Concept & purposes

The TR section of German 301 will concentrate on career, employment, business, economics, and the workplace, with special attention to a related topic that is particularly associated with the German-speaking world and is also priority at PSU: sustainability. The course will be balanced between learning about the German-speaking world and applying that knowledge, and your other knowledge and skills, to explore your career options and document your qualifications, with an eye to career activity that might involve your German language skills.

The practical application of occupationals skills, and the topic of sustainability will include learning about "SpeakEasy", a German-speaking PSU project that is developing a student-run business startup. SpeakEasy is the focus of German 320/420 - German for the Working World. See below for more discussion.v

This section of GER 301, and GER 320/420 as well, are part of an effort to serve the needs of today's students of German and to develop a career/business "track" on the level of a minor or a concentration within the major. For information about other relevant courses, contact on-campus German faculty and instructors in the Deutsche Sommerschule am Pazifik. The course is also intended to benefit students who do not continue their study of German and who intend to enter careers that are not explicitly related to German (though you never know what might happen!).

Language development – some important concepts and misconceptions

When they start third-year German, most students are approaching an important new stage in their proficiency. They have acquired the ability to take care of survival matters with relative comfort, not just the desperation that characterized their language in first-year German. They have also begun to handle optional situations, mostly with regard to their personal circumstances, but sometimes of a more general kind. But they still find it difficulty to maintain their language at that level, in real time, for more than a few sentences. When they encounter higher-level tasks, such as extended narrative or description beyond what is very familiar, they falter.

Sometimes the difficulties involve linguistic features they understand pretty well but can't manage with sufficient accuracy. At other times the problem is something that they still have much difficulty understanding, much less applying, such as some areas of advanced grammar. I will regularly present grammar topics that target important features of the language at the third-year (ACTFL: Intermediate-High) level. An example in the first week will be how to sequence two actions that are separated in time, by using equivalents of "before" and "after(ward)". These constructions are constant problems at this level and are essential to moving to the next higher level of proficiency (ACTFL: Advanced). I will also introduce vocabulary in context, aimed at the current theme and also at the generic vocabulary of education, profession, occupation, employment and the workplace. When, for example, our topic is education and employment, vocabulary will include "training", "skills", "graduate", "complete", "progress", etc. During each class I will note what other words and structures come up, and will revise the meeting notes to include those lists.

But an obsession with further study of grammar, in itself, is unlikely to be helpful here; what is usually needed, rather, are brief reminders associated with intense practice, in the classroom, and also intense involvement with the language and culture outside the classroom.

By this state in your language learning (and, actually, much earlier) the time you spend in a classroom is woefully insufficient to produce much language learning. This has two implications: 1) You have to do a lot of German outside class (not just studying, but also encountered the language and the people directly. 2) If we spend some classtime dealing with important matters in English, that is not inappropriate. Two areas come to mind: a) learning about learning, so that you can engage more efficiently with the language; b) discussing complex social and cultural issues.

But when we use German, which will be most of the time, you have to jump right in and give it your attention and energy. I'll do my best to make sure you have to do that. Silence is the biggest mistake you can make in this course.

Relation of this course to cultural knowledge

At the language proficiency level that is characteristic of students in third-year German, systematic attention should be given to the related topics of education, profession, occupation, and being able to function "on the ground" for an indefinite stay in D-A-CH as a resident, employee, entrepreneur, and participant in public culture. This includes being able to discuss and document how you got where you are in your education and employment, and what you intend to accomplish in the future.

Our course will explore that grand theme in several ways. You will read and listen to resources that show you how users of German approach such essential issues as establishing a residence (and documenting residency); dealing with other matters of officialdom; interacting with employers, colleagues, and customers; arranging medical care; taxes; personal finance; family (child care, schools); being well informed; everyday cultural differences (both general and work-related).

Depending on the general language level of the group, we may also look at several topics that or controversial in themselves or that show cultural differences between the US and D-A-CH. Examples include: labor laws (including minimum wage), religion in schools, Kindergeld, Kirchensteuer, guns, alcohol, Ladenschluß and other "blue laws" like noise regulations, speed limits, residence laws and concepts of privacy

Relation of this course to career development, credentials, résumé, etc. This course, like courses in many programs in the US, uses the widely-recognized Proficiency Guidelines of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (www.actfl.org). We'll also refer to the European Union Proficiency Standards (Kompetenzstufen) and use the related résumé and language test resources.

Here is a condensed version of the Guidelines for speaking and writing. The ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines call the "survival" level of proficiency "Novice". The next level up is "Intermediate," whose lower range some learners reach at the end of the first year. Some learners reach the upper range of "Intermediate", called "Intermediate-High", at the end of the second year. It is the purpose of the third-year course to help learners move into the "Advanced" level of proficiency. That level is characterized by the ability to narrate and describe the range of everyday activity, in three time frames (present, past, future), using clusters of connected sentences.

