Course Offerings - Fall Term 2019-2020 | Department of German

Beginning and Intermediate Language Courses:

German 0101 - Beginning German 1

This is an elementary language course for students who have not previously studied any German. In this course, you will learn important basic communicative skills, e.g. how to greet people, how to talk about yourself, your hobbies and interests, your schedule and housing situation, how to read and respond to a short email from a friend, and more. You will also learn about the culture in the German-speaking countries, e.g. about food, and public transportation. During class, the focus will be on communicative activities that help you practice the new vocabulary and grammatical structures you are learning. Homework will consist of writing, reading, listening, and speaking activities, as well as grammar exercises. You will also work on a project that will give you the chance to show off your newly acquired skills in a creative way. Students will be working towards the A1-level of the Common European Framework of Reference. Students should plan to take GER 0102 during the following semester.

Section 1040 - MoWeFr 09:00AM-09:50AM Instructor: Staff

Section 1010 - MoWeFr 10:00AM-10:50AM Instructor: Ulrike Malandro, M.A.

Section 1030 - MoWeFr 12:00PM-12:50PM Instructor: Ulrike Malandro, M.A.

Section 1050 - MoWeFr 12:00PM-12:50PM Instructor: Staff

Section 1020 - MoWeFr 1:00PM-1:50PM Instructor: Ulrike Malandro, M.A.

German 0102 - Beginning German 2

This course is for students who have successfully completed GER 0101, or who have placed into the course on the basis of the department placement test. In this course, you will continue to learn important basic communicative skills, e.g. how to talk about your work and your health, what to say when you want to buy clothes, how to write a restaurant review, and more. You will also learn about the culture in the German-speaking countries, e.g. about the school system in Germany, and what makes Berlin such an interesting city. During class, the focus will be on communicative activities that help you practice the new vocabulary and grammatical structures you are learning. Homework will consist of writing, reading, listening, and speaking activities, as well as grammar exercises. Just as in GER 101, you will also work on a project that will give you the chance to show off your newly acquired skills in a creative way. Successful students will reach A1-level and begin working towards the A2-level of the Common European Framework of Reference.

Section 1010 - MoWeFr 10:00AM-10:50AM Instructor: Dr. Jaclyn Kurash

Section 1020 - MoWeFr 1:00PM-1:50PM Instructor: Dr. Anita Lukic

German 0103 - Beginning German 3

This course is for students who have successfully completed GER 0102, or who have placed into the course on the basis of the department placement test. In this course, you will continue to learn important basic communicative skills, e.g. how to make a professional phone call, describe a picture, or make plans with friends. You will also learn about the culture in the German-speaking countries, e.g. about traditional customs like the “Walz”, and German soccer fans. During class, the focus will be on communicative activities that help you practice the new vocabulary and grammatical structures you are learning. Homework will consist of writing, reading, listening, and speaking activities, as well as grammar exercises. Just as in GER 102 and 103, you will also work on a project that will give you the chance to show off your newly acquired skills in a creative way. Students will be working towards the A2-level of the Common European Framework of Reference. Students should plan to sign up for GER 201 in the following semester.

Section 1010 - MoWeFr 10:00AM-10:50AM Instructor: Dr. Viktoria Harms

Section 1020 - MoWeFr 11:00AM-11:50AM Instructor: Dr. Viktoria Harms

German 0202 - Intermediate German 2

This course is for students who have successfully completed GER 0201, or who have placed into the course on the basis of the department placement test. In this course, students continue to develop their German language skills and learn about a variety of cultural topics and themes, from famous artists to “Umweltschutz”. Building on the grammar they have learnt in previous semesters and expanding their vocabulary, students grow their reading, speaking, writing and listening skills as they continue to work with the German textbook Netzwerk. The course emphasizes meaningful communication and comprehension, and it is held in German. In order to succeed in this course, active and dedicated participation in the classroom, careful completion of all homework assignments, as well as independent study will be necessary. Students will be working towards the B1-level of the Common European Framework of Reference. This course satisfies the following General Education Requirements: Specific Geographic Region.

