Willkommen...to the German 1-2 page. Below you will find the syllabus for the course and under the heading Deutsch 1-2 on the left column, you will find information related to each chapter of the Sabine und Michael curriculum.
Objectives:
To introduce you to the German language and culture.
To provide you instruction for your own personal development of a basic working knowledge of German.
To provide you an opportunity to practice and improve German speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills.
To instill in you an appreciation for German language and culture that lasts beyond this course.
Students will learn through the use of the TPRS method (Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling). Emphasis will be placed on listening, reading, and writing, which will in turn build confidence in speaking. Classes will conducted in as much German as possible with nearly daily homework being assigned to compliment that oral practice.
Curriculum:
You will be issued a copy of Deutsch Aktuell 1 (blue) by the bookstore. This text is excellent source as a vocabulary/grammar resource, but will seldom be used during class time. Keep it at home or in a place where you can readily find it when doing your homework. We will be using the materials titled Sabine und Michael, which use storytelling to teach vocabulary and grammar. We will complete most of the Level 1 materials and will complete two units per semester. The chapters will be supplemented with short oral projects (dialogues, skits, or individual oral presentations) and writing assignments. Throughout the course of the semester, we will also read short stories about the adventures of Hilde und Günter, which is a supplementary reader written by the text’s author, Michael Miller. The chapters in this reader are designed to be read with each list of vocabulary in the text. On average of once per week, students will be asked to write about a specific topic appropriate to the current vocabulary being taught. Students will complete these entries during class within a given time frame, or they may complete these entries as homework assignments.
Assessments:
Students are quizzed roughly every four days over the vocabulary given in each of the eight lists in each chapter. These quizzes are provided by the text’s author and are worth between 20 and 28 points each. At the end of each chapter, the students are assessed with a chapter test. Again, these tests are provided by the text’s author and are worth roughly 100 points each. Before assessing the students with the chapter test, students are also required to prepare and perform a role play which embodies the elements of that chapter. They have the choice to perform the role play live, using only pictures instead of a script, or via video. This assignment will be worth a total of 75 points. At the end of each semester, students are given a final exam which is created by the classroom teacher. Each exam is comprehensive and covers the material taught throughout that semester. Semester exams are worth between 100 and 150 points.
Extras:
Throughout the course of the semester, we will also read short stories about the adventures of Hilde und Günter, which is a supplementary reader written by the text’s author, Michael Miller. The chapters in this reader are designed to be read with each list of vocabulary in the text, beginning in Chapter 2. Students will also be required to have a notebook that is dedicated to writing journal entries. On average once per week, students will be asked to write about a specific topic appropriate to the current vocabulary being taught. Students will complete these entries during class within a given time frame, or they may complete these entries as homework assignments.
Bonus Points may be earned through participation in selected German Club activities and field trips conducted throughout the semester. Membership in the German Club is recommended. Extra credit assignments may be assigned throughout the year at teachers’ discretion.
Homework will be checked for completion for a total of 5-10 points per assignment. Occasionally, I may collect a worksheet to grade for accuracy. However, it is your responsibility to do every assignment with the greatest degree of accuracy of which you are capable if you expect to master the material and not fall behind the rest of the class.
Late Work: No credit will be given for assignments which are not completed on the day for which they were assigned, assuming that you were present both on the day the assignments were made and on the day on which they were checked or completed.
Make Up Work: It is your responsibility to see me about completing work you missed when absent. Failure to make arrangements with me for the completion of this work will result in your receiving a zero on the involved assignments. Tests and quizzes are typically announced 2-3 days in advance of assignment. Absent students, who were aware of, and had had the advance notification of the test or quiz, and also possess the required work, will be expected to take the test/quiz on the day of their returning to school.
Grading Scale:
A 90-100
B 80-89
C 70-79
D 60-69
F 59 and below
Required Supplies:
One 3-ring notebook/binder (at least one inch) which is strictly devoted to German.
Loose-leaf notebook paper which can be turned in without the mess of spiral notebook dandruff.
Blue or Black pens.
BTHSE agenda book.
Suggested Supplies:
o German-English dictionary
o 2-3 packages of index cards for creating flashcards during or outside of class
o 501 German Verbs (Book which can be purchased at Barnes and Noble)
Rules:
1. Be at school every day, come to class on time, dressed according to code, wearing an ID, and fully prepared for class (materials in order—including a 3-ring binder, homework completed).
2. Behave in a respectful manner towards the instructor, your classmates, and others with whom you interact within this classroom and in the corridor adjacent to this classroom.
3. Do your own independent work on each assignment, quiz, or test to the best of your ability.
4. Students will only be allowed to leave the classroom with the proper BTHSE agenda book.
5. Be prepared to use the German language as much as possible in this class, including in your social time, as you are chatting with classmates.
