The First World War in the Literacy‐Focused Classroom: Teaching German through Cultural Themes

Abstract

This article offers approaches to the topic of the First World War at the intermediate and advanced levels of the German curriculum through thematically diverse WWI‐era cultural texts. By situating the texts within a multiliteracies framework, the authors demonstrate how this historical and literary content can provide authentic material for foreign language teaching. A model for “reading diagonally” across textual genres and forms, along with suggested texts for intermediate and upper‐level German courses, is presented as a means of building students' literacy skills. The war themes addressed in the texts include the mobilization of children, gender and war, art and propaganda, the discourses of nationalism and patriotism, and war and memory. The article concludes with suggestions for student assessment aligned with literacy learning objectives. The appendix includes an annotated list of useful websites on WWI for German instructors as well as classroom materials for Else Ury's Nesthäkchen im Weltkrieg () and a graphic novel version of Erich Maria Remarque's Im Westen Nichts Neues ().