| Unit name | Beginners' German Language 1 |
|---|---|
| Unit code | GERM19001 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | C/4 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
| Unit director | Mrs. Gossner |
| Open unit status | Open |
| Pre-requisites |
None |
| Co-requisites |
None |
| School/department | Department of German |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
Suitable for complete beginners or those with a faded GCSE. In this unit students can expect to progress quickly, to become familiar with the basic structures of the language, to develop the ability to understand spoken German and the oral skills to cope with everyday situations, to be introduced to social customs, and to learn to read German with a dictionary. (6 contact hours per week)
The four key skills are; ‘Composition’, ‘Translation’, ‘Guided Writing’ and ‘Oral/Aural’.
1. Composition - assesses the students’ ability to communicate in the longer written form in the target language, which can include essay writing.
2. Translation - may assess the students’ ability to translate accurately and fluently into and out of the target language.
3. Guided Writing - sometimes also known as ‘Mediation into the Target Language’, assesses the students’ skills in reading comprehension and in expressing material in the target language in prose form (including condensing, translation into the target language, rephrasing, asking them to respond to structured or guided questions related to a given text, etc). It may also assess students’ metalinguistic and lexical competence (i.e. grammar and vocabulary).
4. Oral/Aural - assesses the students’ verbal and listening skills, communicating verbally and in comprehension of the spoken language. Split: Oral=70%; Aural=30%
In order to progress into Year 2, students would need to achieve a pass mark (40) in their overall language mark. Marks of below 40 in any of the four language skills would not prevent a student from progressing, as long as the overall average remained above 40. Students, who received an overall mark of below 40 for their language assessment, would be permitted to take a re-sit written 3 hour exam in the September.