Section 1010 - MoWeFr 11:00AM-11:50AM Instructor: Dr. Sabine von Dirke

German 0203 - Intensive Intermediate German 1

This course is for students who have successfully completed German 0002 or 0102 or who have placed into the course on the basis of the department placement test. Building on the grammar they have learnt in previous semesters and expanding their vocabulary, students grow their reading, speaking, writing and listening skills as they continue to work with the German textbook Netzwerk and read an adapted version of Inge Scholl’s Die Weiße Rose. This is an intensive course that meets five times a week, and students will be thus be able to move on quickly from the development of basic communication skills to more in-depth spoken and written discussions of German-speaking culture. Class periods consist largely of communicative activities designed to strengthen grammatical knowledge and broaden and deepen students' vocabulary. In order to succeed in this course, active and dedicated participation in the classroom, careful completion of all homework assignments, as well as independent study will be necessary. Students will be working towards the B1-level of the Common European Framework of Reference. Students should plan to sign up for GER 0204 the following semester. This course satisfies the following General Education Requirements: Specific Geographic Region.

Section 1010 - MoTuWeThFr 12:00PM-12:50PM Instructor: Dr. Benjamin Brand

Upper-Level Courses in German:

German 1000 – Reading Literary Texts

This course aims to strengthen your reading skills in German by introducing you to a variety of genres and writing styles, from the eighteenth to the twenty-first century. You will have the opportunity to work on your extensive and intensive readings skills, as you acquire new strategies for identifying generic conventions, differentiating between literal and figurative language, and parsing grammatically complex sentences. PREQ: German 202, 204, or 4, or equivalent course, or test score.

Section 1050 - MoWe 4:30PM-5:45PM Instructor: Dr. Anita Lukic

German 1003 - Professional German

This is an advanced language acquisition course and aims to familiarize students with specialized vocabulary and practices of German-speaking countries in professional environments of such areas as communications, advertisement, international trade, engineering, and law. The course will focus on oral and aural proficiency, appropriate written discourse and reading. The course integrates economic geography the legal and political system of German-speaking countries. PREQ: German 202, 204, or 4, or equivalent placement test score. This course satisfies the following General Education Requirements: Writing.

Section 1160 - TuTh 4:00PM-5:15PM Instructor: Dieter Waeltermann

German 1005 – German Media

In this course, students will strengthen their knowledge of existing grammatical structures and will examine the specific aspects of daily life in Germany via contemporary electronic and print genres. The latter will include online articles and hard copy news sources and a range of daily and weekly news sources. Class discussions, debates, oral reports, and short written assignments will also be based on topics derived from current podcasts, social networking sites, television advertisements and online series, and from new documentary and feature films. PREQ: German 202, 204, or 4, or equivalent placement test score. This course satisfies the following General Education Requirements: Creative Work.

Section 1020 - MoWeFr 09:00AM-09:50AM Instructor: Dr. Sabine von Dirke

German 1106 – German Cultural History

This course introduces students to major developments and figures in European cultural history from the German tribes to the enlightenment (CA. 750 AD to 1785). It weaves together texts and artifacts from the time period covered and current print as well as audio-visual materials in order to analyze how past cultural history informs German and European collective identity today. This course will be conducted entirely in German. PREQ: Any 1000-level German class. This course satisfies the following General Education Requirements: Literature.

Section 1100 - TuTh 2:30PM-3:45PM Instructor: Dr. Amy Colin

German 1324 – Seminar: Creativity (Special Topics in German Prose)

What is creativity? Is it imitation or inspiration? The product of individual genius or of context and collaboration? How is creativity influenced by history, technology, and politics? How do race and gender influence our perception of it? This course will address these and related questions by surveying a variety of prose-texts and films in German from the 18th to the 21st centuries. Readings and films will include works by Friedrich Schlegel, E.T. A. Hoffmann, Friedrich Nietzsche, Thomas Mann, Walter Benjamin, Helke Sander, and Natasha Kelly. This course is intended for junior- and senior-level students in German and counts towards the major, certificate, and minor in German. All readings, films, discussions, and assignments will be in German.

Prerequisite: At least one course at the 1100-level.

Section 1010 - TuTh 09:30AM-10:45AM Instructor: Dr. John Lyon

German 1399 – Senior Capstone Seminar

This course is required for senior German majors. The specific focus of the seminar this year is “Creativity,” and will be offered in conjunction with GER 1324, “Special Topics in German Prose: Creativity.” Capstone students will be expected to do the reading assignments for GER 1324, but the written assignments will be modified so that they can focus primarily on their Capstone projects. The capstone projects require students to write an independently-researched senior thesis and make a presentation on it. The topic should be drawn from students’ own interests but relate somehow to the topic of creativity.

Pre-requisite: At least one course at the 1100-level.

