DOCUMENT R: SYLLABUS
1. Date Prepared: October, 2011
2. Prepared by: Luke Springman
3. Department: Languages and Cultures
4. Course Numbers: GERMAN 102
5. Course Title: German II
6. Credit Hours: 3
Goal 8 - Second Language
Goal 4 - Cultures and Diversity
2 GEPs
1 GEP
7. Prerequisites: GERMAN 101 or the equivalent proficiency level.
8. Catalog Description:
Develops further the four language skills: speaking, listening, reading, and writing to a
proficiency level regarded as basic communication in German. GERMAN 102 is for students who
have completed GERMAN 101 or the equivalent. Students earn two General Education Points
for Basic Communication in a Second Language and one General Education Point for Cultures
and Diversity. German language study is taught in its cultural context, including history, culture,
diversity, and comparison with students’ native culture. Practice in language laboratory and / or
use of electronic language-learning media is required. Students must have passed GERMAN 101
or the equivalent in order to enroll in GERMAN 102. GERMAN 102 is offered every semester.
9. Content Outline:
GERMAN 102 is structured according to cultural topics appropriate for this level. Topics may
include cuisine and dining rituals, contemporary gender issues, urban life, geography,
environmental issues, health care, travel in German-speaking countries, holiday customs,
education, and limited historical topics. Specific skills in language production (speaking and
writing), reading, listening comprehension are presented and developed with each topic.
Reading ability develops more quickly than speaking and writing, which allows exposure to more
sophisticated topics in German before students are able to speak or write above the
rudimentary level. However, students will not be able to produce spontaneously the new
information and skills they learn in structured lessons. A course plan could include, but is not
limited to the following:
Topic
Hotels and
Transportation
Food and Dining
Skills
asking questions to get information and
describing travel plans
compare regional cuisine, give advice and
New Structures
interrogative forms, separable
prefixes of verbs
imperative forms,
recommendations, describe foods and
one’s dietary habits and preferences.
Gender Issues
describe gender roles and stereotypes,
basic interpersonal relationships, statistics.
Sports
personal participation in athletic and other
leisure activities; national and international
sports.
Nature and the
Environment
describe processes related to personal and
household consumption and disposal;
basic concepts of environmental issues;
introduction to stating and supporting
opinions.
Multiculturalism
talking about nationalities, ethnicities, sites
of cultural encounters (music, cuisine,
rituals, dress, etc.).
History
relating past events (introduction)
comparatives and superlatives
of adjectives; review of
adjective endings
using conjunctions, especially
showing causes and
consequences.
idiomatic verbal collocations
with prepositions, substantive
verbs, connecting sentences
to show sequence of events.
further expressions related to
cause and effect; introduction
to relative clauses; concessive
and adversative constructions
(conjunctions although, while,
nevertheless etc.).
genitive prepositions;
temporal conjunctions (since,
until, before); using
participles as adjectives.
Introduction to using preterit
verb forms; compare with
present perfect tense. Time
expressions related to past
tense.
10. Methods:
a. During class sessions students spend most of the time on a variety of activities to exercise
spoken German, often working in small groups or pairs in order to maximize time spent on
speaking. Spoken German may also include voice recordings and on-line interactive speaking
exercises. Most activities focus on writing, reading, and listening comprehension will take
place outside class sessions. Activities in class sessions and outside class sessions may
require use of electronic media; the language laboratory will be available to facilitate
activities using media. Homework assignments will also include a variety of writing
assignments, texts, resources from the library, and realia (authentic objects specific to
German-speaking culture).
b. Maximum suggested class size: 25. Teaching language requires intensive and often
immediate feedback and intensive interaction among students and between the instructor
and the student.
c. GERMAN 102 is offered every semester.
d. Activities outside class, such as participation in informal conversation groups or film
viewings, may be assigned.
e. Students may be awarded credit for co-curricular activities, such as participation in the
German Club.
f. Alternate assignments may be provided as out-of-class or co-curricular activities.
