German

This course is designed for the beginner student with no previous knowledge of German. Students develop basic competences in listening, speaking, reading, and writing as well as a basic knowledge of the German culture. By the end of the course students are able to deal with everyday situations in a German-speaking environment and to conduct simple conversations. Students develop reading strategies that allow them to understand simple newspaper and magazine articles as well as short literary texts. In addition, students write, revise, and proofread short texts in German, and understand the main features of conversations and lectures dealing with familiar topics.

This course is designed for students who have successfully completed the basic level and the first part of the intermediate level of German and who have a sound knowledge of German. It focuses on encounters with various written, spoken and audio-visual texts and exchanges with other course participants. Students further develop and expand their competencies in listening, speaking, reading and writing, as well as their understanding of German culture while being enabled to learn reflectively and strategically. The course addresses cultural, political, and historical aspects of the city of Berlin and the German-speaking countries, which students analyze and compare with their own background and experiences. Through this course students develop and regularly use new strategies for language acquisition. Students participate in conversations and discussions of various topics in a German-speaking environment. Furthermore, students develop reading strategies that allow for the understanding of different texts of various levels of difficulty and from a variety of genres. In addition, students improve their essay writing skills, and are able to write texts of various length on a range of topics and revise, and proofread them.

This course for foreign students is designed to improve students’ language skills and vocabulary. Areas of focus include grammar, conversation, writing exercises, and listening and reading exercises. In addition, excursions are planned to introduce students to German culture. Students work with cultural and historical topics on an academic level and broaden their intercultural knowledge. They are introduced to independent learning methods and familiarize themselves with typical learning situations at German universities. In this class at the B2 level according to the CEFR, students further develop their (often subject-specific) vocabulary and command of grammatical structures as well as corresponding competencies in university-specific situations. The class takes intercultural and methodological aspects of foreign language learning into consideration, and students discuss specific aspects of German culture and society. The B2 level is split into two courses, the B2.1 course covers the first half of the level and the B2.2 course covers the second half of the level.

This course for foreign students is designed to improve students’ language skills and vocabulary. Areas of focus include grammar, conversation, writing exercises, and listening and reading exercises. In addition, excursions are planned to introduce students to German culture. Students work with cultural and historical topics on an academic level and broaden their intercultural knowledge. They are introduced to independent learning methods and familiarize themselves with typical learning situations at German universities. In this class at the A1 level according to the CEFR, students learn basic vocabulary and grammatical structures as well as corresponding competencies in university-specific situations. The class takes intercultural and methodological aspects of foreign language learning into consideration, and students are introduced to German culture and society.

The course analyzes films which center on Berlin or which are set in Berlin. Students consider the changes seen in cityscape and everyday life over the last 100 years, but also the city’s social and political transformation. The films are also analyzed for their portrayal of the most important stages of German history. The course begins with studying films from the Weimar Republic, through postwar films from East and West Germany, and to the present. Films discussed may include: “MENSCHEN AM SONNTAG” (1930), “BERLIN – ECKE SCHÖNHAUSER” (1959), “EINS, ZWEI DREI“ (1961), “REDUPERS” (1978), “LOLA RENNT” (1998), and “BERLIN CALLING” (2008).

This course teaches the concepts of the behavior, structure, problems, modeling, materials and the forms of failure of lightweight structures. Students analyze lightweight structures, understand designs, and predict behavior responses of certain structures. The course utilizes several examples relating to aircraft structures to teach the concepts.