Deutsch 5-H
Why continue?
Concrete benefits of taking
German in senior year, with
news from LZHS grads
Many students say they don’t “need” to take German
in their senior year. Many are under the impression
that 4 years of high school German is “enough,” or
they don’t think that taking German during senior
year would help them . . .BUT. . .
Many years of reports by LZHS grads who took
German as seniors, however, clearly show that
taking German 5 can be a great advantage for
college and for future careers that may not even
planned yet!
Putting the time and effort in senior year can be worth
thousands of dollars to students in college and
might even help future careers!
General benefits of continuing in
German 5:
1. capitalize on what you have learned so far
and get even better
2. colleges will be impressed that you have
committed to learning the subject stuck
with it
3. Not so many students take German:
German will help you to stand out!
4. some college programs actively seek
German students for their programs and
may even offer substantial scholarships to
students combining German with other
studies (Example: Herr Z. gets a letter
every year advertising three $24,000
German scholarships from SIU!)
5.You may have a very good chance of
placing into higher-level language classes
in college. This could easily lead to a minor
or double-major with German. (See
feedback from LZHS grads coming up.)
6. Students who place into upper level
language courses frequently get credit for
the classes they place out of.
(This depends on the college policy…
and often simply scoring well on a
placement test can yield similar results.)
**Keep your German fresh and improve it
in German!!
7. Having greater experience with the language
can help you in study-abroad programs,
not just for German but also for music,
business, science and more.
Just a few life-long benefits of
continued German study:
1. Knowledge of German is a great career
asset. It can help you stand out.
2. Business & Travel: more than 120 Million
people speak German fluently
3. Germany is the world’s #2 exporting country
4. German is the most widely-spoken
language in the European Union after
English and second-most common Internet
language.
5. Many important original works in math and
sciences have been written in German
(Continued  )
6. German language ability opens the door to
understanding and appreciating a wealth of
music, literature and culture.
7. The German Government offers many
scholarships for study in Germany (millions
of dallars worth!)
Many LZHS students have been placed in
advanced German classes after taking
German 5, even without using AP credit!
(See examples coming up.)
Some students have received up to 17
credit hours for having done well on a
German placement exam continuing
German in college. In at least several
cases (2007, 2008, 2010), this was worth
more that $10,000 to the student!
News from former LZHS German 5
students :
(2008)
“Herr Z,
Wie geht es Ihnen? . . . In the fall I am going
to study German. During my orientation I
took a placement test and got a great
score. Now I’m in a class that I would
normally take in the 6th semester. When I
finish the class, I will get credit for four
other German courses, 17 credit hours
total! But the class will be challenging and I
wil have to work hard.”
“Hey Herr,
9/9/08
I just wanted to say thank you for everything that
you have taught me the past couple years. I got
into my German class the other day and found
out I was the only freshman... everyone was
surprised cause they were all over 20 years old.
Also, we've been doing some readings and I
can completely understand what the professor is
saying but he has to stop and ask the class if
they know what "sparsam" is... But I just
wanted to thank you for preparing me for this
class and college and because of you I find this
German class very easy.”
--attending Indiana University
(2008 Grad:)
Just wanted to see how everything was on your end
and let you know that I'm still in German, a junior
now at Western Michigan University, studying
Mechanical engineering.
I've been longing to go back to Germany, and I
finally got that opportunity as I applied and was
accepted to a program through a company called
CDS. They conducted and interview and chose
candidates based on their language skills, and
intern qualifications. I received news this past week
that I got accepted and am scheduled to be in Berlin
May 27th 2011!
(2005)
Although he didn’t take German in college,
keeping up his German through German 5
enabled one LZHS grad to place into a
semester-abroad business program in
Vienna.
He was chosen over others who did not
have as much German background.
--Drake University
“Hallo Herr Z!
9/20/07
I'm finishing the third full week of college at
the U. of I. and just took my first college
German test! It wasn't particularly difficult....
My class is mostly sophomores and
juniors, and I think I am the only
freshman! It's a little bit intimidating, but my
teacher says I'm doing fine.”
--University of Illinois
• June 30, 2009:
“ Hallo Herr! I just thought I'd email you to let you
know that I took a German placement test at Mizzou
and placed in the 4th level of German,
which means all I have to do is take one class and
I get the 3 credits for it + the 13 credits for the
classes before it. Taking German in
high school definitely did pay off.
Danke für alles!”
--University of Missouri
• 3-04-08
(re: 2006 grad)
“Guten Tag Herr Ziarnik!
(my daughter) has really enjoyed and excelled
in her foreign language studies at U of I, with
much credit due to her time studying
German with you. She learned Spanish on her
own for her recital . . .while taking French. I
think that she may be taking German diction
now . . . Last year was Italian . . . She is
considering studying abroad in Vienna next
(NOTE: She did have a successful time
studying abroad in Vienna for voice.)
