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OVERVIEW OF THE GERMAN LANGUAGE PROGRAM
YEARS OF STUDY:Our school district offers the following German language courses: German I through German IV, which is considered our Advanced Placement course. After completing Advanced Placement German, students have the option to enroll in German Literature, our fifth year German course. As our school has a combination of middle and high school students, I encourage 8th graders to enroll in German as this affords the opportunity to complete the full five-year program.
BASIC TEXTS:
German I: Komm mit!, Level I HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTONGerman II: Komm mit!, Level I HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTONGerman III: Komm mit!, Level III HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON 1998German IV: Rankin, Jamie. and Larry D. Wells. Handbuch zur deutschenGrammatik,New York: Houghton Mifflin Company 2001.Scholl, Inge. Die Weiße Rose. St. Paul: EMC Corp. 1995.Strutz, Henry. German Idioms. Barron’s Educational Series.Teichert, Herman U. and Gabriele Hahn. Allerlei zumBesprechen. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company 1998.Tieck, Ludwig. Der Blonde Eckbert. Stuttgart: Philipp Reclamjun. GmbH. 1996.*Our school also has desk sets of Deutsch Aktuell (levels I and II) and I often supplement Komm mit! with occasional chapters and various communicative and listening activites provided in the Deutsch Aktuell series.PURPOSE AND GOALS:
The purpose of our German Program is to develop proficient communicators of German through the course of five years, using a functional and contextual approach which emphasizes the following areas:
Speaking:Every German class from German I through and includingGerman IV is taught and conducted entirely in German from day one. Speakingtopics and oral activities are level specific including but not limited to: descriptions,class discussions, oral presentations, reports, debates, paraphrasing and speeches.Listening:Students improve their listening skills each day as they only hear the targetlanguage in class. In addition to hearing “my German” each day, students arealso exposed to and work with a number of outside listening sources includingGerman television broadcasts, radio, short stories on CD, music, and variousDVDs in the classroom.Writing:Students begin writing as soon as possible with simple responses initially at the beginning of German I. My favorite question that generates perfect level specific German is “Warum möchtet ihr keine Hausaufgaben heute bekommen?” This question can be answered orally or in writing and must be error-free in order to count. You can manipulate this or similar questions to meet the grammar point being taught. Responses are genuine and a pleasure to hear / read. Impromptu writing is done on a daily basis, as well as journal writing on a weekly basis for levels I through IV.Reading:I use a variety of outside reading sources to enhance chapter content andvocabulary. I do my best to incorporate humor in the classroom, especiallywhen the material can be quite challenging. I begin exposing the students tocomics and horoscopes in various German language newspapers publishedin the US (Nordamerikanische Wochenpost and Die neue Presse) to graduallyreading articles and want ads in Frankfurter Allgemeine. Students also readvarious fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm as well as Der Struwwelpeterby Hoffman and Die Struwwelliese by Teichmann. I also include shortstories and books. I try to pick the works based on the personality and overallinterest of the class.**Occasionally, classes may require more practice in one or more of the communicative areas mentioned above and, for this reason, I alter the curriculum to meet students’ needs. For example, if I find that a class needs more practice with reading, I will spend more time with Reader’s Digest: Das Beste, short stories and newspapers. If students require an intense grammar review, I may supplement our textbook with additional exercises from Schaum’s Outline of German Grammar or with exercises from A Practical Review of German Grammar by Gerda Dippmann.