Tour promotes German language classes in schools

EVERETT — The scene in a dark and crowded theater: kids packed in, a dark stage with amplifiers and a drum kit. Then the band enters, the lights come up, and the singer begins to sing. The crowd is on its feet, cheering, smartphones out to record the concert.

This is a different sort of concert, though. For one, it’s 11 a.m. The venue is the Everett Civic Auditorium at Everett High School, and the students in the theater are on a field trip, coming from schools from Bellingham to Olympia.

The other major difference is exemplified in the band’s lyrics: “Wir bauen uns Stück für Stück, Stück für Stück die Zukunft zurück.”

The band is Tonbandgerät, a young up-and-coming indie pop group out of Hamburg, Germany. With their skinny jeans, shaggy hair and catchy pop songs, the members fit right in with just about any U.S. music scene.

The Everett show Tuesday was the first stop on a 10-city tour across the U.S., sponsored in part by the German government. It’s part of a broader outreach program to promote German language classes in schools.

“We want to show the kids that Germany is not just lederhosen and the Autobahn and beer and Oktoberfest,” said Peter Zygowski a language consultant with the San Francisco office of the Goethe Institute, the German government’s cultural promotion organization.

Bringing Tonbandgerät (“tape recorder” in English) to the U.S. was a good way to show a more modern side of Germany, Zygowski said.

Kelly Dietsch, a German language teacher at Henry M. Jackson High School in Mill Creek, worked with Cascade High teacher Katherine Lockwood to bring the band to Everett.

In advance of the show, the teachers spent weeks crafting lessons around the band’s lyrics and videos. Successfully, it would seem, as the 1,100 kids in the Everett Civic Auditorium sang along to many of the songs.

“The Goethe Institute is really good about providing lesson plans that can be used easily,” Dietsch said, pointing to the institute’s resource for teachers and students, Step Into German.

German in the U.S. has been in a bit of a decline for several years, however. The rise of China as an economic superpower has shifted the focus of U.S. businesses and educators to Asia.

Dietsch is Jackson High’s sole German teacher, and this year the number of classes she teaches was cut from five to four, the first time in more than a decade that has happened.

“We’ve had a number of Washington state programs closed, even at the secondary level,” Dietsch said.

“Considering that Germany is the fifth-largest economic partner for Washington state, it’s a pity we don’t do a little something more for that,” she said.

According to a 2008 survey from the Center for Applied Linguistics, German language instruction in the U.S. in recent years has fallen at all levels of K-12 eduction.

Just 14 percent of U.S. high schools offered German classes, down from 25 percent in 1997. In elementary and middle schools, the number of schools fell to 2 percent in 2008 from 5 percent in 1997.

During the same time period, Chinese and Arabic gained more traction in American schools. In 2008, more primary schools offered Chinese language instruction than German, and the Chinese government has been active in promoting and supporting those programs in the U.S.

It’s a trend Dietsch and other advocates of German would like to reverse.

Lucas Ekstrom and Ariana Bratt, both 17, might be part of that trend. Both are studying German at Bothell High School. While neither had heard about Tonbandgerät before a few weeks ago, both enjoyed the show.

“They’re pretty good for a startup band,” Bratt said. She added she’s more into Rush and The Lumineers these days.

But both are interested in continuing with German and visiting Germany. Ekstrom has applied for a scholarship program and Bratt hopes to go there on a mission trip.

In addition to the Goethe Institute’s cultural programs (which often emphasize soccer as well as music), the German government provides more direct support to schools, and last year its Central Agency for Schools Abroad reopened a Pacific Northwest office that had been vacant for about 15 years.

“If there’s a school that might be interested in offering German, I’d be right there telling them why it’s important,” said Natascha Milde, the German Language Advisor for the agency’s new office in Bellevue.

Milde said that with American students, learning a foreign language other than Spanish (still the most commonly studied language in the U.S.) can be a challenge, given that Americans don’t travel overseas as much as Europeans do.

Milde’s selling points include Germany’s position as the dominant economy in Europe, the language’s importance in the sciences and business, and the fact that German is the mother tongue of 120 million people and a second language of choice throughout Europe.

German is still the third most-studied language in colleges and universities, with 96,349 enrollments in 2009, according to the Modern Language Association, although its growth rate (2.2 percent from 2006-2009) is much slower than that of Chinese (46.3 percent), Korean (19.1 percent) and Arabic (18.2 percent).

People like Natascha Milde and Kelly Dietsch hope more events like the Tonbandgerät show and tour will help build more awareness of German culture and encourage more kids to take up the language.

Despite some setbacks, Dietsch said, “The Northwest is still pretty much a stronghold for German language programs.”

Or, as the band sang in its show Tuesday: “We’re building ourselves piece by piece, piece by piece back into the future.”

Chris Winters: 425-374-4165; cwinters@heraldnet.com.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

Everett mall renderings from Brixton Capital. (Photo provided by the City of Everett)
Topgolf at the Everett Mall? Mayor’s hint still unconfirmed

After Cassie Franklin’s annual address, rumors circled about what “top” entertainment tenant could be landing at Everett Mall.

Everett
Everett man sentenced to 3 years of probation for mutilating animals

In 2022, neighbors reported Blayne Perez, 35, was shooting and torturing wildlife in north Everett.

Dorothy Crossman rides up on her bike to turn in her ballot  on Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Everett leaders plan to ask voters for property tax increase

City officials will spend weeks hammering out details of a ballot measure, as Everett faces a $12.6 million deficit.

Starbucks employee Zach Gabelein outside of the Mill Creek location where he works on Friday, Feb. 23, 2024 in Mill Creek, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Mill Creek Starbucks votes 21-1 to form union

“We obviously are kind of on the high of that win,” store bargaining delegate Zach Gabelein said.

Lynnwood police respond to a collision on highway 99 at 176 street SW. (Photo provided by Lynnwood Police)
Police: Teen in stolen car flees cops, causes crash in Lynnwood

The crash blocked traffic for over an hour at 176th Street SW. The boy, 16, was arrested on felony warrants.

The view of Mountain Loop Mine out the window of a second floor classroom at Fairmount Elementary on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
County: Everett mining yard violated order to halt work next to school

At least 10 reports accused OMA Construction of violating a stop-work order next to Fairmount Elementary. A judge will hear the case.

Imagine Children's Museum's incoming CEO, Elizabeth "Elee" Wood. (Photo provided by Imagine Children's Museum)
Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett to welcome new CEO

Nancy Johnson, who has led Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett for 25 years, will retire in June.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.