"GRMN 111A&B Elementary German I Pollack-Milgate Fall 2024" by Howard Pollack-Milgate
 

Document Type

Syllabus

Publication Date

Fall 2024

Course Description

Willkommen! Welcome to the opportunity to begin learning a new language and to the study of German! By taking this class, you are working towards one of the goals of your liberal arts education, the goal of understanding and appreciating another language, and the cultures and population groups who speak it and live within it. This goal is especially important in the US, which sometimes pays less attention than needed to the global diversity of languages and cultures and assumes that English (which many of us are lucky to have learned when we were too young to figure out what language learning really meant) contains all the words we need to know. But you can’t understand the world through google translate. As a famous German philosopher once wrote: Die Grenzen meiner Sprache sind die Grenzen meiner Welt; roughly, the limits of my language are the limits of my world. So this course is an invitation to begin expanding your limits and your world, however many languages you already have learned… Course Description: German Studies 111 is a beginning course for students who have not previously studied German and is the first half of our year-long introductory sequence. By the end of the semester you should be able to understand and respond appropriately to simple questions and statements about everyday topics in German. You should also be able to read and react to a variety of German texts and write about yourself and your likes, dislikes, and interests in German (for more details, see Learning Outcomes below). To place the language in context, we will also focus on understanding the most important aspects of German-language culture, past and present (and the past is everywhere present in Germany…). To achieve these goals requires regular practice with the language, both in class and individually and a willingness to experiment with new patterns of sound and words, and an openness to different points of view and perspectives. In teaching language, this course uses for the most part a ‘flipped classroom’ approach which places much of the responsibility for learning on you. You will learn and practice new structures before coming to class, so that in class we can practice and solidify your knowledge; my explanations will be kept to a minimum. After class, you will be able to reflect on the material and demonstrate your acquired knowledge. This approach will be mirrored in the homework assignments. Learning a language never happens in a straight line and your success depends on your willingness to be put often into situations which exceed your present level of comfort and ability. In our language activities, you should strive use German as the language of communication in the classroom. Do not expect to understand every word you hear or to produce perfect sentences right away. Your acquisition of German will develop as you gain exposure and respond to what you see and hear. Of course, I am always ready to help, so please reach out to me whenever you need to!

Student Outcomes

At the end of the course, students will be able to: Demonstrate German communicative skills (speaking, listening, reading, writing) on a basic level (see text below for specifics). Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of general cultural contexts of German-speaking countries. Compare and contrast the cultures of the German-speaking countries with their ow

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