Section 1060 - TuTh 09:30AM-10:45AM Instructor: Dr. John Lyon

Courses in English:

German 1502 - Indo-European Folktales

This course introduces students to both a wide selection of Indo-European folktales as well as numerous perspectives from which to understand these folktales. We will examine the aesthetic, social, historical, and psychological values that these tales reflect. In addition, we will discuss significant theoretical and methodological paradigms in the field of folklore studies, including structural, socio-historical, psychoanalytic, and feminist perspectives. Finally, we will analyze the continuing influence of this folk tradition on popular and high culture of our time. Upon completion of this course, the students should be familiar with a wide variety of Indo-European folktales, be able to discuss several approaches to studying them, be able to identify the most important motifs of these tales, be familiar with some of the most influential folklorists, writers, and editors of the tales, and be able to assess the significance of folktales for contemporary western culture. This course satisfies the Foreign Culture requirement of the School of Arts and Sciences. This course satisfies the following General Education Requirements: Geographic Region, Literature.

Section 1030 (LEC) - MoWe 1:00PM-1:50PM Instructor: Dr. Jaclyn Kurash

Section 1060 (REC) - Th 10:00AM-10:50AM Instructor: Dr. Benjamin Brand

Section 1040 (REC) - Th 11:00AM-11:50AM Instructor: Dr. Jaclyn Kurash

Section 1050 (REC) - Th 12:00PM-12:50PM Instructor: Dr. Jaclyn Kurash

Section 1110 (REC) - Th 1:00PM-1:50PM Instructor: Dr. Benjamin Brand

Section 1070 (REC) - Fr 10:00AM-10:50AM Instructor: Dr. Benjamin Brand

Section 1080 (REC) - Fr 11:00AM-11:50AM Instructor: Dr. Jaclyn Kurash

Section 1090 (REC) - Fr 12:00PM-12:50PM Instructor: Staff

Section 1100 (REC) - Fri 1:00PM-1:50PM Instructor: Dr. Benjamin Brand

German 1510 – Kafka and the Modern World

The course examines a variety of short fictional works and a novel (The Trial) by one of the most celebrated writers of 20th century Europe. Franz Kafka’s radical interrogation of structures of authority, alienation in a mass society, the construction of the enlightenment subject, guilt and punishment in a world without gods, the relation of power to truth, the threat of totalitarian ideologies, and the place of writing in a fallen world constitute the thematic core of the course. Key essays by KIERKEGAARD, MARX, NIETZSCHE, and FREUD will be discussed to frame and elaborate Kafka's punitive fantasies and their striking analysis of the ongoing challenges of our modernity. This course satisfies the following General Education Requirements: Literature.

Section 1010 - MoWe 4:30PM-5:45PM Instructor: Dr. Clark Muenzer

German 1512 – German Literature and European Philosophy: Goethe’s Faust

This course analyzes Goethe's Faust in its entirety with reference to its epistemological, ethical, and aesthetic investments. Students explore how this masterpiece of German literature staged and re-articulated important conceptual issues within the European philosophical tradition with supplementary readings from Plato, Aristotle, Spinoza, Leibniz, and Kant, as well as Whitehead and Deleuze. The goal of the readings is to construct a conceptual apparatus that can serve as framework of interpretive analysis as well as a reconfiguration of the perennial questions of philosophy and literature regarding their own essence. This course satisfies the following General Education Requirements: Literature; Philosophy; Foreign Culture.

Section 1010 - MoWe 3:00PM-4:15PM Instructor: Dr. Clark Muenzer

German 1522 – Germany Today

In this course the current cultural, political, and social situation in the German speaking countries is assessed. What are the concerns of Germans, Austrians, the Swiss? By concentrating on current conditions and changes of public consciousness, issues important to German speakers are debated. Materials include articles from journals and newspapers, documentaries, slides, and contemporary works of literature. All materials are in English. This course satisfies the following General Education Requirements: Specific Geographic Region.

Section 1010 - TuTh 4:30PM-5:45PM Instructor: Dr. Amy Colin

Other Courses:

German 1901 - Independent Study

Please contact a departmental advisor. Special permission is required to take this course.

Section 1040 - To be arranged. Instructor: Dr. John Lyon

German 1902 - Directed Study

Please contact a departmental advisor. Special permission is required to take this course.

Section 1010 - To be arranged. Instructor: Staff

German 1905 - German Internship 1

Please contact a Dr. Lukic. Special permission is required to take this course.

Section 1010 - To be arranged. Instructor: Dr. Anita Lukic

German 1906 - German Internship 2

Please contact Dr. Lukic. Special permission is required to take this course.