German

Important Information for Students on Moodle Course Availability

You may not see a full list of all your expected courses in your Moodle My Courses list or in this category. This does not necessarily mean that your course registrations are incorrect. There are two possible reasons:

  • Departments/Tutors make courses visible to Students in Moodle when the course is ready for teaching
  • Not all courses use Moodle.

You can use the Study tab in Campus Connect to check the courses you are registered for or contact your department who can also provide information on their use of Moodle.

20-21 GM1120: Introduction to German Studies

This course will:

Introduce you to three key areas of interest in contemporary German Studies: literature, film, and history

Introduce you to basic study skills

Teach you how to analyse different kinds of texts (literary, theoretical, filmic, historical)

Equip you with the vocabulary needed to discuss such texts

Introduce you to techniques used in class discussion and seminars at university level

20-21 GM1122: German History and Culture

The course presents key developments in German history through the lens of culture including literature, film, paintings, caricatures. Students will gain an insight into German culture and history from the Middle Ages to the present, and acquire skills and knowledge that will serve them throughout their degree.

20-21 GM1601: German Ab Initio Written I

Assessment and submission dates: 

GM1601: written: 3-hour Open Book Exam (23-hour window) in term 3 (18 May, 2021, 11:00am BST to 19 May, 2021, 10:00am BST) - 100%

GM1602: oral assessment: pre-recorded presentation - ca. 5 minutes long. Your video presentation will have to be uploaded by Friday, 30 of April 2021, midday.  - 100%

Assessment with Panopto: https://moodle2021.royalholloway.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=4223
Click to expand the topics 'Recording & uploading videos with the Panopto app' (for Panopto Desktop Recorder instructions) and 'Uploading video assessments to RePlay' (for uploading a video captured with a personal device).

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Please see more information on your exams further below. Thank you.

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The folder to look for in order to upload your oral-exam video is titled:

GM1602-202021: GM1602 Oral Presentations 2020-21

You also need to kindly upload your 10 keywords (aka 10-word prompts). This can be done via the Turnitin submission box 'GM1602 Oral Presentation Prompts' on GM1601. (We have been using Moodle page GM1601 both for GM1601 and GM1602, hence the 'Prompts' submission box on GM1601).

Any questions? Please send me an e-mail. Thank you. Danke.





20-21 GM1602: German Ab Initio Oral I

Oral exam: a pre-recorded video presentation (approx. five minutes in total) at the beginning of term 3 (by Friday, 30 April 2021, midday)

Video presentation: two different tasks - to be uploaded by Friday, 30 of April, 2021, midday via your Ab-initio Moodle page. Please note that as we have been using GM1601 as the main page for both GM1601 and GM1602 please upload your pre-recorded presentation and your 10 keyworks (aka prompts) on GM1601. Thank you.

part 1talking about yourself - you as a person, your studies, other aspects of your life (e.g. family, hobbies, etc.) approx. three minutes.

part 2'describing a scenario': you'll describe e.g. one of the following: going shopping at a market, arranging to meet friends, going clothes shopping, etc. - approx. two minutes. 

Please note: 

For part 1 you will be given some bullet points to help you structure your presentation about yourself. For part 2 you will receive a list of a few scenarios and you can choose one of these to then present in your video recording.

Also for your oral exam please see Moodle GM1601 for further information. 

Any questions? Please ask. Danke. smile


Please note that currently the main Moodle page for GM1602 is the GM1601 Moodle page.


20-21 GM1701: German Advanced Written I

GM1701

GM1701 is a compulsory Year 1 Language Course. Students have to attend 3 weekly lessons + a fortnightly grammar lecture (Intermediate):

  1. Grammar
  2. Comprehension
  3. Oral Practice
  4. Grammar Lecture (fortnightly, please refer to "Language Skills" site on MOODLE)

ASSESSMENT:

3-Hour Written assessment (100%):

  • Grammar
  • Composition
  • Comprehension

     

    20-21 GM1702: German Advanced Oral I

    Deadline for the submission of your pre-recorded presentation (aka oral exam - weighting 100%):
    Friday, 30/4/2021, midday.

    For more info on your oral exam please see the relevant document below

    Check your GM1701 Moodle page too. Danke.

