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Courses Spring 2016

 


Elementary & Intermediate German Language Courses

 

GERMN 101: Elementary German I (3 hours, 3 credits)
Section
Days Time Code Instructor Room
01
Mon & Thurs
9:45-11:00am
1707
Koch
509B West
02
Tues & Fri
9:45-11:00am
1713
Du Bey
509B West
03
Mon & Thurs
11:10-12:25pm
8712
Koch 604 West
04 Tues & Fri
2:10-3:25pm 10661 Beckett 611 West
05 Mon & Thurs 2:45-4:00pm 1716 Raninger 611 West
06 Mon & Wed 7:00-8:15pm 1719 Strohmeier 611 West
CANCELLED 07 Mon &Thurs 8:10-9:25am 14958 Wittenberg 509B West
Click here for course description.

 

GERMN 102: Elementary German II (3 hours, 3 credits)
Prereq: GERMN 101 or equivalent
Section
Days Time Code Instructor Room
01
Mon & Thurs
8:10-9:25am
1724
Anderson 611 West
02
Tues & Fri
11:10-12:25pm
1730
Du Bey
611 West
Cancelled 03
Mon & Thurs
4:10-5:25pm
1733
Raninger 509B West
04 Tues & Thurs 7:00-8:15pm 10664 Wittenberg 611 West
05 Mon & Wed 5:35-6:50pm 12352 Kuhn-Osius
509B West
06 Tue & Fri 2:10-3:25pm 14959 Wicker 509B West
Click here for course description.

 

CANCELLED GERMN 103: Intensive Elementary German I & II (6 hours, 6 credits)
Section
Days Time Code Instructor Room
CANCELLED
Mon, Tues, Wed & Thurs 5:35-6:50pm 1739
Beckett
611 West
Click here for course description.

 

GERMN 201: Intermediate German I (3 hours, 3 credits)
Prereq: GERMN 102 or 103 or equivalent
Section
Days Time Code Instructor Room
01
Tues & Fri
11:10-12:25pm
1742
Merolle 509B West
02 Mon & Thurs
9:45-11:00am 1745 Anderson 611 West
03 Tues & Thurs 4:10-5:25pm 10670 Kasprzyk 611 West
04 Tues & Fri 12:45-2:00pm 14957 Wicker 509B West
Click here for course description.

 

GERMN 202: Intermediate German II (3 hours, 3 credits)
Prereq: GERMN 201 or equivalent
Section
Days Time Code Instructor Room
01
Tues & Fri
9:45-11:00am
1748
Merolle
611 West
02
Mon & Thurs
2:45-4:00pm
1751
Kuhn-Osius
509B West
03 Tues & Thurs 5:35-6:50pm 10673 Kasprzyk 509B West
Click here for course description.

 

GERMN 203: Intensive Intermediate German I & II (6 hours, 6 credits)
Prereq: GERMN 102 or 103 or equivalent
Section
Days Time Code Instructor Room
01 Mon, Wed & Thurs 11:10-1:00pm 1757 Zimmerman 611 West
Click here for course description.

 


Advanced German Language, Literature and Culture Courses: Level I

(What is the difference between Level I and Level II courses?)


GERMN 302: Advanced German Conversation & Composition (3 hours, 3 credits)
Prereq: GERMN 202 or 203 or equivalent. Fulfills requirement GER 3/A.
Section
Days Time Code Instructor Room
01 Mon & Thurs
1:10-2:25pm
1763
Zimmerman 509B West
Click here for course description.

 

GERMN 328.01: German Children's and Adolescent Literature (3 hours, 3 credits)
Prereq: GERMN 202 or 203 or equivalent. Fulfills requirements GER 3/A and PD/D.
Section
Days Time Code Instructor Room
01 Mon & Wed 4:10-5:25pm
14980 Kuhn-Osius 611 West
Click here for course description.

 

GERMN 335.01: German Radio Plays Hörspiel (3 hours, 3 credits)
Prereq: GERMN 202 or 203 or equivalent. Fulfills requirements GER 3/A and PD/D.
Section
Days Time Code Instructor Room
01 Mon & Wed 5:35-6:50pm
14960 Zimmerman
413 West
Click here for course description.

 

GERMN 336.01: German Lyric Poetry (3 hours, 3 credits)
Prereq: GERMN 202 or 203 or equivalent. Fulfills requirements GER 3/A and PD/D.
Section
Days Time Code Instructor Room
01 Mon & Thurs 11:00-12:25pm
14979 Nicolai
413 West
Click here for course description.

