German Language In Context: Competent Abroad

(Formerly GR399 Topics in Advanced German Composition And Conversation)
Center: 
Freiburg
Program(s): 
Freiburg - Language & Area Studies
Discipline(s): 
German Language
Course code: 
GR 451
Terms offered: 
Fall
Spring
Credits: 
4
Language of instruction: 
German
Instructor: 
Klaus Grötsch and Corinna Hardt
Description: 

Students who enter this course will already be capable of achieving the outcomes of the Emerging Competent Abroad level as defined by the IES Abroad MAP for Language and Intercultural Communication. Students who take this level should already be familiar with most of the complex structures and linguistic functions that will be covered. They should not be surprised, however, to find that they will need to review these aspects of the language to develop greater fluency and more sensitivity to subtle and underlying linguistic and cultural meanings.

Students entering this level can succeed in a wide range of university courses designed for native speakers, provided they have met any prerequisites. Before registering, they should consult with the appropriate IES Abroad academic advisor on course selection.

By the end of this course, students will be fully able to meet the demands of living and working in the host culture. They will be able to communicate accurately, vividly, and expressively with their hosts on most topics. Students who succeed in this course will be able to function in a professional setting and to undertake further personal or professional projects in the host culture. Students will be able to understand local cultural attitudes, values, beliefs, and behavior patterns well enough to make informed choices about which cultural features they would like to adopt or need to adopt in order to live harmoniously in the local culture.

Prerequisites: 

Proficiency at a level equivalent to IES Abroad’s Emerging Competent Abroad, as determined by placement test.

Learning outcomes: 

Students who are placed in this level should have achieved the outcomes in the Emerging Competent Abroad level as defined by the IES Abroad MAP for Language and Intercultural Communication.

By the end of the course, students will be able to achieve the outcomes for the Competent Abroad level as defined by the MAP for Language and Intercultural Communication. The key learning outcomes from the MAP are summarized below:

I.    Intercultural Communication
    A.    Students will be able to express their own ideas, perspectives, and arguments thoroughly and yet tactfully, using language proficiency, sociolinguistic skills, and cultural knowledge.
    B.    Students will be able to perform any activity (social, academic, professional) a local student of their age, skills, and background would do with a considerable degree of success.

II.    Listening
    A.    Students will be able to recognize and appreciate the beauty and richness of language when they hear it.
    B.    Students will be able to understand nearly all speakers on a wide range of complex topics, including their digressions, side comments, and humor.

III.    Speaking
    A.    Students will be able to talk about abstract ideas and concepts, engage in agreement or disagreement, and defend their opinions with supporting evidence.
    B.    Students will be able to use the language for a wide range of presentational and creative purposes.
    C.    Students will be able to use an extensive variety of colloquial expressions and humor effectively.
    D.    Students will be capable of varying their language to make subtle and complex distinctions (e.g. formality and informality) with a wide array of native speakers.

IV.    Reading
    A.    Students will be able to read and understand a broad range of academic resources and popular texts from the local community (print or online).
    B.    Students will be able to understand the main ideas and supporting details when reading many works of literature and nonfiction with some assistance at times.
    C.    Students will be able to recognize and appreciate the beauty and richness of the written word.

V.    Writing
    A.    Students will be able to write academic texts that describe, relate, report, compare and contrast, analyze, and summarize with a high degree of precision and accuracy on a wide range of topics.
    B.    Students will be able to distinguish between the written style and the spoken style, and will be able to use the written style effectively with little assistance.

Method of presentation: 

Lectures, discussions, group work, private study, field studies, oral presentations

Required work and form of assessment: 

Intensive Course:
Final Exam

Semester Course:
Midterm Exam                                               20%
Participation & homework                              30%
Written Assignments                                      20%
Newspaper project (including presentation)   30%

content: 

Week

Content

Assignments

Corresponding Learning Outcome(s)

INTENSIVE COURSE

Week 1

1.Functional:

  • Getting to know each other
  • Becoming familiar with a new environment

2.Grammatical:

  • Brush up of the main Grammar topics as result of the Placement test, with emphasis on the structural difference between English and German Grammar
  • Brush up of irregular verbs and the use of tempus forms in German
  • Objective and subjective use of Modal verbs, sentence structure in main and subordinate clauses
  • Intonation

3.Vocabulary:

  • As needed
  • Verbs, Irregular verbs, Modal verbs

4.Culture:

  • Getting to know the various stages in which the host culture historically emerged with special emphasis on Freiburg
  • Discussion of cultural differences between the U.S. and Germany on an everyday level

Reading:

Kurzer Gang durch die Stadtgeschichte

Field studies:

Wenzingerhaus

Museum für Stadtgeschichte

Quiz on the Museum as preparation for Passive voice

Related homework to the various grammar topics

Related homework to the Historical and City Tours

I.A.

II.A.

III.A. III.B.

IV.A. IV.B.

Week 2

1.Functional:

  • Understanding different text types
  • Style analyses of a literary text
  • Difference between spoken and written language
  • Presentations
  • Importance of independent and self-motivated work

2.Grammatical:

  • Passive voice
  • Intonation with special emphasis on the Umlaut
  • Sentence structure in main and subordinate clauses (Umstellung)
  • Forms and Use of Konjunktiv II

3.Vocabulary:

  • As needed
  • Variation of German Language, Dialect phrases

4.Culture:

  • Diachronic cultural competence: Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, 19th and 20th Century in Freiburg

Reading:

In der Falle der Behaglichkeit

Related homework to the Münster Tour and the Alter Friedhof

Presentations

Related homework to the readings

Field study:

Socio-cultural City Tour as preparation for City as text

Related homework to the various grammar topics.

I.A.

II.A.