    Here is a link to inform yourself on recording and uploading your video of the pre-recorded presentation:

    Assessment with Panopto - 
    https://moodle2021.royalholloway.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=4223
    Click to expand the topics 'Recording & uploading videos with the Panopto app' (for Panopto Desktop Recorder instructions) and 'Uploading video assessments to RePlay' (for uploading a video captured with a personal device).



    20-21 GM2009: German Language II

    GM2009

    GM2009 (Full Unit) is a compulsory Year 2 Language Course. Students have to attend 3 weekly lessons + a fortnightly grammar lecture (Intermediate)

    1. Grammar/Business German
    1. Comprehension
    1. Oral Practice
    1. Grammar Lecture (fortnightly, please refer to "Language Skills" site on MOODLE)
    ASSESSMENT:
    3-hour Written Open Book Examination (50%) :
    • Business German translation
    • Comprehension
    • Commentary
    English/German - German/English or German monolingual dictionaries are allowed for the written examination. 
    Oral Examination (50%)
    PLEASE NOTE THAT IN ORDER TO PASS THE CORE LANGUAGE UNIT YOU MUST OBTAIN AN OVERALL PASS MARK (AVERAGE OF THE WRITTEN AND ORAL EXAM MARKS) AND PASS THE FINAL WRITTEN EXAMINATION.

    20-21 GM2010: Intensive German for Beginners II

    TEACHING:
    5.5 hours / week (please refer to timetable)

    ASSESSMENT:

    3-hour Written Open Book Examination (50%)
    (online with a 23-hour time slot) in term 3:
    accessible as of 20 May, 2021 11:00 am BST
    to be uploaded by 21 May, 2021 10:00 am BST

    Pre-recorded presentation (50%) - approx. five minutes (to be submitted by Friday, 30th of April, 2021 - midday)

    Assessment with Panopto - https://moodle2021.royalholloway.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=4223
    Click to expand the topics 'Recording & uploading videos with the Panopto app' (for Panopto Desktop Recorder instructions) and 'Uploading video assessments to RePlay' (for uploading a video captured with a personal device).

    PLEASE NOTE THAT IN ORDER TO PASS THE CORE LANGUAGE UNIT YOU MUST OBTAIN AN OVERALL PASS MARK (AVERAGE OF THE WRITTEN AND ORAL EXAM MARKS) AND PASS THE FINAL WRITTEN EXAMINATION.

    20-21 GM2122: Death, Desire, Decline: Thomas Mann and Franz Kafka

    This course will introduce you to two key figures in twentieth-century German-language literature, Thomas Mann and Franz Kafka. Through an examination of the work of these writers, it will explore such issues as the individual v. society, the role of the artist, and the nature of desire. Mann’s work evinces a fascination with disorder and decadence even as it remains bound to bourgeois ideals of respectability and sobriety. In Kafka’s work, the everyday world of bureaucracy and officialdom is invaded by fantastical and bizarre elements. The course will focus on the unsettling and disruptive elements of these writers’ works, asking what they tell us about life in the twentieth century.

    20-21 GM2123: Love and Marriage in Major Novels by Theodor Fontane

    The course will be dedicated to the detailed analyses of 3 major novels by Theodor Fontane: "Irrungen, Wirrungen" / "On Tangled Paths" (1888), "Effi Briest" (1896) and "Unwiederbringlich" / "No Way Back" (1891). The literary analyses of these works will focus on themes around love, marriage, adultery and divorce, assessing these in their cultural, social and psychological contexts. Whereas in "Irrungen, Wirrungen" Fontane explores the impact of class boundaries on the relationship between two young lovers, in "Effi Briest" he focuses on the potentially disastrous outcomes of the marriage of convenience. In "Unwiederbringlich", Fontane examines the break-up of a once happy, but eventually disintegrating middle-age marriage.

    Assessment:
    • Formative piece of work: 0% --- Deadline = 7 December 2017
    • Essay: 30% (1500-2000 words) --- Deadline = 8 March 2018
    • Written Examination: 70%

    All essays are to be written in ENGLISH (although quotations from German material should be given in the original if you are studying German on the post A-Level pathway).

