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German

Head of Faculty - Mrs Michelle Bell

In his book ‘A long walk to freedom’, Nelson Mandela wrote, “Without language, one cannot talk to people and understand them; one cannot share their hopes and aspirations, grasp their history, appreciate their poetry, or savour their songs.” We believe that learning a language unlocks a world of culture, places, people, ideas, literature, film, music, history and so much more. Students who learn to speak a foreign language develop skills for life: they are more confident speakers who know how to choose their words carefully, project their voices and speak eloquently. They have a better understanding of the way their own language works and are well set to succeed in learning a second or third language. They learn to pay close attention to detail and can identify patterns and apply rules.

Our German curriculum has been designed to give our students the best possible chance of becoming confident language-learners with a positive attitude towards language learning and speakers of other languages. We aim to give students the tools they need, in terms of phonics, grammar and vocabulary, to be able to express themselves clearly and eloquently in both written and spoken German. We teach and regularly revisit commonly used vocabulary and grammatical structures, building students’ ability to use this language with increasing confidence in a wide range of contexts, from Year 9 through to Year 11. Students are regularly tested on pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary in order to strengthen their recall and also to identify any gaps in their learning. We strongly believe that learning a foreign language also supports students’ literacy skills in English, through the development of their understanding of sentence structure, grammar, vocabulary and communication skills. We help students to develop our key virtues of being attentive, intentional and eloquent in every lesson.

German

Curriculum

Year 9 - 11

Overview of content and description of GCSE course

Although the majority of our students have not studied German before Year 9, they are able to develop their understanding of the language quickly in Year 9 due to their experience of learning French at Key Stage 3. The Key Stage 4 German course is carefully structured to build students’ knowledge of grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation and sentence structure. We develop our students’ ability to speak spontaneously, understand authentic texts including literary texts, translate into German and English, and apply new language and structures independently.

Topics covered for the GCSE specification are as follows:

Theme 1: Identity and Culture

  • Me, my family and my friends
  • Technology in everyday life
  • Free time activities
  • Customs and festivals in German speaking countries

Theme 2:  Local, National, International, Global areas of interest

  • Home, town, neighbourhood and region
  • Social issues
  • Global issues
  • Travel and tourism

Theme 3:  Current and Future Education

  • My studies
  • Life at school/college
  • Education post 16
  • Jobs, career choice and ambitions

The four key skills of listening, reading, speaking and writing are all tested discretely at GCSE level and are each worth 25% of the final GCSE grade.  An examination in each skill takes place at the end of the course, with the speaking test being conducted and recorded by the class teacher, but marked externally.

 

Why study this course?

The GCSE German course will develop your communication skills in both German and English, helping you to become an independent learner and learn about other cultures.  Linguists are highly valued in almost every career as every company requires articulate employees with good communication skills. In addition, most companies work with organisations abroad and/or speakers of other languages in this country. Languages are particularly useful in Business, Management, Law, Marketing, Administration, Medical careers, and Journalism. Britain has a national shortage of employees at all levels with language skills. The GCSE course will also prepare you for the A Level German course, although this is not currently taught at St Thomas Aquinas School.

Links to specification

Our exam board at GCSE is AQA. Use this link https://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/languages/gcse/german-8668  to find the specification and past papers for exam practice.

Course content outline

Year 9

Unit Topics and Vocabulary Grammar, structures pronunciation
Unit 0 Greetings
Numbers to 31

Months
Countries and languages
The alphabet
Pronunciation:
• j
• ei/ie
Present tense verb forms:
• Ich bin, du bist
• Ich habe, du hast
• Das ist
• Ich wohne in, ich komme aus, ich spreche
1A

Family members

Pets and zoo animals

Colours

Describing self and others

Pronunciation:

  • z/s/ß
  • v/w/f
  • Sch/Sp/St

Possessives: mein, dein

Ich habe + accusative - eine(n), keine(n)

Subject pronouns: er, sie, es

Plurals of nouns

Adjectives

Present tense verb forms :

  • Ich bin, du bist, er/sie/es ist
Ich habe
1B

Classroom

Stationery

School subjects

Giving opinions

Telling the time

Days of the week

Pronunciation:

  • a/ä
  • o/ö
  • u/ü/y

Definite articles: der, die das

Ich habe + accusative - eine(n), keine(n)

Word order: verb second

Present tense verb forms :

  • Ich habe, du hast, er/sie hat, wir haben
  • ich finde, du findest
  • ich mag
2A Hobbies, sports, musical instruments

