Undergraduate Courses

The GER 100Y language course is an introductory German course divided into two sections for students with no prior knowledge of the language. Based on a communicative and task-based approach, it is designed to develop proficiency in oral and written communication skills while providing students with knowledge and understanding of the societies and cultures of German-speaking countries. Students will develop their listening, speaking, reading and writing skills through a variety of stimulating activities. Vocabulary will be presented in the context of culturally significant issues. Topics cover areas such as introducing and talking about oneself, shopping, telling time and recounting a day, family life, describing and renting an apartment, travel, health and fitness or studying abroad. Additionally, the course will provide students with a foundation in a number of basic grammatical structures and concepts. Class periods will be devoted mostly to communicative and interactive exercises. In addition to preparation at home, regular class attendance is paramount in order to participate successfully in these activities.

This language course will provide students with genuine communication experiences in order to deepen their understanding of German-speaking countries. It has been designed to further develop communicative proficiency in each of the four language skills listening, speaking, reading, and writing. The textbooks are motivating and encourage interest in culture and language through their unique approach to authentic material illustrating vocabulary in context, communicative functions of grammatical structures, and cultural highlights. All readings, videos, projects, and presentations in class explore historical, social, political, and popular topics while aspects of Germanic and North American cultures are being compared. Learning strategies and self-assessment are part of every chapter, allowing for differentiation among various types of learners. The topics cover areas such as introducing and talking about oneself, shopping, telling time and recounting a day, family life, describing and renting an apartment, health and fitness etc. Cultural and linguistic variants of all three German-speaking countries are featured. Class periods will be devoted mostly to communicative and interactive exercises. In order to participate successfully in these activities, preparation at home and regular class attendance are paramount.

This language course will provide students with genuine communication experiences in order to deepen their understanding of German-speaking countries. It has been designed to further develop communicative proficiency in each of the four language skills listening, speaking, reading, and writing. The textbooks are motivating and encourage interest in culture and language through their unique approach to authentic material illustrating vocabulary in context, communicative functions of grammatical structures, and cultural highlights. All readings, videos, projects, and presentations in class explore historical, social, political, and popular topics while aspects of Germanic and North American cultures are being compared. Learning strategies and self-assessment are part of every chapter, allowing for differentiation among various types of learners. The topics cover areas such as introducing and talking about oneself, shopping, telling time and recounting a day, family life, describing and renting an apartment, health and fitness etc. Cultural and linguistic variants of all three German-speaking countries are featured. Class periods will be devoted mostly to communicative and interactive exercises. In order to participate successfully in these activities, preparation at home and regular class attendance are paramount.

This course is aimed at students with a high level of competence in German. Building on material covered in GER 100/200/300, it offers advanced studies of German language, including text-based analysis and with a focus on improving communication skills. It includes a systematic review and expansion of grammar and stylistics, and additional emphasis lies on vocabulary building. The course is partly based on newspaper articles, literary texts, films and websites.

Advanced reading, writing, vocabulary and conversation. Study of poetry, short fiction and memoir literature by Zeitlin, Bergelson, Gladshteyn, Sholem Aleichem and I.B. Singer. Selected advanced grammatical topics presented in conjunction with the study of texts. (Conducted entirely in Yiddish.)

This prerequisite course offers an introduction to work methods and skills pertaining to the study of German literature. As such, the course is meant to provide a transition from language to topic courses. Students will receive training in how to give a successful presentation, how to read and analyze texts, how to find secondary literature and how to write short papers. The course is required for majors and specialists and a pre-requisite course for most of the other topic courses. It should be taken as early as possible.

This course covers a time period of roughly 200 years dealing with the nightmares of the Romantic psyche with its witches & vampires all the way to the evil offspring of the postmodern era. Reading tales by J.W. Goethe, E.T.A. Hoffmann, A. v. Droste-Hülshoff, Th. Storm and P. Süskind, among other, we investigate instances of the grotesque and the macabre, the mysterious and the uncanny, the monstrous and the sublime. Our guiding questions are: In what ways do the works discussed mirror modern life experience? How do these monsters of the imagination interrelate to German culture & society? And what do they ultimately tell us about ourselves?

This course introduces students to basic concepts and vocabulary necessary for the German business context. All the language skills (reading, writing, listening, and speaking) will be practiced in appropriate business contexts.

When in 1899 an anonymous writer sent the New Year’s card displayed above, he could look back at a century that had brought enormous changes for the territory that today is Germany. Fighting against Napoleon, Germany’s national feelings had been strengthened and a German state had emerged from a conglomerate of small duchies governed by absolutist rulers. Political revolts had challenged these absolutistic forms of government and had started to replace it with a democratic state of classes. The composition of German society had changed dramatically as a result of the industrial revolution which had replaced traditional manufacturing with mass production by machines and with private capital. The human suffering and social challenges triggered by the industrial revolution had led to new political movements like communism and socialism. Despite these challenges, however, the century had been shaped by the belief in progress and the optimism that new scientific discoveries would lead to a better life for Germany and mankind. In this course, we will study how German authors reflected on these changes in literary, political and philosophical texts. Our work in class will be shaped by class discussions, group work, and occasional lectures. Assignments and discussions will be in German.

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This course looks at the 50+ year cultural history of Germany?s largest ethnic minority. Starting in the 1960s, Turks first came as labour migrants (?guest workers?) and later, in the 1980s, as asylum seekers; there were always artists among them. With them new impulses and perspectives reached German culture. First in Turkish, but soon also in German the migrants reacted to and interacted with their new surroundings. Over the years a vibrant Turkish-German cultural scene developed. Comparable to the political realm, their cultural integration was filled with challenges and obstacles. Nonetheless artists of Turkish origin have since become such an integral part of Germany?s cultural landscape that the scholar Leslie Adelson talks about a Turkish turn of German literature. This development is not restricted to literature, but also encompasses film, political cabaret, stand-up comedy, rap and hip-hop, etc.

This course offers an introduction to the German language, literature, and culture of the Middle Ages. We will read and translate Middle High German texts, study facsimiles of medieval manuscripts, and inquire into epochal cultural concepts like courtly love and chivalry as well as courtly and clerical designs of identity. Authors discussed will include Hartmann von Aue and Walther von der Vogelweide among others. The course fulfills the departmental requirement in Middle High German.

In this course we read some of the most enjoyable plots and stories in German Literature and examine how the pleasure of reading sets readers free to re-imagine themselves and the world released from everyday pressures and the repressive weight of the status quo. Readings are all in English translation and include texts by Lessing, Goethe, Schiller, Kleist, Keller, Heine and Kafka. Restricted to first-year students. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.