College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Department of English, Foreign Languages and
Journalism
Fall Semester 2008
GERMAN 202 Intermediate
German I
Instructor: Leslie Gustafson
Meeting Times: M W F 11-11:50 (Murphy 108)
Telephone: 676-2704
E-mail: lwinall@missouriwestern.edu
Office Hours: By
appointment
Required Texts:
1. Kontakte
(5th ed.)
2. Arbeitsbuch to accompany Kontakte
3. Dictionary of your choice
*Note: The audio program for the textbook is online at http://www.mhhe.com/kontakte5
(Click on “Student Edition” and choose the appropriate
chapter from the pull-down menu. Select “Audio Program” and the name of the
desired activity.)
German 202 is a language and culture course
designed for students who have completed one year of college-level German
or two-three years of high school German. It will lead students to
expand their knowledge of other cultures and to put theirs
in perspective. GER202 fulfills
the Category IV of General Studies requirement.
Course Beliefs
Studying
a foreign language broadens one's perspective of the world and enhances one's
understanding of self. It enables you to participate in a multi-cultural
community, prepares you for a career, a graduate school and for using the
language in the future. It helps dispel stereotypes, and enhances respect for
others. Participation in study abroad is encouraged to gain fluency and
cultural understanding.
Course Standards
1.
Students comprehend German when listening to a variety of sources.
2.
Students communicate by speaking German for a variety of purposes
and audiences.
3.
Students comprehend German when reading a variety of
materials.
4.
Students communicate by writing German for a variety of purposes and
audiences.
5.
Students demonstrate knowledge and understanding of German culture.
Course Objectives
By the end of the semester,
you should be able to:
1. Understand main ideas,
substantive details, and a range of accents in spoken form; understand
classroom
explanations
and discussions; distinguish modes, tenses, and speech for different uses.
2. Initiate, sustain, and complete
conversations in the present tense; ask and answer questions.
3. Read and understand
thematic content of short texts, and distinguish register, mode and
tense.
4. Write short paragraphs in the
past, present and future tenses.
5. Discuss cultural concepts,
sustain or refute less evident aspects of the target culture; locate current sources
of information or data on a range of topics.
Topics
to be Studied
Shopping
Jobs
Daily Life at Home
Chores
Geography
Transportation
Food and Cooking
Homework
A foreign language is best learned with regular
work each day, rather than cramming prior to an exam. In this course, you are
responsible for keeping up with the workbook activities. Homework for each chapter will be collected on the test day for that
unit and evaluated on a page-by-page basis. Note that the answers to many of your assignments are in Appendix G at the back of
your textbook. The purpose of this is that you are able to do your homework and
receive immediate feedback on your work.
Each workbook chapter
includes a final activity called “Aufsatz Training.”
Be sure to take special care with these free-writing activities, as they count
as your “Journal” assignments (see grading section) and are a source of
additional points. Please be sure to write at least ten sentences for each
journal assignment.
Barring an excused absence or extenuating
circumstances (which I will determine), I will not accept late assignments.
Final note about homework: In addition to the
listed homework assignments, it goes
without saying that studying vocabulary should become part of your evening
routine!
Culture Assignments
In
order to receive full credit for participation, you must complete a minimum
of five cultural assignments. Three
tasks will be assigned in conjunction with the thematic content of the chapter,
and the other two may be of your choosing. More information will be given the
second week of class.
Tests
Quizzes: Each Friday, there will be a
brief (20 point) quiz covering the week’s vocabulary and grammar. Quizzes will
begin the third week of class. No make-up quizzes will be given; the lowest quiz
grade will be dropped.
Chapter Tests: An exam will be taken for each chapter. Each exam will
have separate sections covering the following: listening comprehension,
vocabulary, grammar, reading, culture and extemporaneous writing. No make-up
exams are given. At the end of the semester, the lowest chapter test grade will
be dropped.
Final Exam: A comprehensive final exam will
be given at the end of the semester. Any student with a grade of 90% or better
at the end of the semester is not required to take the final exam.