11. Student Learning Objectives:
By the end of GERMAN 102, students attain a minimal ability to communicate in German in
speaking, writing, listening and reading. Students learn language skills on the basis of
selected cultural topics. Objectives are based on the Novice-High level of proficiency as
described in the standards of the American Council for the Teaching of Foreign Language
(ACTFL).
Student Learning Objective
Gen. Ed. Goal
associated
with GEPS
Second
Language
11a. To manage successfully a number of
uncomplicated communicative tasks in
straightforward social situations; speak and on topics
necessary for survival in the target language culture,
such as basic personal information, basic objects and
a limited number of activities, preferences and
immediate needs; respond to simple, direct
questions or requests for information; are generally
understood by sympathetic interlocutors used to
non-natives.
11b. To understand and communicate basic
Cultures and
information pertaining to the cultures of the
Diversity
German-speaking world and compare those cultures
with their own.
Related VALUE
Rubric Elements
Intercultural
Knowledge and
Competence: Skills
(Verbal and NonVerbal
Communication)
Intercultural
Knowledge and
Competence:
Knowledge, Skills
(Empathy),
Attitudes
(Curiosity,
Openness)
Intercultural
Knowledge and
Competence: Skills
(Verbal and NonVerbal
Communication)
11c. To meet limited basic practical writing needs
using lists, short messages, postcards, and simple
notes, and express themselves within the context in
which the language was learned, relying mainly on
practiced material. Spontaneous writing is generally
writer-centered and is focused on common, discrete
elements of daily life.
11d. To read for instructional purposes (graded
reading from textbooks, for example), comprehend
standardized messages, phrases, or expressions,
such as some items on menus, schedules,
timetables, maps, and signs. Some material at a
slightly higher level is understood where the topic is
already familiar to the student.
Second
Language
Second
Language
Intercultural
Knowledge and
Competence: Skills
(Verbal and NonVerbal
Communication)
11e. To understand short, learned utterances and
Second
Language
Intercultural
Knowledge and
Competence: Skills
some sentence-length utterances, particularly where
context strongly supports understanding and speech
is clearly audible. They comprehend words and
phrases from simple questions, statements, highfrequency commands, and courtesy formulae. They
still often require repetition, rephrasing, and/or a
slowed rate of speech for comprehension.
(Verbal and NonVerbal
Communication)
The ability to accomplish in German most if not all of the communicative tasks identified under
Course Content constitutes ACTFL proficiency at the novice-high level (see attached ACTFL
Novice-High Proficiency Rubric) and is deemed by the department to constitute basic
communication in a second language. These competencies also align with the VALUE Rubric
Intercultural Knowledge and Competence (attached) inasmuch as students will be able to
meaningfully engage culturally different others, as referenced in the Skills: verbal and nonverbal
communication Element, and to articulate, recognize and participate in cultural differences in
verbal communication (German and English), as well as nonverbal communication, and
negotiate a shared understanding based on those differences. These combined ACTFL and
VALUE Rubric competencies warrant the awarding of 2 GEPs toward, and the satisfaction of,
General Education Goal 8, Second Language.
Successful completion of GERMAN 102 will also lead students to recognize new perspectives
about their own cultural rules and biases, and to demonstrate understanding of the complexity
of elements important to members of another culture in relation to its beliefs and practices
(Intercultural Knowledge and Competence: Knowledge). Students will demonstrate an ability to
identify their own cultural patterns, compare and contrast them with others, and adapt
empathically and flexibly to unfamiliar ways of being. They will be able to initiate and develop
interactions with culturally different others; they will learn to suspend judgment in valuing
interactions with culturally different others (Skills: Attitudes/Openness), to recognize intellectual
and emotional dimensions of more than one worldview (Skills: Empathy), and to ask deeper
questions about other cultures and seek out answers to these questions (Skills:
Attitudes/Curiosity). These competencies warrant the awarding of 1 GEP toward the General
Education Goal 4, Cultures and Diversity.
12. Student Assessment: Assessment instruments may include the following:
1. 11a: Individual interviews twice during the semester; recorded oral presentations;
structured dialogues during class and through electronic communication; oral responses to
reading assignments; quizzes with speaking component.
