German language class revived at Samo

With fliers featuring German composers and numbers of inquiring students, English teacher Berkeley Blatz’s German class is being resurrected at Samo.On Monday, Apr. 8, the day after spring break ended, Blatz announced in all of his classes that he would be bringing back German, holding classes from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. every Monday. By the time the inaugural class started, Blatz had about 20 students in his classroom, all eager to learn German.Blatz, who graduated from Samo in the 1960s, was inspired to revive the German class over spring break, when he found some old German records while cleaning out his language materials.“I was surprised, I didn’t expect that much interest [from students], though maybe it shouldn’t have surprised me because we always had enough interest to keep the program going in the past,” Blatz said.The German program at Samo has a history of making comebacks. German was first taught at Samo in the 60s. It was cut in the late 80s, and for a few years there were no German classes. Blatz decided to start it up again in the early 90s, using the fliers that are currently pinned up around Samo advertising German classes that are wide open to all students. In 2007, German classes were cut once again, until their recent comeback.The class keeps attracting more students, and Blatz has every intention of continuing it, potentially doing two classes a week next year if necessary. Students will not receive official school credit for taking German, but since Blatz is a certificated German teacher, he can verify that students took the class. He plans on giving students a test that will determine whether or not he will certify them.This year Blatz plans on teaching Basic German, next year German 1 and so on.“The class is really interesting,” Rachel Kiekhofer (’14) said. “We just started, so we have only learned the basics — greetings, numbers, the alphabet. I’ll be back next week to learn more.”Perhaps the German language itself is not the only reason why students are taking Blatz’s German class. Ava Pomerantz (’14) attributes part of her appreciation of the class to Blatz’s personality.“It’s a whole different language and has different pronunciations, but the way Blatz teaches it makes it fun and exciting to learn,” Pomerantz said. “He’s just so excited that you can’t help but be too.”Blatz is very passionate about teaching German.“I love shifting my personality from teaching English to teaching a foreign language,” Blatz said. “It gives me a sense of renewal. I feel like a snake that’s shed its skin and it rejuvenates me.”And while you could learn about the symbolic ambivalence of such a snake in one of Blatz’s English classes, the German class supplements as a new, spiritual experience, especially for Blatz.“I have to say that in all my forty years of teaching, Monday, Apr. 8 was one of the real highlights. I was just transported into a whole other transcendental mindset after Monday of this week,” Blatz said. “It just revived me.”cdebeus@thesamohi.com