 

Advanced Courses Conducted in German: Level II

GERMN 385.01: The German Press of Today: Reading and Understanding Newspapers and Magazines (3 hours, 3 credits)
Prereq: One course numbered from GERMN 320 to 359 or equiv. GER 3/A, PD/D
Section
Days Time Code Instructor Room
01
Mon & Thurs
2:45-4:00pm
16922
Nicolai
410 West
Click here for course description.

 

GERMN 444.62: Franz Kafka (3 hours, 3 credits)
Prereq: One course numbered from GERMN 320 to 359 or equiv. GER 3/A, PD/D
Section
Days Time Code Instructor Room
01 Mon & Thurs 1:10-2:25pm 35318 Anderson
611 West
Click here for course description.

 

Course in German Literature & Civilization (Conducted in English)

 

GERMN 241: German Fairy Tales (3 hours, 3 credits)
Fulfills requirements GER 2/C and PD/D and Writing.
Section
Day Time Code Instructor Room
01 Saturday
8:10-11:00am
8676
Titze 611 West
02 Mon & Thurs 8:10-9:25am 8679 Titze 408 West Room Change to 509B West
03 Mon & Wed 8:25-9:40pm 14981 Strohmeier 611 West
04 Tues & Fri 11:10-12:25pm 76491 Strohmeier HN-C109
Click here for course description.

 


What is the difference between Level I and Level II advanced courses?

The advanced German literature courses are divided into two levels. We expect students to take at least two literature courses at Level One (I) before proceeding to Level Two (II). If you are in any doubt which course you should take, please consult the Chairperson of the Department. All courses are conducted in German.

Level I courses are intended for students who have recently completed GERMN 202 or 203 and who only have limited experience in discussing German literature in German, orally and in writing. They are not intended for native speakers.

Level II courses are intended for advanced students who have taken a number of 300 level German language and literature courses and who may be interested in going on to use the German language professionally. They are thus meant to help students move to the highest level of the undergraduate program and beyond. Students enrolled in Level II courses have the opportunity to take the Goethe exams B2 and C1, the professional certificates of advanced language competence administered by the Goethe Institute. The exams are given each spring, and a fee set by the outside agency will be charged.

 

 

Course Descriptions


GERMN 101: Elementary German I

This course is for students without prior knowledge of German. It focuses on the basic linguistic and cultural abilities needed to function in German-speaking countries. The instructor will emphasize active student participation (speaking, listening, reading, writing). Regular attendance and daily homework are necessary to succeed in this course.
Exam Format: written quizzes, midterm and final exams
Textbook: Access to German: Jägerbuch I, ISBN 0-07-285376-x

Note: If you have previous knowledge of German, please contact the department for advice and placement before registering for classes.

 


GERMN 102: Elementary German II

This course continues the work of GERMN 101. It broadens linguistic and cultural abilities for basic communication in a German-speaking environment. The instructor will emphasize active student participation (speaking, listening, reading, writing). Regular attendance and daily homework are necessary to succeed in this course.
Exam Format: written quizzes, midterm and final exams
Textbook: Access to German: Jägerbuch II, ISBN 0-07-3019364

Note: If you have previous knowledge of German, please contact the department for advice and placement before registering for classes.

 


GERMN 103: Intensive Elementary German I & II

This course is intended for students with no prior knowledge of German.  It covers in ONE semester the material normally covered in two semesters, in GERMN 101 - 102. It focuses on the basic linguistic and cultural abilities needed to function in German-speaking countries. The instructor will emphasize active student participation (speaking, listening, reading, writing). Regular attendance and daily homework are necessary to succeed in this course.
Exam Format: written quizzes, midterm and final exams
Textbook: Access to German: Jägerbuch I and II, ISBN 0-07-285376-x and ISBN 0-07-3019364

Note: If you have previous knowledge of German, please contact the department for advice and placement before registering for classes.

 


GERMN 201: Intermediate German I 

This course is the third in a four-semester sequence and continues the linguistic and cultural introduction to German. Review and practice of elementary grammar; introduction of advanced forms. Reading and discussion of selected texts. The instructor will emphasize active student participation (speaking, listening, reading, writing). Regular attendance and daily homework are necessary to succeed in this course.
Exam Format: written quizzes, midterm and final exams
Textbook: Access to German: Jägerbuch III, ISBN 0-07-24397-8

Note: If you have previous knowledge of German, please contact the department for advice and placement before registering for classes.