2. 11b: Tests and the final exam based on cultural topics; possible individualized projects on a
selected cultural topic; assignments for speaking, writing, listening and reading all based on
cultural topics; quizzes based on cultural topics.
3. 11c: Regular written homework assignments; written tests during the semester and written
final exam; electronic writing assignments such as blogs; composing dialogue for speaking
assignment; quizzes with writing component.
4. 11d: Reading: Structured readings edited for this level with content questions and other
written and oral responses to the content; tests and final exam contain reading sections;
quizzes with reading component.
5. 11e: Listening sections on tests and on the final; two oral interviews that also evaluate
listening comprehension; recorded audio and visual material with structured listening
comprehension exercises; quizzes with listening component.
13. Evaluation of Individual Student Performance:
The following second language communication skills will be evaluated, through the monitoring
of conversations, oral interviews, reading comprehension, quizzes and exams, written
homework, Internet activities, and special projects according to an established rubric and
assigned an appropriately weighted grade. (The components may be modified according to the
pedagogical methods of individual instructors.)
 Conversational skills (speaking / listening)
 Writing skills
 Reading skills
 Cultural awareness
14. Course Assessment:
GERMAN 102 is designed both to support the department’s program goals and established
student learning objectives and to enhance the university’s General Education program. The
assessment data gathered from the course (see 12, above), as well as the tools used to gather
the data, will be reviewed at appropriate intervals both by the department Assessment
Committee and the department General Education Assessment Committee to verify the extent
to which student learning outcomes are being achieved. Modifications to the course will be
made accordingly.
15. Supporting Materials and References:
(Items marked with an asterisk * are available in the Andruss Library.)
Briggs, Jeanine and Beate Engel-Doyle. Alles in Allem: An Intermediate German Course. New
York: Mcgraw-Hill, 1994.
Daves-Schneider, Linda. Auf Deutsch III. Evanston: McDougal Littell, 2001.
Delia, Rosemary Delia, Anke Finger, and Daniela Dosch Fritz. Fokus Deutsch, Intermediate
German. New York: McGraw Hill, 2000.
DiDonato, Robert, Monica Clyde, and Jacqueline Vansant. Deutsch Na klar!. Fifth Ed. New York:
McGraw-Hill, 2011.
Moeller, Jack, Winnifred R. Adolph, Barbara Mabee, and Simone Berger. Kaleidoskop Kultur,
Literatur und Grammatik. Sixth Ed. Boston: Heinle, 2001.
Motyl-Mudretzkyj, Irene and Michaela Späinghaus. Anders gedacht: Text and Context in the
German-Speaking World. Boston: Heinle, 2004.
Rankin, Jamie and Larry Wells. Handbuch zur deutschen Grammatik: Wiederholen und
anwenden. Fourth Ed. Boston: Heinle, 2003.
Teichert, Herman U. and Gabriele Hahn. Allerlei Zum Besprechen. Boston: Houghton Mifflin,
1997.
16. Prototype Text:
Lemcke, Christiane. Berliner Platz 3 neu. Berlin and Munich: Langenscheidt, 2011.
ADDENDUM
ACTFL Novice-High Proficiency Rubric
To manage successfully--always (4), mostly (3), occasionally (2) never (1)--a limited number of
uncomplicated communicative tasks by creating with the language in straightforward social
situations. Conversation topics relate to basic personal information covering, for example:
_____ basic personal information
_____ basic objects
_____ limited number of activities
_____ respond to simple, direct questions or requests for information
_____ understand and communicate basic information about culture
_____ writing lists, short messages, postcards, and simple notes
_____ comprehend standardized messages, phrases, or expressions
INTERCULTURAL KNOWLEDGE AND COMPETENCE VALUE RUBRIC
for more information, please contact value@aacu.org
Definition
Intercultural Knowledge and Competence is "a set of cognitive, affective, and behavioral skills and characteristics that support
effective and appropriate interaction in a variety of cultural contexts.” (Bennett, J. M. 2008. Transformative training: Designing
programs for culture learning. In Contemporary leadership and intercultural competence: Understanding and utilizing cultural
diversity to build successful organizations, ed. M. A. Moodian, 95-110. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.)