“Guten Tag Herr Ziarnik,
9-2007
I am at the University of Iowa and. . . I
am getting double the credit for
continuing German at Iowa. I am enrolled
in the Conversation and Composition
German class . . . and a lot of the grammar
looks like review... We are going to be
reading "Der Richter und sein Henker." I
looked at it and I do know what some of it
means...I think I can handle it. Good luck
with my brother 9th hour. . .”
--University of Iowa
Hallo Herr Z! (2011 Grad) . (U.S. Naval Academy). . .
Hope you are having a great year and class is going well. As I
told you a year ago, I was able to validate two semesters of
German and should therefore be able to take enough
credits to minor in German which I am very excited about
. . .Anyway, I wanted to tell you know about the amazing
opportunity that I have received at school. There is (the)
Language Study Abroad Program that takes place over the
summer ... I applied . . .and recently found out that I have
been picked to go . . . to study at the Goethe Institute in
Berlin. . . . Thank you again for everything you taught me
back at LZHS. I know none of this would really be
possible if I did not receive such a solid foundation in
high school from your class. Some of my classmates have
not been as fortunate, and do not have as strong of a
background in the language.
Dear Herr Z, (2008 Grad –U. of Illinois)
I wanted to let you know that I have been granted a
Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to Germany for
next year!! They have not provided a specific town or school
assignment yet, but I will be somewhere in NordrheinWestfalen from this September through June/July 2012. Also,
this fall I will be applying to Ph.D. programs in Germanic
linguistics, which I will (*hopefully*) begin upon my return to
the states.
I will always be grateful for the education and experiences
that I received from Lake Zurich High School, and please
know that your classes, German Club, and the
German/Austria trips provided much inspiration for my
chosen path.
• 9-16-08
“Hi Herr Z!!
. . .I hope the school year so far has
been good for you. As for Indiana University,
I'm taking a 300 level course that focuses
on grammar (which so far, I've known
pretty much everything because of what
we learned in high school) and we really
only speak in German . . . I might even be
minoring in German! . . .”
--Indiana University
• 2-2-2009
“ Herr... all I can say is thank you so much for
the knowledge you have given me in German.
Right now I am in a third level conversational
German class…. We had our first presentations
last week where we had to talk for 20 minutes.
My German has become very fluent and I just
cannot believe that I can speak that long. I didn't
use any notes either, I spoke from my head . . . I
wish I would have been more attentive in your class
so I could have lived up to my full potential. I am
planning on minoring in German, and am
applying for an internship in Germany this
summer. If all goes well, I also hope to study
abroad sometime next year.”
--Western Michigan University
“Hallo Herr Ziarnik,
Sept 2009
. …I am attending Carroll University in
Waukesha, Wisconsin and I am double
majoring in History and International
Relations with a German minor. . .
Additionally, my trip to Marburg, Germany
was really amazing this summer. My class
participated in a Grimm Brothers Scavenger
Hunt and walked the 500 steps up to
Marburg Schloss quite a few times. I now
know first hand just how fast a ICE train
goes. . .”
Hey Herr (August 2009)
It's Herr M. from your favorite AP German class last
year!! I'll be starting school at Indiana University
in Bloomington in a couple of weeks, and yes you
will be proud to know, that I'm taking German. I've
been meaning to email you to let ya know about all
the college credit I got . . .
So I wish I would of looked this up before that 10
hours of AP testing, but IU doesn't really care
about AP foreign language tests. Instead, at
orientation, I had to take a foreign language
placement test, so I obviously took German. The
next day of orientation they let you know your
scores. At IU, they have German 100, 150, 200,
250, and 300. . . (Continued next slide  )
(Herr M. cont’d)
. . .I can't remember exactly what I got, but I got
placed in German 300, which is conducted all in
German (*$!*!%!). So I automatically get credit
for German 100 and 150 (8 credits), and then at
the end of the semester once I (hopefully) pass
German 300, I will not only get credit for
German 300, but German 200 and 250 (9
credits) as well! That means by the end of my
first semester in college I'll have 17 credits
because of German alone, and I'll have 30 all
together, so I'm way ahead of the game! Just
wanted to give ya a little update about Deutsch in
my life!!
P.S. I know there's no way that any German class
you have this school year can top ours last year!!
“Lieber Herr Z,
(2012 Grad)
Die Hauptsache ist, dass ich Deutsch
als zweites Hauptfach erklärt habe, und
deswegen muss ich (bzw.darf :D) ich
ein Semester irgendwo in Deutschland
studieren” (declaring double-major with
German, studying abroad)
--Wheaton College
Herr Ziarnik,
6-9-09 (2008 Grad)
“Hello! . . . I just finished up my first year at RoseHulman. It was a good year - I got a lot done, and I
have enough credits now to be a junior when I go
back in the fall.
