Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,
Earlier this month I hosted a DOLCE meeting that made me want to return to my study of German, a study that concluded when my German teacher retired in about 1978.
DOLCE stands for “Discussing Online Learning and Collaborative Education.” I’ve been hosting this particular series of faculty talks for about a dozen years. Held in person until the pandemic lockdown, now DOLCEs take place via Zoom, thus making it easy for us to record the speakers.
On October 4th, we heard from Brie Tripp, an NPB professor who talked about “Formative Feedback increases Instructor Immediacy for Students.” Tripp uses QR codes to collect anonymous survey responses at the end of every lecture.
Second was Kirsten Harjes, a faculty member in German, who presented on “Ideas for writing assignments in the foreign languages in the age of Google Translate and ChatGPT.”
Like many faculty, Harjes has come up with ingenious ways to harness ChatGPT as a helper, almost a virtual TA, so the act of “translating” that second-language learners will always be assisted in some way by generative AI. As Harjes puts it in her recorded talk, faculty in German and the other languages have been “battling and welcoming” AI for years.
I love seeing how my faculty colleagues innovate. Seeing the Harjes approaches made me want to return to learning German, a language I “abandoned” when my German teacher retired from her work at the Washington Waldorf School, where I was also learning French and Latin. My elementary French classes prepared me for high school, my high school classes prepared me for my last formal French class in college, and all of the above prepared me to teach the French translation exam during my first year of graduate school here at UC Davis.
Since my time at Waldorf, I have studied poetry by Goethe, Rilke, Hölderlin, Heine, Brecht, and Celan, all in English. Friedrich Schiller was an ancestor of ours, my Grandmother Vera taught us, though I haven’t independently confirmed this via FamilySearch.org.
Mostly I would like to visit Germany, as my wife Kate and my son Truman got to do last fall, retracing some of the steps of our ancestors on both sides of our family. The Ternes family crest of arms surely has the seabird “terns” upon it, for that is the derivation of my Mom’s maiden name.
Do you have a language or a land that you would like to return to, even if you’ve never been there? Do share.
Please plan to partake in the Pub Quiz festivities on this pleasant evening at Sudwerk in Davis. Bring your team to the beautiful outdoor patio where we have room for almost everyone. The rain has stopped and the jollity will be unfiltered. As Albert Schweitzer said, “Happiness is the only thing that multiplies when you share it.” I encourage you to come early to snag a table. We filled the restaurant and patio last week, and I expect that we will continue to do so throughout the school year and beyond. Also, tonight I plan to move the quiz along quickly — the entire quiz is only 748 words long!
In addition to topics raised above, tonight’s pub quiz will feature questions on credit concerns, approximations, jumbled memories, recent boat travel destinations, unforgiving weather, salesmen, sequels, electric vehicles, legends who switch jobs, NPR, members of halls of fame, Scrabble, primates, significant walks, platoons, the absence of mendacity, beautiful words, jazz fans, debit cards, state nicknames, playlists, familiar moons, Rite Aid, the consternation of bakers, naming rights in Los Angeles, schoolboys, caps, Germans who speak Polish, current events, books and authors, and Shakespeare.
Thanks to all the new players joining us at the live quizzes and to all the patrons who have been enjoying fresh Pub Quiz content. Thanks especially to new subscribers Janet, Jasmine, Joey, Carly, and The Nevergiveruppers! Every week I check the Patreon to see if there is someone new to thank, such as Sophie. I also thank The Original Vincibles, Summer Brains, The Outside Agitators, John Poirier’s team Quizimodo, Gena Harper, the conversationally entertaining Mavens who keep attending, despite their ambitious travel schedules, and others who support the Pub Quiz on Patreon (where I am also sometimes sharing drafts of poems, including one this week about my move to California in 1989). I would love to add your name or that of your team to the list of supporters. I appreciate your backing this pub quiz project of mine!
Best,
Dr. Andy
P.S. Three questions from last week:
- Science: The Measuring of Horses. Starting with the letter W, what do we call the highest part of a horse’s back, located at the base of the neck between the shoulder blades?
- Great Americans. First name Samuel, who developed the standard for the rhythmic transmission of data?
- Unusual Words. What five-letter T words means “understood or implied without being stated”?
P.P.S. Tomorrow’s Poetry Night features readings by Tim Hunt and Michael Gallowglas. Find the details at Poetry in Davis.