Logo UAB
2019/2020

Third Foreign Language I, German

Code: 104649 ECTS Credits: 6
Degree Type Year Semester
2500894 Tourism OT 4 0

Contact

Name:
Robert Fritsche
Email:
Robert.Fritsche@uab.cat

Use of Languages

Principal working language:
(ger)
Some groups entirely in English:
No
Some groups entirely in Catalan:
No
Some groups entirely in Spanish:
No

Teachers

Ute Prause
Eva Maria Auracher
Ester Sola Llunell

Prerequisites

There are no prerequisites.

Objectives and Contextualisation

Knowledge-related objectives

Students acquire the language content described in section "Content" of this document. They also develop communicative competences in oral and written interaction, being able to do the following at the end of the course.  

  1.  Recognise the orthographic marks of German and relate them to the phonemes.
  2.  Recognise the letters that are pronounced and those that are not.
  3.  Distinguish between the phonemes of German.
  4.  Understand brief oral messages in the Media, on the telephone, or in public places.
  5.  Communicate in simple everyday situations.
  6.  Understand brief announcements and news items and extract information from a written text aimed at the general public (signs, posters, leaflets, notes, etc.).
  7.  Write brief, simple texts in German (postcards, notes, personal texts, etc.)
  8.  Fill in forms with personal details.

Skills objectives

At the end of the course students should have achieved the following.

1. Begin to develop a degree of accuracy (in grammar, pronunciation, use of vocabulary, register, etc.) and fluency (speed of production, ability to express ideas and construct discourse), in both speaking and writing, corresponding to 2/3 of level A1 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.

2. Learn strategies and skills to understand simple authentic written and spoken texts.

3. Learn strategies to continue learning independently outside the classroom.

a.    Develop the ability to use the language efficiently in everyday situations.

b.    Learn to use language learning resources: dictionaries,grammars, text books, practice exercises, etc.

Competences

  • Communicate orally and in writing in three foreign languages within the tourism field and others related to it.
  • Develop a capacity for independent learning.
  • Implement business communication techniques used by tourism organisations: internal, external and corporate.
  • Self-assess the knowledge acquired.
  • Use communication techniques at all levels.
  • Work in a team.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Develop a capacity for independent learning.
  2. Identify vocabulary and grammar resources for use in the tourism sector, in three foreign languages.
  3. Self-assess the knowledge acquired.
  4. Use communication techniques at all levels.
  5. Use the idiomatic expressions typical of the tourism sector in three foreign languages, at upper intermediate level.
  6. Use tourism resources available on internet, in three foreign languages.
  7. Vary the discourse patterns used to fit different functions, contexts, media, activities and situations in the workplace.
  8. Work in a team.

Content

The contents listed here are constantly combined together in the learning process, in keeping with the interconnected nature of language learning. The linguistic contents are subdivided into language functions, grammar, vocabulary and phonetics and prosody.

Language functions

The following list includes both general language functions and functions specific to the tourism field.

a)   Socialising function

— Establish contact with a person: greet and respond to a greeting, offer a welcome.

— Say goodbye.

— Make introductions.

— Apologise.

— Offer thanks.

b)   Informational function

— Identify oneself and another person. Ask for and give personal information (name, age, job, address, birthplace, nationality, civil status, family, customs, tastes, holidays).

— Ask for and give information about places (location, characteristics, etc.).

— Ask for and give information about times: time of day, timetables, dates, duration of an activity.

— Ask for and give information about a current situation.

c)  Expressive function (feelings and moods)

— Express satisfaction or dissatisfaction.

— Expression preference.

— Express a wish.

d)   Inductive function

— Ask questions and express willingness or a wish to do something.

— State that something is possible or impossible to do.

— Suggest an activity.

e)   Metalinguistic function

— Ask and say how to say something or how a word is pronounced in German.

— Ask and say how to spell a word and what orthographic marks a particular written expression needs (accent, apostrophe, comma, point, hyphen, etc.).