Opinions and preferences

Computer games

Saying how often you do something

Other leisure activities

Pronunciation:

  • a/ä review
  • o/ö review
  • ei/ie review
  • e
  • ch

Adverbs: gern, nicht gern, lieber, am liebsten

Conjunctions: und, aber, denn

Present tense of spielen with all pronouns (singular and plural)

Present tense of 3 irregular verbs: fahren, lesen, sehen

Word order with time markers
2B

Where you live

The weather

Types of house and neighbourhood

Numbers to 100

Rooms

Furniture

Describing your house and an ideal house

Pronunciation:

  • g/ig
  • au/eu/äu
  • ee

Ich wohne in + dative (einem/einer)

Prepositions + dative (dem/der/dem)

Present tense of wohnen
3A Meals, food and drink

Opinions

Buying food in a café or shop

Healthy eating

Ordering a meal in a restaurant

Pronunciation:

  • a/ä review
  • ee review
  • ei/ie review
  • o/ö review
  • oo

Word order: verb second

Ich möchte + noun

Ich esse + keine(n)

Man soll + infinitive (word order)

Singular and plural forms of nouns
3B

Say what is (and isn’t) in a town

Places in a town

Say what you can do in a place

Ask for and give directions

Buy tickets and presents

Understand tourist information

Suggest activities

Pronunciation:

  • oo review
  • z/s/ß review
  • Sch/Sp/St review
  • o/ö review

Es gibt + accusative

Present tense of können and wollen + infinitive

Man kann + infinitive

The imperative: du and Sie forms

Ich möchte/Ich nehme + accusative

Subject-verb inversion in questions
4A

Clothes and opinions

Say what you usually wear and what you would like to wear

Shopping for clothes

Problems with clothes (too small etc)

Say what clothes you are going to buy (future)

School uniform and designer clothing

Pronunciation:

  • ch/sch/g
  • qu
  • er
  • o/ö review
  • a/ä review

Ich trage + adjective + noun

Adjective endings

Present tense of tragen

Ich möchte + infinitive

Object pronouns (ihn, sie, es)

The future tense (werden + infinitive)

The comparative (kleiner als)
4B
This unit may be taught in Year 10

Holidays (accommodation, destination, activities)

Say what you can do and what you are going to do on holiday (future tense)

Use the perfect tense to say what you did on holiday

Visiting an amusement park

Pronunciation:

  • v/w/f review
  • Sch/Sp/St review
  • z/s/ß review
  • au
  • eu

Prepositions in & auf plus dative

Modal verbs (können and wollen) + infinitive

The future tense

The perfect tense (haben or sein + past participle)

Recognising and using 3 tenses

Year 10

Unit Topics and Vocabulary Grammar, structures pronunciation

4B

Continued from Year 9

Holidays (accommodation, destination, activities)

Say what you can do and what you are going to do on holiday (future tense)

Use the perfect tense to say what you did on holiday

Visiting an amusement park

Pronunciation:

  • v/w/f review
  • Sch/Sp/St review
  • z/s/ß review
  • au
  • eu

Prepositions in & auf plus dative

Modal verbs (können and wollen) + infinitive

The future tense

The perfect tense (haben or sein + past participle)

Recognising and using 3 tenses
Unit 0

Describe your and other people’s appearance and personality

Family relationships and helping at home

Talk about what you’ve done recently

Adjective endings (accusative, no article)

weil

Present tense

Perfect tense with haben and sein
1A

Daily routine

Talk about what you did yesterday, yesterday evening and last weekend

Opinions of activities 

Separable and reflexive verbs

Perfect tense with haben and sein

Separable verbs in the perfect tense

Imperfect tense (war)
1B

National holidays and festivals

Organise a party; say what guests can do at the party

Accept or decline an invitation; give excuses

Describe a party

Dates and endings

Modal verbs: dürfen, können, müssen, sollen and wollen

Imperfect tense (ich wollte, ich hatte, es war, es gab)

Perfect tense

Question words
2A

TV viewing habits

Forms of media; compare old and new media

Favourite music, singers and bands

Film and film reviews

Reading habits 

Possessive adjectives (mein, dein, sein, ihr)

Present tense

Imperfect tense (war, waren)

dieser/diese/dieses and welcher?/welche?/ welches?

