About

Unser Kurs ist global vernetzt mit Deutschstudierenden in Professor Stantchevas Kurs an der American University of Bulgaria und wir werden mit Crossroads Shared Languages Studenten von Dr. Foresters Deutschstudierenden am Hope College korrespondieren.

Kontakt für Dr.D.: 

Kurszeiten: Montags und mittwochs, 10:30 Uhr bis 11:50 Uhr. Es ist möglich, dass der Kurs ab und zu freitags anstatt montags oder mittwochs stattfindet. Ich werde Ihnen das immer rechtzeitig mitteilen.

Kurszimmer: Fellows 206

Kursinhalt:

In unserem Kurs behandeln wir die drei zentralen Massenmedien Print, Rundfunk, und Internet in Bezug zur deutschen Politik und Gesellschaft. Spezifisch setzen wir uns mit folgenden Themen auseinander:

  • Die Printmedien in Deutschland
  • Die Bild Zeitung – ein Beispiel zur Zeitungspresse (Boulevardpresse)
  • Das Rundfunksystem in Deutschland
  • Die Beeinflussung der Medien
  • Das Internet und die Medien
  • Wie wird ein Ereignis zur Nachricht?
  • Manipulation in den Medien
  • Pressefreiheit

Gleichzeitig zielt der Kurs auf die Spracherweiterung im Deutschen in allen vier Bereichen: Lesen, Schreiben, Hören und Sprechen. Besonders soll das Sprechen und Schreiben im Austausch mit unseren globalen Partnern geübt werden. Hier betonen wir vor allem die typischen Eigenschaften der Pressesprache in Wortschatz und Grammatik.

In diesem Zusammenhang sehen und besprechen wir auch Volker Schlöndorffs Film Die verlorene Ehre der Katharina Blum, der mit großer Treffsicherheit zeigt, wie Sensationsgier und Effekthascherei in der Presse ein Leben zerstören können. Der Film, der auf Heinrich Bölls gleichnamigem Roman beruht, ist heute nicht weniger aktuell als damals.

Eingesetzte digitale Technologie – Digital Technology used:

Zoom (Zoom.us), Google Drive, Twitter

Assessment and Grading/ Aufgaben und Benotung

25% – Allgemeine Mitarbeit (Vorbereitung und aktive Mitgestaltung)

35% – Reguläre Hausaufgaben, Schreibübungen, Lese-, Vokabel, und Grammatikquizze

25% – 2  Zoomprojekte (Vorbereitung, Terminfindung, Gespräch, Aufnahme, Datei    mitteilen, schriftliche Reflektion

15% – 1 Referat (PPT) zu einem angebrachten Thema nach Wahl,  15-20  Minuten + Diskussion

Anwesenheitsregel: 2 unentschuldigte Abwesenheitstage sind erlaubt, danach 2% von der Endnote. -Attendance Policy: 2 unexcused days are allowed, after that unexcused absences mean a 2% decrease of the final grade per absence.

Class participation (25%)

Your active participation and preparation are essential to your learning and will contribute significantly to your performance. They are an expected part of the course. Your participation and attendance score will be expressed in percentage form using the grade book available on Blackboard.

Homework and Quizzes (35%)

You will be assigned homework/worksheets/questions, which will be posted on our course website. Not all homework assignments will be collected, but you will be responsible for the material. In the end a homework grade will be assessed for all assignments that have been completed. Your longer writing assignments will be graded using the writing grading criteria available on our website. You will also work in small groups or pairs, on homework assignments and other projects. You may be asked to prepare your homework assignment on a computer and submit to Dropbox. In general, homework assignments are not accepted late. However, in case of an illness, or emergency situations, please see me or notify me prior to the original deadline.

Quizzes

There will be announced and unannounced short quizzes on the materials (vocabulary and grammar, reading and listening comprehension) that we cover and discuss in class. Missed quizzes will count as ZERO. There will be NO MAKE UPS on missed quizzes. Only in the case of verifiable (documented) illness or emergency will a make-up be given for a major assessment.

2 Zoom-Video Projects (25%)

This is a larger group project, for which you will work collaboratively with students from your class and from Denison University, and AUBG. The project includes preparation, scheduling time for a Zoom video-conference, meeting with your group members via Zoom and completing the task, sharing the recorded video, and follow-up activities (reflection in writing and orally).

