U of T program helps student learn German – and lands him a job

Christopher.Sorensen — Thu, 27 Sep 2018 19:41:13 +0000

Christopher.Sorensen Thu, 09/27/2018 - 15:41

Cutline

Tianhao Wang and his supervisor Stephan Anders, Meisterplan’s North American director (photo by Diana Tyszko)

Ariel Visconti

Topic

Global Lens

Faculty of Arts & Science

German

Humanities

International

St. Michael's College

Tianhao Wang started the new school year with a job offer after a successful internship facilitated by an initiative offered by the University of Toronto’s department of Germanic languages and literatures.

The fourth-year Faculty of Arts & Science student at St. Michael’s College recently completed a summer internship at Meisterplan, a German software company with a downtown Toronto office. Not only was the internship Wang’s first job in a professional setting, he plans to continue working with Meisterplan after the company offered him a part-time freelance position throughout his final year of studies.

Wang was connected to Meisterplan through iPRAKTIKUM, an internationalization and experiential learning program that connects U of T students studying German with internship opportunities at local organizations and business subsidiaries from German-speaking countries. He said he was drawn to the program because it offered an opportunity to expand his German business vocabulary, practice his conversational skills, and glean insights into German work culture.

“In my opinion, the best way to learn a new language is to actively communicate with people that speak the language,” he said. “There isn’t a strong presence of German culture in Toronto, so iPRAKTIKUM provides students the best chance to learn German outside the classroom and connect with local and international German communities.”

Wang’s internship was the first GTA-based undergraduate placement completed through iPRAKTIKUM. Launched in 2017, the initiative first provided graduate students with internships at German departments in local high schools.

Undergraduate internships can take place in the summer or during the school year, and are accredited in the form of a co-curricular record, or as part of the iPRAKTIKUM experiential learning and internationalization internship course offered by the German department. The internships are open to all students studying German at U of T, meaning iPRAKTIKUM benefits students from a wide range of disciplines. Wang is completing a bachelor's degree in mathematical application in economics and finance specialist program with a minor in German, and plans to pursue a master’s in business analytics internationally after his undergraduate studies.

“The internships are intended to promote global fluency and allow students to practice their German language skills on the job,” said Stefan Soldovieri, an associate professor of German who leads iPRAKTIKUM with the department’s senior secretary and graduate assistant, Helena Juenger.

“In addition to providing valuable networking opportunities and practical experience at home, internships with international German organizations can open up future training and career opportunities abroad.”

Wang’s interest in studying German was sparked by a family road trip through Europe that brought him to southern Germany. Given that Germany is a dominant player in the European economy, Wang thought that knowledge of the German language would provide him with well-rounded communication skills for an increasingly interconnected global economy.

“I’m fluent in Mandarin Chinese and English, so being able to read and communicate in German would help me obtain first-hand information from China, North America and Europe,” said Wang.

The Meisterplan position interested him because it offered experience in project portfolio management, which he expects to use in his future career. Meisterplan – a subsidiary of itdesign GmbH, a software company headquartered in Tübingen, Germany – developed an innovative tool that helps project portfolio managers and organizations manage multiple projects efficiently.

“Before the internship, I only had a basic idea of project portfolio management, but now I’m able to understand the detailed processes, methods and terminologies involved,” Wang explained.

Although Wang’s Meisterplan colleagues in North America spoke English on the job, he was able to improve his German language skills through email correspondence with colleagues in Germany. He also regularly used the company’s internal software, which is designed for German-speakers.

Throughout the internship, Wang provided market research and back-end customer service that was highly valued by the team.

“Tianhao brought a fresh perspective and outside-of-the-box thinking that helped us look at aspects of our software in ways we hadn’t thought of before,” said Stephan Anders, Meisterplan’s North American director and Wang’s supervisor. “We’re glad to continue having him on board.”

The German department continues to offer undergraduate and graduate internships through iPRAKTIKUM, and will expand the initiative next summer to include opportunities in Germany.

iPRAKTIKUM offers U of T graduate students in German a chance to explore careers outside academia

rasbachn — Tue, 28 Nov 2017 20:46:56 +0000

iPRAKTIKUM offers U of T graduate students in German a chance to explore careers outside academia

rasbachn Tue, 11/28/2017 - 15:46

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Shirin Oghatian, who is pursuing a master’s degree in German theory, text and literature, teaches a Grade 9 German class at UTS (photo by Diana Tyszko)

Elaine Smith

Topic

Our Community

Faculty of Arts & Science

German

Graduate Students

Humanities

Ontario Institute for Studies in Education

University of Toronto's department of German languages and literatures has started iPRAKTIKUM, an internationalization and experiential learning project that provides graduate students with opportunities to explore careers outside of academia.

This fall, iPRAKTIKUM offered paid internships to four graduate students to work at University of Toronto Schools (UTS) under the supervision of Nicola Townend, who runs the German program at UTS.

One of those students is Stefana Gargova, who earned her PhD this fall and is currently pursuing a master’s degree at U of T's Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. “Having a PhD doesn’t mean your only option is working in academia," she said. "You can apply all of your skills to many other fields.”

That is one of the aims of the project. “We have been talking for a long time about what we can do for students to increase their professional opportunities and have been considering internships like this for a while,” said Stefan Soldovieri, an associate professor of German in the Faculty of Arts & Science who leads iPRAKTIKUM along with Helena Juenger, the department’s senior secretary and graduate assistant.

Natasha Jamal at U of T’s Centre for Community Partnerships is also playing a key role in mentoring the interns. “It’s been a truly collaborative effort,” said Juenger.

“Many of our graduate students already have experience as teaching assistants, so they will be an asset to a secondary school and can enrich the experience for high school students,” said Soldovieri.

iPRAKTIKUM has funding from Milestones & Pathways in the Faculty of Arts & Science, an initiative designed to support professional development for graduate students, as well as from the Advancement in Teaching and Learning in Arts & Science (ATLAS) program.

Gargova’s main interest is curriculum development, so she will spend her internship developing two new units for the German classes: One will focus on LGBTQ issues and the other on Indigenous peoples.

“Germany has a history of representing Indigenous people in a very specific way,” Gargova said. “It will be interesting to look at the clichés.”

Townend is overseeing the work of the interns and is delighted with Gargova’s plans.

“These are both areas identified in the high school curriculum that have a real dearth of teaching materials set up for classroom use,” she said. “There aren’t many resources, so these units will be useful here and elsewhere.”

For Shirin Oghatian, the internship experience is entirely different. Oghatian, who immigrated to Canada from Iran two years ago, is pursuing a master’s degree in German literature, culture and theory. At UTS, she is teaching the Grade 9 German class.

“I’ve had teaching assistant opportunities, but this is a totally different experience,” she said. “Teens acquire language differently than older students, based on the way younger brains work. Prior to this, they were beyond my comfort zone, but this makes me think about new opportunities. I had just been focused on teaching at colleges, so this has opened a whole new avenue.”

Soldovieri and Juenger said the graduate students are required to attend a check-in session midway through the internship to ensure their individual learning goals are being met, as well as a debriefing at the end of the semester. Current interns are also expected to help the department of Germanic languages and literatures prepare the next cohort of iPRAKTIKUM interns.

They envision expanding the program to other high schools and to other industries where German language skills can be asset. As iPRAKTIKUM grows, the hope is that future interns will also be placed with organizations in German-speaking countries.