General

Undergraduate Student Cynthia Lin spoke with us about her experience with the Canadian Summer School in Germany in the Summer of 2024. Cynthia is a Psychology specialist with a major in Sociology and a minor in Education and Society. She reflects on her experience with the program and shares some noteworthy advice for prospective students.  Good afternoon, Cynthia. Please introduce yourself to the community with your name, programs of study, and the year you participated in CSSG.  My name is Cynthia Lin, and I am currently enrolled in the psychology specialist program, the sociology major and education and society minor.  Please let us know what motivated you to apply to CSSG. I first learned about this program through a UofT newsletter, and Professor John Plews, the CSSG Program Director, came to speak with us about it. I was motivated by my desire to immerse myself in the language experience and environment. I cannot gain the same fluent German language skills and cultural understanding in Canada.  What previous experiences did you have learning German before joining the program? I previously studied GER 100Y1 (Introduction to German) online. Although the course was very interactive, it was not the same as taking a ... Read More »

Elizabeth Frynta is a recent graduate of the University of Toronto’s Peace, Conflict and Justice Studies Program who also minored in German Studies and Political Science. Elizabeth is a two-time CSSG participant who took some time to share her German language journey with us while preparing for graduate school. This year, Elizabeth was awarded the Kim Misfeldt Prize from the Canadian Summer School in Germany. Elizabeth earned this award through her exceptional graded coursework, active engagement in the cultural program, and meaningful interactions in German with CSSG peers, instructors, and host family members during her time abroad.  Please introduce yourself to the University of Toronto community. My name is Elizabeth Milena Frynta. I graduated in June 2024 with a major in Peace, Conflict, and Justice Studies and minors in German and political science. I participated in the CSSG program in 2023 and 2024. What motivated you to apply to CSSG? I was motivated to apply to the CSSG because I realized that although I was pleased with my writing, reading, and comprehension skills, my vocabulary outside the classroom was quite limited. I wanted to become fully immersed in German culture. What previous experiences did you have learning German before joining ... Read More »

Emma Rebmann is a third-year Pharmacology and Psychology student at UofT, who is also minoring in German Studies. After participating in CSSG this year, Emma encourages all students who wish to improve their German to apply to the program.  Please introduce yourself to the University of Toronto community  My name is Emma Rebmann. I’m a third-year student at UofT, double majoring in Pharmacology and Physiology, with a minor in German Studies. I participated in CSSG in the summer of 2024 and took GRMN 3446 (third-year German)! What motivated you to apply to CSSG? The program director, Dr. John Plews, presented to my German class about CSSG. The combination of language learning, engaging with a host family, and going on cultural excursions sounded like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to immerse myself fully in the language and culture. What previous experiences did you have learning German before joining the program?  Before attending CSSG, I took Introduction to German (GER100) and Intermediate German (GER 200) at UofT. Please tell us about the learning environment in Kassel. What were your classes and field trips like?  The learning environment in Kassel was more hands-on than I had previously experienced. Instead of only focusing on grammar, we ... Read More »

Letter from the Chair We’re changing! Halfway into a two-year process of Departmental Renewal, which follows on the heels of our recent, comprehensive cyclical review, I am excited to be able to point to a number of initiatives designed to help us pursue our educational mission. We have inaugurated improved mentorship strategies for program majors, created two internal awards to recognize student achievement, introduced exciting new courses and formed a Departmental Committee to support undergraduate activities. Going forward, graduate students will benefit from a streamlined PhD examination process designed to better prepare students for the thesis-writing phase. There is still work to be done but we have taken significant steps to address the areas where the investment of our collective energies will have the most impact. Personalia As always it is gratifying to reflect on the successes of faculty and students and the tremendous work of our colleagues in administrative and financial offices. There were many highlights, as you will see in the following pages of this latest edition of our newsletter. On the faculty side, Angelica Fenner was awarded a prestigious Jackman Humanities Institute fellowship, and Stefana Gargova passed her continuing appointment review at the rank of Assistant Professor, ... Read More »

Letter from the Chair In 2022-23, our Chair, Stefan Soldovieri, embarked on a well-deserved sabbatical after deftly shepherding the Department through nearly three years of pandemic uncertainty. To be an administrator under such unprecedented circumstances is no easy task, and we are grateful to Stefan for the extraordinary leadership he displayed throughout those years. We are equally thrilled at his return as we embark on this new academic year 2023-24.  The return to in-person operations on the St George campus last year offered no reprieve from the theme of ongoing transition and recalibration, also for our Department, as we struck a new executive team during my year as Acting Chair.  We sorely missed the invaluable wisdom and institutional memory associated with our Student Placement Coordinator and Assistant to the Chair, Helena Juenger who also happened to be on maternity leave, but we were incredibly fortunate to be able to hire a U of T graduate, Ryan Masters. His doctorate in German colonial history helped him to acculturate to our program while our newly forged executive team, which included Professors John Noyes, Hang-Sun Kim, and Stefana Gargova, was similarly learning the ropes. What a year it was, tasked as we were ... Read More »

Letter from the Chair Dear Friends of the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures, It was a delight to see students and faculty begin return to the Department and our beautiful campus in 2021-22 and we look forward to even more in-person events and activities becoming possible this academic year. My thanks to everyone for their positivity and support throughout this challenging time. During the past academic year, the Department was engaged in a comprehensive cyclical review mandated by the Province of Ontario. The consultation process encompassed faculty, graduate and undergraduate students, colleagues in our administrative offices and faculty from other units and programs. The nearly 200-page final document submitted in spring 2022 reports on everything from curriculum and learning objectives, student satisfaction and course enrolment, our success in securing external grants and research output, to faculty and administrative structure and our physical spaces. A concluding ‘Future Directions’ section identifies in broad terms a course for renewing our programs and activities on a number of levels. In the meantime, we’ve received the comments of our external reviewers, senior colleagues at institutions in Canada and abroad. In addition to praising our wonderful students, strong undergraduate and graduate programs, pioneering outreach initiatives ... Read More »

Newsletter 2021-22 Read More »

Apply now for the 2022-23 graduate program Read More »

DAAD German Language Teaching & Learning Workshop The fourth annual conference offers the chance to learn from experts in the field and to mingle with peers from other Canadian universities in an intellectually stimulating and collegial context. We are especially excited about this year’s line-up of speakers: Daniel Bowles from Boston College, Nicolay Ostrau from Dartmouth College, Maria Morrison from McGill University, James Skidmore from Waterloo University, Jason Lieblang from UBC, and a speaker from the Goethe-Institut Toronto. Coming soon! December 8th and 9th 2018 Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, University of Toronto, 1 Devonshire Place Read More »