World Languages Department

Essential Knowledge and Skills

Students in German IV Honors will build on the foundations of German III Honors. Students encounter authentic German materials from a variety of sources, e.g. Newspaper articles, advertisements, encyclopedia entries, popular music and cinema. Students will use these materials as an impulse for in-class discussions as well as for out of class writing. Students also review the structures of German in the context of the reading materials covered. Students will view authentic German-language films in the original without English subtitles.

Indicators of Student Learning

Upon the completion of this course, students will:

Oral Communication

• Discuss topics covered in the textbook, as well as outside sources brought in by teacher and students.

• Express their opinion in German on every-day topics

• Use the language such that a German-language speaker, who knows no English, can follow their arguments.

Listening Comprehension

• Follow dialogues and stories on tape of native speaker.

• Watch and comprehend German-language films.

• Attend and view video of German-language opera.

• Carry on longer conversations with native-German speakers.

Writing

• Write longer essays on their opinions of the topics we are covering.

• Compose summaries of in class videos and films.

• Criticize the literary works, films, etc. encountered in class.

• Take notes in German from what they hear in class, either from the teacher, audiotapes, or film.

Reading

• Read short stories and poems.

• Read a longer piece of fiction: a novella, a novel.

• Use and interpret various realia in German, e.g. timetables, menus, and advertisements.

• Find German websites and distinguish which apply to class projects.

Culture

• Understand German culture from the viewing of German-language cinema.

• Appreciate the role of opera in the German language.

Technology

• Readily access the Internet for required syllabus, classroom procedures, and project information, other online resources.

• Have the option of e-mailing assignments

• Contribute to the course blog

• Produce and share presentations using a LCD projector and/or Smartboard, along with all the proper audio and video connections.

Assessment

Upon the completion of this course, students will:

• Demonstrate competency in listening comprehension by responding appropriately to the teacher, fellow students, and classroom tapes.

• Demonstrate competency in speaking by carrying on a simple conversation on topics covered in class; by introducing themselves and others; by describing pictures and photographs in the classroom; by asking questions in class.

• Demonstrate competency in reading comprehension by following directions in the textbooks, answering questions on tests and quizzes; by summarizing what they have read in the textbook and other materials; by answering basic comprehension questions about these reading.

• Demonstrate competency in writing, by writing complete sentence answers to questions, by summarizing readings, and composing short essays on chapter topics.

• Demonstrate competency in cultural differences by expressing differences in German and American customs and attitudes as simply “different” and not “better or worse.”