Undergraduate Courses

Fall 2026

Language Courses

GER100Y1 Introduction to German

Section	Time	Instructor
L0101 (online)	MW 9-11	Stefana Gargova
L0201	MW 11-1	Angela Heinisch
L0301	TR 9-11	Eva Scheicher
L0401	TR 1-3	Rudy Yuan
L0501	TR 12-2	Eliza Auten
L5101	MW 5-7	TBD
L5201 (online)	TR 6-8	Tanya Humeniuk

This introductory German course is for students with no prior knowledge of the language. It is a year course divided into two sections. 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 off- and on-line activities, both during live meetings and on the reliable online platform accompanying the textbook. 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. Vocabulary will be presented in the context of culturally significant issues. Additionally, the course will provide students with a foundation in a number of basic grammatical structures and concepts. Live online sessions will be devoted mostly to communicative and interactive exercises. In addition to preparation at home, regularly participating in and attending the online sessions is paramount in order to successfully complete the course.

GER200Y1 Intermediate German I

Section	Time	Instructor
L0101	MW 9-11	Max Weber
L0201	TR 1-3	Lisa Lackner
L5101 (online)	MW 6-8	Lisa Lackner

This intermediate German language course builds on skills acquired in beginner’s German. It is a year course divided into two sections and is designed to provide students with genuine communication experiences while reviewing and further developing participants’ linguistic and cultural competencies. Students will have a chance to practice and enhance their German speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills by engaging with a variety of texts and media during live classes, as well as on the reliable online platform accompanying the textbook. The themes in the textbook provide a springboard for various online activities, assignments, and vocabulary building tasks. All class readings, videos, projects, and presentations will 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. Students will further practice grammatical structures and acquire vocabulary that will allow them to express opinions, agreements, and disagreements in communicative situations encountered in work, school, and travel. By learning about German, Austrian, and Swiss cities featured in the textbook and supporting materials, students will get to explore regional differences in German-speaking countries. Regular online meetings will be devoted mostly to communicative and interactive exercises and group work. In order to successfully participate in these activities, independent work and preparation are paramount.

GER300Y1 Intermediate German II

Section	Time	Instructor
L0101	MW 11-1	Felix Roessler
L5101	TR 5-7	TBD

This intermediate German language course builds on GER200Y. It is a year course divided into two sections and focuses on effective oral and written expression, hearing and reading comprehension, in-depth review of grammar as well as the study of more complex structures. Through engagement with a variety of readings, videos, and films on important historical, cultural, social, and political topics in German-speaking countries, students will have the opportunity to practice grammar and vocabulary in embedded and culturally relevant contexts. The aim of this course is to equip students with the skills to understand extended speech, to read articles on contemporary problems, to describe personal experiences and to explain viewpoints on topical issues in speech and in writing. The textbook offers engaging culture topics, authentic readings, contextualized grammar and a reliable online platform. Regular online meetings will be devoted to communicative and interactive exercises and group work. In order to successfully participate in these activities, independent work and preparation are paramount.

GER400H1 Advanced German I

Section	Time	Instructor
L0101	TR 11-1	Erol Boran

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.

GER261H1 Elementary Yiddish

Section	Time	Instructor
L0101	M 10-12 & W 10-11	TBD

This course introduces Yiddish language, literature, music, theater, and cinema through interactive multi-media seminars, designed to build proficiency in reading, writing and comprehending. No prior knowledge of Yiddish is required.

GER360H1 Intermediate Yiddish

Section	Time	Instructor
L0101	T 11-1 & R 11-12	Miriam Borden

The course conducted in Yiddish offers a review of basic grammar, stylistics, study of short literary texts.

Topic Courses

GER150HF Introduction to German Culture (ENG)
*Open to students in all disciplines. No knowledge of German required.

