German Language OBJECTIVES

GERM 111 and 112: Beginning German I and II

Overall
The main goal of the two beginning German courses is to develop elementary proficiency in spoken and written German, focusing on listening comprehension, speaking, reading, writing, and cultural literacy. Students will acquire basic grammatical and lexical knowledge, and gain some insights into cultural aspects pertaining to the German speaking world. At the end of the year students will be able to express and understand simple needs in predictable and common situations related to their personal lives, such as family, university life, and everyday activities.

GERMAN 111
Speaking
Learners can communicate in a limited way (formulaic phrases, learned materials) some basic immediate needs and personal interests in familiar situations. They can ask and respond to simple familiar questions, using single words and short sentences. They demonstrate some control of basic grammatical structures and vocabulary which is limited to everyday topics. Pronunciation difficulties may often impede communication as students may not be understood by native speakers unaccustomed to dealing with foreigners. Learners often need assistance.

Listening
Learners can understand keywords, formulaic phrases, and most short sentences in simple, predictable conversations on topics of immediate personal relevance, when the speech is slow and it includes frequent repetitions. They can follow questions related to personal experience and a range of common daily instructions, positive and negative commands, and requests related to immediate context. They frequently need assistance (e.g., speech modification, explanation, demonstration).

Reading
Learners can understand the purpose, main ideas, and some detail in some authentic-like (authentic texts modified for second language learners) 2- to 3-paragraph texts within mostly familiar contexts of language use, or children stories. They can find specific, detailed information in charts and schedules (e.g., transit timetables). Learners often need to re-read and clarify. Occasionally learners can successfully guess the meaning of an unknown word, phrase, or idiom from context without a dictionary.

Writing
Learners demonstrate adequate competence in simple, familiar, personal writing tasks within predictable contexts of everyday needs and experience. They can copy or write down a set of simple instructions or a simple message, can make lists, and write simple yes/no questions. They can write short personal letters, postcards or fictive stories about self and family (simple descriptions and narration). They use cohesive devices such as “und”, “oder” and “aber” with accuracy, and also make attempts at using dependent clauses (“wenn”, “weil”) with less accuracy.

Cultural Literacy
Learners know some cultural and geographical facts about the German speaking countries and are aware of some of the differences and similarities between the target culture and their own (e.g. school/university system, Euro, holidays; formal/informal way of address).

GERMAN 112
Speaking
Learners can participate in short routine conversations about needs and familiar topics of personal relevance with support from listeners. They can communicate basic needs and personal experience. They can ask and respond to simple familiar questions. They use adequate vocabulary for routine everyday communication. They can describe a simple situation or tell a simple story, using a variety of short sentences with emerging evidence of connected discourse (“und”, oder”, “aber”, “weil”, “wenn”). They demonstrate control of basic grammatical features. They can successfully make comparisons and have partial control of the past tense with common verbs. Pronunciation difficulties may still impede communication as students may not be understood by native speakers unaccustomed to dealing with foreigners.

Listening
Learners can follow, although with considerable effort, simple informal conversations and other listening texts/discourse on topics of immediate personal relevance that occur at a slower than normal rate of speech. They can follow simple, short, direct questions related to personal experience and general knowledge. They can understand and carry out many common everyday instructions and directions related to the immediate context. They can follow simple, short, predictable phone/audio messages. They still need assistance (e.g., speech modification or explanation) and often request repetition.

Reading
Learner can follow main ideas, key words and important details in a simplified fictive prose text which is several pages long (easy reader, first level). They can locate pieces of specific, detailed information in prose passages, charts, and schedules for analysis, comparison, and contrast. They can get new information about familiar topics from reading mostly factual texts with clear organization, and within the realm of familiar background knowledge and experience. Language of the text is mostly concrete and factual, with some abstract, conceptual, and technical vocabulary items, and may require low-level inference to comprehend it (e.g., learners may guess some new words by recognition of prefixes and suffixes).

Writing
Learners can effectively convey, in writing, simple ideas and information about personal experience within predictable contexts of everyday needs. They can write simple descriptions and narration of events, stories, plans for self and family, or other highly familiar topics in present tense and past tense with some level of accuracy. They show increasing accuracy in connected discourse. When creating their own text, learners use mostly simple linguistic means of expression, and encounter frequent difficulty with complex structures and awkward-sounding phrases (unusual or “unnatural” word combinations).

