UPDATE CLASSROOMS and GERMAN LANGUAGE RESOURCES

Dear School Community and Friends,

first of all I hope you and your loved ones are doing well and you all have mostly adjusted to the special circumstances we all have to arrange our life around at this moment. 

Please take your time to read through my Post, as resources will be listed at the end. Thank you!

I like to give you all a short update for the next couple of months according to the information I am provided with as best as I can at this time.

• Rentals for classrooms are cancelled until April 19 and as of right now, I have no additional information received from Saskatoon Public Schools in connection to rental bookings after April 19
• According to the development around COVID-19 and the recent announcements by the Provincial Government, as well as the instructions from the Ministry of Education passed on to the School Boards in our province, I personally doubt that we will be allowed back into our rented classrooms till the end of this school year. Still, of course, I have not yet received any update on our rental situation after April 19 from the Rental Department at Saskatoon Public Schools.
• I have been informed that in keeping with the recent directive from the Government of Saskatchewan to limit the size of public and private gatherings to a maximum of ten people, effective March 26, City Administration will not be approving any outdoor special events scheduled between Friday March 27, 2020 and Sunday May 31, 2020. Therefore our plans for a BBQ Fundraiser at the Gazebo at the Forestry Farm Park on May 23rd are cancelled.

Our classes:

Most of you are aware (maybe as students, parents or grandparents) that Saskatoon Public and Catholic Schools are working on supplementary online teaching options for their elementary and high school students. After the schools staff have been on a break March 23-27, they returned back to work (either from home or their classrooms) on Monday, March 30 to start the process of setting up their classrooms for online teaching/learning and connecting with their students plus families.

Is our school able to simply switch over to online teaching? No, we are not simply able to switch over!

Please keep in mind that our school is "only" running evening classes and no full time year round school program. A good number of our classes combine several circumstances that face us with different problems and might not allow for an online teaching option. Please as well keep in mind that all my teachers have their regular full time jobs and any planning for online teaching or providing you with supplementary German Language support through online resources is done in addition to a regular job. The teachers at Saskatoon Public and Catholic Schools will have their full days to work out their plans for a supplementary online teaching plan compared to my teachers.

Is our school trying to switch classes to online teaching or to provide online resources as a supplement during this time? 

Yes we already have a few classes switched to online teaching or we are just in the process of doing so (your teacher is in touch with you). Please keep in mind, that we will not be able to switch all classes to online teaching, but will for sure try to provide you with online resources to support you in keeping the connection to the German Language. I know that some of my teachers have been sending out helpful suggestions/materials already. For some of our classes a decision hasn't been made yet, if online teaching is possible. Be patient with us and I sure hope that we have all decisions down after the Easter Break.

German Language Resources:

To start with, here are some links, apps you can start to explore and work with:

• NETFLIX / DISNEY+ (Streaming Services)
• If you have Netflix and/or Disney+, go into your options (top left corner, symbol looks like a notepad) and change the Audio and/or Subtitles of your favorite show, documentation, movie etc. to German. Not always possible, but for lots for sure.
• German Radio
• Free download Radio FM app (for your mobile device). You can choose from countries from all over the world. For German radio stations look under Deutschland (over 5000 stations to choose from, but you see the genre played for each station)
• for your laptop etc. copy link  http://www.internetradio-horen.de/
• Websites to check out
• Goethe Institut  https://www.goethe.de/ins/ca/de/index.html
• browse through, lots of useful informtion/material
• you can switch to Eng language at the top right corner
• eLibrary check out the offererings in this virtual library https://www.goethe.de/ins/ca/en/kul/ser/onl.html  
• Pasch-Net  https://www.pasch-net.de/de/index.html
• this is a 100% German Language page, but lots to offer if you are up to the challenge with the language
• German Television
• ARD Mediathek  https://www.ardmediathek.de/ard/
• huge selection throughout all the genres you can think of. Not everything will work, but lots of the shows/movies I tried for kids/families/adults did work and it is sure worth to work your way through
• I probably get back to this with a few more detailed links for kids/teens and adults as soon as I find a bit more time
• Audiobooks (thanks to my teacher Franziska for the tip)
• you can use this on your laptop with  https://www.audible.ca/ or download the app Audible on your mobile device (there are plenty more app offers, maybe worth to check out)
• Kids can listen for free right now, while school is on pause, so just scroll down a bit and then check out their selection in different language (interesting for french immersion students), age ranges and look for Auf Deutsch hören
• don't be shy to check it out as an adult as well !!!
• YouTube  https://www.youtube.com/
• there is plenty to find on YouTube to listen to and/or to watch....lots of useless stuff as well...but just use the SEARCH line and punch in things like
• German kids songs
• German documentary
• German music
• german model railway exhibition
• and whatever other ideas you might have

That's it for right now. Please contact me, if you have any questions.

Thanks for being patient with us during this time. Take care of yourself and your loved ones.

Sincerely,

Kathleen Schroeder-Brass, Principal