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Department of World Languages and Literatures
Texas State German Program

SPARK for German

Text: SPARK for GERMAN, with image of sparks coming from the "K" in the word "SPARK"

On September 15th, Natalie Grayson, Rachel Jackson, and Lucas Landry began teaching online German lessons to a record 21 middle school students from Texas, Kansas, North Dakota, and Virginia. Working as a team under Dr. Siwak’s supervision, they plan and teach interactive Zoom lessons on topics ranging from basic communication to geography to school life in Germany.

SPARK is a Professional Internship in German course (GER 4300), developed by Dr. Ewa Siwak, the Texas State University SPARK LAB Director. SPARK for German is a North American initiative of the Goethe-Institut.

Our SPARK interns gain marketable skills such as teamwork, critical thinking, ability to apply knowledge in real-world settings, problem solving, creativity, communication with varied sets of people, presentation skills, and civic engagement. To learn more about SPARK as a service internship, check out the PowerPoint presentation Dr. Siwak gave at the 2025 German Studies Association Convention.

collage: man wearing glasses, woman with short hair and purse over shoulder in front of door, woman with long hair posing in front of door