German

The course covers the variety of cinematic representations of National Socialism and the Holocaust, including an overview of the different filmic approaches used to represent and refer to the Third Reich. Students examine the most intense cinematic production phase of German history, which is the time between Hitler’s coming to power in 1933 and the end of the Second World War in 1945. Students examine movies by filmmakers such as Riefenstahl and Steinhoff, who created propaganda films glorifying the Nazi movement, as well as movies by Chaplin and Lubitsch who sought to fight the Nazi regime with satirical strategies. Students then analyze the equally wide spectrum of movie production after 1945. Some of the films discussed include: TRIUMPH OF THE WILL, TO BE OR NOT TO BE, SHOAH, SCHINDLER'S LIST, TRAIN OF LIFE, and INGLOURIOUS BASTARDS. Assessment is based on participation in working groups and a final exam.

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 B1 level according to CEFR, students consolidate and systematically build further basic grammar points and vocabulary. They expand their proficiency in all four skills. The B1 level is split into two courses, the B1.1 course covers the first half of the level and the B1.2 course covers the second half of the level.

At the center of this course is film as historical sources. The course presents and applies the methods for analyzing audiovisual sources, and it examines how historical events were depicted. Using the example of the history of National Socialism, students examine both documentaries and feature films with regard to their handling of National Socialism and its (audio) visual legacy.

This course is designed for the beginner student with no previous knowledge of German. This course is intensive and is intended for dedicated, highly self-motivated students who will take responsibility for their learning. Through this course students develop basic competences in listening, speaking, reading, and writing as well as a basic knowledge of the German culture. It enables students to deal with everyday situations in a German-speaking environment and to conduct simple conversations. Students develop reading strategies that help to understand simple newspaper and magazine articles as well as short literary texts. Students write, revise, and proofread short texts in German, and understand the main features of conversations and lectures dealing with familiar topics.

This course features an expansion of fundamental communicative competences in the areas of listening, speaking, reading, and writing into more complex conversational settings and types of texts. The student learns to express intentions, to present arguments, to generalize, and to make comparisons in order to master linguistically more formal settings such as the pursuit of studies, discussions, and presentations. Students are encouraged to compose more complex texts. This course is at the B1.1/B1.2 level according to CFER.

This course introduces the basic structures of the German language. The student develops communicative competences in the areas of reading, listening, speaking, and writing. The course enables the participant to engage in simple conversations in settings such as shopping or restaurants and to speak in simple past tense. The student becomes familiar with listening comprehension strategies and develops the ability to extract socio-cultural information from simple texts, accompanied by exercises concerning phonetic particularities in communicative contexts. This course is at the A1.1/A1.2 level according to CFER.

This online course examines the German language and culture through a virtual journey.

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 A2.2/B1.1 level according to CEFR, students review, consolidate, and are further introduced to basic grammar points and vocabulary. All four skills are further developed and expanded upon.

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. This course helps students expand their competences in speaking and writing while emphasizing self-correction. Furthermore, it helps students to increase their vocabulary, to deepen grammar usage, and develop effective reading and listening strategies. In addition, students analyze and interpret cultural, political, and historical topics in German-speaking countries and compare them with their own cultural background. Through this course students develop and regularly use new strategies for language acquisition. Students are able to engage in detailed discussions on above mentioned topics. Furthermore, students develop reading strategies that allow for the understanding of different text types in detail. In addition, students improve their essay writing skills, and are able to write short texts on different topics, revise, and proofread them.