1 Referat (15%)

This involves working on a topic related to the class’s overall theme. The presentation will be in the form of a Powerpoint in class for 15-20 minutes.

Percentage Scale: Quizzes, exams, homework assignments, oral proficiency exercises, and class participation are expressed in percentages, which will be added up at the end and converted to a letter grade in the following way:

  • 100% to 93% = A
  • 92% to 90% =A-
  • 89% to 87.5% = B+
  • 87% to 83% =B
  • 82% to 80% = B-
  • 79% to 77.5% = C+
  • 77% to 73% = C
  • 72% to 70% = C-
  • 69% to 67.5% = D+
  • 67% to 63% = D
  • 62% to 60% = D-
  • 59% and under = F

Grades: Do keep in mind that assessing language skills is not an exact science thus there is a certain amount of subjectivity involved in the grading process. This can be to your benefit when at the end of a course your percentages add up to the equivalent of a letter grade B, for example, but overall your performance warrants an adjustment to a B+. Such an assessment is reserved for the instructor only, but you are always welcome to ask how you can improve your performance.

Grading Rubric

Class Participation, Hausaufgaben, and other assignments will be graded according to the following rubric:

  • Excellent (10): Present and arrives on time every day; participates in activities actively, visibly, and IN GERMAN as much as possible; consistently takes risks with the language, using pronunciation that demonstrates engagement with new vocabulary and grammatical structures; takes the lead and actively engages others and their thoughts in partner and group work; volunteers a variety of information in large group discussion; consistently makes a fruitful contribution to the classroom atmosphere. Assignments always completed on time, accurately, and correctly labeled; preparation goes beyond the assignment, shows thoughtful engagement with materials, independent and creative use of the language.
  • Good (9-8): On rare occasions arrives late and/or misses class; provides comprehensible and meaningful answers whether prompted or not, in German; takes occasional risks in using German, including new vocabulary and grammatical structures; nonetheless, vocabulary is often repetitive, and pronunciation errors and/or structural inaccuracies sometimes interfere with understanding; is cooperative in classroom work, takes an interest in others thoughts, respects and responds to them in partner and group work. Assignment is completed on time, but occasionally with incorrect answers; preparation demonstrates a solid knowledge of content, complemented by some independent and creative use of the language.
  • Satisfactory (7-6): Misses class or is late occasionally; vocabulary tends to be repetitive, and pronunciation errors and/or structural inaccuracies may interfere with understanding; often volunteers comprehensible and meaningful answers but sometimes needs to be prompted; makes pronunciation errors and/or grammatical mistakes on occasion but nonetheless puts forth effort and sometimes takes risk with language; attempts to use new vocabulary and grammatical structures; assignments are for the most part completed with care, but often include mistakes and reveal inconsistencies; nonetheless demonstrates a basic understanding of the material covered; is sufficiently prepared to meaningfully engage in and contribute to group and partner work.
  • Unsatisfactory (5 or less): Often misses class or is consistently late; bare minimum responses are composed primarily of single word answers; does not participate in class, does not use German when possible, or only reluctantly; pronunciation consistently and repeatedly inaccurate, despite prompting; speaks only when spoken to; is dismissive or apparently apathetic toward others’ thoughts, often shows disinterest during partner and group work; uncooperative, distracted, inattentive and/or consistently negative; assignment is not done at all (0 points) and/or only very quickly/sloppily and/or in a disorganized fashion; demonstrates little or no knowledge of content, engagement with materials, or independent use of the language.

Attendance

Regular attendance is expected in this class. You are allowed up to twounexcused absences for the semester; after that, your final grade will be lowered by 2% of a letter grade per additional absence. For example, 3 unexcused absences would cause a final grade of A- (90%) to become a B+ (88%).

Absence Policy continued

As stipulated in Denison college policy, students may have up to the equivalent of three hours of class absences per course per semester for participation in intercollegiate athletic contests. It is the student’s responsibility to notify the instructor well in advance of all anticipated absences. If any of these absences are scheduled for class activities that cannot be made up, the instructor may deny approval for an excused absence beyond the three allotted class hours. Students must also arrange to make up missed work or complete an alternative assignment to satisfy the course requirements. In addition to providing a written list of anticipated absences at the beginning of the semester (by the end of the second week of classes), you must also remind me on the days before you will be absent. This policy applies to all kinds of absences, including intercollegiate athletic contests.