German 211 and 212: Intermediate German I and II

Overall
The goal of the two intermediate courses is to review the basic structures of the German language and to introduce some new grammatical concepts. Students will review and expand their grammatical, lexical and cultural knowledge of the German speaking world to attain proficiency in the intermediate range. They will be able to communicate more proficiently in oral and written German in most informal and some formal situations on topics of personal and public interest. At the end of the course, students are expected to have developed the ability to communicate in predictable and some unpredictable situations with few grammatical and vocabulary errors that impede the flow of communication. They will be able to express themselves in oral and written mode with more accuracy and complexity.

GERMAN 211
Speaking
Learners can participate, with some effort, in routine social conversations and can talk about needs and familiar topics of personal relevance. They can use a variety of simple structures, as well as some complex ones, with occasional reductions. Grammar and pronunciation mistakes are frequent, but only sometimes impede communication. Learners use a range of common everyday vocabulary and a limited number of idioms; they may avoid topics requiring use of unfamiliar vocabulary. They demonstrate discourse that is connected and reasonably fluent, despite frequent hesitations and pauses. They can usually be understood by native speakers who are unaccustomed to dealing with foreigners.

Listening
Learner can follow very broadly and with some effort the gist (main ideas) of oral discourse in moderately demanding contexts of language use (face-to-face formal and informal conversations, audio tapes and radio broadcasts) on everyday, personally and/or socially relevant topics, when they are clearly articulated and involve a slightly slower rate of speech. They can understand simple exchanges; contextualized short sets of common daily instructions and directions; and direct questions about personal experience and familiar topics. They can understand a range of common vocabulary and a very limited number of idioms, while often requesting repetitions. They can follow simple, short, predictable phone/audio messages, but have limited ability to understand a real-time phone conversation or radio announcements.

Reading
Learners can follow main ideas, key words, and important details in an authentic 2- to 3-page text on a familiar topic within a predictable, practical, and relevant context. They can locate and integrate, or compare/contrast 2 to 3 specific pieces of information in visually complex texts (tables, calendars, course schedules, phone directories, almanacs, cookbooks) or across paragraphs or sections of text. Language is both concrete and abstract. Learners can read simplified fictive prose texts of several pages length (easy reader, second level). Learners use a bilingual dictionary when reading for confirmation/precision in interpretation.

Writing
Learners demonstrate emerging ability in performing moderately complex writing tasks. They can write narrations and descriptions of familiar events in present tense and past tense (with inconsistencies and inaccuracies); they show some ability to create complex sentence structures and use cohesive devices (emerging use of relative clauses). They can effectively convey an idea, opinion, feeling, or experience in 200-400 words. Their writings are mostly comprehensible and complex, and mistakes rarely interfere with comprehension. They pay only sporadic attention to the reader of the text; they focus on the writing of the text rather than on its reception.

Cultural Literacy
Learners gain some deeper insight into some cultural aspects of the German speaking countries and are aware of some of the differences and similarities between the target culture and their own (e.g. the value of leisure time activities; different professions).

GERMAN 212
Speaking
Learners can communicate adequately in a number of common daily (familiar) situations related to survival in the target culture (topics of personal relevance and immediate needs such as shopping and ordering food). They show emerging ability to participate in (limited) formal conversations. They can use a variety of sentence structures (including compound and complex sentences) in different tenses. They can make hypothetical statements. Grammar and pronunciation mistakes are still frequent, but rarely impede communication. Discourse is reasonably fluent, with some pauses, self-corrections and/or rephrasing.

Listening
Learners can follow most informal and some formal conversations on familiar topics at a descriptive level, at a normal rate of speech, especially as a participant. They can understand more complex indirect questions about personal experience, familiar topics, and general knowledge. They sometimes require slower speech, repetitions, and re-wording. They can follow short, predictable phone/audio messages on familiar matters, but have problems following unknown details on unfamiliar matters. They have difficulty following a faster conversation between native speakers.

Reading
Learners can read simplified fictive prose texts (book-length). They can sufficiently grasp the meaning of the text to paraphrase or summarize key points. They often have difficulty with low-frequency idioms and cultural references. They can also read newspaper items and other documents and follow the main ideas, key words, and important details.

Writing
Learners are able to perform moderately complex writing tasks. Learners can write longer essays (300-500 words) with increasing accuracy and complexity. They can use active and passive voice, as well as express hypothetical situations. They can convey clear main ideas with supporting details, and begin to develop a sense of audience. They demonstrate mostly satisfactory control over complex structures, spelling, and mechanics. While there are still inaccuracies and inconsistencies in their texts, they usually do not interfere with comprehension.

Cultural Literacy
Learners know about major political events (such as the fall of the wall, unification of Germany) and are able to discuss events leading up to the “Wende” and the resulting socio-political and economic consequences in an informed manner.