Perfect tense
2B

Talk about your favourite hobby and why you like it

Talk about what hobbies you do in different kinds of weather

Talk about what you will do next weekend

Other unusual hobbies

Present tense of regular and irregular verbs

Adjective endings (nominative and accusative with definite and indefinite article)

Word order with wenn

Future tense
3A

Parts of the body

Talk about illness and injuries; say how long you have been ill and how it happened

Talk about what sports you do to keep fit, how often and why

Healthy eating and lifestyle

Possessive adjectives (mein, dein, sein, ihr)

Noun plurals

seit + present tense

Dative pronouns (mir, dir)

um … zu … (in order to …)

The imperative (du and Sie)

Infinitive structures (zu + infinitive)

3B

This unit may be taught in Year 11

Places in a town

Plan a trip and ask for tourist information

Things to see and do in a town; say what you’re going to do

Ask for and give directions; buy train tickets

Say where clothes are in a room; describe a trip

Accusative case (with definite article)

in + accusative and dative

Future tense

The imperative (du and Sie)

Perfect and imperfect tenses

Prepositions with the dative case (+ definite article)

Year 11

Unit Topics and Vocabulary Grammar, structures pronunciation

3B

Continued from Year 11

Places in a town

Plan a trip and ask for tourist information

Things to see and do in a town; say what you’re going to do

Ask for and give directions; buy train tickets

Say where clothes are in a room; describe a trip

Accusative case (with definite article)

in + accusative and dative

Future tense

The imperative (du and Sie)

Perfect and imperfect tenses

Prepositions with the dative case (+ definite article)

4A

(Theme 2)

Describe where you live; give your opinion of it

Ways to travel

Ways to be environmentally friendly

Environmental problems and solutions

weil + correct word order

Dative case (mit and zu + definite article)

Compound nouns

Comparatives and superlatives

Present, past and future tenses

4B

(Theme 3)

Part-time jobs; say how much you earn and what you’re saving for

School system in Germany; compare German and UK schools

School subjects and plans for next year

Jobs and future careers

Describe your school day; Swiss school system

für + accusative

ich möchte … werden

Use a range of tenses (present, perfect, imperfect and future)

Word order: verb second
Theme 1 Technology

Use of mobile phone and internet

Advantages and disadvantages of internet

Role-play phrases

Describing a photo 

Review present tense

Use a range of tenses (present, perfect, imperfect and future)

Um … zu … + infinitive

Theme 1 Leisure, family relationships

Talking about leisure

Saying how well you get on with family members and friends

Describing festivals and celebrations

Role-play phrases

Describing a photo

Reflexive verbs

Separable verbs

Subordinating conjunctions (wenn, weil, da, obwohl, daß and als)

Translation and writing in three tenses

Theme 1

Health

Talking about healthy and unhealthy lifestyles

Talking about food and sport

Role-play phrases

Describing a photo 

Modal verbs (Mann muss, man soll + inf)

Subordinating conjunctions (wenn, weil, da, obwohl, daß and als)

Translation and writing in three tenses

Um … zu … + infinitive

KS4 Assessment details

Students complete regular vocabulary tests based on the Knowledge Organiser. In each unit, they also complete 4 or 5 assessments covering grammar, translation, listening, speaking, reading and writing. In Year 9, we use these assessments to rank students and determine their attainment grade for the progress reviews (from A to E).

As students move through the GCSE course, they start to complete some practice papers, starting at Foundation Tier. In Year 11, exam practice becomes more frequent and there are several opportunities to complete exam questions or full papers. In the November and March Trial Exams, Year 11 students complete Listening, Reading and Writing exams at either Foundation or Higher Tier. They complete a Trial Speaking Exam in January of Year 11. 

Why study German?

Studying for a GCSE in a modern language will help you to develop an interest in speaking a foreign language, appreciate the nature and diversity of different cultures and people, and acquire knowledge, skills and understanding for practical use, further study and employment.

Employers often require an understanding of other cultures, good oral communication skills and the discipline and work ethic that learning a language entails.  Languages can lead to a wide range of professions, for example: interpreting, translating, working in public and private businesses, law, engineering, politics, computing, travel and tourism, teaching and journalism.  Languages are an invaluable skill to have; they are key to the exciting multinational world we live in!

Useful links

GCSE Exam specification: https://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/languages/gcse/german-8668

Kerboodle: https://www.kerboodle.com/app

Your teacher will give you your login details, school code (ho9) and password for Kerboodle, which you will use for some homework tasks.

Duolingo: https://www.duolingo.com/learn

The Duolingo app is an excellent, free resource which you can use for practising your German in your free time.