Introduction: German Level I: First Semester
Overview and Objectives
Guten Tag, meine Damen und Herren! Hoffentlich sind Sie begeistert, Deutsch zu lernen!
German 11G is a beginning-level German course. It is equivalent to a first-semester, first-year, traditional high school course. If you are taking this course, you probably have not had any formal education in German (so don’t be concerned if you didn’t understand the first paragraph).
By the end of this course, you will be able to read, understand, and use basic German vocabulary in simple, controlled situations. You will develop reading and listening comprehension strategies and will practice discovering grammar rules for yourself. You will work with various tools to help you learn German. In general, you will build a basic foundation of German and of strategies for continuing your study of German.
More specifically, by the end of this course you should be able to ask questions about people and things, greet someone, give basic personal information about yourself and others, inquire about and identify objects, ask and give information about school, ask and give information about size and time, express likes and dislikes, describe a pet, compare what someone likes, express what you like to do in your free time, and make plans with someone. In addition, you will acquire basic pronunciation and spelling skills.
You’ll learn the five Cs of language education—communication, culture, connections, comparisons, and communities—through this course guide and the textbook, Geni@l A1. You’ll read authentic materials, complete assignments, listen to native German speakers on CD, practice speaking German, and think about the role of German in the global community.
One of the most wonderful things about learning a foreign language is broadening your cultural perspective. It’s rewarding to recognize something you’ve recently learned in your everyday life. Keep your eyes and ears open, as there is often more German news and culture around you than you think. Look in newspapers, magazines, at the video store, on TV, and on the Internet. You can catch German news through Scola, and you can hear German news broadcast daily on Deutsche Welle. You’ll be surprised, once you start looking, at how many connections you find to the German-speaking world!