Section	Time	Instructor
L0101	T 11-1	TBD

Are you curious about German culture? What comes to your mind when you think of things German? Beer and sausages, high-performance cars, the Black Forest, or a mania for efficiency? This course moves beyond these cultural stereotypes and offers a kaleidoscopic view of German culture in its varied manifestations, be it in the form of cultural artifacts, great works of literature, family histories, or big ideas. We will explore world-shaping ideas and inventions from the Reformation and the Gutenberg Press to Bauhaus and modern industrial design, the connection between the Grimm Brothers’ fairy tales and their nation-building efforts, German fantasies about Indigenous North America and the longing for untouched nature, and personal narratives that grapple with the Nazi past and divided Germany. Ideal for students from across the disciplines, the course invites you to think critically about what constitutes German culture while expanding your cross-cultural understanding and global perspective.

GER 194H1 Our Vampires, Ourselves (ENG)
*FYF (First-Year-Foundation) seminars exclusively for first-year students

Section	Time	Instructor
L0101	F 11-1	Erol Boran

Vampires are among the most fascinating figures of popular culture. Since Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897) – and, in fact, well before that – they have been haunting the human imagination in various shapes and forms. But, of course, vampires have existed much longer than that – first in folktales and later, well before Stoker’s ominous Count, in German poetry. This course examines the figure of the vampire as a potent cultural metaphor showing how every age embraces the vampires it needs and gets the vampires it deserves. The goal is to teach students to reflect critically and independently on issues of self and society and to develop a structured approach to critical thinking in general. While focusing on what may be called the “Stoker paradigm”, we will go far beyond the portrayal of vampires as the absolute other. Students will have the opportunity to research individual topics to be presented in class.

GER 230H1 Open Topics in German Studies:
Football and the Making of Modern Germany (ENG)
*Open to students in all disciplines. No knowledge of German required.

Section	Time	Instructor
L0101	R 1-3	Tobias Hof

Germany’s recent World Cup defeat sent shockwaves through the nation — politicians weighed in, former athletes spoke out, and players with migrant backgrounds faced racist attacks online. Why does football hit so hard? The seminar explores football’s manifold impact on German society — shaping art, politics, and national memory from 1945 to today. We’ll dive into gender, class, fandom, racism, nationalism, and internationalism through the lens of the “people’s game.”

GER270H1 Money and Economy in German Literature and Culture (ENG)
*Open to students in all disciplines. No knowledge of German required.

Section	Time	Instructor
L5101	M 1-3	Christine Lehleiter

In this course, we examine key literary, philosophical, and cultural texts, in order to understand how modern culture approaches problems such as property, debt, and exchange value.

GER310H1 Contemporary German Culture & Media (GER)
*Prerequisite: GER200Y1/GER201H1/Placement Test

Section	Time	Instructor
L0101	M 11-1	Christine Lehleiter

This course provides students with the opportunity to encounter more advanced texts focusing on modern German culture, as expressed through a variety of media. It examines a range of issues that have changed the way we look at culture, as well as the impact of these changes on national identity. It offers a diverse view of German life based on reading selections from literary works, memoirs, newspaper reports, commentaries, and interdisciplinary materials which highlight important cultural movements.

GER340H1 German through Scene Work and Dramatic Readings (GER)
*Prerequisite: GER200Y1/GER201H1/Placement Test

Section	Time	Instructor
L0101	T & R 3-5	Erol Boran

The course promotes German-language proficiency through intensive, hands-on work with selected dramatic scenes. The emphasis is on intensive speaking practice in a supportive ensemble environment. Students read and interpret texts from the Germanophone tradition, develop characters, and rehearse in small groups. The course offers an immersive, collaborative learning experience with short scenes and clearly structured rehearsal steps leading up to a dramatic reading. No prior acting or theatre experience is required; intermediate German proficiency is recommended.

GER350H1 German Visual Cultures (GER)
*Prerequisite: GER205H/Placement Test

Section	Time	Instructor
L0101	T 3-7 (screening time included)	Ina Karkani

This course presents students with a survey of the history and development of the German cinema. It examines major trends of German cinematography focusing on thematic and formal aspects.

GER361H1 Yiddish Literature in Translation (ENG)
*Open to students in all disciplines. No knowledge of German or Yiddish required.