Consequences: I reserve the right to assign the following consequences in any order which most accurately fits the behavior displayed by the student in any classroom disciplinary situation.
o Relocation of seat within the classroom
o Reflection assignments
o Removal from classroom to outer hallway with class work
o Phone call home to Parents or Guardians
o Removal from class with pink slip to Assistant Principal’s office.
Unit 1: Classic TPR (Total Physical Response). Students will learn a variety of vocabulary,
including basic greetings and farewells, items in the classroom, body parts, clothing, animals, colors, numbers, and geography, as well as a number of verbs and prepositions. Students will learn and perform commands, and act out stories read by the teacher or another student. Quizzes will be given on average once per week to assess student learning, and a test will follow at the conclusion of the chapter.
IL Foreign Language Standards Met: 28.A.1a; 28.A.1b; 28.B.1a; 28.B.1b; 28.D.1a
29.A.1; 29.E.1; 30.A.1a; 30.A.1b; 30.A.1c
Unit 2: TPR Storytelling. Students will learn a variety of greetings and farewells, as well as…
Content: formal vs. informal modes of address, numbers to 100, Q&A for “How old are you?”, Q&A for “How are you?”, Q&A for “Where do you live?”, telling time
Grammar: the verb sein (= to be), conjugating verbs
IL Foreign Language Standards Met: 28.A.1a; 28.A.1b; 28.A.2a; 28.B.1a; 28.B.1b;
28.B.2b; 28.C.1a; 28.C1b; 28.C.2a; 28.C.2b; 28.D.1a; 29.A.1
30.A.1b; 30.A.1c
Unit 3: TPR Storytelling. (Lists covered are G-3-1 through G-3-3). Students will learn a variety
of words to identify family members, as well as…
Content: adjectives to describe people, seasons (Fall and Winter), months (September
through February), weather, December holidays
Grammar: kein, plurals, comparative, gern, compound nouns, ordinal numbers with
dates, separable prefix verbs, adverbs of time (gestern, heute, jetzt), verb in 2nd position,
verb conjugations
IL Foreign Language Standards Met: 28.A.1a; 28.A.1b; 28.A.2a; 28.B.1a; 28.B.1b;
28.B.2b; 28.B. 3b; 28.C.1a; 28.C1b; 28.C.2a; 28.C.2b; 28.D.1a; 28.D. 2a
30.A.1c
Extras: Before continuing with Unit 3, students learn how to properly conjugate a verb. A basic conjugation chart is given to practice this concept with regular verbs. A quiz is given at the conclusion of this grammar topic.
Students also learn a bit of Germany’s geography before continuing with Unit 3. Students learn where German is located in Europe, which countries border on Germany, in which countries German is spoken, and where major cities are located in Germany. The cultural reading that is used to provide students with this information is the Land und Leute reading, taken from Chapter 4 of the
Deutsch Aktuell 1 text (4th edition).
IL Foreign Language Standards Met: 28.A.1a; 28.B.1a; 28.B.1b; 28.B.2a; 28.D.1a
29.E.1; 29.E.2
Unit 3: TPR Storytelling. (Lists covered are G-3-4 through G-3-8.) Students continue to learn
vocabulary to talk about their families, including …
Content: seasons (Spring and Summer), months (March through August), weather,
celebrating birthdays, writing dates, talking on the phone, marriage customs
Grammar: kein, plurals, comparative, gern, compound nouns, ordinal numbers with
dates, separable prefix verbs, adverbs of time, verb in 2nd position, verb conjugations
IL Foreign Language Standards Met: 28.A.1a; 28.A.1b; 28.A.2a; 28.B.1a; 28.B.1b;
28.B.2b; 28.B. 3b; 28.C.1a; 28.C1b; 28.C.2a; 28.C.2b; 28.D.1a; 28.D. 2a; 30.A.1c
Unit 4: TPR Storytelling. Students will learn a variety of words about school, including…
Content: objects in the classroom, school subjects, German education system, adjectives
to describe classes, days of the week, telling time with 24-hour clock, musical
instruments, “favorites,” understanding German report cards, emotions
Grammar: possessive adjectives, giving commands, verb conjugations, nominative and
accusative cases with classroom objects (der, die, das, den, as well as ein, eine, einen)
IL Foreign Language Standards Met: 28.A.1a; 28.A.1b; 28.A.2a; 28.B.1a; 28.B.1b;
28.B.2b; 28.B. 3b; 28.C.1a; 28.C1b; 28.C.2a; 28.C.2b; 28.D.1a; 28.D. 2a
Vocabulary units may also be supplemented with the German readers titled Arme Anne, Petra reist nach Kalifornien, and Fast stirbt er.