Garden City Public Schools

Garden City, New York

German College Course Curriculum for St. John’s University

Denk Mal!- Vista Higher Learning

This course will offer an overview of the Germansociety of today through an analysis of its major cultural, economic, and socio-political issues. The goal will be to present a realistic picture the German World, and its relationship to the world while strengthening the student’s newly acquired language skills. This goal will be achieved through the use of cultural and literary readings, writing skill development, oral and written communication, and the integration of technology in the program. Students will be given access to an online resource center through the class webpage where they can research information (and complete assignments) on:

Web Links

Culture and History

Music, Radio & Television

News and Magazines

Literature

Language Learning Sites

Chat and Virtual Worlds

Country/City Tours

Integration of World Language Lab

COURSE OBJECTIVES

Students will develop a greater level of proficiency in listening, speaking, reading, and writing German.

Students will have a deeper cultural knowledge of German-speaking countries.

Students will demonstrate mastery of grammar and vocabulary equivalent to a college level German course.

Students will demonstrate the ability to make comparisons with their native language and German.

Students will make connections with the course content and other curricular areas (including technology) to support and enhance their learning through prepared presentations and assignments.

Chapter 6-Traditionen und Spezialitäten

Thematic Vocabulary:

Foods, Restaurant, Regional Specialties, Descriptive Adjectives, Holidays and Traditions

Grammar: Reflexive Verbs and Accusative reflexive verbs, Reflexive verbs and dative reflexive verbs, numbers, time and quantities

  • Reflexive verbs and accusative reflexive pronouns Beispiel: Er bereitet sich auf das Examen vor.
  • Reflexive pronoun placement
  • Haben in the perfect tense
  • Accusative person pronouns, Accusative reflexive pronouns
  • Reflexive and non-reflexive verbs
  • Reciprocal relationships-reciprocal reflexive verbs sich unterhalten, sich treffen,sich (gut)verstehen
  • Prepostional verb phrases including reflexive verbs (accusative) sich ärgern über, sich erinnern an, sich freuen über, sich interessieren für, sich kümmern um, sich sehnen nach
  • Change of verb meaning: verlaufen-sich verlaufen, versprechen-sich versprechen
  • Reflexive pronouns used with prepositions toexpress the idea of oneself Beispiel: Ich kann mich nur auf mich verlassen.
  • Reflexive and dative reflexive pronouns
  • Verbs that use dative reflexive pronouns-sich etwas anhören,sich etwas anziehen
  • Dative Reflexive pronoun and accusative object used together in a sentence –Beispiel: Ich kann mir ein Essen ohne Fleisch nicht vorstellen.
  • Dative reflexive pronouns used to indicate an indirect object
  • Using dative reflexive pronouns with verbs that can be used reflexively or non-reflexively clarifies the speaker’s intent: Reflexive-Ich schenke mir eine Mahlzeit. Non-reflexive-Ich schenke ihnen einen Gutschein zu einem Fünf-Sterne-Restaurant.
  • Dative reflexive pronouns used to talk about parts of the body-Ich putze mir die Zähne
  • Dative reflexive pronouns used with verbs that require the dative case-widersprechen, helfen
  • Numbers, time, quantities
  • Oridinal numbers –Dates, Birthdays
  • Ordinal numbers
  • Cardinal numbers with appropriate prepositions to express time
  • 24-hour clock
  • Expressions viertel, halb, vor, nach
  • Phrases that express how much or how many of something is needed
  • Nouns that designate quantity-Masc. and Fem. Rules of pluralization

Projects: Geographical Regions will be assigned to groups and students will prepare presentation on the traditions of each region via technology.

Students will have in depth discussions/debates based on their opinionsabout:

  1. The focus of traditions as a means of strengthening the identity of the community.
  2. Stereotypes and whether they are fair or not fair
  3. Common holidays around the world and how they are similar or different
  4. May day traditions and their variations from village to village: folk music and dance

.

Students will bring in news article about traditions and holidays. Circle conversations and debates will take place.Students will discuss the differences in dialects for the names of common holidays, such as Christmas.

Students will use Power Point/Movie Maker/Digital Story to express the importance of holidays, traditions and recipes using the food and holiday vocabulary.

Music will be incorporated into Thematic and Grammatical Topics:

Christmas and other holidays

Lyrics of Music will be read

Readings

Literatur:

Wolfdietrich Schnurre “Die Leihgabe”

Kultur

“Fest mit Tradition”

Regisseur Annette Ernst, “Wer hat Angst vorm Weihnachtsmann?”

