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GER 2020, Fall 2009
M,W 9:35-11:25
446 Manoogian
Textbook:
*Moeller et al, Kaleidoskop: Kultur, Literatur und Grammatik, 7th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2007. (available in bookstore)
Films:
*Goodbye Lenin (film--on reserve in FTLC and UGL)
*Jenseits der Stille (film--on reserve in FTLC and UGL)
(Many German films are available for online purchase at facets).
Other Materials:
*Blickpunkte I and II (available online through Blackboard)
*Course Handouts (available online through Blackboard)
*Three-ring binder for your course portfolio
You are also expected to own (this is most ideal) or to have ready access to a good (at least 300,000 entries) German-English, English-German dictionary such as: The Harper Collins German College Dictionary. 3rd ed. New York: HarperCollins, 1998 (available in on reserve in the Adamany Undergraduate Library).
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Course Description
German 2020 aims to continue the development of the four language skills (speaking, listening, writing, and reading) in a cultural context and to review and expand upon basic grammar skills covered in German 1010-2010. The course will be conducted in German. Our primary resource is the textbook Kaleidoskop, which is divided into two sections. The first section presents texts of a variety of textual genres, including interviews, newspaper articles, fairy tales, and short stories. Work with these will help you to develop reading, writing, and discussion skills. The second section is a comprehensive grammar review that will help you to improve the accuracy of your spoken and written German and enable you to read texts at increasingly higher levels. In addition to the textbook, we will view two films and work with Blickpunkte, an on-line collection of video interviews with native speakers related to topics we cover in class. These will help you to develop your listening skills while learning about contemporary Germany.
The prerequisite for this class is German 2010 or the equivalent. To insure that you are in the correct class, the German Area requires all students who did not take German 1010-2010 at Wayne State to take a placement test within the first two weeks of class.
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Participation and Attendance
Participation and attendance are required for all class sessions and are essential for your success in this class. You are expected to come to class prepared, to be actively involved in all class sessions, and to speak German at all times. This is important both because active participation will help you to succeed in the course and because this course requires group effort. The better prepared each of you is individually, the more quickly and thoroughly we will cover the material, and the more time we will have for creative review and practice. Please bring your textbook and portfolio with you to all classes and be ready to begin the hour on time. You will receive a daily participation grade based on a scale of 5 (=on time, prepared, and actively participating auf Deutsch) to 0 (=absent).
If you must miss a class, you must inform me of this before class on that day (by email or telephone) for the absence to be excused. Absences are excused when due to illness, personal or family emergency, religious holidays recognized by Wayne State University, or official Wayne State University events. Make-up quizzes are possible only in the case of an excused absence.
Excessive tardiness and unexcused absences will affect your grade significantly: The first four unexcused absences will result in your final grade being lowered by one-third point (e.g., A- will become a B+); each additional unexcused absence will cause the final grade to be lowered by the same amount.
Departmental policy requires all cell phones and pagers to be turned off for the duration of the class period.
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Homework
To guarantee maximum use of our in-class time, grammar, reading, and writing assignments are to be prepared and completed before you come to class, as assigned on the syllabus. Our main purpose in class is to use German communicatively and creatively, and the homework is an essential means to this end. Keep in mind that the most successful language learners spend 2 hours on homework and review outside of class for every hour they spend in class. We will not always go over homework in class, but I will always give you an opportunity to ask questions about the homework. All written homework assignments are due and will be collected on the date indicated on the syllabus. They will be assigned a grade based on a scale of 10-0.
I will accept but not assign a grade to late homework assignments. If I see you completing the homework in class, you will receive a "0" for the assignment.
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WSU Blackboard
The WSU Blackboard system will be used to organize the materials for this course. Your WSU Access-ID and password will give you access to the Blackboard course page for this class.
- You will be expected to check your WSU email account (accessID@wayne.edu) on a regular basis. If you prefer to use a non-WSU account, please make sure to have your WSU email forwarded to it. You can do this at http://pipeline.wayne.edu. Your access ID number and password will also allow you to enter the Blackboard site for this course.
- You will find a link to this syllabus as well as to handouts for German 2020 on the course Blackboard page.
- Blackboard will allow you to check your course grade throughout the semester.
- Blackboard will be your source for announcements related to German-related activities on campus and in the Detroit area.
