Advanced German Language B

Description

The course aims at the extension of vocabulary and structures of a higher stylistic level. Students will acquire skills in all four areas of the language (reading, writing, speaking and listening). Dictation will be practiced in order to improve students listening and spelling skills. This second semester course, in particular, prepares for the format of the KDS, the advanced language certificate of the Goethe Institute.*

Students will extend the advanced reading skills acquired in GRMN 310 by reading two average length German fictional books**.  Students will practice writing intensively and should be able to write essays and give presentations on topics taken from these fictional books and on selected scientific and cultural topics. The average student will be able to argue on abstract topics in a coherent and understandable way. Students’ listening comprehension should reach a level where they can understand debates, interviews, TV recordings, etc. on academic and cultural issues. As in GRMN 310 the more in depth grammar revisions focus on  transformation exercises. Students should demonstrate their familiarity with  various structures and idiomatic expressions which occur mainly in the formal and written language.

*The KDS (Kleines Deutsches Sprachdiplom) is the C2 level of the internationally recognised language proficiency examinations of the Goethe Institute. Students can sit this optional examination in addition to the regular assessment of the course.

** Note that the books will be selected from the reading list given out at the beginning of the year by the Goethe Institute for the preparation of the KDS.