Stellen Sie Sich Vor: Bayern

Film: Annette Ernsts, “Wer hat Angst vorm Weihnachtsmann?”

Supplemental Materials: Poetry by Ringelnatz, Schenken,Zu einem Geschenk

Poem Advent by Rainer Maria Rilke

Chapter 7- Wissenschaft und Technologie:

Thematic Vocabulary:

Technology, Astronomy and the Universe, Scientific Professions, Science and Inventions

Grammatical Topics:

Passive Voice and Alternatives, Imperative, Adverbs

  • Active vs. Passive
  • Transform active sentence to passive sentence using direct object of the active sentence as the subject of the passive
  • Werden+Partizip: Präsens, Perfekt, Präteritum, Futur, Plusquamperfekt, Modalverben
  • Position of the conjugated verb when used in subordinating clauses
  • Von, durch
  • The subject of the passive sentence is in the nominative unless the verb requires the dative
  • The impersonal passive; es as a neutral subject
  • Alternatives to passive; man, sich +verb, sich lassen + infinitive, sein+zu+infinitive
  • Imperative: formal and informal, Sie, ihr, du
  • Spelling changes for du-form commands
  • First person plural command
  • Sein in the imperative, haben and warden in the du-form of the imperative
  • Impersonal commands
  • Negative commands
  • Commandsof separable prefix verbs
  • Mal, doch mal
  • Adverbs: wann, wie, wo (time, manner, place)
  • Adverbs of time
  • Adverbs of manner
  • Adverbs of place

Students will have in depth discussions/debates based on their opinions about:

  1. The changes that technology has made in our world today
  2. Whether life exists on other planets and science fiction
  3. The ethics of cloning
  4. If man should alter human nature

Possible Projects:

Students create a digital project based, for example, on the following:

A debate of one of the following topics:

  • Modern technology has made our life easier.
  • The advantages of computers outweigh the disadvantages
  • Technological advances are actually bad for Mankind
  • For a doctor, it is morally wrong to help a terminally ill person to commit suicide
  • Should we use stem cells to help ill people
  • The cloning of human cells is morally wrong

Students will debate which three items they would include in a time capsule and why. The items must show a representation of contemporary life/what is important in today’s society so that when it is opened in 2090, people are able to know of our life.

Students will research a German Inventor and prepare a presentation about his/her life. They will then work in groups to create their own invention and create a news ad to publicize their invention.

Literatur:

Egon Friedells, “Ist die Erde bewohnt?”

Kultur:

Badeb-Württemberg: Land des Autos

Stellen Sie Sich vor: Die Römer kommen”

Film: Michael Venus, “Roentgen”

Supplemental Materials and Reading: Excerpts from Goethe’s Faust to consider the theme of science and power and the need to confront questions of morals and ethics.

Film: Faust 1926 Silent film

Chapter 8- Recht und Umwelt

Thematic Vocabulary:

Nature and the imaginative world, the environment, laws and rights

Grammatical Topics:

Der Konjunktiv II and würde with infinitive, Der Konjunktiv II of modals, demonstratives

  • The Konjunktiv II to express probability or possibility, ideas or concepts that are contrary to fact and reality
  • Konjunktiv II (würde[+infinitive] or the Konjunktiv II forms), würde[+infinitive’ is the form used most frequently in conversation. Position of würde form in the second position and the infinitive at the end of the sentence.
  • Present tense forms of the Konjunktiv II (Präteritum forms of the verb) regular verbs
  • Konjunktiv II of irregular verbs
  • Conjunction wenn
  • The Konjunktiv II of modals: Word order
  • Comparison of Modal verbs in KonjunktivII to indicative
  • Können, dürfen in polite requests
  • Müssen, sollen
  • Demonstratives: pronouns and as limiting adjectives
  • Adverbs hier, da, derselbe, dieselbe, and dasselbe, derjenige, diejenige, dasjenige
  • Selbst and selber

Students will have in-depth discussions/debates based on their opinions about:

1.Should environmental protection by the Government be important or have environmental problems been exaggerated?

2. Often people want to live environmentally friendly, but why do they have difficulty doing so?

3. Should a new recycling program be introduced in your hometown? Discuss how recycling is done in Germany.

4.Do you know what areas/regions Earth are threatened by human behavior or failure?

5. Do you believe that man can live in harmony with nature?

Projects: Powerpoint or Digital video

1. Discuss the pros and cons of ecotourism: there are many national parks all over the world, but for people to get there they have to fly or drive, contributing to the pollution of air and environment.