 


GERMN 202: Intermediate German II

Continued broadening of abilities in speaking, listening, reading, writing. Reading and discussion of selected literary texts. Strong emphasis on active student participation. Regular attendance and daily homework are important elements in this course. Completion of this course fulfills the Hunter College foreign language requirement.  Students at this level will normally be tested by both written and oral examination.
Exam Format: written quizzes, midterm and final exams
Textbook: Access to German: Jägerbuch III, ISBN 0-07-24397-8, Additional handouts.

Note: If you have previous knowledge of German, please contact the department for advice and placement before registering for classes.

 


GERMN 203: Intensive Intermediate German I & II

This course covers in ONE semester the material normally covered in TWO semesters, in GERMN 201 and GERMN 202. Instruction in the four basic skills is continued. Advanced grammatical forms are introduced. Selected literary texts are read and discussed. The class involves a considerable investment of time. Please consult the Chair of the Department for further advice about this accelerated course.
Exam Format: written quizzes, midterm and final exams
Textbook: Access to German: Jägerbuch III, ISBN 0-07-24397-8, Additional handouts.

Note: If you have previous knowledge of German, please contact the department for advice and placement before registering for classes.

 


GERMN 302: Advanced German Conversation & Composition

Prereq: GERMN 202 or 203 or equivalent.  GER 3/A  
This course is designed to develop conversational and compositional skills. There will be intensive practice in contemporary spoken and written German with emphasis on vocabulary and idiom, and on active mastery of grammatical forms.  Audio material will be used to strengthen comprehension skills. Regular preparation in writing is required for group work and class dialogues. The course prepares students to take the examination Zertifikat Deutsch, the professional certificate of basic language competence administered by the Goethe Institute. The exam is given each spring. Fees charged by the Goethe Institute will be announced in advance.  
Exam format: written quizzes, midterm and final exams
Textbook: To be announced

Note: If you have previous knowledge of German, please contact the department for advice and placement before registering for classes.

 

GERMN 328.01: German Children's and Adolescent Literature

Prereq: GERMN 202 or 203 or equivalent. GER 3/A, PD/D
This course is conducted in German.
Children's literature and juvenile literature are among the genres that every native speaker knows but that are mysteries for most foreigners. Reading them provides unusually clear insights into values and belief-systems that members of a culture acquire in their youth and often maintain throughout their adult lives. These texts also have the advantage that they are quite accessible to students who are still building up their language ability.  In the course of the semester we will read some famous Fairy Tales from the collection of the Brothers Grimm and selections from such classics of German young people's literature as Max und Moritz and Struwwelpeter.  We will also look at more contemporary children’s books such as Neben mir ist noch Platz and Oh, wie schön ist Panama.  Longer works will be Uwe Timm’s story Rennschwein Rudi RüsselDas Austauschkind by Christine Nöstlinger and perhaps the serious novel Die Wolke  by Gudrun Pausewang (this one is tentative). 
Course requirements: Class attendance and oral participation; two five-page papers or weekly short essays, depending on students’ proficiency in German; each student will give two in-class presentations retelling 1. A children’s book of his/her own choosing and 2. Retelling a German radio play for children (pair presentation by two students). There will be a mid-term and a final examination.
Many texts will be provided.  Books will be ordered by the instructor directly, not through the bookstore.
Uwe Timm, Rennschwein Rudi Rüssel ISBN:978-3-423-70285-0;  € 5.95 (US price will be about $10 or 11).
Christine Nöstlinger, Das Austauschkind  ISBN-13: 978-3-407-74100-4;  € 6,50 (US price will be about $11 or $12).
Gudrun Pausewang, Die Wolke  ISBN 3473580147; € 6,95 (US price will be about $11 or $12).

Note: If you have previous knowledge of German, please contact the department for advice and placement before registering for classes.

 

GERMN 335: German Radio Plays (Hörspiel)

Prereq: GERMN 202 or 203 or equivalent. GER 3/A, PD/D
Often described as “cinema for the ears”, German radio plays (Hörspiele) are generally of high literary quality, and have been popular for decades. Well know authors such as Ilse Aichinger, Ingeborg Bachmann, Heinrich Böll, and Friedrich Dürrenmatt have written them. We will study Hörspiele by a number of authors.
The primary aim of the course is to develop students’ listening comprehension in German. The secondary stress will be placed on speaking and writing ability. Students will listen to plays both in and outside of class (in the Chanin Lab Center, on the web, or as podcasts via Blackboard). Copies of play texts will be made available after listening. There will be writing assignments in German.
Exam format: midterm and final exams
Text: none
Textbook: You will be given extensive handout material. We will use a textbook if I can find one for about $50 or less.

