Promoting the hobby in suttle ways: Inside the classroom

DeutscherGeist

Back when I was a high school student and took German, I had a very ecclectic teacher. He was a brilliant man, yet very humble and funny. I had him for three years and always enjoyed what he had to share apart from the regular German lessons.

I was a baseball card collector at the time as well. One day, I can't remember how or why exactly, but my teacher brought up the German word for "God" which is "Gott." Maybe we saw that word in a quote or something, I really don't know right now. He was a baseball fan too and digressed for a moment bringing up the issue that there was a pitcher in the MLB by that name: Jim Gott. It then dawned on him that there was also a Tim Teufel in MLB. He said that "Teufel" means devil in German. He then put two and two together and mentioned what cosmic implications would it have if Jim Gott pitched against Tim Teufel. That stuck with me. I was curious to see if their respective teams even played against eachother. Months later, while flipping channels, I saw Jim Gott pitching against.....you guessed it, Tim Teufel. I watched to see what would happen so I could share it in class the next day. Sure enough, Jim Gott won the battle.

The next day, I brought up the issue in class and my teacher kind of smiled. It made for a good welcome side track in class. On another occasion, I digged through my 1986 Topps collection to pull out both players and brought them to class the next day. Again, the teacher allowed for a moment to share. Not only did the students not forget the two words they learned they also were curious about the baseball cards and that ensued a discussion in German about the hobby. It was a good way to promote baseball cards and keep the class exposed to learning German. I allowed my teacher to keep both cards so he could use them in the future.

Years later when I went on to finish college and moved on to graduate school (German literature) and given a teaching assistantship at UC Davis to teach elementary German, I brought up the same issue with baseball player names and German words. The class was receptive and they appreciate little side tracks to kind of break up the occasional boredom associated with doing German grammar drills. However, I did not have my cards at that time and regreted not having gotten some from a card shop.

Now I am back at my old high school and substitute teaching there while doing graduate work at a different institution with a different major (anthropology). My old German teacher is still there too. I now have snack with him a few times a week. Unfortunately, the German program at my high school has been phased out for the last two years (due to decreased enrollments) and my former teacher has been doing Spanish full time. With our new Governor (Arnold Schwarzenegger), I am hoping that German will become more popular and possibly bring the program back. I always run into students at my school that say they would take German if it was offered again. We would need around 75 students to jump start the program again. Our high school has 3, 300 students. The potential is there. I got to get more of those Jim Gott and Tim Teufel baseball cards to kind of show the classes I teach now about how fun the language is and maybe even imply the fun of baseball card collecting at the same time. This just one little technique out of many possible ones. Hope you enjoyed the story. Who says commons are useless.

acowa

If you're going to do it in the classroom, you might want to do it in subtle ways instead.


Regards,


Alan

ydsotter

What an awesome story! My initials are GOtt and I teach with a Mrs. Teufel... we seem to get along well... little did I know... are initials were tangled in some cosmic battle of good against evil...

Hey... are you an expert on Goethe by any chance?
In what text does he say something like...
do it one time... for philosophy... keep doing it... that's perversion...
This is not a quiz... I just can't remember where he says that famous line...

DeutscherGeist

ydsotter,

I am no expert on Goethe, so I cannot recall where the quote came from, but I know what you mean.

Looking back, I can't believe I wrote such a long post. Basically, what I described is something which can be used once a year for just a few minutes, nothing more and nothing less. I can just see it now that the trolls on this board will come on here and just start spewing all kinds of inflammatory remarks. Long posts are vulnerable. The thing about Jim Gott and Tim Teufel is just that its a neat coincidence and play on words, people should not take it out of context.

Chuck Knoblauch also has an interesting name. "Knoblauch" means garlic in German. Mmmmm, that could be used too.

DeutscherGeist

I should have thought twice before posting so early when my mind is not running on all cylinders. A misspelling in the title.....

ZodiacMindwarp

Try a search on Voltaire, not Goethe. “Once, a philosopher, twice, a sodomite!”

DeutscherGeist

To hear some members of this board recognize Goethe and Voltaire gives me some hope that there is intelligent life out here. Good job guys.

ydsotter

oh my... I think it is Voltaire...
Thanks!

DeutscherGeist

Its definately Voltaire, but here is the context:

Allegedly a friend persuaded Voltaire to try with him sex. Voltaire accepted, nevertheless, when this friend asked about trying gay sex with him a second time, Voltaire is said to have remarked, "Once a philosopher, twice a sodomite!"



Somewhere along this thread, the entire discussion really digressed. Let's not use Voltaire anymore here, my original post was about something in an entirely different realm.

ydsotter

Ok... it was the context I was curious about... I have been using that quote, thinking it was Goethe for some time...
Using it in contexts far removed from sex...

anyways... still a useful philosophic insight for a variety of things... and less controvertial vices.

I teach elementary school... and I always bring cards in for kids...
Many nice people on these boards have sent me 1000+ count boxes of commons/semi stars for this purpose...

DG, your Mattingly quote always reminds me of this famous funk album...
free your mind and your...............

yawie99

<< <i>I teach elementary school... and I always bring cards in for kids... >>



I do too, and have to note, after reading the other thread this week about the future of collecting, that football cards have supplanted Yu-Gi-Oh as the cards of choice in my special-ed classroom. Obviously we're talking about a very small sample size, but it gives me hope that the hobby will remain vibrant in the future.

Dhjacks

Deutschergeist,
Thank you for the post. I found it interesting and with positive vibes for the hobby. I didn't think there was anything that was not 'subtle' in your approach. I took it as a reminder to think of little ways to bring up the fun of collecting. Thx.

ejguru

The Baseball players I work with always see my treasures--I usually stop at the post office on my way in to work. Many have revitalized their old dormant collections and I get a chance to regale them of the baseball stars of the 60's, 70's and 80's. Funny to see all of the business majors asking about prices and poulations--I know I'm going to hook a few.

EJ

ydsotter

yawie99, I also teach special ed...
In fact, I use the cards to promote inclusive opportunities with regular ed kids... ie... trading!
My kids don't necessarily prefer one sport over another...
they like the local phili teams... iverson, eagles, phillies, baltimore...

Jersey

Good story DG - thanks.