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CSB/SJU German Studies Workshop 1. The purpose of this workshop is for us as a team to develop a new vocabulary for working together on our German Studies curriculum. We want to bridge the gap between the acquisition of language on the one hand and the acquisition of content (culture and literature) on the other. 2. It is not critical how many majors and minors we have but rather how many students are attracted into upper division courses. It is possible to attract more history, philosophy, economics, and government majors. We can offer more certificates of merit for completion of 212, then 312, then two beyond the minor, then two beyond the major. the goal is to get to know profs (like Beth Wengler in history, Kim Kasling in music, Clayton Gearhart in physics, Dennis Beach in Philosophy, Ernie Diedrich in Economics, Anthony Ruff in Theology) who know German and can encourage their students to enhance their German skills by taking additional courses. 3. At GU they offer a program called German Mondays from 11:45 to 1 P.M. when such profs give presentations on their areas of research and their knowledge of German culture. They also have a Certificate in German within the European Studies major. This is cited on their transcripts. Heidi's colleague Peter runs this program. 4. We agreed to call ourselves the German Studies Department pending approval of CAPS It is agreed we will continue our budgeting and other business through MCL, but it is German that actually gives students their degrees, not MCL. 5. At GU, faculty are given credit (e.g., towards promotion) not only for research, teaching and service but also a fourth area: curricular development. Their curricular work was aided by John Norris of the University of Hawaii. 6. So far we have focused our attention in 212 on reading, 311 on speaking and listening and 312 on writing. Heidi says to be careful of too much modality focus. Rather, the skills should progress in a dynamic tandem. There is a better way to focus each course -- by the use of different kinds of texts and speaking and writing in each course. Try to make 212, the entry course after the requirement, as attractive as possible. Make it the star course of the department. At GU they do a multi-faceted course on Berlin (we could do Salzburg, Munich and Vienna which is closer to our study abroad opportunity). Their overall topic for 212 is 1945 to the Present. (See Appendix A. You can also see this syllabus in relation to others in O: MCL> German> Curriculum> Level III> Syllabi and Course Info> Syllabi > level III. 7. Texts for our equivalent of 212.
7. To address grammar issues in their writing, it is useful to have a two-stage writing system by which students receive corrections and then have a chance to raise their grades by half a grade by doing the corrections. A code sheet gives students the basic issues needing correction: g = gender; c = casus. Recurrent problems in a majority of the students' work are handled with appropriate handouts. e.g, Nebensätze. Tuesday's Workshop 8. Their equivalent to 311 and 312 then goes on to German Stories and German Histories. In their equivalent to 311 they cover German history 1) up to the building of the Wall, and 2) 1961 to the fall of the Wall. In their equivalent of 312 they cover 1) Der Fall der Mauer and 2) Auf dem Weg zur multikulturellen Gesellschaft. 9. In 211-212 they focus primarily on written (interpretive) and interactive (discussion) modes of communication. The texts they use include Fairy Tales as well as texts on the theme of Heimat. Their syllabi for these courses are in our o: drive. Heidi's Spring 2006 Syllabus is a good model. 10. See Appendix 1 to this document, General Overview of Level III, (2006). 11. Heidi demonstrated how they work with the short text under the genre rubric, Aufruf. She also described their use of the Talk-Show format as a graded classroom activity. Either then teacher or a top student can act as moderator. 12. Students liked the texts, Für unser Land and Ossis sind Türken. In reading these texts, students become aware of the genre "moves" or characteristics. Vocab acquisition is motivated as much as possible by the text rather than recourse to dictionaries for every vocab word. 13. The progression in the kind of discourse students practice is from the private (written and interpretive) modalities to the more public forms. At the end, students perform a court case as an activity within the performance modality. 14. Teachers teaching within each of the three undergraduate levels meet monthly. The whole German Department meets once or twice a semester. Discussions include, "How does Level II differ from Level III?" 15. Next steps. We discussed completing the basics of Kontakte in 111-112. 16. It is important to make Level II courses (211-212) as attractive as possible to students, giving the courses upbeat titles and making the content accessible to a broad range of students from many disciplines. This is the point at which students decide to work further for the major or minor. ____________________________________________________________ Appendix: What follows are two versions of their Level Three courses, what we call 311 and 312.
