Princeton University Department of Germanic Languages & Literatures German 102-5

Spring 2012 Instructor: Jamie Rankin (jrankin@princeton.edu) East Pyne 208 / 258-4135 Texts: Sevin & Sevin, Wie geht's? (9th ed.) Rankin/Wells, Handbuch zur deutschen Grammatik (5th ed.) Drrenmatt, Der Besuch der alten Dame [Diogenes] Donnersmarck, Das Leben der anderen [Suhrkamp] Goals: German 102-5 is designed to facilitate your acquisition of German in a challenging, intensive, and communicative environment, building upon the foundation of German 101 and covering the grammatical and lexical syllabus of both German 102 and 105. The course differs considerably from these, however, in terms of pace, input, classroom participation, and expectations. Each student will be required to devote substantial time to preparation of daily grammar, readings, and writing assignments, and will be expected to take on a very active role in class. There will be additional input from German media and German-speaking guest speakers. These will provide a wide range of vocabulary and syntactic structures. By the end of the course, you should be able to read moderately difficult literary texts (with some glossary help) and discuss them on the level of plot and general interpretation; express yourself in writing clearly and with an acceptable vocabulary range for personal narrative and basic literary analysis; carry on extended conversations on a variety of topics; and comprehend various sources of aural input (movies, radio plays, spontaneous dialogue). Communicative proficiency in each area of language skill (speaking, listening, writing, reading) is our goal; this means that situational and stylistic appropriateness, cultural understanding, semantic range, and structural accuracy are all considered important. Perfect attendance is assumed; after three unexcused absences, each additional absence will lower your final grade by one-third, i.e., the fourth absence will take an A- to a B+, the fifth absence will lower an Ato a B, and so on. Your instructor will remind you of this consequence following your third unexcused absence. Class: M-F 12:00-1:20

Assignments / Evaluation: speaking: engaged participation in each class session (which assumes punctual arrival to class); oral tests in conjunction with each written test daily reading assignments of at least 2-3 pages for in-class discussion; extensive reading on your own for at least one hour per week, beginning in the second week of the course

reading:

writing:

weekly dialogue journal entries with written feedback from the instructor; two essays of 1-2 pages; a final essay of 4 pages; overnight grammar assignments listening program, German TV and films, interviews with German native speakers

listening:

Tests:

I (Chs. 8/9): II (Chs. 10/11): III (Chs. 12/13): IV (Chs. 14/15): Aufsatz I: Aufsatz II: Aufsatz III: Class / assignments: Essays: Tests: Written: Speaking: Aufsatz III + Oral Project:

February 17 March 2 March 16 April 6 February 16 March 29 [TBD] 5% 15% 50% 15% 15% [10% + 5%]

Due dates:

Evaluation:

***** A word on academic integrity as it relates to homework assignments and tests in this course: As Rights, Rules, and Responsibilities (not to mention common sense) makes clear, you are not allowed to submit someone elses work for a grade as if it were your own. In a language class such as German 102-5, this means that the common practice of asking someone to look over your work to check for typos, grammar and word choice before you hand it in a practice actively encouraged in some courses is not permitted. It is precisely spelling, grammar and word choice (among other things) that form the basis of evaluation in this course, and any graded assignment, written or oral, is assumed to represent your own language competence, not someone elses. In some cases we allow you to use dictionaries (including online lexicons), but we do not permit the use of online translation tools, German spell-check or other such writing aids; and of course you may not consult German speakers (including classmates) for help on graded assignments. Evidence of help along these lines will result in submission of the case to the Committee on Discipline. No one, your instructors included, wants that to happen. It is therefore your responsibility, if you are unsure of what is and is not allowed, to discuss the assignment with your instructor and follow the instructors guidelines carefully.