2. In groups, produce fliers and a plan to focus on an environmental problem of your choice. Present this Project to the class.

Literatur

Goethe, Die Natur

Kultur

Grün reisen, Grün schützen

Stellen Sie Sich vor:Sachsen-Anhalt, Thüringen und Hessen, Die Bankenmetropole am Main

Film

Daniel Haude und Jim Tracy, Spelunkers

Supplemental Materials:

Poetry of Heinrich Heine

Chapter 9- Wirtschaft und Berufsaussichten

Thematic Vocabulary:

Economy and Job prospects, the workplace, people in the workplace, on the job, finances

Grammar:

Der Konjunktive II der Vergangenheit(past subjunctive), plurals and compound nouns, two-part conjunctions

  • Der Konjunkitiv II der Vergangenheit
  • Haben or sein as the auxiliary verb along with the past participle of the main verb
  • Konjunktiv II of haben+main verb infinitive+ infinitive of modal
  • Wenn-clause
  • Plurals and compound nouns
  • Two-part conjunctions: einersiets..andererseits,entweder…oder, je mehr…desto, mal…mal, nicnt nur…sondern auch, sowohl…als auch, teils…teils, weder…noch, zwar…aber
  • Word order with two-part conjunctions
  • Connection of phrases with two-part conjunctions; Double conjunctions

Students will have in-depth discussions/debates based on their opinion about:

1. The differences between American and German job applications, including different format of resumes and the inclusion of passport pictures.

2. The dream job

3. Expectations regarding their future jobs

Project:

1. Design a colorful want ad and present it to the class

2. Present a skit of a job interview

3. Consult a German newspaper to find job ads that you would be interested in and present to the class why the ads interest you.

4. Produce a video project discussing with a grandparent the differences between the working world 50 years ago and the working world of today and present it to the class.

Literatur

Christa Reinig, Berufsberatung

Kultur

Schweizer Bankwesen

Stellen Sie Sich Vor: Die Schweiz und Liechtenstein Ins Herz der Alpen

Film

Nico Zingelmanns, 15 Minuten Wahrheit

Supplemental Materials:

Poetry by Kurt Tucholsky, Augen in der Grossstadt

Chapter 10- Geschichte und Gesellschaft

Thematic Vocabulary:

History and national identity, politics, nations, citizenship, immigration

Grammar:

Das Plusquamperfekt, uses of the infinitive, Der Konjuntiv I and indirect speech

  • Plusquamperfekt using the Präteritum form of sein or haben
  • Plusquamperfekt with conjunctions bevor and nachdem
  • Word order of Plusquamperfekt
  • Modals in thre Plusquamperfekt use the Präteritum of haben[+double infinitive](the infinitive of the main verb with the infinitive of the modal
  • Stating the year in which a past event occurred
  • Use of the infinitive
  • Infinitive clauses
  • The infinitive with zu
  • The infinitive clause with a separable prefix verb
  • The infinitive with um…zu
  • Ohne…zu, (an)statt…zu
  • Prepositional phrases with zu
  • damit
  • An infinitive phrase with zu
  • Der Konjunktiv I and indirect speech
  • Konjunktiv II or würde + infinitive compared with Konjunktiv I
  • Formation of the Konjunktiv I
  • Formation of the Konjunktiv I of modals
  • Indikativ-Konjunktiv I-Konjunktiv II
  • Konjunktiv I with sollen for commands in indirect speech

Students will have indepth discussions of:

1. Historical Events

2. Current Events

3. Present political viewpoints and Politicians

Projects

1. Present a lecture to the class as if you are running for a political office. Discuss the problems in your city and how you would solve those problems as well as what the students could do to improve those problems.

2. Present a PowerPoint presentation on a topic of German History and show it to the class with your narration in German.

Literatur

Bertolt Brecht, An die Nachgeborenen

Kultur

Wiedervereinigung

Stellen Sie Sich Vor: Bradenburgs und Sachsens Die perfekte Stadt

Film

Jochen Alexander Freydanks, Spielzeugland

Supplemental Materials and Readings:

Excerpts of Der Prozess (The Trial) by Franz Kafka

Film: Kafta, with Jeremy Irons, Joel Grey and Alec Guinness

Der Prozess Movie with Orson Welles, Anthony Perkins and Jeanne Moreau

War Poetry of Kurt Tucholsky

Short Film The Tin Drum (Die Blechtrommel) by Günther Grass

Quotes from famous works by Schiller