In the upper range of the Intermediate level, "everyday" starts to include the realm of occupations and work. The Advanced level includes more general topics that are part of the lives and interests of adults; some of these topics are work-related. For example, telling (or writing) how you spend your time at your job, and how it went yesterday, as though you were chatting with someone on the bus, is Advanced: "I got there on time, but one other person was late, so I had to help photocopy the information for the meeting." So is simple discussion of, say, what comes out of your paycheck and what you think about that: "I earn X, and pay Y in taxes. I get my health care through…, which is good, because last year I had a bike accident. I wish everybody had such good medical insurance, but it won't be cheap to give them that."

The occupational theme continues through the various stages of ACTFL Advanced, as do other themes like pastimes, extended family, etc. This involves development of both vocabulary (not just "insurance," but also "increase payments") and grammar ("I wish I had taken the other job"). People with "Advanced" proficiency should be able to function well enough linguistically in the workplace that they could actually carry out basic job responsibilities, and then - as will happen in German 301 - add specialized language to suit their special career interests. Of course, it is easier to get a job if you can document your skills, both the particular skills for that particular job, and the language skills you will you to carry out your job responsibilities as you live your life, possibly in a German-speaking enviroment (or if you take a job in the English-speaking world that nevertheless requires some proficiency in German).

Relation of this course to GER 320/420 "SpeakEasy"

"SpeakEasy" is a student-run business entrepreneurship created by students in PSU WLL languages courses (primarily German). SpeakEasy produces language-related consumer articles that feature sustainability, such as multilingual greeting cards printed on natural fiber paper, and travel mugs and disc flyers made from 100% recycled plastic. Participating in SpeakEasy is like being in a small, local business (which SE is!), except that all the people in the business communicate in German rather than English. Here "workplace" and "business" are defined broadly: not just the corporate world, but also small independent enterprises and the activities of free-lancers and the world of those who earn their way in life in the professions, the academic world, and the arts.

In your SpeakEasy activity you will be discussing products and processes; developing ideas about design, marketing and sales; and helping make decisions about where the enterprise will go in the future. You'll learn some basic business terminology ("contract", "profit", "loss"), but even more you will reinforce your proficiency at the level of everyday grown-up language ("fold", "margin", "pack", "deliver", "font", "print", "save", "thumb drive", "cursor"). You will also learn about small D-A-CH companies, both the familly-owned, multigenerational businesses (Mittelstand) that are the backbone of much of the economy in those countries, and Schülerfirmen, which are student-run companies conducted in middle and high schools. The intent, beyond language proficiency, is that you will learn more, from a ground-level view, about teh working world, both in general and German-specific, and thus be more competitive for employment and more informed as a citizen.

And that's what we'll be doing in German 301. Here's how it breaks down into categories of language and content activities:

1) We'll constantly work with the Advanced (and sometimes higher) features of grammar: past tense, future tense, subjunctive, passive, subordinate-clause word order, and connectors (especially the ones that express sequence and causality). You've had - probably several times - what is called "initial exposure" to those features. The aim now is "partial control" (and not just when you're consciously paying attention to them). The stage beyond "partial control" is mastery. While mastery of the grammatical topics just mentioned does not generally occur in third-year German, there are some other features of grammar where learners at the third-year level should be approaching mastery, such as basic word order (placement of "nicht", modal verbs, conjugation of haben/sein and correct form of participles in past tense). At the very least, by third year there should be good conceptual familiarity with these structures. The same goes for another favorite (and fear): adjective endings; you know about them, but you almost certainly need to improve in accuracy (again, by practice, not by yet another lecture about forms).

Some particular targets: werden, modal verbs, participles and gerunds (equivalents of English "-ing", for example), prepositions, conjunctions, and relative pronouns.

2) We'll constantly work with Advanced vocabulary that is "generic", in the sense that all adults need it and most people acquire it, in their native language, by their early teens: insurance, quit, fold, success, due to, meanwhile, afterward, busy, expect. Such "generic" vocabulary is an essential part of language for the workplace (but also the home and the street).

3) We'll spend significant time on vocabulary that is clearly related to career and workplace, in the particular realm of the lower/middle level of white-collar employment and small / startup businesses. This will include several realms of activity: common workplace operations and objects (envelope, folder, stapler); office (and home) technology (application, cursor, scroll, save, delete, connection, crash); language directly related to employment (hire, fire, apply, application, accept, decline); and the social language of the workplace - you will be expected to engage readily in common workplace behaviors like small talk at the start of a shift, coordinating schedules with co-workers, and perhaps even complaining. (Did you notice that "application" appears in two lists here?)