In order to improve student learning and retention
as well as to achieve compliance with federal financial aid policies, Western
has implemented a mandatory attendance policy for students in all 100- and
200-level courses. You will be given an excused absence when acting as an
official representative of the university, provided you give prior written
verification from the faculty/staff supervisor of the event. Given other extenuating circumstances, please
see me to determine whether or not an absence is excused.
All other absences will be deemed unexcused. The maximum number of unexcused absences
allowed for this class before the midterm report, October 15, is five.
Thus, when you have six unexcused absences, you will be reported to the
Registrar’s Office, who will automatically withdraw you from this class. The
Financial Aid Office will reduce financial aid as appropriate.
Note about this class: The importance of regular
attendance cannot be stressed enough- if you fail to attend even a single class
meeting, you will miss a significant amount of material. If you must miss class due to
illness or for another legitimate reason, you must inform me before class that day in order for it
to be excused. For GER 102, students are allowed 3 "free"
absences. After three absences, a student's final grade will be
lowered 1% for each subsequent absence (whether excused or not). Any
student with more than 3 absences must take the final exam and should not
expect to receive a final grade higher than a B. In ALL cases, students
are responsible for all materials covered during their
absence.
Foreign Language Lab in Murphy 107
You
will have open access to the Foreign Language lab, open weekdays only. As in
any other lab, you need to sign in when you enter.
Assistance
Any
student in this course who has a disability that prevents the fullest
expression of abilities should contact me personally as soon as
possible so we can discuss class requirements.
Academic
honesty is required in all academic endeavors. Violations of academic honesty
include any instance of plagiarism, cheating, seeking credit for another’s
work, falsifying documents or academic records, or any other fraudulent
activity. Violations of academic honesty
may result in a failing grade on the assignment, failure in the course, or
expulsion from the University. When a
student’s grade has been affected, violations of academic honesty will be
reported to the Provost or designated representative on the Academic Honesty
Violation Report forms. Please see the 2008-09 Student Handbook and Calendar on
page 21 for specific activities identified as violations of this policy and the
student due process procedure. This handbook is also available online at http://www.missouriwestern.edu/handbook/index.pdf
Cheating
or plagiarism is not acceptable. You will receive a 0 (zero)
for any work that shows evidence of cheating and/or plagiarism.
Grading scale
100 -
90 = A
89 - 80 = B
79 - 70 = C
69 - 60 = D
59 - 0 = F
Grading
Your final grade will be determined as follows:
2 tests
(75 pts. each) = 150 pts.
9 quizzes (20 pts each) = 180 pts
Culture Projects (20 pts each) = 100 pts
Homework =
120 pts.
Written Final =
75 pts.
TOTAL = 625 pts.
FYI
Foreign
Language Test-Out Procedure
If
you have studied French, German, or Spanish in high school or college, and wish
to receive credit, or if you are unsure which level of French, German, or
Spanish is the best one for you to continue your language studies, take the
free placement test offered in your language.
Depending on your results, you may be eligible for 3 to 12 hours of
credit.
Placement
test dates are scheduled in the weeks prior to pre-registration and during
summer registration. Please consult the
EFLJ department for those dates/times or check our website at http://www.missouriwestern.edu/eflj/flpe.html. It is not necessary to register for the test
or bring any materials to the test site.
The placement test is done by computer and will take 20-30 minutes.
If
you successfully earn credit hours, the test administrator will complete the
“Petition for Foreign Language Test-Out.”
Part I of the form must be completed and signed by the administrator of
the test at that time. Please note the
following policies: You have exactly one
year from the date of the test in which to claim your credit. If you enroll in
the course recommended by the placement test, you must claim the credit prior
to completing the
recommended course.
To
claim your credit, present your Petition for Foreign Language Test-Out to Vicki
Schneider in the English, Foreign Languages, and Journalism Department (Eder Hall, Room 222-B) along with your check for
payment.
