This fourth year of German builds upon the first three levels. Students will continue to sharper their reading, writing, and listening skills as well as learn skills to think critically and express themselves on topics relevant to German culture. This fourth level will include authentic texts, current culture, and literature from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Every two units will be a special focus on a particular region or city from these areas; these will include such things as culture, tourism, and current events. Students will learn vocabulary, grammar skills, and cultural competency to express themselves on a variety of topics in German. Cultural topics include: contemporary and classical music, expressing opinion, German history, transportation, family, weekend travel, free time activities, youth and technology, multiculturalism, holidays, education, career, and travel in a foreign country.

This course is aligned to the national ACTFL Foreign Language standards and provides a way to focus on the five aspects of foreign language instruction: communication, culture, connections, comparisons, and community. These are the “Five C’s of the Foreign Language Education” as outlined in Standards for Foreign Language Learning: Preparing for the 21st Century.

German III

None.

Two Semesters or Block

Unit 1: Going to a Concert (Berlin)

• Culture: Venues in Berlin, Contemporary and Classical music, Free time activities
• Skills: Purchasing tickets, Making plans, Reading song text
• Grammar: Present and Future tenses, werden, and making future with time elements

Unit 2: My Opinion (Berlin)

• Culture: White Rose resistance group, German History, Activism, Current Events
• Skills: Stating opinion, Sharing personal values
• Grammar: Simple Past, Present, and Past Perfect

Unit 3: School Trip (Vienna)

• Culture: Transportation by Train, Travel etiquette, High School, Sights in Vienna
• Skills: Asking for directions, purchasing train tickets, travel phrases
• Grammar: Accusative Case (all uses of Accusative Case)

Unit 4: Day in the City (Köln)

• Culture: Travel by Subway and Streetcars, Architecture, Köln Attractions
• Skills: Travel skills, Commands, Expressing Desire, Ordering at an Eis Cafe
• Grammar: Dative Case (all uses of Dative Case)

Unit 5: Saturday with the Family (Köln)

• Culture: Going to Market, Cooking, Family Activities, Health
• Skills: Shopping for Groceries, Making Suggestions, Stating Likes and Dislikes
• Grammar: Genitive and Two-Way Prepositions (all uses of Genitive case)

Unit 6: Multicultural Society (München)

• Culture: Heritage, Customs, Guest Worker Program, Current News on Immigration
• Skills: Expressing identity, stating advantages and disadvantages, discussing values
• Grammar: Adjective Endings, der/ein words, comparative and superlative

Unit 7: Let's Celebrate! (München)

• Culture: Holidays, Celebrations, Multicultural Values, Stereotypes
• Skills: Describing customs, Recognizing Stereotypes, Drawing comparisons
• Grammar: Word Order, Negation, Independent and Dependent Clauses

Unit 8: Today's Youth (München)

• Culture: Free Time activities, Technology, TV, Movies, Internet
• Skills: Sharing interests, making plans, stating preference, persuasion
• Grammar: Relative Clauses, Relative Pronouns, Extended Modifiers

Unit 9: Education/Career (Göttingen)

• Culture: German Secondary Education, Career opportunities, Focus on various schools
• Skills: Expressing Future intent and goals, values, weighing decisions
• Grammar: Subjunctive II, modals in the subjunctive, als, wenn, and wann

Unit 10: Travel with Friends (Nordsee)

• Culture: Travel Abroad, at the Airport, Lodging, Backpacking
• Skills: Cross cultural communication, translation, making reservations, backpacking
• Grammar: Subjunctive I, Passive, Indirect Speech, Past Subjunctive