Teaching Tools

Tips, Tricks, and Tools of the Trade

6 September 2023Teaching ToolsCreative Writing, Fiction, Leuphana, Leuphana Universität Lüneburg, Leuphana University Lüneburg, Storytelling, Teaching Tools, WritingJanina Malena Sähn

It’s A Wrap: Beginning with Endings

By Maryann Henck

At the end of the semester, I always like to include a wrap-up exercise for one final creative writing task: “It’s a Wrap” – which also seems to be a fitting way to say goodbye to the American Studies Blog this September. Here’s how the task works:

Select endings from novels or short stories without revealing the original source. These are some of my favorite choices:I really, truly wish he hadn’t said that. I keep thinking about it. I can’t stop. I don’t have anything else to add. I just wanted to make sure I had the last word. I think I’ve earned that. (Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn)
“It’s because I’m concentrating on my thesis, I don’t worry about other stuff. Nobody asked if Freud checked the use-by date on the milk.” “They didn’t have use-by dates in the early twentieth century.” It was incredible that two such dissimilar people had become a successful couple. (The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion)

Through the windows a strange subterranean light was rising, barely distinguishable from darkness. I felt change far beneath me, moving deep beneath the surface of things, like the plates of the earth blindly moving in their black traces. I found my bag, and my car keys, and I let myself silently out of the house. (Transit by Rachel Cusk)

…Also I’ve begun to feel he’s the only person who knows anything about me. Maybe because I’ve never hit anyone else with a bottle, so they never got to see that part of me. Neither did I come to think of it. It did make a mess; but then, I don’t think I’ll ever be a very tidy person. (Lady Oracle by Margaret Atwood)
Ask participants to write a piece of short fiction (350–700 words) using the selected ending as a prompt for beginning their stories.
Keep your promise and reveal the original literary sources to your participants once they’ve completed the task.

In the following story, “Who’s Getting Crowned,” the ending from Alan Bennett’s The Uncommon Reader inspired me to create a meeting between the Queen and her most loyal subjects. Enjoy!

30 August 2023Teaching ToolsContent and language integrated learning, Education, English as a foreign language, Leuphana, Leuphana Universität Lüneburg, Leuphana University Lüneburg, Online interactive games, Sustainability, Sustainability Culture, Sustainable Fashion, Sustainable FoodJanina Malena Sähn

Going Green with Gamified Learning: Advancing Sustainability through Interactive Learning

By Taieb Oussaifi and Torben Schmidt

As I compose this blog post, a disquieting reality is emerging: record-breaking temperatures are soaring to unprecedented heights, thrusting the world into the clutches of dire repercussions. Touristy sites, once characterized by pleasant temperatures, have now morphed into a relentless battleground against climate crises. The recent heat waves in Southern Europe and Northern Africa as well as the wildfires in Canada and on Hawaii stand as an unequivocal reminder that climate change represents a serious threat needing immediate and collective action.

In light of these alarming circumstances, the significance of sustainability education becomes all the more apparent in raising awareness and equipping future generations with the necessary knowledge and skills to combat climate change’s escalating tolls.

17 May 2023Teaching ToolsCreative Writing, Dogs, Leuphana, Leuphana Universität Lüneburg, Leuphana University Lüneburg, National Pet Month, Rescue Dog, Stories, Teaching Tools, WritingJanina Malena Sähn

An A‑May-zing Month for Animals

By Maryann Henck

I like to think of May as one of the most amazing months – not only because it’s National Pet Month, but also because May 20 is National Rescue Dog Day in the United States. Let’s face it: Pets are so much more than just cute companions – they are fluffy family and friends as well as endless sources of comfort, joy, and hope. But what about all those animals out there who don’t have a human to look after them, love them back, and maybe even save them from horrible fates?

14 December 2022Teaching ToolsCreative Writing, George Saunders, HAS, Human-Animal Studies, Leuphana, Leuphana Universität Lüneburg, Leuphana University Lüneburg, narrative, Teaching Tools, vocabulary, WritingJanina Malena Sähn

What Does the Fox Say? A Simple Tale with a Plethora of Possibilities

By Maryann Henck

When I first read George Saunders’ fable-like tale, Fox 8, I initially felt amused, then sad, and finally outraged. I also felt a blog brewing – not of the book review variety but of the teaching tool/creativity corner variety. For starters, Fox 8 is less of a charming bedtime story for children – who will no doubt enjoy it – and more of a darkly comic cautionary tale for adults. The titular first-person narrator takes the readers on a journey through his life as a fox who lives and forages with his fellow foxes in the forest. Fox forest life is running smoothly until Fox 8 has his first confusing encounter with humans, which results in conflicting feelings.

28 September 2022Teaching ToolsAmerica, German American Day, German Language Students, Germany, Language, Learning Langauges, Leuphana, Leuphana University, Mark Twain, Teaching, Teaching Language, The Awful German Language, United StatesSabrina Völz

Having Fun with Language on German American Day 2022

By Sabrina Völz

In countries, such as Poland and the Netherlands, learning German is on the rise. Yet, in the U.S., it’s been declining for the past hundred years. Numbers of students learning German have decreased from roughly two million in 1910 to a little over one million today. Therefore, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that German programs have been closing all over the U.S. The very liberal arts college I attended as a bachelor student in Indianola, Iowa – Simpson College – eliminated its German program a few years ago. So in preparation for this German American Day (Oct. 6), I decided to attempt to do some PR for German.

Recently, while I was surfing the web, I came across something that almost knocked me for a loop. It’s nothing bad, just a 58-letter word. So let’s hear that drum roll….

Please activate javascript to watch the video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ViZqQkddCc

That word is: Kurzfristen-energie-versorgungs-sicherungs-maßnahmen-verordnung.

11 May 2022Teaching ToolsBerlin, Brown Girl Dreaming, Coming-Of-Age Narrative, Family Relations, Identity, Jacqueline Woodson, Leuphana, Leuphana University Lüneburg, Life-Writing, My Childhood In A Box, Narratives, New Zealand, Online Class, Pandemic, Personal Growth, Seminar, Stories, StorytellingHenrike Kattoll

All the Stories That We (Were) Told

By Nora Benitt

Pixar’s Rules of Storytelling by Profound Whatever

Life writing – which includes a wide spectrum of sub-genres such as (auto)biography, memoir, letter, diary, (digital) life stories, and oral histories – has a long tradition in the U.S. and is becoming more and more popular all over the world. An abundance of artifacts compiled by famous, semi-famous, and not-at-all-famous people fill public libraries, private bookshelves, research centers, social media, hard drives, and websites. And that’s actually not even surprising since writing and/or talking about ourselves is a deeply rooted cultural practice and comes very naturally to most human beings. We do it all the time: We tell a significant someone how our day was, we put together our résumé when applying for a new job, we talk about childhood memories with siblings or a close friend. However, talking and writing about ourselves in an academic context and, to boot, in a foreign language is a completely different story.