Online workshop with Prof. Dr Thomas Ernst and Myra Bork (University of Antwerp)

Part of “Woche für Deutsch 2026”

The media habits of the young and the youngest generation are changing profoundly. Debates about the need to ban social media alternate with complaints that pupils no longer read. One can lament this shift — or see it as an opportunity.

The latter is what we will attempt in this online workshop, which forms part of a project currently being developed at the University of Antwerp. What used to be called the ‘literary canon’, and often entered course and curriculum planning as a ‘reading list’, is now being placed within a broader concept of media and is to be made available in time in a digital, networked form, enriched with a wide range of information.

The online workshop is aimed at teachers of German in Belgian schools, colleges and universities and at their students, but also at anyone interested in the use of the literary canon, of films and of other German-language media in Belgium.

In the first part, you will be given an overview of current debates on the necessary broadening of the literary and media canon. The focus will fall in particular on questions of its appeal to a changed body of pupils and students, and on the competition from digital and social media.

In the second part, we will open the floor: to what extent have the conditions for teaching German today genuinely changed as a result of social, media and cultural shifts? Which literary and cinematic works have worked particularly well — or particularly badly — in your teaching? What practical or technical obstacles stand in the way of accessing German-language teaching materials? What would a platform need to offer in order to make knowledge of the canon and of media available to teachers of German in Belgium?

In the third part, the main findings will be briefly summarised and supplemented with a few insights from the project. All participants should come away with fresh food for thought and ideas for new material to work with in their own teaching and learning practice.

Prof. Dr Thomas Ernst took an early interest in the transformation of the literary canon in digital society (including an essay on “Bewertungsprozesse von Literatur und Aufmerksamkeitsökonomien im Internet”, 2011) and later outlined a “#Netzliteraturwissenschaft” (Zeitschrift für Germanistik, 2022), which also considers the future of German teaching in digital society.

Myra Bork holds a Master’s degree in German language and literature and a teaching qualification for upper secondary education from the University of Zurich. She draws on many years of experience as a teacher of German in German-speaking and Italian-speaking Switzerland.

Together they are currently developing a project at the University of Antwerp on the selection of literature, films and other media for teaching German in schools, colleges and universities under today’s changed media and social conditions.

Registration: If you would like to take part in this workshop, please register by Thursday 15 October 2026 using the registration button below, which you will find on the pages of the Deutschcafé of the University of Antwerp: www.uantwerpen.be/en/projects/deutschcafe/programm/16102026-borkernst. On the day of the event you will receive an email at 12:00 with the access details for the Zoom room.

TIME: Friday 16 October 2026, 12:30–13:30

PLACE: Online (via Zoom)

The event is offered as part of “Woche für Deutsch 2026” and in cooperation with the Deutschcafé of the University of Antwerp.