Garden City Public Schools

Garden City Public Schools

Garden City, New York

Course: German 3R/H

Overview of Course

This third level course will complete Checkpoint B of the state syllabus and culminates in a comprehensive FLACS examination, which will be offered in June. The aim of the course is to increase communicative proficiency in listening, speaking, reading, writing and grammatical skills.

Instructional Philosophy

The Department of World Languages believes that the primary goal of second language learning is the achievement of functional communication in the context of the target language. Language learning is also an invaluable asset to students who will be taking their place in the world today.

To achieve this goal, the aim of the department is twofold: To teach students the skills necessary for effective communication in the foreign language; i.e.: listening, speaking, reading and writing. To provide students with the

insight into and appreciation of the foreign culture in order that they become more informed and understanding citizens of the world.

Knowledge and Skills Objectives

Students will be able to use a language other than English for communication.

Listening and Speaking are primary communicative goals in modern language learning.

These skills are used for the purposes of socializing, providing and acquiring information,

expressing personal feelings and opinions, and getting others to adopt a course of action.

Reading and Writing are used in languages other than English for the purposes of socializing, providing and acquiring information, expressing personal feelings and opinions, and getting others to adopt a course of action.

Students will develop cross-cultural skills and understandings.

Effective Communication involves meanings that go beyond words and require an understanding of perceptions, gestures, folklore, and family and community dynamics.

All of these elements can affect whether and how well a message is received.

Units of Study

I. Review of German 2

a.vocabulary Units 1-6: Deutsch Aktuell 2

b. verbs

i. weak, strong, irregular

1. present and present perfect tenses

2. narrative writing about past events

3. talking about past events

c. structure

i. subject & nominative case for ein / der words and pronouns

ii. direct object & accusative case for ein / der words and pronouns

iii. indirect object & dative case for ein / der words and pronouns

iv. accusative, dative and 2-way prepositions

v. word order

1. in sentences with dependent clauses

2. in sentences introduced with prepositional phrases

3. in sentences involving coordinating conjunctions

4. in sentences involving subordinating conjunctions

II. Hobbys und Interessen – Hobbies and Interests

a. daily activities

i. talking about hobbies and activities

ii. writing about an exciting activity

iii. comparing and contrasting hobbies of German youth

b. weekend activities

i. talking about weekend activities

ii. reading about a young German person’s weekend

iii. comparing and contrasting personal with weekend activities of German youth

c. German marketplace

i. review of food vocabulary

ii. reading about German marketplaces

1. comparing and contrasting German and US shopping routines

iii. role-playing: at the market

2. review of weights and measurements

3. review of formal address

4.current value of the Euro

d. Future tense

i. using werden with verb infinitives

ii. talking about future events

iii. writing about future events

II. Feste und Feiertage - Holidays and Celebrations

a. Famous festivals

i. geographical location

ii. history

iii. activities

1. at traditional fair grounds

2. at amusement parks

iv. reading

1. about festivals in Germany

2. about amusement parks in Germany

v. talking about festivals in Germany

vi. role-playing

1. day at a German amusement park

vii. making comparisons

1. between German and U.S. festivals

2. between German and U.S. amusement parks

b. National holidays

i. definitions

ii. dates

iii. customs associated with specific holidays

iv. regionalism impacting specific holidays

v. comparing & contrasting U.S. and German holidays

vi. narrative writing about a holiday

c. School field trips

i. reading about a high school field trip in Germany

1. Koblenz

2. Schloss Ehrenbreitstein

ii. talking about field trips in Germany

iii. role-playing related to a field trip in Koblenz

III. Kommunikation - Communication

a. German Postal System

i. mail delivery

ii. postal system

b. German telephone system

i. comparison and contrast with U.S.

1. cell phone communication

c. Print media

i. newpapers

1. types of newspapers

2. comparing and contrasting well-known U.S. and German newspapers

ii. magazines

1. types of magazines

2. comparing and contrasting well-known U.S. and German magazines

IV. Health - Gesundheit

a. expansion vocabulary

i. body part vocabulary review & expansion

ii. common illnesses

iii. common injuries

1. reflexive pronoun review

iv. common medications

v. health-related facilities

1. comparing and contrasting German and U.S. health facilities

2. health occupations

b. reading about ill & injured people

c. talking about personal illness & injury

d. role-playing

V. Fahren –Transportation

a. review and expansion vocabulary

i. public transportation

ii. motor vehicles

b. driving

i. parts of a car

ii. getting a license

iii. reading about German youngsters and driving

iv. talking about driving

c. around town

i. giving and receiving directions review

ii. role play

d. Power Point Project: Outstanding designs

VI. Ausbildung – Education

a. expansion vocabulary

b. talking about various careers

c. German educational system review

d. speculating on a future career

i. future tense review

ii. using conditional würden

e. role-playing

f. Power Point Project: The secrecy of castles

VII. Review: Principle Parts of Verbs

a. high frequency weak verbs

i. infinitive form

ii. third person singular

iii. present perfect

iv. past perfect

v. imperfect

b. irregular verbs

i. infinitive form

ii. third person singular

iii. present perfect

iv. past perfect

v. imperfect

c. 100 most common strong verbs

i. infinitive form

ii. third person singular

iii. present perfect

iv. past perfect

v. imperfect

d. application

i. sentence conversion

1. present to imperfect

2. present perfect to imperfect

ii. creating a radio play using imperfect

iii. narrative writing using imperfect

VIII. Preparation for the Flacs Examination

a. Speaking preparation

i. scoring parameters

ii. essential verbs

iii. key phrases

1. drill for speaking

b. Writing preparation

i. scoring parameters

ii. essential verbs

iii. key phrases

iv. ordering of events

1. linking phrases

v. writing a picture topic composition

1. pre-writing strategies

c. semantic mapping

2. revising strategies

iv. writing a guided composition

1. pre-writing strategies

2. revising strategies

c. Listening preparation

i. scoring parameters

ii. frequent topics

iii. test-taking strategies

iv. listening drill

1. released exams

d. Reading preparation

i. scoring parameters

ii. frequent topics

iii. test-taking strategies

iv. reading drill

1. released exams

Major Resources

Kraft, Wolfgang. Deutsch Aktuell 2, 6th ed. text. St. Paul: EMC Corporation, 2010.

Kraft, Wolfgang. Deutsch Aktuell 2, 6th ed. workbook. St. Paul: EMC Corporation, 2010.

Websites:

www.yahoo.de

used to access a multitude of German sites

http://libraries.mit.edu/guides/types/flnews/

access to numerous sources of current information

http://webgerman.com

numerous grammatical PowerPoint presentations, interactive vocabulary exercises

and interactive quizzes

http://german.about.com/library/blgrammatik.htm

extensive grammatical units, interactive vocabulary exercises and interactive quizzes

www.youtube.de

access to numerous sources of cutting edge trends and cultural information