- As part of your homework assignments you will be expected to write (in German) to the Blackboard discussion board (Diskussionsplattform) at various times throughout the semester. This activity serves two purposes. As a pre-communication task it will allow you as a group to brainstorm about various topics and ideas. As a pre-writing activity it will give you the opportunity to write freely, to focus more on content than form (both will be important when you write your formal essays and exams!), and to begin to develop vocabulary fields for discussing specific topics. To receive credit, you must submit your contribution to the list before class as indicated on the syllabus. This will give all of us have an opportunity to review what you have written before our class begins.
- All writing assignments must be submitted via the Übungen link blackboard.
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Writing Assignments
Writing assignments are due on the day indicated on the syllabus and will be graded as a separate category from the rest of your homework. This is done both to acknowledge the particular effort that these assignments require and to emphasize the importance of developing facility in writing. The writing assignments will deal with topics covered in the course readings, the Blickpunkte activities, and the films you see. All writing assignments must be typed and double-spaced, using 1" margins and 12-point Times or Times New Roman font (see: Schreiben: Format under Nützliche Links) . They must be spell-checked and submitted electronically to the Digitale Dropbox.
You are required to write two drafts of your writing assignments. The first is worth 40% and the second is worth 60% of the total essay grade. Revisions are due one week after the original assignment is returned to you.
If you turn in a paper late for any reason other than an excused absence, I will take off 1/3 letter grade (3.3 points) for every day that it is late. I will not accept writing assignments later than two weeks after the deadline.
In the case of an excused absence, the paper is due the day you return to class. The above policy will apply after that date.
Due dates: Oct. 10 , Oct. 30 , Nov. 20 , Dec 11
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The quizzes in this class reflect the philosophy that learning a language is a cumulative process requiring continuous review. They will help you to see which skills you have mastered and which skills need additional practice. The best way to prepare for them is to do your homework and review previous material every day.
Beginning in Week 3, there will be a short (10-15 minute) quiz at the beginning of each class session to test the material from the previous week.
Vocabulary quizzes will be on Mondays at the beginning of the hour. They will cover the material from the vocabulary lists. Keep in mind that the best way to practice vocabulary so that you retain it is to practice it in context. To practice a noun, for example, you might want to try making sentences that use the noun in as many cases as possible (Der Tourist ist abenteuerlustig. Ich sehe den Touristen. Wir gehen mit dem Touristen an den Strand. Wo sind die Koffer des Touristen?) To practice a verb, you might create sentences that go through all of the conjugations and tenses. To practice an adjective, you could practice either using the comparative and superlative forms or making sentences using the adjective attributively (i.e. with adjective endings in different cases).
Grammar quizzes will be on Wednesdays at the beginning of each class hour. They will cover material from the grammar sections of Kaleidoskop and any related grammar activities we do in class. To prepare for these, you should go over grammar presentations in the book, handouts, and your homework assignments, as well as any other activities done in class, spending extra time on any exercises with which you had difficulty.
An unexcused absence from a quiz will result in a grade of zero on that quiz. If you are late, you will not be given extra time.
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The Midterm will be a 20-minute oral exam that will cover the topics of the first half of the course. You will be graded based on your understanding of the material, your comprehensibility, your fluency, your accuracy, and your ability to understand the questions posed to you. The midterms will be scheduled individually for a time outside of class during the week of November 2, 2009.
The Final will take place during the period allotted for our class's final exam on Friday, December 18th, from 8:00-11:30. It will consist of two parts:
*A 20-minute oral exam that will cover the topics of the second half of the course.
*An in-class essayTop
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To help you review material and see the progress you make over the course of the semester, you should keep all work for this course in a 3-ring notebook that is divided into 6 sections:
1)Syllabus and assignment lists for the four units of the class
2) Wortschatz: Vocabulary lists (available on line), organized chronologically. This section will help you prepare for vocabulary quizzes.
3)Themen: All h omework, handouts, and class notes and exercises related to the readings, films, and Blickpunkte assignments, i.e. to all of the cultural materials we cover. These should be organized chronologically according to the date on which they are completed. This section will help you prepare for oral exams.
4) Grammatik: Homework , handouts, and class notes and exercises related to grammar. These should be organized chronologically according to the date on which they are completed. This section will help you prepare for grammar quizzes.
5) Schreiben: Writing assignments and revisions, organized chronologically.
6) Quizzes: Vocabulary and grammar quizzes, organized chronologically
Please bring your portfolios with you to class. I will check them periodically, and I will collect and grade them at midterm and at the end of the semester. Grades will be based on organization and neatness, which are an indication that you are using your work as a study tool.
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This course aims to help you: