High school students participating in a German Summer Camp this week are submerging themselves into the culture - right at MSU.
The free camp, which meets 2-5 p.m., Monday-Friday this week in C-311 Wells Hall, is geared toward creating a better understanding of German culture. Coordinated by the German Outreach Program, the camp is open to high school students involved in German classes at their schools.
MSU faculty and graduate students speak German to high school students and speak English only to clarify certain lessons.
This is the first year the camp has operated.
"It's a tiny bit scary when they talk to us completely in German," said Jamie Emmons, a 17-year-old at Lakewood High School in Woodland, Mich., who is participating in the camp this week. "But this way is kind of fun to learn the language."
Emmons, who has been studying German at her high school for two years, will begin her senior year this fall. She said her goal is to study German for four years in high school - she will take on two years worth of German curriculum in one year - and will finish up in time to receive her high school diploma.
"I just thought German is different, and Spanish is such a norm with language classes," she said. "It sounds so much more interesting, and I really like it."
Faculty representative Mike Putnam, a German professor at MSU, said the outreach program is meant to bring faculty, graduate students, community members and high school students together.
"I hope they walk away with an appreciation for the German language, literature and culture," he said. "It's not just speaking the language, but it's seeing the world through the eyes of someone else."
German isn't just a language, but an aspect of psychology and other elements that combined to create an understanding of the culture, said Jeannine Mickeleit, a native German speaker and MSU German Studies graduate student, who helps teach the class.
"We want to change attitudes into lifelong, learning attitudes for the culture," Mickeleit said.
On Tuesday, one of the themes was hip-hop music in German culture, where students listened to "99 Luftballons" by Nena and compared the lyrics to the English version, "99 Red Balloons."
Students learned the German version conveys a message about the Cold War, while the English version conveys romantic ideas, Mickeleit said.
"The German version brings history alive," she said. "You can't get history out of the English version."
The camp also teaches international importance of German culture.
"There are certain things about German culture you can only understand through the language," said Steve , an MSU German Studies graduate student.
"Once your eyes open up to all of this - and all these different topics from literature, to music, to linguistics - you use the language as a means to get inside this culture, and you start opening doors. It's a whole new world of things."
