German is the study of the German language in the cultural, polit­ical and social context of Germany, Switzer­land and Austria.

It is our aim that every child at Key Stage 3 should acquire know­ledge and under­stand­ing of the German language so as to be able to commu­nic­ate effect­ively in every­day situ­ations. Your child will be able to develop language skills that are of use in giving basic inform­a­tion about himself/herself and in devel­op­ing confid­ence in asking for inform­a­tion in the target language. We consider it import­ant that students develop an aware­ness and appre­ci­ation of cultural differ­ence and diversity through the study of a foreign language.

Your child will:
Be taught for two lessons a week.
Be intro­duced to the subject by emphas­ising the oral compon­ent through listen­ing and speak­ing prac­tice
Develop compet­ence in all four areas of skill by accom­mod­at­ing differ­ent learn­ing types and styles in the lessons
Exper­i­ence a vari­ety of activ­it­ies ranging from audio-visual meth­ods (authen­tic listen­ing mater­ial, videos, satel­lite TV, over­head projec­tions) to role plays, songs and mime
Be intro­duced gradu­ally to read­ing and writ­ing tasks based on oral work
Be given ample oppor­tun­ity in class to gain confid­ence in pronoun­cing words and phrases regu­larly regard­less of abil­ity or educa­tional needs
Acquire oral compet­ence in German that will provide enjoy­ment and interest in learning

Year 7

A brief intro­duc­tion to Germany, Switzer­land and Austria
Greet­ings and personal details
Details about home and family
School life includ­ing numbers and time
Talk­ing about food - likes and dislikes - cook­ing a German dish
Buying things - talk­ing about money (euro)
Interest and hobbies
Asking and giving direc­tions
Talk­ing about past events

Your child will acquire basic phrases, ask ques­tions, develop diction­ary skills and be intro­duced to basic gram­mar. At the end of Year 7 students will be able to use verbs in the present and past tense.

Years 8 and 9
Talk­ing about the weather and holi­day activ­it­ies
Daily routines
Friend­ships and resolv­ing disputes
Accept­ing and declin­ing, making excuses­Giv­ing opin­ions
Talk­ing about envir­on­mental prob­lems
Talk­ing about health and life­styles· Making plans for the future

Your child will expand on basic phrases, learn to use more complex sentence struc­ture and develop vocabulary.

All students at Key Stage 3 follow the Oxford Univer­sity Press course KLASSE 1-3. Your child will use book 1 in Year 7 and progress to book 2 in Year 8 and book 3 in Year 9. The course book is supple­men­ted by a work book­let. Students are asked to purchase this addi­tional resource through the depart­ment at reduced cost.

How will your child be assessed?
Oral assess­ment in terms of class feed­back
Writ­ten class work and home­work will be regu­larly marked and assessed
Formal assess­ment will take place after every three units in the course book.

Your child will be advised about the criteria against which this assess­ment is made
Oral tests will take place in class during lessons
Listen­ing, read­ing and writ­ing skills are assessed through specific­ally designed work sheets

Work set for your child will be differ­en­ti­ated:
By provid­ing appro­pri­ate exten­sion or revi­sion tasks
By using a vari­ety of teach­ing meth­ods which take into account many differ­ent learn­ing styles· By encour­aging inde­pend­ent learn­ing through open ended tasks
By prais­ing and reward­ing effort regard­less of attain­ment level
By provid­ing addi­tional help or extra time in complet­ing the tasks
By asking for support through classroom assist­ants who are famil­iar with German.

Home­work is used to revise or extend work. In Year 7 your child will be set one home­work assign­ment a week of approx­im­ately half an hour, increas­ing to one hour in Year 8 and 9.

What extra-curricular activ­it­ies will be on offer?
Your child’s acquis­i­tion of German will be enhanced by visits to Germany, Switzer­land or Austria.
In Year 7 and 8 your child will have the oppor­tun­ity to take part in a study tour to a major German-speaking city.
In Year 9 students will be able to take part in the annual exchange with our German part­ner school in Bremer­haven.
Your child will also be encour­aged to estab­lish contact with a pen friend through letter writ­ing, audio tape or email as part of our after­noon activ­it­ies programme.