by refugee resettlement in the small town of Clarkston, Georgia.

"According to UNHCR’s [United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees] latest statistics, there are approximately 15.4 million refugees in the world." -- United States Department of State

By exposing students to crucial concepts of communication and mutual understanding, Can You Hear Me Now? integrates fundamental academic skills with critical thinking about world events.

Marian University FYS donation sorting service project excursion to Exodus Refugee Immigration in Indianapolis (November 19, 2016).

From left to right: Abby English, Allison Roberts, Julia Murphy, Whitney Zuercher, Ben Carney, Lucy Kelly, Emma Harpring, Michael Hoffman, and John Scott (Instructor).

Constructed Languages
Fictions, Functions, & Factions
Indiana University
Collins Living Learning Center

In spring of 2015, I first had the opportunity to teach a course of my own design about constructed languages (conlangs) at the Indiana University Collins Living Learning Center. The course includes a rapid introduction to linguistic structures and typology, discussion of philosophy of language at various times in the history of Western culture, the aesthetic value of conlangs in literature and film (e.g., Avatar), examination of the use of conlangs for international politics (e.g., Esperanto) and social justice (e.g., Láadan), and the phenomenon of conlang subcultures (e.g., the Klingon Language Institute).

The first line of the Lord's Prayer in Wvl Jaub^zgi

Students in the Collins course Constructed Languages: Fictions, Functions, & Factions created a conlang they called Wvl Jaub^zgi, the "language of many voices." Above is a sample illustration of the syllabary created for the class by our guest Destin L. Hubble: the first line of the Lord's Prayer (translation by John Scott). Hubble is the creator of the conlang Border.

I had the distinct privilege to offer an improved version of Constructed Languages again at the Collins Living Learning Center again in the Spring semester of 2017, guiding the project groups to the end result of 4 new conlangs:

Obobob, constructed by a fictitious sect so they could speak through water & commune with their fish gods
Gebibo'uh, the natlang of a fictitious bird-fearing race of people with humanoid torsos and ophidian bodies
Ttuä, natlang spoken by sylvan creatures (e.g., centaurs) in the central forests of a continent on another world
Sake, an auxiliary language designed for aesthetic beauty and ease of learning by people of diverse cultures

Teaching German Language, Culture, & Linguistics

Indiana University Honors Program in Foreign Languages in Krefeld, Germany

In the summers of 2008 and 2009, I taught German literature in Krefeld, Germany with the Indiana University Honors Program in Foreign Languages (IUHPFL), a full-immersion German-only program for talented students of German at the high school level.

A graphical approach to German word order

German (Introductory & Intermediate)

I have taught German language courses at various university levels since 2006. In summer of 2008 and 2009, I also taught introductory German literature to Indiana high school students in Krefeld, Germany for the Indiana University Honors Program in Foreign Languages (IUHPFL). I have taught German at Indiana University in Bloomington, Marian University in Indianapolis, and the University of Calgary in Alberta.

German for Reading Knowledge
Indiana University

My German teaching experience has also included teaching graduate students learning German for research purposes. These courses have focused on reading and comprehension, as well as identifying core vocabulary and explicit grammatical instruction for the purpose of rapid comprehension and basic translation needs in academic settings.

Opening lines of Der Arme Heinrich in Middle High German by Hartmann von Aue (12th-13th c. CE) as preserved in the Codex Palatini germanici, vol. 341, 249r-258v.

Germanic Linguistics

At the University of Calgary, I have taught courses in introductory German(ic) linguistics. When teaching diachronic linguistics, I include both internal (linguistic) content and external (socio-historical) content, drawing on diverse disciplines in the natural sciences (e.g., geology, ecology, genetics), social sciences (e.g., archaeology), and humanities (e.g., philology, history) to bring dynamism and vitality to the study of the ancient, medieval, and early modern history of German and its closest relatives.

Open Educational Resource (OER) Development

GRAMMÆTAPHOR PROJECT

Inspired in part by Drama Grammar in German language teaching, I started the GRAMMÆTAPHOR PROJECT to produce Open Educational Resources to support foreign language grammar education. Funded by the Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning, we will soon release "Gängsta' Gramma'" and "Gourmet Grammar," videos that employ metaphorical narratives to teach German adjective endings. These OERs will be released to be used for free under CC BY-NC 4.0 Creative Commons license, to increase access to German language teaching tools without increasing costs for educators or learners.

Kinderbücher Children's Literature Project

In 2022 I launched the Kinderbücher children's literature composition project in collaboration with teachers at the English-German K-6 bilingual program at Bowcroft School in Calgary. University of Calgary students in some of our German language courses are composing children's literature in German to meet the particular content and proficiency needs of bilingual children's education (as opposed to immersion or living in a Germanophone country). Now with grant funding from the Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning at the University of Calgary, stories generated by the project will be illustrated and published digitally as OERs under Creative Commons license.