Please note that taking the placement test is free. If you are eligible
for credit and choose to claim that credit, the cost is $75, regardless of how many credit
hours you earn.
You may take the test as many times as you wish. However, each attempt costs $75 when you
claim the credit. For example, if you
take the test three times before your score is high enough for credit, your cost to claim those credit hours will then be
$225 (3 attempts @ $75 each).
Ms. Schneider will process your
payment and it will be credited to your MWSU account. She will also send the information to the
Admissions Office to be applied to your transcript. The credit hours should appear on your
transcript as CR for credit (no grade is indicated) in two to three weeks. The original payment receipt, along with a
copy of the Petition for Foreign Language Test-out, will be mailed to your home
address for your records.
If you enroll in the course
suggested by the placement test and complete that course with a grade of C or
better, your test fee will be refunded in full.
Please see Vicki Schneider in the EFLJ department to initiate the
refund. You have 18 months from the date
of your test in which to take the recommended course and request a refund.
Students whose high school
transcripts show three or more years of French, German, or Spanish (with grades
of C or better, and within three years of the semester in question) should
attempt the placement exam because they will not receive credit should they
enroll in the beginning French, Spanish, or German course (FRE/GER/SPA
102).
Final
Note: While my intention is to adhere to the course
plan, I reserve the right to modify the syllabus based on unforeseen
circumstances. Changes to the syllabus will be made in the interest of
maximizing your learning experience. Any modifications will be announced
in class and/or via email with as much advance notice as possible.
Schedule
Monday, 25.
August Course
introduction
Wednesday, 27. August Grammar Review
Friday, 29. August Review Cont’d
KAPITEL 5: GELD UND
ARBEIT
Monday, 1.
September LABOR DAY: NO CLASS!
Wednesday,
3.
September Gifts
and Niceties; introduction to the dative case (AH 123-125)
Friday, 5.
September Dative cont’d; Jobs and the business
world; future tense with werden
(AH
126-130)
Monday,
8.
September Cont’d
Wednesday, 10. September der
Arbeitsplatz; prepositions in/an/auf + dative (AH 131-133)
Friday, 12. September Education and Career:
The Chef; In der
Küche (AH 134-136)
Monday, 15. September Want Ads and Job
Interviews
Wednesday, 17. September (cont’d)
Friday, 19. September Personal
pronouns with dative (137-143)
KAPITEL 6: WOHNEN
Monday, 29. September Haus und Wohnung; dative verbs and
two-way prepositions (AH 145-147)
Wednesday, 1. October Dative
verbs and prepositions cont’d
Friday, 3. October German-American Day Activities
Monday, 6. October Das Stadtviertel; word
order (AH 148-150)
Wednesday, 8. October Auf Wohnungssuche (AH 151-153)
Friday,
10.
October FALL
BREAK- NO CLASS!
Monday, 13. October Auf Wohnungssuche
cont’d; separable-prefix verbs
Wednesday, 15. October Hausarbeit; prepositions mit
and bei + dative (AH 154-156)
Friday, 17. October Chapter Wrap-up (AH 157-164)
KAPITEL 7:
UNTERWEGS
Monday, 3. November Transportmittel cont’d;
da- and wo- compounds
Wednesday, 5. November das Auto; compounds cont’d (173-175)
Friday, 7. November der Führerschein
Monday, 10.
November Reiseerlebnisse; simple past of haben and sein (176-179)
Wednesday,
12. November Chapter wrap-up; Review for
Test (180-189)
Friday, 14. November Test Kapitel 7
KAPITEL 8: ESSEN
UND EINKAUFEN
Monday, 17. November
Wednesday, 19. November
Friday, 21. November Haushaltsgeräte; destination vs. location (193-194)
Monday, 24. November Cont’d
Wednesday, 26. November and Friday, 28. November THANKSGIVING BREAK
Monday, 1.
December Mord im Cafe König?
Wednesday,
3. December Review for Final
Friday,
5. December Nikolaustag
FINAL
EXAM: Please see the MWSU Fall schedule for date and time