I only got actual credit for German I
and II from the AP test - they can't really hand out
20 credit hours for one test, so they limit it to the
first two courses - I was able to place into
German VI [That’s German 6!] with no problems
because of the AP. I found it pretty cool that I
could get the minor with only one course :)”
--Rose Hulman University
• Hallo Herr!
“I am taking German this semester in college and my
A.P. scores placed me into German 201 which is
the fourth level of German language. There are
scheduled movie nights and two of the movies we
watched in high school German…. I was nervous
starting out but so far all of the grammar we have
gone over is pretty much review for me and
everything is going very well . . . just wanted to say
thank you for preparing me so well for college level
German. . .
--University of Illinois
“Herr Ziarnik,
May 2010
(2005 Grad)
It was a nice surprise seeing you last weekend. . .I graduated
from Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE) last May and
now I'm working as and Electrical Engineer in Lake Zurich.
MSOE has a great exchange program with The University
of Applied Sciences in Luebeck also known as Die
Fachhochschule Luebeck (FHL), so as
a junior I studied abroad there for an entire year. Then
my senior year the students I studied with came back to study
at MSOE. . .When I graduated school I received a B.S. in
Electrical Engineering from MSOE along with a German
Diplom Urkunde as a Diplom-Ingenieur from FHL. I am
really lucky to have had the opportunity to participate in
this exchange program. My time in Germany was
unbelievable, and I was really fortunate to
already know so much about the culture and language. . .
--Milwaukee School of Engineering
Herr Ziarnik, (2005 Grad , --Finance at Purdue)
It's your one time favorite student. .. I was just
wondering if you could do me a favor. I have an
interview coming up with the company Düsseldorf
Messe (organizes international conventions). The
job in question apparently requires me to speak
and read German.. .
(Follow-up after getting the job: ) My job is going
well. I write and speak German every day, and it
is improving… I understand almost everything . . . In
September I will travel to Germany for a shoe
convention…”
“Hey Herr Z,
(2009 Grad)
I hope everything is going well with German Club and all
the classes you are teaching this year!!
I took this past semester off of German because my
schedule would have been way too crowded. However,
I recently registered for my spring classes and placed
into junior year German! I will be taking an advanced
German grammar course next semester (eek!)
I was really excited about this, and even more happy when I
realized that I got SIXTEEN credit hours worth of
German from the AP exam!!!!! That is OVER a semester
worth of classes at University of Texas and I am only two more
semesters away from a German minor.
The AP exam DEFINITELY paid off for me!!! :) . . .”
-University of Texas
„Hallo, Herr Ziarnik! (2012)
Wie geht es Ihnen? Ich genieße meinen Sommer,
aber es ist fast vorbei und College beginnt in zwei
Tagen . . . Auch herzliche Grüße von meiner Familie
in Litauen! Meine Mutter (Deutsch-Lehrerin in
Litauen) wollte Ihnen sehr viel danken; sie war mit
der Qualität der Bildung beeindruckt, als ich ihr mein
AP Handbuch gezeigt habe. Ich wurde acht CollegeCredits gegeben und ich kann Intermediate Deutsch
nächstes Semester lernen.“
Lieber Herr Z - (2009 Grad)
Hope all is well -- just thought I'd send you a quick note to let
you know what I'm up to and how German has helped me
since I graduated from LZHS. Believe it or not, I'll be
graduating from Indiana University in May majoring in
Accounting and Finance and minoring in German. This past
summer, I interned at an accounting firm in Chicago called
Ernst & Young. I received a full-time offer a few weeks
ago, and I will be starting full-time next July. . .
. . .one of my assigned clients was a U.S. corporation that
owned several German companies that owned a large
number of German subsidiaries. . . . the financial statements
were all provided in German. . .(Continued)  
None of my peers nor my superiors had any
background in German . . . I was able to help move
this process along because of my background in
German.
My knowledge of the German language was definitely
a positive influence in the consideration of receiving a
full-time offer. In addition, I am planning on doing a
rotation in Germany within the first few years of my
career as Ernst & Young has numerous offices
located throughout Germany.. . Thanks again for
pointing me in the direction of studying German -- it
has helped aid in the success of both my college
and professional careers.
--Indiana University
“Lieber Herr Z,
(2012 Grad)
Ich moechte Ihnen fuer die sehr guten
Klassen danken. Auch moechte ich
Ihnen sagen, dass ich mehr Deutsch bei
der Universitaet studiere! Nach der
Pruefung haben sie mich in einer 300
Klasse gestellt. “ (placed into 300-level)
Final words:
Many students say they don’t “need” to take German
in their senior year. Many are under the impression
that 4 years of high school German is “enough,” or
they don’t think that taking German during senior
year would help them
Many years of reports by LZHS grads who took
German as seniors, however, clearly shows that
taking German 5 can be a great advantage for
college and for future careers that may not even
planned yet!
Putting the time and effort in senior year can be worth
thousands of dollars to students in college and
might even help future careers!