Note: If you have previous knowledge of German, please contact the department for advice and placement before registering for classes.

 

GERMN 336: German Lyric Poetry

Prereq: One course numbered from GERMN 320 to 359 or equivalent. GER 3/A, PD/D
Reading poetry is one of the best ways to learn a foreign language: it forces you to focus on the sound and rhythm of the language, as well as your comprehension of the content. As relatively short readings, poems allow you to engage with them deeply, often in exacting detail. Of course, German poetry has a long and distinguished history from the Middle Ages to the present. In this course, we will read and discuss German poetry mainly from the classical period to the present, studying such authors as Goethe, Schiller, Hölderlin, Heine, Eichendorff, Droste-Hülshoff, Nietzsche, Rilke, Lasker-Schüler, Trakl, Brecht, Celan, Bachmann, Fried, Enzensberger and others.
This course is for students who have little or no experience studying literature in German. While it is designed to increase students’ familiarity with literary history and form, as well as German culture, it is also designed to improve students’ reading comprehension, oral proficiency, and written proficiency in German. The course will be conducted in German.
Course requirements: Attendance and participation; regular readings; regular written work including short papers; presentation;
midterm and final.
Text: Echtermeyer/von Wiese, Deutsche Gedichte, ISBN 9783060619320
Students will purchase this text from the instructor, not the bookstore.

Note: If you have previous knowledge of German, please contact the department for advice and placement before registering for classes.

 

GERMN 385.01 The German Press of Today: Reading and Understanding Newspapers and Magazines

Prereq: One course numbered from GERMN 320 to 359 or 444 or equivalent. GER 3/A, PD/D
The aim of the course is two-fold: to give an introduction to the main types of printed news sources (also online) available in German today, (newspapers, magazines, weeklies from Germany, Switzerland and Austria), and to provide experience in reading them. After providing a historical background of the development of German print media after 1945, we will keep abreast with German news on politics, culture, education, etc. by paying particular attention to content, style and readership. The class will be conducted in German, with discussions and writing exercises in German, texts read in German (occasional translation in English if necessary) and oral presentations in German. Each student will choose ONE topic of personal interest in the news that they will follow over the course of the semester and occasionally present on in class.
Exam format: midterm and final exams.

Note: If you have previous knowledge of German, please contact the department for advice and placement before registering for classes.

 

GERMN 444.62 Franz Kafka

Prereq: One course numbered from GERMN 320 to 359 or 444 or equivalent or permission of instructor.
This course gives students the rare opportunity to spend a full semester studying one author in-depth, specifically one of the most famous and influential authors ever to write in German: we will read and discuss a number of texts by Franz Kafka (1883-1924). Most of them will be relatively short, such as selected parables (Kafka wrote many of them), the story “Das Urteil” (Kafka called it his favorite of his stories), and the controversial “Brief an den Vater” (he never sent it). But we will also work with one of Kafka’s unfinished novels. Throughout, we will consider the biographical, historical, and cultural background of Kafka’s work, with special attention to his Jewish heritage, his experiences as part of a linguistic minority group in Prague, and the fact that he did not make his living as a writer and did not seem to want his work published after his death. Finally, we will examine the impact that Kafka has had on world literature and his place in popular culture, from various adaptations of and responses to his work, to the now nearly ubiquitous term “Kafkaesque.”
This course is conducted entirely in German.
Course requirements: attendance and participation; regular preparation of readings; significant writing including an essay and an online project.
Books will be ordered by the instructor directly, not through a bookstore. It is important that all students have the proper editions, in order to facilitate class discussion.

Note: If you have previous knowledge of German, please contact the department for advice and placement.

 

GERMN 241 German Fairy Tales "W"

Fairy tales are known all over the world. The most famous European book of fairy tales is the one collected by the Brothers Grimm. These stories have entered our collective unconscious but are not easily explained. We shall look at various attempts at explaining what fairy tales are all about, look at older stories that served as models for the Brothers Grimm and study modern versions of the tales including a Walt Disney movie and "politically correct fairy tales." Students will read fairy tales, tell one that they know, and write three short papers, a midterm and final examination. All readings, discussions and written work will be in English. This course has a "W" designation. 
Exam Format: written midterm and final exams
Textbooks:
Jack Zipes, The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm, ISBN 978-0553382167                  
                   Joanna Cole, The Best-Loved Foktales of the World, ISBN 978-0318796482

Note: If you have previous knowledge of German, please contact the department for advice and placement before registering for classes.

 

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