— Ask the meaning of a word or expression.

Grammar

Students must be able to recognise and appropriately use the following grammatical structures.

The clause

— Components of the clause.

— Types of clause: declarative, interrogative, exclamative, affirmative and negative.

— Order of the components of a simple (not subordinate) clause.

— Coordinate clauses.

Determiners

— Determinate articles: der, das, die.

— Indeterminate articles: ein, eine, einen.

— Negative articles: keine, kein, keinen.

— Possessives: mein, meine; dein; sein, etc.

— Declination of the determiners: nominative, accusative.

— Cardinal numbers.

Pronouns

— Personal: er, sie, es, wir, ihr, sie.

— Indefinite: einer, eine, eins; jeder, jede, jedes.

— Demonstrative: der, das, die; dieser, diese, dieses.

— Interrogative: welcher, welche, welches; wer, was, wann, wo, woher, wohin, wie.

Nouns

— Inflection for gender and number.

— Declination of the noun: nominative, accusative.  

— Formation of compound nouns (noun + noun): die Hausfrau, das Weinglas.

Adjectives

— As a predicative complement.

Verbs

— Conjugation of the verbs in present, imperative (formal: “Sie”) and past (of the verbs “haben” and “sein”).

— Verbs with a separable prefix: einkaufen, aufstehen, anfangen...

— Verbs with a non-separable prefix: beginnen, erzählen, verkaufen..

— Modal verbs: können, wollen, müssen, möchten.

Adverbs

— Of degree: viel, wenig…

— Of manner: gern, sehr, viel, gut…

— Of time: heute, bald, später…

— Of place: hier, dort…

— Of affirmation or negation: auch, nicht, nie.

Prepositions

— Of place: in, aus, nach.

— Of time: an, um, von... bis, ab.

— Of mode: als.

— Others: Wechselpräpositionen in, an,auf, neben... unter.

— Cases governed by the prepositions: dative, accusative.

Connectors

— und, oder, aber, denn, sondern.

Vocabulary

The vocabulary content falls mainly into the following areas: shopping (shops and transactions), food and drink, weather, leisure and sport, everyday activities, the home, and describing people and places.

Phonetics and prosody

Students must recognise and appropriately use the prosodic features (intonation, rhythm, etc.) of the language. They must also recognise and appropriately use the basic sounds and sound symbols of German, as specified below.

Long and short vowels.

  1. Discrimination between o/ö, u/ü, a/ä, ä/e.
  2. Diphthongs: ei, ai, ay, eu, , äu, au.
  3. Unstressed vowels.
  4. The vowel e (discrimination).
  5. Nasals ng, nk.
  6. The consonant r.

Methodology

Students are encouraged to use the language actively in class and when practising outside the classroom, to carry out communication tasks similar to those we engage in in real life, in a wide range of situations. To this end, class activities are designed to maximise students' participation and help them take responsibility for their own learning.

The methodology is highly interactive. The students put  all their knowledge of the language into practice in order to accomplish a set of oral and written tasks, both of a general nature and specifically related to tourism. In other words, the emphasis is placed on the learning process rather than on theoretical input from the teachers.

(1) Teacher-directed activities include problem solving, exercises, writing tasks and case studies.

(2) Online tutorials comprise not only email exchanges between teachers and students but also the compulsory viewing of the assessment documents that the teachers post in a virtual environment throughout the semester.

(3) Self-directed study involves learning the theory corresponding to the subject plus the (teacher-directed) practical work on problem solving, exercises, case studies and projects (information search, writing, presentation to an audience).

Activities

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Classroom-based 56.5 2.26 5, 7, 2, 4, 8, 6
Non-classroom based 56 2.24 5, 1, 7, 2, 4, 3, 6
Type: Supervised      
On line 5 0.2 3
Tutorials classroom-based 3 0.12 3
Type: Autonomous      
Activities 10 0.4 5, 1, 7, 2, 4, 3, 6
Theory 10 0.4 5, 1, 7, 2, 4, 3, 6

Assessment

Continuous assessment

Students must have attended at least 80% of their classes in order to be included in the continuous assessment process.

