German

AS and A Level

Sprechen sie Deutsch?
German is spoken by more than 120 million people around the globe and is in the top ten of the most widely spoken languages in the world. Germany is vital to the UK as our largest single trad­ing part­ner, so wherever you choose to work you are likely to have contact with Germany and need the language. Study­ing German at A level will equip you with the skills you need for effect­ive writ­ten and spoken commu­nic­a­tion and give you an insight into the culture and liter­at­ure of Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

What can I do with a language qual­i­fic­a­tion?
Taking an A-level in a foreign language is no longer restric­ted to people who want to go on to univer­sity to study languages or other arts subjects, or who want a career purely in languages.

Scient­ists and engin­eers need languages: they travel and work through­out the world for compan­ies which sell goods abroad, or are them­selves multinational.

Whatever you decide to do as a career, it is highly likely that you will one day find your­self work­ing for a multina­tional company or for a firm with connec­tions abroad. You will need to be able to commu­nic­ate with employ­ees at all levels, not only about profes­sional matters, but also on a social level.

Having know­ledge of the foreign coun­try and its culture, under­stand­ing how your coun­ter­parts in other coun­tries think, will enable you to inter­act effect­ively with them. This is a skill that prospect­ive employ­ers are actively look­ing for.

Employ­ers say they don’t just want special­ist linguists, but people with skills such as engin­eer­ing, law, chem­istry etc. who also can speak a foreign language.

Many firms will give pref­er­ence to applic­ants with suit­able language skills as indic­ated by numer­ous adverts in the national and foreign press, which stip­u­late a foreign language as an essen­tial requirement.

Most univer­sit­ies offer combined courses which means you can study two subjects, and many of these combined courses involves study­ing a foreign language together with another, completely differ­ent subject.

Content of Specific­a­tion
The syllabus is designed to develop students’ know­ledge of language, their language skills and their appre­ci­ation of cultural aspects of Germany and other coun­tries where the language is used. Topical issues ranging from drug addic­tion, immig­ra­tion, unem­ploy­ment and glob­al­isa­tion to youth culture and modern tech­no­logy will be covered in some detail. Students are encour­aged to under­stand the polit­ical system and demo­cratic processes in the German-speaking coun­tries by study­ing news­pa­per articles, tele­vi­sion programs - the depart­ment has access to German TV chan­nels via satel­lite link. German websites and first hand exper­i­ences through study visits to Germany and Austria comple­ment the course book . Students are expec­ted to develop an under­stand­ing of cultural aspects, together with a good level of crit­ical awareness.

AS German
This one-year course builds on the know­ledge and skills acquired at GCSE. It is a mid-way stage between GCSE and A-Level. The four language skills of speak­ing, listen­ing, read­ing and writ­ing are developed to the required stand­ard through the study of topics in the coun­try of the language stud­ied. These include media, popu­lar culture, healthy living/lifestyle and family/relationships. Students may opt to study German in 6i for an AS award without continu­ing for a full A level at the end of 6ii.

AS Exam­in­a­tions
Unit 1 – GERM1 - Listen­ing, Read­ing and Writ­ing
70% of AS, 35% of A Level
2 hour writ­ten examination

Unit 2 – GER2T/V - Speak­ing Test
30% of AS, 15% of A Level
35 minutes speak­ing test (includ­ing 20 minutes preparation)

A2 German
This involves the study of the four linguistic skills of listen­ing, speak­ing, read­ing and writ­ing, based on the study of the world of work and leis­ure as well as social issues, educa­tion, the envir­on­ment, polit­ics, tech­no­lo­gical advances, law and order and human interest news items. Part of the oral exam­in­a­tion offers an element of choice as students can select subject matters of partic­u­lar interest to them, includ­ing liter­at­ure, provided these are suit­able for devel­op­ment in depth and are related to the coun­try whose language they are studying.

A2 Exam­in­a­tions
Unit 3 – GERM3 - Listen­ing, Read­ing and Writ­ing
35% of A Level
2 hours 30 minutes writ­ten examination

Unit 4 – GER4T/V - Speak­ing Test
15% of A Level
35 minutes speak­ing test (includ­ing 20 minutes preparation)

Specific­a­tion: AQA German  AS 1661  A 2661
Click here to down­load the current specific­a­tion for this A level course.

Exchanges and Work Exper­i­ence
Exchanges with students abroad are encour­aged, “total immer­sion” in the language and culture being an almost irres­ist­ible way of improv­ing one’s language skills. Work-shadowing place­ments are avail­able for those students wish­ing to use their languages and explore possible future careers.

Entry criteria
Students consid­er­ing this course should normally have acquired the level of under­stand­ing and profi­ciency as specified for GCSE at Higher Tier and would have achieved Grade B or better.

Success­ful candid­ates in previ­ous years have gone on to study German at degree level in combin­a­tion with a main subject. A number of students have been able to put their German language skills into prac­tice by spend­ing a gap year in a German speak­ing coun­try and several students have found employ­ment in Germany.