Summer camp embraces all things German - New Braunfels, TX
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WalksfarTX
N 29° 42.512 W 098° 05.877
14R E 587255 N 3286829
Students circled up inside the rustic San Geronimo school building, surrounded by storybooks written in German and culturally inspired trinkets.
Waymark Code: WMY6HP
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 05/01/2018
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Herald-Zeitung
“Wie geht es dir?” Mary Irwin said as she threw a ball on Tuesday.
“Es geht mir guht,” Jourdan Savir-Pattin said as he caught her throw.
The game was designed to help Irwin teach students like Jourdan the German language.
The game is a part of German Language Camp at the school, located in Conservation Plaza and built in 1891. The camp is in its 12th year, according to Irwin’s sister and fellow teacher, Diane Moltz.
The three-week camp, which is open to students ages 6 to 13 and runs through June 15, teaches students how to speak German through song, dances and text. The class has two sessions. The morning session is comprised of 12 beginner students; the afternoon class has 13 intermediate students and four advanced students.
Jourdan and his sister, Nadine Savir-Pattin, are in the advanced section. Both are attending the camp for a second year to preserve the German they already know, they said.
“We lived in Germany prior to this and we wanted to keep up with it,” Nadine said. “This was a good way to do it.”
Andrea Miller is another advanced student who had previously attended the camp. Unlike her classmates, she had no prior background in the language, and she said she was even reluctant to attend the camp her first year.
“Originally, my mom forced me to do it,” she said. “But then it was really fun.”
Irwin and Moltz teach the classes, hoping to enlighten children to a culture that surrounds them, Moltz said.
“It is important to me because I want the kids to be aware of their culture,” she said. “It is good for their brain development, and I want to encourage them to take German when they get into high school.”