Department of Modern Languages and
Intercultural Studies
Fall 2007
Meeting:
Tuesday and Thursday
Location and Time TBA
Instructor:
Frau Klaudia
Thompson
331 Holloway Hall
(410) 543-6522
Office
Hours: , and by appointment
Texts:
Conversations
in German, Points of Departure by Nancy Decker and
Frank Sedwick (Copies of this are on reserve
in the library. Please photocopy the
units assigned to you at the beginning of the semester)
Allerlei
zum Lesen ( second edition) by
Herman Teichert and Lovette
Teichert
“Das
Ratsel Vom Waldsee”
by Rita M. Walbruck
Objectives:
The
objectives of this course are to increase the oral and written skills of the
student in the following ways:
1. Provide an atmosphere in the classroom
situation that will encourage spontaneous conversation in German.
2. Work on correct pronunciation and intonation
in German phrases and sentences.
3. Increase a student's vocabulary in
German.
4. Increase and review the student’s grammar
and syntax in both oral and written form.
Class
Procedures:
Tuesday
- A diary in German is to
be maintained by each student. Mistakes
will be marked on these and returned to the student for correction. Then a grade will be placed on these
according to how well they have been corrected.
A half page entry on a sheet of paper 81/2” by 11” (skip every other
line) should be written every day.
Since there are 14
weeks in the semester and you are required to submit 10 diaries there will be 4
weeks that you may skip a week submitting one.
However you may only skip one week at a time. Diaries that are more than one week late will
lose points even if perfect for each week they are late.
Diaries
will be due on Tuesday. For Tuesdays a
short story and exercises from the Walbruck text and
later from Allerlei zum
Lesen will also be assigned and discussed.
Thursday
- On Thursdays oral work from Conversations
in German will be discussed and diaries with errors marked on them will be
handed back for correction. These are to
be corrected over the weekend and the corrected version along with a new diary
are to be handed in the following Tuesday.
In
addition to the above regular work, a term project is to be prepared and an
oral and written final will be given - see below.
In
the LRC you will find a series of dialogues to be used as outside preparation
for this class. These tapes and CD’s are
designed to improve your vocabulary and pronunciation. You need not use them at any fixed time but
rather at your convenience. Please bring
your own blank tapes to the lab for duplication if you so wish to have copies of the lab tapes
made.
Daily
Grades and Tests:
Each
student will be given daily grades based on his/her oral communication and
participation in class. Grading in the
course will be as follows:
NOTE: Cell phones, i-Pods
and the like are not permitted in this classroom
Class
participation: 5 pts per session x 14 wks = 140
Diary:
10 pts ea x 10 = 100
Homework
for stories: 50 pts each x 10 stories = 500 (two errors per point). There will be fewer total points if fewer
stories are discussed.
Written
final on stories = 200 (This number is based
on 10 stories being discussed)
Oral
Final on Conversations - 100
Final
Project = 100
Of
the total number of points possible in this course grades will be based on the
following percentages.
A
= 100-90%
B=
89-80%
C=
79-70%
D=
69-60%
F=
59% and below
Vocabulary Quizzes, if necessary will be
announced in advance. Term projects will
fall due during prearranged class meetings.
(Weeks 10-13).
Oral
reports will be assigned by the instructor and will be presented to the class. They will be about 5 minutes in length. They will be related to
the weekly conversation topic and/or highlights of your week. Each student should expect to answer in
German, questions directed to him/her by the instructor during the class
meetings relating to the above mentioned topics.
Term
projects are to be demonstrative speeches that are to be outlined and well
organized reports of about 15 minutes in length. These are to be oral presentations to the
class complete with visual aids, charts and/or props. They will be worth 100 points and your grades
will be based on:
(1)
oral presentation and delivery
(2)
grammar
(3)
sentence structure
(4)
vocabulary
(5)
pronunciation
Below
are some suggested topics. These can
be related in some way to
Ex. German
eating customs and habits.
German
art of a certain time period.
Cooking
demonstrations
German
music of a certain time period.
Slide
show of a certain German region.
You
may however also chose a topic not specifically German.
Ex. Your
hobby.
Your
special skills at .
How
to play a certain game.
Something
based on your major.
Presentations
are to be made as though you were in a speech class. You may use note cards but do not just read
your speech from them or you will receive a “C” at best.