    20-21 GM2124: Representations of Childhood and Youth in Modern German Culture

    Childhood and youth - the formative periods in our lives - are of obvious crucial importance for individuals, for society and for culture. They have also been contested and controversial concepts. Children and adolescents have long been the subject of social, familial and educational pressures against which they have often rebelled in the attempt to assert individuality and develop their own identities. This course aims to introduce students to a range of literary and cinematic responses to the lives of children and young people in the context of the German-speaking countries between the late nineteenth century and the present day. Using a range of classic and recent texts and films, it will explore the historical contexts of the theme, and consider the way broader social, political and ethical issues that emerge from the representation of young people, and of institutions such as the school and the military.

    20-21 GM2501: Pra Oral In German

    This course does not use Moodle for teaching at this time. For more information, please contact your department or the course tutor.

    20-21 GM2502: Pra Oral In German

    This course does not use Moodle for teaching at this time. For more information, please contact your department or the course tutor.

    20-21 GM3009: German Language III

    GM3009 (Full Unit) is a compulsory core language course at final year level.

    The course will be taught with 3 hours / week + a fortnightly grammar lecture (Advanced)
    1. Essay
    1. Germany - past and present
    1. Oral Practice
    1. Grammar Lecture (fortnightly, please refer to "Language Skills" site on MOODLE)
    ASSESSMENT:
    3-Hour Written Examination (50%)
    • Erörterung (German essay)
    • comprehension and Stellungnahme (gestern&heute module/Germany past and present)


    FOR THE ATTENTION OF ALL STUDENTS OF LANGUAGE:
    PLEASE NOTE THAT IN ORDER TO PASS THE FINAL YEAR CORE LANGUAGE UNIT
    YOU MUST PASS BOTH THE FINAL ORAL EXAMINATION AND THE FINAL WRITTEN EXAMINATION.
     

    20-21 GM3131: Narrative and Identity

    This course will explore identity as it is expressed in German-language literature from the eighteenth century to the present day.

    20-21 GM3133: Dark Tales. E.T.A. Hoffmann and German Romanticsm

    In this course we want to focus on German Romanticism's fascination with what was perceived as the "night side" of (human) nature. In response to the Enlightement's belief in rationality and objectivity Romantic writers tended to explore the more subjective and irrational aspects of life, like emotions and imagination, but also more unsettling psychological phenomena like dreams, hallucinations and mental illness.
    E.T.A. Hoffmann is widely regarded as the undisputed master of dark, frightening and often bizarre tales whose protagonists experience their worlds as inexplicable and frightening places that drive them to the brink of insanity. The human psyche here appears to be unstable and easily influenced by factors beyond the individual's conscious control. The self is perceived as divided into "day" and "night" sides and notions of a unified stable identity become questionable. In our analyses of Hoffmann's texts we will explore themes and motifs such as the doppelgänger, the signifiance of dreams, the blurring of boundaries between sanity and insanity, the artist's role in society and the uncanny. Furthermore, we will discuss the author's specific mode of writing and select critical approaches to Hoffmann. While focusing on Hoffmann we will also consider a range of poems/excerpts from other Romantic authors in order to gain a better understanding of the period.

    20-21 GM3134: National Socialism and the Third Reich in German film and visual culture from 1933 to the present

    The course covers the period of the Third Reich to present-day Germany. You will study a broad range of examples of the visual representation of National Socialism as an ideology, a political movement and a 'national' phenomenon. Starting in the 1930s and 1940s, you will be introduced to National Socialism in its historical context and asked to consider its defining characteristics. You will consider the Nazis’ use of propaganda and ceremony, focusing on film and graphic and fine art under Hitler. The course will then focus on the aftermath of the war in both West and East Germany, and the problematic idea of the 'Zero Hour'. You will consider early attempts to 'come to terms' with the past. The debates around Vergangenheitsbewältigung (coming to terms with the past) provide the focus for the next part of the course. You will study the depiction of perpetrators/victims, and of moral ambiguity before moving on to analyse the debates around German national responsibility for the Holocaust in the context of depictions of the failure of memory and denial in German film of the 1980s and 1990s, and conclude by studying the more recent trend towards 'normalization' in films incorporating 'ordinary' Germans and/or 'good Germans'. Throughout, you will comparatively consider the role of visual art in the above debates and trends, using the post-war work of Anselm Kiefer as a case studies, alongside analysis of site-specific memorials.