GRMN110 Elementary German I

Department of Language & Literature: German

  1. Course Number and Title

    GRMN110 Elementary German I

  2. Number of Credits

    3 credits

  3. Minimum Number of Instructional Minutes Per Semester

    2250

  4. Prerequisites

    None

    Corequisites

    None

  5. Other Pertinent Information

    Students spend between six and nine hours per week outside of class in activities such as learning vocabulary, reading, completing written exercises, working on pronunciation, preparing oral presentations, and working with the multimedia files that accompany the text.

  6. Catalog Course Description

    In this interactive course students acquire a basic knowledge of understanding, speaking, reading, and writing German. It continues to place emphasis on oral proficiency, listening, comprehension, and grammatical accuracy. Cultural background accompanies each chapter.

  7. Required Course Content and Direction

    1. Learning Goals:

      1. Course
        2. Students will:
        1. acquire and demonstrate an elementary degree of competence in the four language skills: speaking, listening comprehension, reading, and writing;
        2. recognize and respond appropriately to the most common spoken situations;
        3. demonstrate ability to write basic sentences in German; and
        4. explain some common aspects of life in the German-speaking countries.

      2. Core (if applicable)
        3. Category I
        Cultural Perspectives
         Students will:
        1. compare, contrast, analyze, and/or defend differing world views and practices.

        Category III
        International, Gender, and/or Minority Perspectives
         Students will:
        1. articulate similarities and differences in the various cultures of the world and demonstrate familiarity with the skills necessary to make informed judgments.

    2. Planned Sequence of Topics and/or Learning Activities:

      Grammatical topics

      The alphabet and numbers (from 0 to 1000)
      Nouns (gender and definite articles)
      Plural forms (definite articles and nouns)
      Indefinite articles ein and kein
      Present tense of sein and regular verbs
      Telling time and expressions of time
      Subject and subject completion
      Nominative case and interrogative pronouns wer and was
      Nominative endings of adjectives, der words, and ein words
      Accusative case and interrogative pronouns wen and was
      Accusative endings of adjectives, der words, and ein words
      versus sein
      Verbs with stem-vowel changes in the present tense

      Vocabulary and social contexts

      Greetings and responding to greetings
      Introducing yourself
      Making phone calls and addressing letters
      Weather and the seasons, student life, everyday activities and objects, colors, nationality
      Friends, leisure activities, clothing, and possessions
      Expressing likes, dislikes, and preferences
      Family, shopping, everyday objects, and occupations
      Describing people, places, and things

      Cultural contexts

      Studying at a German university
      Social implications of du, ihr, and Sie
      Making phone calls and addressing letters
      Landscapes and climate of the German-speaking countries
      University life
      The Angles and Saxons (why German and English are similar)
      The cuckoo clock
      Liechtenstein
      Ethnic diversity in Germany
      English words in German
      Austria
      Family life in the German-speaking countries

    3. Assessment Methods for Core Learning Goals:

      1. Course
        2. Students
        1. take quizzes and tests;
        2. complete assignments, such as short compositions and grammatical exercises;
        3. perform listening comprehension exercises; and
        4. participate in oral interviews and/or presentations that assess proficiency levels.

      2. Core (if applicable)
        1. Cultural Perspectives: Students take quizzes/tests or complete sections of quizzes/tests which examine the cultural topics presented in the course and in which they compare, contrast, analyze, and/or defend differing world views and practices of some German-speaking people.
        2. International, Gender, and/or Minority Perspectives: Students take quizzes/tests or complete sections of quizzes/tests in which they articulate similarities and differences in the various cultures of the world and demonstrate familiarity with the skills necessary to make informed judgments.

    4. Reference, Resource, or Learning Materials to be used by Students:

      Students use text, audio program, workbook, and multimedia resources of first-year proficiency-based German program. See course format.

  8. Teaching Methods Employed

    Section VIII is not being used in new and revised syllabi as of 12/10/08.

Review/Approval Date - 5/07; Core Goals/Objectives added 4/04; Revised 4/2011