III.A. III.B.

IV.A. IV.B.

V.A.

Week 3

1.Functional:

  • Preparation for the University Courses: Independent Acquisition of Information, taking notes under pressure (Transcription)
  • Special emphasis is put on students who will be exempted from any future Grammar class

2.Grammatical:

  • Forms and use of Konjunktiv II and I
  • Indirect speech as an elegant tool to avoid bulky sentences

3.Vocabulary:

  • As needed
  • Spoken Idioms from native speakers

4.Culture:

  • Socio cultural emersion of modern German Society
  • Freiburg as a green city

Field studies:

City as text

Visit at “Breisgaumilch”

Related homework to the City as Text Tour and the Visit at Breisgaumilch

Related homework to the various grammar topics

Core-goal-setting-unit

Final exam OIL

I.A.

II.A.

III.A. III.B.

IV.A. IV.B.

V.A.

SEMESTER COURSE

Week 4

1.Functional:

  • Getting to know each other

2.Grammatical:

  • Noun-based constructions – verb-based constructions

3.Vocabulary:

  • As needed
  • Nouns deriving from verbs

4.Culture:

  • Sprachwandel – language change

Reading:

Weltsprache Deutsch

Wege zur Sprache

Writing:

Export von deutschen Wörtern

Oral:

Discussion - Sprachwandel

I.B.

II.A. II.B.

III.A. III.B.

IV.A.

V.B.

Week 5

1.Functional:

  • Stating an opinion

2.Grammatical:

  • Reported speech: prepositions, wie-clauses, Subjunctive I
  • Correction of text production

3.Vocabulary:

  • Alternatives of sagen
  • As needed

4.Culture:

  • German dialects

Writing:

Abstract of Interview (Moodle)

Oral:

Group discussion-dialects

Interview with a dialect speaker

I.A.

II.B.

III.A. III.B. III.D.

V.B.

Week 6

1.Functional:

  • How to talk like a native speaker

2.Grammatical:

  • Modal particles
  • Correction of text production

3.Vocabulary:

  • Umgangssprache – slang
  • As needed

4.Culture:

  • Umgangssprache - slang

Writing:

A conversation at the mensa (Moodle)

I.B.

II.A. II.B.

III.C. III.D. IV.A.

V.B.

Week 7

2.Grammatical:

  • Correction of text production

3.Vocabulary:

  • As needed

CORE II

I.A. I.B.

III.A. III.B.

Week 8

1.Functional:

  • How to give a presentation

2.Grammatical:

  • Prepositions, adverbs,
  • Conjunctions: causal, concessive-, modal-, conditional phrases

3.Vocabulary:

  • Media
  • As needed

4.Culture:

  • Media in Germany

Presentations on German media

I.A.

II.A.

III.B.

IV.A. IV.C.

Week 9

2.Grammatical:

  • Prepositions, adverbs,
  • Conjunctions: temporal phrases

3.Vocabulary:

  • As needed

Midterm Exam

 

IV.C.

V.A. V.B.

Week 10

1.Functional:

  • Describing things and people

2.Grammatical:

  • Relative clauses
  • Participle constructions

3.Vocabulary:

  • As needed

4.Culture:

  • Newspaper project

Writing:

Outline and purpose of article (Moodle)

I.A.

II.B.

III.A. III.B. IV.C.

V.A.

Week 11

2.Grammatical:

  • Subjective modal verbs
  • Modal verb alternatives
  • Correction of text production

3.Vocabulary:

  • As needed

4.Culture:

  • Newspaper project

Writing:

Interviews (Moodle)

Oral:

Interviews with locals and experts

I.A.

II.A.

II.B.

III.A. III.B.

V.A.

Week 12

1.Functional:

  • Design of a newspaper article

2.Grammatical:

  • As needed
  • Correction of text production

3.Vocabulary:

  • According to requirements

4.Culture:

  • Newspaper project

Writing:

Full article with photos (Moodle)

class portraits, layout, title page, final editing

IV.C.

V.A. V.B.

Week 13

4.Culture:

  • Newspaper project

 

CORE III

 

Presentation of Newspaper

I.A. I.B.

III.A.III.B. III.C.

*Subject to changes depending on level and progress of class*

Required readings: 

Newspaper and magazine articles, periodicals, selections of short literary and scientific texts; Handouts for GR 451

Recommended readings: 

Exercises on Moodle Page

Brief Biography of Instructor: 

Nikolaus Grötsch has a B.A. in Philosophy and Politics from Trent University, Canada and an M.A. in Philosophy, Politics, and German Literature from Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg.
He lectured classes in Philosophy and German as a foreign language at Albert-Ludwigs-University in Freiburg and was a professor in several university special programs, where he taught German as a Foreign Language, Area Studies, Literature, and Philosophy. He has been a language instructor and philosophy professor for IES Abroad for many years, and also taught courses in other U.S. study abroad programs in Freiburg. Since 2005, Nikolaus Grötsch has been resident director for the University of Uppsala study abroad program in Freiburg. Since 2011 he is also resident director of CYF (Canadian Year in Freiburg).

Corinna Hardt earned her M.A degree in German, Scandinavian, and Italian Language and Literature from Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich and the University of Lund, Sweden. After that she completed further training (International House Teacher Training) to teach German as a Foreign Language. She is a teacher trainer for TTI Freiburg and has taught German as a Foreign Language since 2004 at Goethe Zentrum of Verona, Italy, at University of Freiburg, at International House Freiburg, for IES Abroad European Union, and IES Abroad German Program and for AYF (Academic Year Freiburg). She is currently a language instructor at IES Abroad Freiburg and a language instructor and German course coordinator at IES European Union.

Contact Hours: 
120 hours