German

Berlin’s rich museological landscape lends itself to in-depth exploration of Germany’s difficult heritage: How are the upheavals of the 20th and 21st centuries, especially, remembered and represented? This course enables students to get to know a number of Berlin museums focusing on Memory and Post-WWII migration using anthropological methods and to analyze them within larger theoretical frameworks of “self” and “other” constructions.

This class is tailored to student life in Germany. The course introduces students to German language and culture and encourages and prepares them to speak German in everyday situations. Step by step, students increase their command of spoken and written German by practicing their speaking (including pronunciation), listening, reading, and writing skills. Particular attention is paid to vocabulary and grammar. 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.

This course is intended for students who already have some prior knowledge of German. In this class on the A1 level according to CEFR, students learn and solidify basic grammatical structures and systematically build their vocabulary. They train the four skills of listening, reading, speaking, and writing in everyday situations and do simple exercises to practice and improve their verbal and written skills. Students are introduced to independent forms of learning and studying. The class covers and reflects on civilization and culture in Germany, Berlin, and at the university as related to everyday life. Topics include personal information, living situation, institutions, traffic, traveling, health, weather, and festivities.

This course is aimed at students who want to work on their German grammar. Students have acquired knowledge in various ways, this course systematizes that knowledge. Through targeted exercises with simple lexis, students learn to understand how a sentence is constructed in German. Students work out the grammar rules themselves during the course of the class.