4) There has to be linguistic and cultural "input" (reading and listening). Some of this input will resemble a course textbook or other conventional language-learning resource. Even more of it will be "real-world" material from printed and internet sources ("real-world" = created for some other purpose than a language course): career advice, employment documents, business reports, "self-help" resources (how to behave in a job interview, how to write a résumé). While most reading (and listening) will be in German, of course, some reading will be in English: cultural content that can be compared to what you are learning about the culture of the German-speaking world; texts that can help you improve your language-learning skills.

5) There has to be linguistic and cultural "output" (speaking and writing). A little of your "output" will resemble conventional coursework: occasional grammar and vocabulary activities and quizzes. Most of it, though, will be "real-world" - things you might produce in a work environment and can therefore use to document your job and career skills. You'll put those items in a collection (portfolio) that you could actually present as part of an employment application. You will also do a small amount of writing in English: a few reflective remarks, and some written translations that can document your employment preparation in that skill.

6) Along the way you'll customize the learning to fit your own preferences and needs. For example, you'll focus on a particular skill you have or want to have, and add German to it - such as reading instructions for audio-processing software and preparing, in German, a short presentation that tells others a little about how to use it.

7) Up to about 1/4 of the coursework will be hands-on participation in "SpeakEasy". You may be helping to develop and market multilingual greeting cards, travel mugs, and disk-flyers, or working on a vocabulary product that can be delivered through iTunes, or starting to create a calendar-cookbook for the WLL Department or German section. This activity can go on your résumé as a small-scale internship, and you may well know that internships, even unpaid, are hard to come by these days.

8) A special theme we will work with throughout is sustainability, both environmental (Umweltverträglichkeit) and economical (Nachhaltigkeit).You'll learn about that in the German-speaking world, which is a leader there, and as part of "SpeakEasy" activity. The sustainability theme may also include attention to STEM: science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (in German, MINT: Mathematik, Informatik, Naturwissenschaften, Technik). That is because STEM/MINT is a key focus of attempts to improve US (and German) education, and because STEM/MINT is a particularly strong feature of German culture over many centuries.

Assignments. Each week there will be reading and listening assignments, an assignment to write in German, and an assignment to write in English (either a translation or a reflection for your portfolio). The assignments will be related to each other, within each week and throughout the course. Some assignments will combine two or more skills.

Evaluation. Every activity will be evaluated with a scoring guide, which you will usually see ahead of time.

Tests. Each week there may be a short quiz involving vocabulary, writing in German, and writing in English (either a translation or a reflection). There is no midterm. Your portfolio, with revisions, will be part of your final grade. During the scheduled final exam period there will be a group discussion or presentation which will be graded on a combination of group and individual performance.

Grading factors:

10% quizzes (if we have them); if not, the 10% will be redistributed among the 3 next items below

50% weekly assignments

20% final activity

15% finished portfolio with concluding English and German summaries/ reflections

5% participation (attendance and contribution to discussion)

I reserve the right to introduce quizzes and a midterm if I think effort is insufficient, and to adjust the percentages listed here.

Weekly Schedule. Follow this link to see the topics for each week and links to class meetings and the resources developed for them.

Resources / Reference Works

Fischer & Richardson, German Reference Grammar (PDF, free via this link)

Fischer & Richardson, German Pictorial Dictionary (PDF, free via this link)

Farrell, R.B. Dictionary of German Synonyms (link to Amazon source of print versions). More more than it sounds. Not a list of German synonyms for German words, but rather a well-considered collection of key but difficult English words (learn, knowledge, change, move) and their many German equivalents, with explanations of difference in meanings, and illustrations of usage. I will probably give you occasional pages.

Nees, Greg. Germany: Unraveling an Enigma (link to Amazon source of print and e-book versions). Used in Fall 2013 version of GER 301. Wonderful presentation of culture (everyday and deep) as it relates to language, with attemption to the workplace and the economy.

A comprehensive history, in English, of D-A-CH or at least D. There are many goods ones; one of the absolute best is Ozment, Steven. A Mighty Fortress: A New History of the German People (link to Amazon source of print versions - don't know why it isn't out for Kindle). Nees does a good short-short version, but Ozment gets far more depth and detail. From here on in your study of German you simply must have a detailed grasp of the history.

A comprehensive study of German cultural and intellectual history, or at least a close look at a key period. Highly recommended: Watson, Peter. The German Genius: Europe's Third Renaissance, the Second Scientific Revolution and the Twentieth Century (link to Amazon print and e-book versions).

Regular time spent with on-line German-speaking news media, whether from website of the various networks (ARD, Deutsche Welle, ÖRF) or news broadcasts delivered by apps like TuneIn. More info later in the quarter.

For short but incisive coverage, in English, of political, economic and cultural happenings and trends in the German-speaking world, I highly recommend the weekly magazine The Economist. It does far more than its title says. I will probably give you articles from it occasionally.