German

From the Enlightenment up to the present Berlin has been a preferred home for poets, novelists, playwrights, journalists and creative writers of any kind. Their stories and visions are not only represented but shaped by the idea of the city. This course includes selected works of literature (and some works of visual art as well) written in different periods in Berlin. The works are contextualized by the dynamic and multilayered history of the city and are connected to the urban spaces of today. Excursions, readings and discussions help students gain insight into the rich cultural history and the current discourses in and about Berlin.

In this course, students practice writing simple texts and train grammar topics that are important for both casual and formal writing. The focus is on writing occasions from everyday private and student life (e.g. creative writing, notes, emails). Students also prepare a short essay at the end of the course. The grammar topics that are covered are based on the students' texts. Students' willingness to write short texts on a regular basis is therefore important.

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 A1 level is split into two courses, the A1.1 course covers the first half of the level and the A1.2 course covers the second half of the level.

The German-speaking region was essential for the development of modern antisemitism. While many forms of early Christian and medieval persecution of Jews existed all over Europe, the Protestant reformation in Central Europe, contributed greatly to the proliferation and adaptation of medieval anti-Jewish sentiments into the early modern era. During the Enlightenment and the romantic period, the first major steps towards modernizing anti-Jewish sentiments happened. The class will address important social (middle-class), political (parties), intellectual (race theory) as well as cultural (visual culture) dimensions of the modern antisemitism, primarily during the 19th and early 20th century. Since the 18th century, Jewish Activists and intellectuals engaged in fighting antisemitism which the class will also address. The specific form of Nazi antisemitism will be discussed in its relation to the comprehensive discriminatory policy of the Nazi regime and, later on, the extermination policy during the Holocaust. With the almost complete annihilation of European Jewry, the history of modern antisemitism did not end, but, instead, it caused further fundamental changes in its structure. The final meetings will be devoted to these changes after 1945 and in the contemporary German-speaking world. While the class will insist on studying the specifically German-speaking forms of anti-Judaism and antisemitism, it will also place the ‘German case’ into the wider European context.

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 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.

The course is for students who want to improve their language skills in a practical context and get to know Berlin better. They will discover very different sides of the city: discussing current topics, exploring the Berlin world of media, looking at the city in film and music and dealing with city history and Berlin notabilities. An important aspect will be the real "discovery": Students explore places and neighborhoods during excursions and get into a conversation with Berliners. In addition, students learn to carefully extract and reproduce information from complex reading and listening texts, videos, and conversations. They also train their skills to discuss, present or write on current topics.
 

Towards the end of postmodernism, and at the dawn of the "internet age," thinkers such as Michel de Certeau and Marc Augé developed a conceptual model to describe the rather vague feeling of arbitrariness and interchangeability of space they experienced in modern cities, the idea that the few remaining identifiable "places" in our contemporary urban environments were mere remnants of earlier, culturally inscribed sites, re-manufactured for commercial (touristic) purposes. The vast remaining areas of the city were "non-places" and urban "filaments" that did not provide a sense of belonging. This freed city dwellers to (artistically or otherwise) misappropriate or re-inscribe objects of the urban fabric. In the early 1990s, the term hypermodernism (or supermodernism) was introduced to provide a framework for these observations in fields ranging from philosophy to anthropology and architecture. We will consider this concept and its more recent iterations with respect to new and planned buildings in Berlin (by international firms such as OMA and Herzog & de Meuron), to places of infrastructure (train stations, airports), shopping centers, so-called POPS (privately owned public spaces) and urban wilderness areas. Course participants will be encouraged to explore the city on their own and "respond" to particular sites through visuals, audio recordings, (creative) texts and other forms of artistic expression

Students further expand their listening, reading, speaking and writing skills with authentic texts and communication situations in the fields of everyday life, popular science, culture and society, and literature.

In this bridge class on the A2/B1 level according to CEFR, students learn to understand sentences and frequently used expressions related to areas of most immediate relevance (e.g. basic personal and family information, shopping, local geography, employment). They study to communicate in simple and routine tasks requiring a simple and direct exchange of information on familiar and routine matters. Students work to describe in simple terms aspects of their background, immediate environment, and matters in areas of immediate need. In addition, students learn to understand the main points of clear standard input on familiar matters regularly encountered in work, school, leisure, etc. They deal with most situations likely to arise while traveling to an area where German is spoken. Students learn to produce simple connected texts on topics that are familiar or of personal interest. They acquire skills to describe experiences and events, dreams, hopes and ambitions and briefly give reasons and explanations for opinions and plans. Topics are taken from Berlin and German history and culture and also include politics as well as intercultural topics and current events.