69. Jg.-Nr. 135 Winter 2005 - carocktikum.de

Live-Chat mit Morton Rhue
Der US-amerikanische Autor des Buches „Die
Welle“, Morton Rhue, weniger bekannt unter seinem
bürgerlichen Namen Todd Strasser, stellte sich am 20.
Oktober 2005 von Washington D.C. aus in einem
Live-Chat den englischen Fragen deutscher Schüler
und Lehrer. Anlässlich der Internationalen Buchmesse
in Frankfurt/Main hatten die amerikanische Botschaft
in Berlin und das für die norddeutschen Länder
zuständige Generalkonsulat in Hamburg das Gymnasium
Carolinum bei einem vorherigen Besuch zweier
Englischleistungskurse in der Hansestadt dazu eingeladen. In dem fast 80-minütigem „Gespräch“
beantwortete der Schriftsteller über 60 Fragen zu seinen Werken und seinem (Privat-)
Leben. Überrascht waren alle Beteiligten - Schüler und Lehrer, die von zu Hause
oder von der Schule aus teilnahmen - darüber, dass das Carolinum die einzige eingeladene
Schule Norddeutschlands war, was zu einer Vielzahl wirklich beantworteter Fragen führte
und sogar die Zeit ließ, Morton Rhue nach Neustrelitz einzuladen. Laut Aussage des Konsulats
in Hamburg sind weitere Chats geplant.
http://usinfo.state.gov/eur/Archive/2005/Oct/20-131710.html
Popular American Author Chats with Students, Teachers in Germany
Todd Strasser, author of „The Wave,“ participates in live IIP Internet
chat
Todd Strasser, aka Morton Rhue, author of The Wave ((c)AP/WWP)
By Tim Receveur
Washington File Staff Writer
Washington — U.S. author Todd Strasser, popularly known by his pen name,
Morton Rhue, participated in a Internet chat with German students and
teachers to coincide with the Frankfurt (Germany) Book Fair on October 20.
During the webchat, which was organized by the U.S. Embassy in Berlin,
Strasser answered more than 60 questions from students and teachers from
the Gymnasium Carolinum and Meerane Gymnasium in Germany and many other
participants around the country.
The consul general of the U.S. Consulate in Frankfurt, Peter Bodde, also
participated at the U.S. mission’s booth from the Frankfurt Book Fair,
considered the world’s largest and most renowned literary exhibit. According
to Strasser’s Web site, his books The Wave, Asphalt Tribe and Give a
Boy a Gun have been translated into 12 languages and are part of the reading
curriculum in many schools in Germany. His most famous book, The Wave
or Die Welle in German, examines the power of group pressure that has pervaded
many historical movements such as that of the Nazis in Germany.
In the book, this pressure is recreated in the classroom when history
teacher Burt Ross introduces a „new“ system to his students. The story is
based on a true incident that occurred in a high school history class in
Palo Alto, California, in 1969.
Strasser said the idea for The Wave came from an original essay by Ron
Jones, available on Strasser’s Web site. Strasser said he thinks students
in Germany take the book a little more seriously than students the United
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