Continuous assessment activities

Writing tasks. Between two and five writing tasks are performed. Students may be asked to rewrite their texts to improve on the first version.

Portfolio. The portfolio contains between six and eight tasks, covering the four language skills. These may be done at home or in class.

The following are examples of these tasks.

Reading worksheets

Transformation exercises

Mini-tests

Self-assessment sheets

Information search

Production of documents

The days allocated to mid-course exams can be used to work on portfolio activities, such as the listening and reading mini-tests.

Speaking activities

Over the year, between one and two speaking activities will be conducted. These may be individual or group activities, and may take place in the classroom or be recorded and sent in. Depending on the level and the number of students in the class, they could be monologues, dialogues, presentations, etc.

Mid-course tests

One or more mid-course tests are held on the days set aside for this purpose, consisting of a writing test (one or two tasks) and/or a speaking test. These tests are in the same format as the final exam.

Attitude and participation. Students' degree of effort, attitude, and participation are assessed.

Final continuous assessmenttest

Writing and speaking. This test is on the same day as the final exam.

To pass the course an overall mark of 60% must be obtained (activities plus final test.)

Final exam

Students who have failed or not taken the continuous assessment are entitled to take a final exam that tests the four language skills. In order to pass the exam, and therefore the course itself, a minimum mark of 50% must be obtained in each skill (each part of the exam) and a minimum 60% overall.

Exam resits

Students with an average score between 3.5 and 4.999 in the final exam are entitled to a resit.

Resits involve retaking the parts of the exam on which their scores were below the overall average mark. In other words, the skills in which they obtained scores below 60%.

Changing the exam date

Students who cannot take the exam on the set dates due to health, work (trips or other similar obligations) or on compassionate grounds may ask their teacher for a change of date, supplying any necessary documents, and giving notice of at least seven calendar days except in extreme cases such as accidents. If the request is accepted, the exams must still be taken within the period set by the School of Tourism and Hotel Management.

Further points regarding assessment

Students who have passed the continuous assessment may not, under any circumstances, take the final exam in order to obtain a higher grade. 

No level certificates of any kind are issued.

An overall average grade of 60% is required to pass the  test.

Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Attitude and participation 10% 0 0 5, 1, 7, 2, 4, 3, 8, 6
Final exam 40% 1.5 0.06 5, 7, 2, 4, 6
Mid-course tests 10% 1 0.04 5, 7, 2, 4, 6
Portfolio 20% 5 0.2 5, 1, 7, 2, 4, 3, 6
Speaking activities 5% 0.5 0.02 5, 7, 2, 8, 6
Writing tasks 15% 1.5 0.06 5, 1, 7, 2, 4, 6

Bibliography

Grammar

Level A1 – B1

Andreu Castell, Brigitte Braucek: Gramàtica bàsica de la llengua alemanya – con exercicis, Editorial Idiomas - Hueber

Level A1 – C2

Brigitte Corcoll, Roberto Corcoll: Programm – Gramática A1-C2. Alemán para hispanohablantes -  Herder

Brigitte Corcoll, Roberto Corcoll: Programm – Ejercicios A1-C2. Alemán para hispanohablantes -  Herder

Andreu Castell: Gramática Lengua Alemana – explicaciones -  Editorial Idiomas – Hueber

Andreu Castell, Brigitte Braucek: Gramática Lengua Alemana – ejercicios, Editorial Idiomas - Hueber

On line

Networked multimedia materials for learning.

Websites recommended by the teachers.

Dictionary

Langenscheidts Universalwörterbuch: Diccionario Moderno Alemán Spanisch-Deutsch/Deutsch-Spanisch – Langenscheidt

Langenscheidts Universalwörterbuch: Katalanisch: Katalanisch-Deutsch / Deutsch-Katalanisch - Langenscheidt