American English
American English is a resource center for teaching and learning about American English language and culture. The website http://americanenglish.state.gov provides a variety of engaging materials and resources for teachers’ professional development and for students in the classroom. Both teachers and students will find new ways to practice English and learn more about the United States.
TeachAboutUS / Going Green
TeachAboutUS is an intercultural online learning platform for use in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) and science classrooms in Germany. It is the product of an ongoing, multi-year partnership among the U.S. Embassy in Berlin, Leuphana University Lüneburg, and the LIFE non-profit organization with support from our U.S.-based partner, the Transatlantic Outreach Program (TOP) in Washington D.C. Local partners include the Friedrich Ebert Foundation Berlin, the Berlin Senate Department for Education, Youth, and Research; the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK); and the North Rhine-Westphalia Ministry for Schools and Further Education.
The TeachAboutUS online platform features two innovative programs: “The U.S. Election Project” (every four years) and “Going Green−Teaching for Sustainability” (annually) as well as a blog written by high school and college students in the U.S. and Germany. Both school projects offer virtual and direct access to experts, hands-on teacher training, a fully developed curriculum-based on web 2.0 innovative teaching tools, and a student project competition.
TeachAboutUS has grown steadily since its inception in 2012. In 2016, more than 3,000 teachers and students participated. The goal of Going Green is to foster interest in innovative sustainability research across the curriculum including the humanities, languages and STEM subjects, to encourage civic engagement, and to provide professional experience for young people. In addition to offering the regular extended curriculum for the 2017-18 academic year, a project week addressing renewable energy from a science and cultural studies perspective will be introduced. Students will explore the challenges of energy systems in the 21st century, the science behind renewable energy, and ways to implement them in the local context. We especially encourage partnerships between EFL and STEM/MINT classes.
The TeachAboutUS team received the Hans Eberhardt Piepho Prize in 2013 for innovative teaching ideas and the Land of Ideas Award in 2015. Positive feedback from teachers and students has demonstrated that our innovative approach is not only important, but also fun! Check out TeachAboutUS and learn more about how to participate and to subscribe to our monthly newsletter at teachaboutus.org/.
Teacher Training
The U.S. Embassy offers teacher training at irregular intervals. Stay tuned for details.
- Black History Month Lecture and Discussion 2018
- 2018 Teacher Seminar: Education for Sustainability
- 2017: Reaching Young People Through Innovative Teaching and Learning About Sustainability
- Lessons from the Civil Rights Movement: Teaching for Equity and Inclusion (2016)
- Immigration and Diversity in the 21st Century
- 2015 series on U.S. Embassy Teacher Academy 2015: “Immigration and Integration in the USA: A Current Debate.”
- Going Green 2015 – Sustainable Education and Political Action
- 2013 teacher seminar on Going Green in the USA
2016 U.S. Presidential Elections
The U.S. Embassy & U.S. Consulates, as well as the American Spaces, offered many programs on the 2016 presidential elections.
The US Embassy Election project attracted over 1,500 participant students and their teachers from all parts of Germany in 2012. They adopted one U.S. state and became its virtual citizens, reviewed local and social media critically and evaluated the political debates in the weeks leading to the presidential elections. They predicted the election outcome in their state and, on the whole, these students’ predictions were more accurate than many nationally broadcast polls. The project was awarded the renowned Hans-Eberhard-Piepho Prize for Ideas in Communicative Language Teaching in 2013
Meet US – Americans in Dialogue with Young Germans about Life in the U.S.A.
The Meet US program is designed to help clarify the picture by bringing Americans – U.S. citizens from all backgrounds of life residing in Germany, as well as U.S. Embassy/Consulate staff – together with secondary school students in Germany to engage them in a dialogue about everyday life in the United States.