This course is designed for beginners with basic knowledge of German.

Course Objectives

This course will help you to expand your competences in listening, speaking, reading and writing within six weeks, deepen your knowledge of grammar as well as your knowledge of the German culture.

• By the end of the six-week course you will be able to deal with everyday situations in a German-speaking environment and to conduct simple conversations.
• You will have developed reading strategies that allow you to understand simple newspaper and magazine articles as well as short literary texts more detailed.
• In addition, you will improve your essay writing skills, which means you will be able to write short texts on different topics, revise and proofread them.
• Finally, you will be able to understand discussions on familiar topics more detailed.

Textbook

studio [21] Grundstufe A2: Gesamtband. Das Deutschbuch, Hermann Funk, Christina Kuhn, Cornelsen Verlag, 2015.

Literary texts and supplemental materials in consultation with the course instructor.

Daily Lesson and Excursion

Lessons take place Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. On four class days during the term you will go on a course-related excursion.

Attendance

Each class consists of six teaching modules (45 minutes each). If you miss twelve modules (unexcused), your entire course grade will drop by one grade. Coming more than 20 minutes late counts as missing a module (this also applies to excursion days). If you come late to class six times (up to 20 minutes) your entire course grade will also drop by one grade. If you miss 30 modules, you will fail the class.

Active Participation

We expect committed and consistent interest in the acquisition of the German language. You will prove this by participating constructively and productively in the lessons and excursions, completing homework assignments and being prepared for every class. Every student is expected to respect the ideas and comments of his/her peers.

Oral Presentation

You will prepare two five-minute oral presentations. It is important that you speak freely rather than reading the oral presentation and that you keep to the time allowed.

Essay

In this course you will write two essays (font size 12, double-spaced, 150 – 200 words). Your teacher will mark potential errors as such and you are required to correct your essay and hand in a second corrected version. For the first version of your essay you can obtain a maximum of 50 points; for the second version you will receive up to 50% of the missing points. When writing your essay, you will strive first and foremost for clarity (organization and style) and accuracy (grammar and syntax).

Reflective Journal

Throughout the term you will write various journal entries – independently or on given topics – to reflect on certain aspects of your stay in Berlin. Your instructor will collect these creative exercises and comment the content. However, no corrections will be made. The aim of the journal is that you develop awareness of the language(s) surrounding you.

Midterm and Final Exam

You will take a midterm and a final exam consisting of the following sections: listening comprehension, vocabulary, grammar, reading comprehension and composition based on course themes.

Group Project

Together with two or three peers you will prepare a creative and linguistically demanding oral presentation of approximately 10 minutes about your impressions of Berlin (funny, bizarre, interesting facts etc.). The projects (sketches, parodies, PowerPoint presentations, movies, songs, poems etc.) will be presented on the last day of class. Most importantly, every group member should play an active role in the presentation, i.e. should receive an equal amount of speaking time during the presentation.

Evaluation

• Active participation and homework 300 points
• Oral presentation (2 à 50 pts) 100 points
• Essay (2 à 50 pts) 100 points
• Reflective journal 100 points
• Midterm exam 150 points
• Final exam 150 points
• Group project 100 points

Maximum score 1,000 points

Official FUBiS Grading Scale

Freie Universität Berlin grading	Recommended US grade	Points
1,0	A	1000 - 970
1,3	A	969 - 920
1,7	A-	919 - 900
2,0	B+	899 - 880
2,3	B	879 - 830
2,7	B-	829 - 800
3,0	C+	799 - 780
3,3	C	779 - 730
3,7	C-	729 - 700
4,0	D	699 - 680
failed (> 4,0)	F	< 680