Last Sunday our six grade participated in the award ceremony of the American Association of Teachers of German (AATG) contest at Stanford in Cubberley Auditorium.  More than 25'000 students from a variety of high schools and other German private schools in the USA took the AATG National German Examination.

The AATG contest test was conducted in German and included listening comprehension: brief interchanges and longer dialogues; situational questions testing reading and conversational skills; applied structure or grammar and idioms in context; comprehension of connected passages of approximately 200 words each, and comprehension of some authentic materials.

The AATG contest has four different levels. Most of our students took the test on Level 4, which is the highest level, and they scored in the 92th percentile and above. We had twelve students who scored above the 90th percentile and a representative of the German Consulate honored them with a gold award certificate.

I commend all the students for their outstanding performance and the teachers for their dedicated work in the classroom.
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Today the fifth grade presented the PYP culminating project- the exhibition- to the older students. Tonight at 5:00pm members of the school and outside community are invited to attend their presentations that are all linked to the transdisciplinary theme "Sharing the planet".  This years Central Idea was "Actions make a difference". The students conducted an inquiry of their choice in the spirit of personal and shared responsibility that is a celebration as students move from the PYP into the MYP.  During the next couple of days all Elementary and IMS students will get to vote for one of the causes the 5th grade students researched. Our walk-a-thon on May 18th is going to support the organization with the most votes. We are hoping that by involving all the students in this process, they recognize the importance of community involvement in order to make this world a better place.  

Follow the Child Summer Camp, run by Jay Levin, the Fifth grade English teacher, is a mobile camp for children between the ages of 6 and 12 who love to be outdoors. They go to a different exciting location each day.  Science based, Follow the Child Summer Camp runs between June 18th until August 17th, and is designed for active children that love to hike, draw, paint, write, explore, and learn. We pick-up in two locations in San Mateo and Palo Alto. If you would like to learn more about the camp please click here or email Jay Levin at followtchild@gmail.com.  

Are you interested in accumulating some volunteer hours? We will hold our next workday on Saturday, May 19 from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. Tim Farris will organize volunteers in a variety of tasks including painting, sanding, cleaning and repairing.   If you wish to participate please email the office by May 14 so we can set up the program. Email to: offmgr@gais.org.

GASPA Summer School Camp - Märchen aus dem Sack geschüttelt!

Attention all 3 to 12 year olds, in particular 9 to 12 year olds!!  What would you say to 4  fun filled weeks, from June 25th to July 20th, of movement, music, theater, dance, learning new skills, and much, much more? What exactly the plan is and what we end up doing is for the most part, up to you. Can everything be decided by you? No! What is and remains is: Do it in German! Everything we do during the course of the 4 weeks; speaking, writing, reading, etc. will be done in German.
One other thing is also not up for discussion, namely Fairytales. If you think they are boring and only stuff for little kids, then you don't know much about Fairytales!
What do the above mentioned activities have to do with Fairytales? Join us for 4 weeks and find out. Do things differently, do things you may have never done before, do something for the first time, learn new moves, try out new skills which you thought you could never do. Don't be a frog, come on, jump in! Betcha, you won't regret it!
For more information please visit our website at www.gaspa-ca.org

Surely you already know that soccer is the world's # 1 sport. And you must have heard how popular soccer is in Germany and how seriously it takes its soccer history and future. 

This summer from June 25th to July 13th, GASPA is offering 3 one week camps, for ages 8-12 and 13-17, during which we will combine soccer craziness and the German language to offer an intercultural exchange; the goal being to experience a cool sport in the German language and get to know contemporary Germany.

Become a better soccer player by learning from coaches from Germany, a world class soccer powerhouse! The Camp provides the opportunity for the participants to pass the DFB-McDonalds Fußballabzeichen (German Soccer Federation/DFB-McDonalds Soccer Insignia). 

The camp is open for beginners and pros in soccer and German language, for boys and girls.
Hauptsache: Fuβball verrückt!

For more information, please visit our website at www.gaspa-ca.org