Evaluators are encouraged to assign a zero to any work sample or collection of work that does not meet benchmark (cell one) level
performance.
Capstone
4
Knowledge
Cultural selfawareness
Knowledge
Knowledge of
cultural worldview
frameworks
Skills
Empathy
Skills
Verbal and
nonverbal
communication
Attitudes
Curiosity
Articulates insights into
own cultural rules and
biases (e.g. seeking
complexity; aware of
how her/his experiences
have shaped these rules,
and how to recognize
and respond to cultural
biases, resulting in a shift
in self-description.)
Demonstrates
sophisticated
understanding of the
complexity of elements
important to members
of another culture in
relation to its history,
values, politics,
communication styles,
economy, or beliefs and
practices.
Interprets intercultural
experience from the
perspectives of own and
more than one
worldview and
demonstrates ability to
act in a supportive
manner that recognizes
the feelings of another
cultural group.
Articulates a complex
understanding of
cultural differences in
verbal and nonverbal
communication (e.g.,
demonstrates
understanding of the
degree to which people
use physical contact
while communicating in
different cultures or use
direct/indirect and
explicit/implicit
meanings) and is able to
skillfully negotiate a
shared understanding
based on those
differences.
Asks complex questions
about other cultures,
Milestones
3
Recognizes new
perspectives about own
cultural rules and biases
(e.g. not looking for
sameness; comfortable
with the complexities
that new perspectives
offer.)
2
Identifies own cultural
rules and biases (e.g. with
a strong preference for
those rules shared with
own cultural group and
seeks the same in
others.)
Benchmark
1
Shows minimal
awareness of own
cultural rules and biases
(even those shared with
own cultural group(s))
(e.g. uncomfortable
with identifying
possible cultural
differences with
others.)
Demonstrates surface
understanding of the
complexity of elements
important to members
of another culture in
relation to its history,
values, politics,
communication styles,
economy, or beliefs and
practices.
Demonstrates adequate
understanding of the
complexity of elements
important to members
of another culture in
relation to its history,
values, politics,
communication styles,
economy, or beliefs and
practices.
Demonstrates partial
understanding of the
complexity of elements
important to members of
another culture in
relation to its history,
values, politics,
communication styles,
economy, or beliefs and
practices.
Recognizes intellectual
and emotional
dimensions of more
than one worldview and
sometimes uses more
than one worldview in
interactions.
Identifies components of
other cultural
perspectives but
responds in all situations
with own worldview.
Views the experience of
others but does so
through own cultural
worldview.
Recognizes and
participates in cultural
differences in verbal and
nonverbal
communication and
begins to negotiate a
shared understanding
based on those
differences.
Identifies some cultural
differences in verbal and
nonverbal
communication and is
aware that
misunderstandings can
occur based on those
differences but is still
unable to negotiate a
shared understanding.
Has a minimal level of
understanding of
cultural differences in
verbal and nonverbal
communication; is
unable to negotiate a
shared understanding.
Asks deeper questions
about other cultures
Asks simple or surface
questions about other
States minimal interest
in learning more about
Attitudes
Openness
seeks out and articulates
answers to these
questions that reflect
multiple cultural
perspectives.
Initiates and develops
interactions with
culturally different
others. Suspends
judgment in valuing
her/his interactions with
culturally different
others.
and seeks out answers
to these questions.
cultures.
other cultures.
Begins to initiate and
develop interactions
with culturally different
others. Begins to
suspend judgment in
valuing her/his
interactions with
culturally different
others.
Expresses openness to
most, if not all,
interactions with
culturally different
others. Has difficulty
suspending any judgment
in her/his interactions
with culturally different
others, and is aware of
own judgment and
expresses a willingness to
change.
Receptive to interacting
with culturally different
others. Has difficulty
suspending any
judgment in her/his
interactions with
culturally different
others, but is unaware
of own judgment.