Section	Time	Instructor
L0101	W 3-5	Jacob Hermant

The story of modern Yiddish literature is one of resistance and creativity. This course traces the history of Yiddish literature over two hundred years of Jewish diasporic life to investigate what it means to write literature in Yiddish. Students will engage with Hasidic tales and Neo-Hasidic stories, satires and tragicomic family narratives, modernist poetry and horrifying literatures of violence. All the while, we will put Yiddish literature in conversation with world literature, locating Yiddish firmly in the constellation of international writing. All readings are in English.

GER370H1 German Business Culture (GER)
*Prerequisite: GER272H1/GER200Y1/GER201H1/Placement Test

Section	Time	Instructor
L0101	TR 11-1	Stefana Gargova

This course provides students with a working knowledge of German business culture that allows them to navigate the German workplace. The main focus is to deepen students’ knowledge of business concepts.

PHL217H Introduction to Continental Philosophy (ENG)
*This course can be counted toward GER Major.

Section	Time	Instructor
L0101	T 3-5	Willi Goetschel

An introduction to some of the post-Hegelian thinkers who inspired the various philosophical movements broadly referred to as continental, such as phenomenology, existentialism, deconstruction, and post-modernism. Questions include the will, faith, death, existence, history and politics, rationality and its limits, encountering an other. Authors studied may include: Kierkegaard, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Marx, Freud, Heidegger, Sartre.

Winter 2027

Language Courses

GER100Y1/101H1* Introduction to German
*Enrolment in GER101H1 is restricted to students who have been placed into the course through the Placement Test.

Section	Time	Instructor
L0101 (online)	MW 9-11	TBD
L0201	MW4-6	Maria Harutyunyan
L0301	TR 11-1	Somaia Mostafa
L0401	TR 9-11	Lisa Lackner
L0501	TR 4-6	Hannah Robinson
L5101	MW 6-8	Antonio Vivone
L5201 (online)	TR 6-8	Tanya Humeniuk

GER200Y1/201H1* Intermediate German I
*Enrolment in GER201H1 is restricted to students who have been placed into the course through the Placement Test.

Section	Time	Instructor
L0101	MW 9-11	Maria Harutyunyan
L0201	TR 1-3	TBD
L5101 (online)	MW 6-8	Stefana Gargova

GER300Y1/301H1* Intermediate German II
*Enrolment in GER301H1 is restricted to students who have been placed into the course through the Placement Test.

Section	Time	Instructor
L0101	MW 11-1	Antonio Vivone
L5101	TR 5-7	Lisa Lackner

GER401H1 Advanced German 2

Section	Time	Instructor
L0101	WF 11-1	Erol Boran

GER262H1 Elementary Yiddish 2

Section	Time	Instructor
L0101	M 10-12 & W 10-11	Caleb Sher

This course is the continuation of GER261H1, Elementary Yiddish 1. While learning the language the course will also introduce students to Yiddish literature & culture, providing a greater understanding of the historical and contemporary, religious and secular communities that speak and spoke this language.

GER460H1 Advanced Yiddish

Section	Time	Instructor
L0101	T 3-5	Anna Shternshis

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.)

Topic Courses

GER195H1 Cities, Real and Imagined (ENG)
*FYF (First-Year-Foundation) seminars exclusively for first-year students

Section	Time	Instructor
L0101	F 11-1	Hang-Sun Kim

Cities have been described as places of desire and places of fear. They pulse with life, bringing together people from different class, gender, and ethnic backgrounds, simultaneously giving rise to a sense of freedom and oppression, a sense of belonging and alienation. This course will explore the city as a physical reality that shapes our lives, but is also a projection of our deepest imaginings. Through readings of philosophical and sociological texts by influential theorists of the city, we will consider various ancient and modern conceptions of urban space and subjectivity. Alongside these theoretical readings, we will also examine literary and filmic representations of the city as a space of desire, memory and power.

