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When asked about his favorite part of the internship program Teaching Fun with German, supervisor and senior instructor in the German and Scandinavian department at the University of Oregon Matthias Vogel replies, “My favorite part of the experience is to see our interns blossom as they come into their own in front of the class and to witness the joy the kids are displaying when learning German with our interns."

The Teaching Fun with German internship program provides the opportunity for eight undergraduate German majors to gain practical experience as teachers by teaching German language to local elementary students. These undergraduate students first take a seminar with Vogel in which they learn strategies for teaching a second language, such as Total Physical Response (TPR). Through the class and the internship component, they learn about second language teaching and begin to develop an understanding of the needs of a language learner who is learning German for the first time, as well as make connections with the elementary school students. Two of the interns were presented with a poster sized thank you card from their students at the end of year [pictured below].