German Studies II

Section 1: Landeskunde (2 hrs. per week)Course description: This course is designed to prepare you for your ERASMUS-year in Germany. It aims to do this by introducing you to elements of everyday life and cultural issues you will encounter, such as popular German music and sport, German media, the German reunification and its social and cultural consequences, German cultural identity today, foreigners in Germany and more. Part of the course will be an introduction to the German university system and student life, dealing with practical issues like how to find information and compose your time tables, how to find accommodation, special student offers at German universities and where and how to socialise with German students. The Learning Outcome is for you to feel more comfortable and confident about living and studying in Germany by increasing your knowledge of relevant and practical social and cultural issues. A section of the course will introduce you to presentation skills so that you can deliver a professional presentation for your assessment.
Teaching and learning methods: The course combines elements of lecture and seminar discussions. One of the two lessons each week will take place in the multi-media lab.
Assessment and Evaluation:
Attendance: 10%; Homework and class project: 50%; Presentation: 40%
Core Texts: Handouts provided in class and on Blackboard

Section 2: Berlin, Symphony of a City (2 hrs. per week)Course description: Berlin encapsulates Germany?s complex past and is the lively heart of the modern republic. The course will focus on Berlin?s rich and varied culture in the 20th century and will examine Berlin architecture, film, music, literature and painting. Students will be introduced to the golden twenties, to Berlin under the rule of the Nazis, the area of the cold war and the exciting times of reunification and its aftermath.
Method of assessment: Active participation including a presentation (30%), take-home essay (70%).
Core texts: Handouts.

Section 3: Introduction to Sociolinguistics (1 hr. per week)Course description: This course aims to provide students with a broad working knowledge of contemporary sociolinguistics, incorporating areas such as dialect, accent and register; gender and language variation and language contact.
Methods of assessment and examination: The course is assessed by an in-class examination, to take place in the final class.
Core text: R. Wardhaugh, An Introduction to Sociolinguistics (fifth edition).

Section 4: Contemporary German-language Fiction (2 hr. per week)Course description:
In this course students will read recent best-selling novels by young and newly established authors dealing with problems of adolescence. Students will learn about the impact of the media and the market on literary culture. On the basis of a close reading of the text the class will discuss the results that can be achieved by applying different interpretation theories and methods. Special attention will be given to the question of how assessment of literary quality is established.
Methods of Assessment: Attendance 10%, presentation 30%, end of term essay 60 %.
Core texts: Hanna Lemke: Gesichertes. Berlin: Kunstmann 2010 (ISBN 3888976421 ); Helene Hegemann: Axolotl Roadkill. Ullstein: Berlin 2010 (3550087926 )