German

This course is conducted in the German language and is designed to teach students who are new to German or have basic German skills the basic expressions and grammar necessary for daily life. The course enables students to develop the skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing in German in a range of predictable situations and contexts and allows students to interact in a simple way orally and in writing. 

The history of the Jewish people in East Germany has become a focus of interest in the last few years. This seminar focuses on the perspective of Jewish returners, both prominent and not and focuses on a series of questions and topics: The catastrophe of the Holocaust causes a great many questions about the various lifestyles of East German Jews: What persuaded them after the Holocaust to return to Germany? Which hopes and expectations did this new community have? And to what extent did return to Germany mean the immigration into a socialist utopia, which was a reaction to the atrocities of the past and promised a future and foothold for returnees? But with hope and expectations often comes disappointment: How was the East German antisemitism, both private and occasionally also public, experienced, and what did it mean for returnees; how did they perceive East German evasion surrounding discussion of and responsibility for the Holocaust? The course explores these themes through autobiographical texts and scientific secondary literature.

This course focuses on sustainability and its impact as the most important global transformation project of the current time. It primarily discusses theories of change and human planning and design, but also topics such as justice, freedom, progress, growth, capitalism, and inequality.

This pre-semester course prepares foreign students for academic study at a German university. The focus is on the improvement of oral and written expression as well as grammar and lexical proficiency. The course covers selected topics on German politics and society within a historical context. In addition, excursions are planned to introduce students to German culture. Students work with cultural topics in everyday situations 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 B2.2/C1.1 level according to CEFR, students consolidate their knowledge of grammar and study complex structures and do in-depth study of grammatical structures that are typical of academic writing and its application in text production and reception. The course includes exercises to improve oral and written communication such as doing research, structuring, presenting, and discussing. Writing skills are enhanced through different types of academic texts and handouts. Students critically analyze different types of texts and systematically expand their vocabulary (including abstract vocabulary) and stylistic ways of expression.

This is an advanced level German course, level B2. This course is for students who have completed a minimum of three semesters of university level German. By the end of this course, the student has acquired the following competencies: Listening comprehension: understanding with some ease any materials provided in classes (presentations, press reviews, varied range of audio and video recordings: newsflashes for example); recognizing different points of view being exchanged and even differentiate the attitude of different speakers. Spoken expression: intervening spontaneously in discussions and debates and responding to the spoken contributions of other students; expressing ones self in clear, well-structured text, expressing points of view at some length; present documents (press reviews, graphic documents) in a comprehensible way while developing a personal argument; communicating with greater confidence on familiar topics. Reading comprehension: independently reading a variety of extended texts of descriptive, explanatory and interpretative nature from a variety of domains; identifying the important components of a fairly long text with a relatively complex logical order. Written expression: writing clear and detailed texts on a wide range of topics in a variety of styles; producing a personal, organized, and argued response to a specific topic in the form of a report, essay, or summary.

Students practice and improve all four main language skills—speaking, listening, reading, and writing—in a highly communicative classroom setting. Students’ knowledge of grammar and vocabulary is systematically reviewed and expanded through an emphasis on speaking and communicating in German. The course covers the main ideas of complex texts on both concrete and abstract topics, including technical discussions in their fields of specialization.

Students practice and improve all four main language skills—speaking, listening, reading, and writing—in a highly communicative classroom setting. Students’ knowledge of grammar and vocabulary is systematically reviewed and expanded through an emphasis on speaking and communicating in German.

This course introduces the history of German cinema, with a special focus on the crucial role of Berlin as both production site and film set. Students engage with important milestones in the history of German cinema, many of which are set in Berlin, and learn about their historical, political and aesthetic contexts. Special emphasis is placed on the so-called “Berlin School” of filmmaking, a New Wave emerging in the late 1990s, and continuing to be highly relevant today. CIEE offers the course in German and English, and this version of the course is taught in German.