Level III (Advanced Sequence): German
Stories, German Histories
Course Description and Approach: · The course is designed to give students a thorough understanding of contemporary German history (1945-present) and of contemporary social issues while improving their proficiency in German in all four modalities (writing, reading, speaking, listening) · Overall approach: Linking content and form throughout
o
focusing on selected
themes for extended periods Themes:
·
Advanced I
Main Discourse Features:
·
--
Narrativity (esp. Theme 1, but continuing throughout all themes) · Causality; Argumentative Language (esp. Theme 4)
Text Types:
Audio-visual
Materials: Course Objectives:
·
Reading/
Listening:
·
Writing
·
Speaking: Assessment:
Grade distribution:
For Advanced
I
For Advanced
II
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Level III: Advanced German I German 101, Fall 2005 German Stories, German Histories
INSTRUCTOR: Insert name, office hours, phone number, email address
LOCATION: Insert room number(s) MATERIALS: Course Packet consisting of authentic German texts and other materials purchased directly from the instructor (cost: TBA). Please make checks payable to the German Department. Mary Fulbrook. The Divided Nation. The History of Germany 1918-1989. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991. Larry Wells & Jamie Rankin. Handbuch zur deutschen Grammatik. 4th edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2004. (Recommended Grammar Review) In addition to these materials, students at this level should invest in a German-German dictionary, such as the Langenscheidt Großwörterbuch Deutsch als Fremdsprache. COURSE DESCRIPTION This course is the
first half of the two-part course sequence at Level III within the
German Department’s nationally recognized integrated undergraduate
curriculum “Developing Multiple Literacies”. The course is designed to
provide students thorough exposure to contemporary historical and social
issues in Germany from 1945 to the present. In Advanced I, we explore
the following themes in our content-based instructional sequence: Drawing on the dual meaning of the German word Geschichte (i.e., history and story), the theme-oriented instructional units in Level III emphasize personal and public stories in German history, while connecting oral narratives with written narratives. Students improve their ability to narrate, compare and contrast and establish causal relationships in speaking and writing. Through the integration of all modalities, this course promotes accuracy, fluency and complexity in language use. The development of advanced reading and writing is considered the primary means for expanding students' language abilities at this level of language instruction. APPROACH AND COMPONENTS In this theme-based course, students gain background knowledge about public events in postwar German history and then read and view personal narratives about these events for the purposes of examining the intersection of the public and private spheres of contemporary German society. Each thematic unit lasts approximately seven weeks, thereby allowing students to encounter multiple perspectives and genres in both written and oral forms. The texts themselves provide the textual, informational, and lexico-grammatical features that serve as the basis for developing students’ abilities as advanced learners of German. In other words, the texts act as a blueprint for the type of language use that is emphasized at this level. During the course of each thematic unit, students focus on specific aspects of advanced language use and exhibit their developing abilities on formally assessed speaking and writing tasks. In addition, students will periodically be quizzed on specific language features that have received explicit instructional attention. Reading: Students read extensively throughout the course of the semester. Effective reading behaviors will be introduced, modeled, and practiced in class to promote productive, independent readers. Reading-based tasks, prepared outside of class and often including a lexico-grammatical focus, provide the foundation for further text work in class. The readings represent a range of genres and perspectives and thereby allow students to develop the ability to recognize author intentionality and genre-specific features. In addition, students read an English-language history of Germany in order to gain a broad historical context for the shorter and more topically oriented readings in German. Short graded written assignments will accompany the readings. Writing: By producing their own written texts based on textual models, students will begin to integrate topical information from the readings on German culture and history. Essay writing adheres to a multi-draft, process-oriented approach and progresses in length, complexity and type of narrative (i.e., personal to public). In addition, short writing assignments will also enhance relevant vocabulary and structures. Speaking: Increasing fluency, complexity, and accuracy of speech is a primary goal of this course. Thus opportunities for speaking -- including individual, paired and group work --are a central component of the curriculum. Listening: At this level, students listen to increasingly longer segments of oral speech (full length films and videos from German television). While the development of listening abilities is an integral part of daily classroom interaction, students will be given specific tasks and guidelines for intensive listening work outside of class. By the end of Level III, students will · have an understanding of post-war historical events and of contemporary life in Germany; · know how to approach authentic materials (television, news programs; videos) and use acquired knowledge to discuss and understand related issues; · produce paragraph-length dialogue, moving from the personal to the public narrative and to the formulation of argument and critical analysis in a formal setting; · possess knowledge of phrases necessary to engage in meaningful interactive discussion; · read non-fiction and literary texts independently; · improve their writing abilities through regular composition assignments · possess strategies for vocabulary building and reading. ASSESSMENT In-class work is based on the following criteria:
Speaking tasks (15%). Every student will participate in formally assessed speaking tasks, typically structured as panel discussions or talk shows, a couple of times during the semester. The contributions to these prepared discussions will be graded according to specific guidelines handed out in advance. Essay writing (25%). Our approach to writing is process-oriented. There will be regular essay assignments, each with a rewrite. Essays are to be typed, 12 point, double-spaced with 1" margins and handed in on time. Specific guidelines will be given in advance of each essay, along with information regarding the features that are expected. First drafts are graded and returned with extensive feedback to help students revise their work. Revised essays are also corrected and graded and can improve the final essay grade. Students are encouraged to utilize the Department's tutoring desk and their instructor's office hours in the writing process. Quizzes (10%). Students will have short quizzes which target content vocabulary and specific work done in class on formal aspects of the language. Homework (20%). There will be regular assignments to be handed in. These include worksheets for extensive reading and listening outside of class. All assignments will be assessed on thoroughness and accuracy. Included in this assessment category are the responses to the readings in the Fulbrook text. All assignments will be graded according to the following criteria: - “check plus” (95%): Homework handed in on time and indicating a very thorough effort, including a conscious attempt to use language features emphasized in class
-
“check” (80%): Homework handed in on time and indicating a
satisfactory effort Note: Late homework will be assessed a penalty of 20 % each class day. Because of this policy, any homework assignment that is turned in more than 5 class days after it is due will receive no credit. Final Exam (15%). A final exam will be administered during the exam period at the end of the semester and will consist of textual, informational, and lexicogrammatical features that were emphasized during the semester. Grading Scale (as indicated in Undergraduate Bulletin)
A 93+
ATTENDANCE
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