COURSE DESCRIPTION

Continues to develop understanding, speaking, reading, and writing skills. German is used in the classroom. Part I of II.

GENERAL COURSE PURPOSE

The course enables students to achieve Intermediate German proficiency in listening, speaking reading and writing as defined by the ACTFL (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages) Proficiency Guidelines. In keeping with the National Standards for foreign language education, culture (music, art, gastronomy, social mores, and others) is embedded in this language course. This is reflected in our written and oral assessments.

COURSE PREREQUISITES/COREQUISITES

Prerequisite: GER 102 or equivalent. Students who have not taken German 102 should have German proficiency at or above the Intermediate-low level as defined by the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines

COURSE OBJECTIVES

Upon completion of this course, the student should be able to:

1. Listening -The student will be able to understand basic sentences on a variety of topics related to basic personal background, interests and needs, and the social and cultural conventions of German societies. Students will also be able to understand simple radio and television announcements from a variety of German speaking communities.
2. Speaking - The student will be able to perform a variety of uncomplicated, basic, communicative tasks in social situations, including talking about her/his personal and family history and leisure time activities. The student will also be able to ask and answer questions in simple conversations on both general topics and those related to the cultures of German-speaking populations. Although the student’s pronunciation may continue to be strongly influenced by her/his first language and fluency may still be strained, s/he will generally be understood by sympathetic interlocutors.
3. Reading - The student will be able to read simple connected texts which impart basic information about which the reader has to make minimal suppositions and to which the reader brings personal interest and/or knowledge, such as short, straightforward descriptions of persons, places, and things written for a wide audience, including short articles from German newspapers.
4. Writing - The student will be able to write short simple letters related to her/his personal preferences, daily routine, everyday events, and other topics grounded in personal experience. The student will be able to write expressing both the present and past tense structure with consistency. The student’s writing will be understood by natives used to the writing of non-natives.
5. Culture - The ACTFL standards include Culture, Connections, Comparisons and Communities as part of foreign language instruction assessment. Within these areas, students will be able to:
   • Demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between the practices and perspectives of the culture studied
   • Demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between the products and perspectives of the culture studied 2
   • Acquire information and recognize the distinctive viewpoints that are only available through the foreign language and its cultures
   • Demonstrate understanding of the concept of culture through comparisons of the cultures studied and their own
   • Use the language both within and beyond the school setting
   • Read, discuss and write about topics concerning the German-speaking cultures featured in textbooks and in target language media at the intermediate level

MAJOR TOPICS TO BE COVERED

The student will learn the structure of the German language in a prescribed sequence beginning with the simplest structures and working toward the more complex. Students learn correct German pronunciation.

• Individual and family life, including activities at work and at school.
• Lodging, transportation, and shopping in German-speaking countries
• German social conventions
• German holidays and the role of religion in the Germanic culture
• Social and political events in the German-speaking work
• Cross-cultural comparisons
• Art and Music appreciation

Required:

• Access code to MyGermanLab (comes with eText)
• Decent headsets with microphones for speaking assignments and online (virtual) meetings.

Possible Assignments Include: (Subject to change each semester. The actual assignments are available in the Syllabus in the Blackboard course site on the first day of classes.)

Your final grade may be based on the following scale. Please note that you must also pass at least several exams in order to pass the course, regardless of your scores on the other assignments.

There are 4 proctored exams in this course.