Heidelberg Field School
Bridge in Heidelberg. Photo by Bryan Czerneda
Institutional Association: Memorial University, Newfoundland
Director: Prof. Maria Mayr
Program Website: https://www.mun.ca/languages/more/study_abroad/german/
Program Description:The Berlin/Heidelberg Field School consists of a 5-week trip to Germany and is accompanied by an online course. After preparing for the trip during the intersession semester via an online course dedicated to the Field School, we travel to Berlin for one week, followed by a 4-week stay in Heidelberg. In Berlin, we complete the online course by means of an intensive cultural program, visiting historically and culturally significant sites in and around Berlin. Upon arrival in Heidelberg, students then enroll at Heidelberg University, where they participate in a 4-week intensive immersion language program.
How does this program benefit students? The Field School allows students to hone and put into practice their historical, cultural, intercultural, and linguistic knowledge acquired in the classroom. Students benefit from an intense immersion setting and small class sizes that cannot be replicated in Canada. In addition, upon completion of the program, students will have completed 3 courses that can be counted towards their German degree.
What were students looking forward to about the program?Students typically love both Berlin and Heidelberg. While Berlin immerses them in a metropolitan and cosmopolitan atmosphere unlike anything Newfoundland has to offer, Heidelberg is a picturesque romantic city in the south that is saturated with history. Students also enjoy the small class sizes at Heidelberg where they study – and often make friends with – people from all over the world participating in the program.
What's your favourite part of this program? As the instructor accompanying the students, the Field School is a chance for me to get to know many of the students doing a minor or major in our program a bit better. Their passion for all things German is contagious and since many of our students are in Germany for the first time, their fresh eyes on the country never fails to add to my own understanding of the place.
A lot of universities in Canada are promoting interdisciplinary learning. In what ways does your program support that goal?The online course accompanying the field school focuses on providing an overview of significant historical, political, and social developments in Germany during the 20th and 21st centuries through the lens of Berlin. As such, it draws on the knowledge created and methods used by several disciplines such as history, literary studies, and sociology in order to allow students to put their experiences on-site into context.
Do you have any recommendations for other institutions looking to create a similar program? Given our program’s very limited teaching resources, outsourcing the language immersion course to the University of Heidelberg is crucial. At the same time, our time in Berlin and the first few days spent together in Heidelberg allow for the kind of cohort building that seems to be very beneficial for recruiting minors and majors. So this blend between Memorial and Heidelberg instruction is the best compromise given our situation (field school courses are part of an instructor's teaching load). I would be happy to discuss details with anyone interested.