GER205H1 Masterpieces of German Literature 1 (GER)
*Pre-requisite: GER100Y; Co-requisite: GER200Y
A required course for the German major program and pre-requisite course for most of the 300-level topic GER courses. Cannot be taken after the completion of GER300Y/301H.

Section	Time	Instructor
L0101	W 3-5 & F 1-2	Erol Boran

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.

GER275H1 Marx, Nietzsche, Freud (ENG)
*Open to students in all disciplines. No knowledge of German required.

Section	Time	Instructor
L0101	M 1-3	Willi Goetschel

This is an introductory course to the thought of Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Sigmund Freud and their pioneering contributions to a critical understanding of modernity. Readings include selections from writings of the early Marx, the Communist Manifesto, and Capital, Nietzsche’s critique of culture, politics and nationalism, and Freud’s theory of culture, his views on the psychopathology of everyday life, on the meaning of dreams, symptoms, the return of the repressed, and what it might mean to live in a free society.

GER290H1 Global Issues – German Context (ENG)
*Open to students in all disciplines. No knowledge of German required.

Section	Time	Instructor
L0101	Thursday 3-5	Tobias Hof

Why did Walmart’s attempt to break into the German market go down in flames? What factors have turned soccer clubs like Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund into global brands? How has globalization impacted traditional German culture and what is unique about the German and European experience of globalization?

The course explores the contemporary character of globalization patterns and problems in German contexts and prepares students for future academic and professional opportunities in Germany and beyond. The course is highly recommended as preparation for students interested in participating in iPRAKTIKUM, the Department of German’s internationalization and experiential Learning program, which provides exciting placements in Germany and the GTA. It also fulfills a requirement for the U of T’s Global Scholar Certificate.

GER330H1 Open Topics in German Studies:
Cinematic Bildungsroman: Identity, Memory, and Coming of Age in German Cinema (ENG)
*Open to students in all disciplines. No knowledge of German required.

Section	Time	Instructor
L0101	W 1-5 screening time included	Ina Karkani

What does it mean to grow up in a nation constantly redefining its own borders, history, and identity? This course explores the German Bildungsroman in cinema – the traditional coming-of-age film – through the lens of 20th and 21st-century cinematic works. Moving across four thematic modules, we will examine how filmmakers have used figures of youth to navigate Germany’s complex historical fractures and contemporary social realities.

GER336H1 Berlin Between East and West (GER)
*Prerequisite: GER205H1/Placement Test

Section	Time	Instructor
L0101	T 1-3	Erol Boran

This course offers an exploration of the cultural developments of one of the most exciting capitals of the world, from the Bismarckian era to German reunification and beyond.

GER372H1 Navigating German Work Environments (GER)
*Prerequisite: GER370H

Section	Time	Instructor
L0101	TR 11-1	Stefana Gargova

This course offers an intensive development of the linguistic skills needed in the context of business transactions and management in German-speaking countries. Through materials from various sources, students develop oral and written skills for competence in German business communication as well as cross-cultural awareness.

NOTES: Required course for the Business German minor. / GER270H and GER272H alternate with GER370H and GER372H and are only offered every other year.

HPS270H Science & Literature (ENG)
*This course can be counted toward GER Major.

Section	Time	Instructor
L0101	M 11-1	Christine Lehleiter

This course will focus on the interplay between science and literature from ancient Greece to the present day. We’ll examine the impact of major scientific paradigm shifts on the literature of their time, and situate literary texts within the context of contemporary scientific discoveries and technological innovations.

BMS390H1 Combat in Media and Art (ENG)
*This course can be counted toward GER Major.

Section	Time	Instructor
L0101	W 3-5	John Zilcosky

This course offers a historical exploration of the relationship between art and physical combat as represented and/or enacted in various media. Taking as its subject ancient artefacts, literature, painting, and film from a variety of cultures and historical moments, this course asks what representations of combat say about why humans engage in combat sports. It also explores and analyses the forms through which this combat itself is enacted – whether in wooded glades; on small, confined stages; in tents; or through a variety of televisual and cinematic media – to delve into the implications of meaning, media, and communal ritual in a variety of historical and contemporary contexts.