Mrs Susanne Muller-Menckens

AS-level or A-level, or equivalent skills and knowledge at the B1/B2 level of the Common European Reference Framework for Languages.

Participants should:

• demonstrate commitment to regular attendance, completion of homework and all assessments;
• dedicate at least two hours per week for coursework in addition to classes.

All participants must take the online aptitude test and gain permission of the tutor in the Needs Analysis Interview to take this course.

Course Aims:

• To enhance and expand previously acquired communicative skills. 
• To develop the ability to use German effectively for purposes of communication and comprehension in a variety of academic, social and work-related contexts. 
• To develop a high degree of linguistic independence and flexibility in German.
• To enable students to understand authentic newspaper texts and audio-visual contents related to political, social and economic issues in German-speaking countries. 
• To enable students to converse fluently about a range of topics with native speakers.  
• To enable students to express themselves in writing about a range of familiar topics related to political, social and economic issues.  
• To enable students to express standpoints and opinions related to topical debates in German-speaking countries and to argue about the pros and cons of possible actions. 
• To develop an advanced understanding of different structural aspects of the language (i.e. by using meta-language such as grammatical terms etc.).
• To bring students to level B2 CEFR.

COMMUNICATIVE CONTENT:

• Communicating about jobs and professional life in detail;
• Communicating about social, political and economic topics;
• Communicating about future plans;
• Expressing emotions and describing the behaviour of people; 
• Communicating about studies and research;
• Communicating about a variety of texts, e.g. literary, journalistic, academic etc.;
• Communicating about cultural and social events;  
• Expressing your opinion in discussions and arguments. 

Structural Content: Developing a communicative and contextual understanding of a range of grammatical structures encountered in authentic language:

• Syntax of compound and complex sentences, use of connectors, valency of verbs   
• Active and passive voice constructions in all tenses 
• Use of indirect speech, and the subjunctive 
• Participle constructions 
• Nominalization
• Use of modal verbs and modal verb alternatives 

16 hours of classes in the MT. 22 hours of classes in the LT. 2 hours of classes in the ST.

This is a 40 hour-course. Please refer to the LSE timetable for course teaching arrangements.

There is no set course book, but the tutor will provide a selection of print and audio-visual  material from  a variety of media sources. Students will also be able to make use of the online resources provided by the course Moodle site. Students might want to acquire the following printed resources recommended for the advanced study of German:

• Wolski, Werner (2012). Pons Kompaktwörterbuch Deutsch als Fremdsprache, Stuttgart: Klett Verlag
• Durrell, Martin et al. (2002) Essential German Grammar, London: Routledge

Continuous assessment (50%) in the MT and LT.
Oral examination (30%) and in class assessment (20%) in the LT.