Core Course Review Documentation
Foundational Component Area: Language, Philosophy & Culture (3 hours)
Proposed Course: German 1134 Elementary German
Credit Hours: 4 hours
Proposed by: Foreign Language Department
Date: September 1, 2012
Please document how the proposed course meets each of the following requirements. (You
may provide a written explanation or copy and paste the appropriate information from the
syllabus.)
1. Content: The language teaching community agrees that learning language and culture
are inextricably connected. Thus, this course focuses on developing students’ language
proficiency through modes of communication that reflect real life communication in the
varied cultures of the German-speaking world. By employing interpersonal,
interpretive and presentational communicative modes in the target language, students
will explore the ideas, values, beliefs and other cultural aspects of German-speaking
peoples across the world and how these aspects work together to affect human
experience.
Examples of specific content areas students will explore:
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Linguistic Diversity in the German-speaking world
Education and the Role of the Family
Racial and Ethnic Diversity
Celebrations, Traditional Dress
Geographical Diversity and Climate differences
Bilingualism and Careers
2. Skills: This course involves the development of specific grammar, vocabulary, and
idiomatic usage in the context of the varied cultures of the German-speaking world for
the purpose of exploring ideas that foster aesthetic and intellectual creation in order
that students may understand the human condition across cultures. The following are
examples of student-centered learning activities and experiences that foster the
development of required language skills and that simultaneously foster aesthetic and
intellectual creation and cross-culture understanding (based on examples from
Partnership for 21st Century Skills, www.P21.org, published 03/11):
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Students use communicative strategies, such as circumlocution, in an informal
conversation hour at German language table.
Students team with students in a German-speaking country to collaborate on a
blog focusing discussion on one of the content areas for the course.
Students create a presentation (media/format of their choosing but use of target
language required in some aspect) to communicate the ideas shared on the blog,
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comparing and contrasting the native German-speaking students’ perspectives
with their own.
Students correspond or blog with Germans in the NATO program at Sheppard or
with other students/faculty studying or working in a germanophone country.
Students analyze a graphic visualization of German-language text (poem, song,
rhyme, fable) and predict main theme, ideas or key concepts.
Students use a word cloud generator (wordle.net) to create a graphic
visualization of a German-language text.
Students compare news headlines in German-speaking countries and those from
their own community to determine what events are considered important.
Students classify the headlines, discuss similarities and differences.
Students engage in e-pal exchanges with students in German-speaking countries
comparing how much time students spend on homework and how much time
they spend on leisure activities and how much time they spending earning
income. Students compile the results and make comparisons across cultures.
3. Assessment of Core Objectives: The core objectives for the Language, Philosophy and
Culture Foundational Component Area are addressed in this course according to the
following descriptions. A global assessment tool that incorporates all required core
objectives is used for assessment rather than single, discreet objective specific
assessment tools. This global assessment tool introduced in the text is called a
Kulturelle Geschichte (Cultural Portfolio). It is completed by students over the length
of the course. Please see the attached description of the Kulturelle Geschichte
assessment tool.
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Critical Thinking:
o Students will respond in the target language orally and in writing to
questions and/or topics based upon in-class readings, presentations, and/or
out-of-class assignments that require students to extract information,
analyze and evaluate information and draw conclusions and/or form
opinions on the topic.
o Students will inquire, analyze, evaluate and synthesize information from
various resources available in the target language on a cultural topic of
his/her choosing to be presented in a variety of modes to the instructor
and/or class (e.g. art work, presentations, theatrical works, essays, music)
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Communication Skills:
o Students will demonstrate ability to effectively use memorized vocabulary,
high-frequency expressions, accurate grammatical usage and idiomatic
expressions in the target language to effectively develop, interpret and
express ideas orally and in writing with culturally appropriate sensitivity.
o Students will demonstrate effective interpretation of memorized vocabulary,
high-frequency expressions, grammatical usage and idiomatic expressions in
the target language both aurally and in print through the use of culturallybound print and multi-media.
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Personal Responsibility
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o Students will demonstrate the ability to connect choices, actions and
consequences to ethical-decision making by coming to class prepared to
participate, engage the instructor and their fellow students in conversation
and discussion in the target language.
o Furthermore, students will demonstrate the ability to connect choices,
actions and consequences to ethical-decision making by demonstrating their
commitment to abide by the ethical standards presented in the MSU Student
Honor Creed.
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Social Responsibility
o Students will demonstrate intercultural competence and knowledge of civic
responsibility as demonstrated in the connections or comparisons made by the
student between his/her own culture and the target culture.
o Alternatively and/or additionally, students will demonstrate intercultural
competence and knowledge of civic responsibility by engaging in four (4)
volunteer hours in the local, regional, national or global German-speaking
community through the service projects of the German Club, another campus
or community organization and/or through an alternative Spring Break
option.
4. Additional Information:
Outcomes: Students will develop specific grammar, vocabulary and idiomatic usage in
the context of the varied cultures of the German-speaking world, and by the end of the
first semester, the student will be able to
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Greet, say farewell, introduce people and respond to introductions in the
appropriate cultural register indicating his/her awareness of cultural norms in
the German-speaking world for formality, informality, personal space and
gestures.
Engage in simple question/answer conversations using memorized and/or
high-frequency expressions indicating cultural sensitivity and awareness.
Provide and request basic information.
Express ongoing actions, routine actions, future actions and some past actions
in the context and manner these are used in the German-speaking cultures and
recognize how these uses are different from those of English-speakers.
Describe and illustrate aspects of the cultures of German-speaking countries
and make comparisons between these cultures and his/her own culture using
basic linguistic structures and vocabulary in the target language.
Evaluate his/her own values, behaviors and worldviews on the socio-cultural
topics presented and compare these to those of German-speakers.
PLEASE ATTACH THE FOLLOWING
1. Syllabus
 Global Assessment Tool (Kulturelle Geschichte)
 Rubric for assessment
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