College policy further stipulates that, if a class is missed, for any reason, the student is responsible for determining what was covered in the missed class. Absence from a class will not be accepted as an excuse for not knowing class material. This also means it is up to you to contact a classmate about any information from class or changes to assignments.

Disability

Any student who feels he or she may need an accommodation based on the impact of a disability should contact me privately as soon as possible to discuss his or her specific needs.  I rely on the Academic Support & Enrichment Center in 102 Doane to verify the need for reasonable accommodations based on documentation on file in that office.

Statement on Reporting Sexual Assault

Essays, journals, and other materials submitted for this class are generally considered confidential pursuant to the University’s student record policies.  However, students should be aware that University employees are required to report allegations of sexual assault and suspected child abuse/neglect to the appropriate campus authorities when they become aware of such matters in the course of their employment.  More information on sexual assault can be found on MyDenison/Campus Resources/Center for Women and Gender Action/Title IX (https://webapps-prod.cc.denison.edu/drupalcr/node/1062).

Academic Integrity

Proposed and developed by Denison students, passed unanimously by DCGA and Denison’s faculty, the Code of Academic Integrity requires that instructors notify the Associate Provost of cases of academic dishonesty, and it requires that cases be heard by the Academic Integrity Board. Further, the code makes students responsible for promoting a culture of integrity on campus and acting in instances in which integrity is violated.

Academic honesty, the cornerstone of teaching and learning, lays the foundation for lifelong integrity. Academic dishonesty is intellectual theft. It includes, but is not limited to, providing or receiving assistance in a manner not authorized by the instructor in the creation of work to be submitted for evaluation. This standard applies to all work ranging from daily homework assignments to major exams. Students must clearly cite any sources consulted—not only for quoted phrases but also for ideas and information that are not common knowledge. Neither ignorance nor carelessness is an acceptable defense in cases of plagiarism. It is the student’s responsibility to follow the appropriate format for citations. Students should ask their instructors for assistance in determining what sorts of materials and assistance are appropriate for assignments and for guidance in citing such materials clearly.

For more information and a link to the Code of Academic Integrity seehttp://www.denison.edu/academics/integrity/

For our German course, academic honesty specifically means:

Translation software from English to German or German to English may not be used at any time to complete assignments. Online dictionaries, such ashttp://dict.leo.org/ are fine to use. Checking your work with online translators is also not permitted. Instead take your work to one of our very helpful tutors.

Tutors may not complete a task for you – even one as small as a sentence. You need to present your work AFTER you have tried doing it on your own and ask for help with it while you actively participate in the process. A good rule of the thumb: After each meeting with your tutor you should walk away with something you had asked about and then learned in that session.

Likewise, you may not send or give your assignment as a whole to an advanced German student for correction. If an essay is turned in perfectly polished with terms, expressions, and grammar not accomplishable for your linguistic level, it becomes immediately evitable that it is not your work. Having worked with a tutor will not lead to such perfection and is thus not a valid explanation or excuse. Our tutors have been trained on how to work with students on their assignments. Your instructor has a good sense of your general linguistic level and will look for gradual linguistic improvement, which is very different from a sudden jump in proficiency, especially when it cannot be reciprocated in class.

During quizzes and tests: using hidden vocabulary and grammatical items, or any other information, not approved by me (such as notes written on the table, your hand, etc.) is cheating elementary school style and silly, but it nevertheless is cheating that is taken very seriously.

Please remember: I grade you on your linguistic development, the effort you have put into attaining a higher level of proficiency and not on perfection. You do not need to cheat to do well. You will only cheat yourself if you do.

Appropriate Use of Course Materials

The materials distributed in this class, including the syllabus, exams, handouts, study aids, and in-class presentations, may be protected by copyright and are provided solely for the educational use of students enrolled in this course.  You are not permitted to redistribute them for purposes unapproved by the instructor; in particular you are not permitted to post course materials or your notes from lectures and discussion on commercial websites. Unauthorized uses of course materials may be considered academic misconduct.

 German Character Shortcut Keys:

  • in MS Word for Mac

ä, ö, ü, Ä, Ö, Ü = Option + u (let go of both; ß = Option + s

  • in Word XP

ä, ö, ü, Ä, Ö, Ü = Control + shift + : (colon) (let go of all 3);

ß = Control + Shift + & (let go of all 3); s