Eltham College German at Eltham College

German

GCSE

For those students who are mathematically or scientifically minded, German is the perfect language; it has grammatical rules and it sticks to them. But it is also the language of Beethoven and Mozart, Klimt and Hundertwasser; appealing to musicians and artists alike.

Furthermore, German is far more similar to English than many people may realise and its pronunciation makes it a surprisingly straightforward language to master for the English native speaker. As Germany remains the powerhouse of Europe, and an important European trading partner, it is more important than ever to learn the language. During the IGCSE course students will be given the opportunity to learn about the culture of the German-speaking world as well as being able to communicate with native speakers.

We encourage students to travel to Germany, Austria or Switzerland whenever possible, and the department usually organises a trip for Years 10-13 to Berlin or Vienna.

Overview

Germany possesses the largest economy in the European Union and the third largest in the world. Germany remains at the heart of global politics. Knowledge of German gives students a competitive advantage and will help them understand both the language and culture of our German neighbours.

Beyond the obvious advantages of being able to trade in the mother tongue of one of our closest economic partners and communicating with the 100 million plus German speakers worldwide, German is an extremely useful language to learn because its similarities to English make it surprisingly straightforward.

Every student at Eltham College will have the opportunity to learn German from Year 7, with the possibility of continuing to GCSE and beyond. On average, more than a third of the year group opt for German as their GCSE language.

Curriculum

op of Form

For Years 7-9 we will be following the ‘Stimmt!’ course endorsed by Edexcel which ties in with the IGCSE, should students choose to continue with German. This course has extensive support material online and students will be able to consolidate their vocabulary learning through the use of memrise.com.

In Year 7 and 8, students have three lessons per week of German and one piece of homework will be set. Students will build their grammatical understanding steadily over the academic year and will broaden their vocabulary through the study of a variety of topics including:

Year 7: Topics	Year 7: Grammar
Introducing yourself	The present tense (regular and irregular verbs)
Family and pets	Articles
Free time activities	The nominative and the accusative
School life	Adjectives
Holidays	Using ‘man kann’
	Using ‘gern’
	Word order
	Using ‘weil’
	Using ‘es gibt + k/ein’
	Using ‘ich möchte‘

Year 8: Topics	Year 8: Grammar
Holidays	Using ‘war’ and ‘hatte’
The media (TV, films, books)	Using the perfect tense
Healthy lifestyles	Modal verbs
Going on a trip	Reflexive and separable verbs
Going out in the town	The imperatives
	Adjectives
	Using ‘wenn’
	Using the future tense

Year 9

In Year 9, students have four lessons per week and two pieces of homework. Students will study a variety of vocabulary and grammar topics including:

Year 9: Topics	Year 9: Grammar
Role models	Object pronouns
Music	Using ‘seit
Future plans	Separable verbs in the perfect tense
My childhood	Using ‘um…zu’
Rules and regulations	Dual case prepositions
	Using ‘als’
	Comparatives and superlatives
	Using ‘weil’

GCSE

German is an option subject at GCSE. Students follow the Edexcel IGCSE course.

At GCSE, students have four lessons per week and two pieces of homework will be set. They also have weekly one-to-one slots with the German assistant to support their preparation for the oral examination. Full details can be found in the specification but topics include:

Year 10	Year 11
Home Town, Home Life and Relationships	Hobbies, Interests and Sports
School Life, Education and Careers	The Media and Modern Technology
Holidays and local customs	Environmental Issues

The course is examined by three exams at the end of Year 11: Listening, Reading and Writing, Speaking.

Trips, Activities and Clubs

eyond the academic curriculum, the department aims to encourage its students to aspire not only to broaden their linguistic knowledge, but to explore German culture and society. To this end, students are encouraged to take part in cinema outings, trips abroad and other activities. Students in Year 11 upwards are encouraged to take advantage of the department’s broad range of literature and DVDs, and to attend the Modern and Classical Languages Society.

Trips and activities offered by the department:

Bottom of Form

In Years 10-11 and Sixth Form there is a cultural trip to Berlin or Vienna where the students can engage with the German-speaking world outside of Germany and experience the culture and history-rich capital of Austria.
Modern and Classical Languages Society programme of talks (recommended for Year 11 upwards)

Staff

Ms C Franz BA, MEd (Head of German)
Mr F Meier MA (Assistant Head – Head of Lower School)
Mrs Hazeldine (Language Assistant)
Ms S Hill BA

Senior

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