Main Content
Pre-Semester Classes
Intensive German Language Classes
Our Intensive German Language Courses encompass 120 contact hours and accommodate all levels of language proficiency, including a beginner's level. The Intensive German Language Courses will be held during the six weeks prior to the start of the regular semester at the University of Marburg. A language placement test upon arrival in Marburg will help determine your German proficiency level/course level. The offered course levels are depending on the results of the placement tests (the range of the course levels offered varies from semester to semester).
Course Levels
Our course levels correspond to the Common European Framework of Reference. If you are interested in what your current knowledge corresponds to, there are various links to self-assessment tests. Equivalences to other level systems, tests and standards are collected in a Wikipedia page.
Example Syllabus A1.1
Textbook: Netzwerk A1.1, Klett-Langenscheidt Verlag, München 2013 Contact hours: 120 (20 hours per week for 6 weeks)
This course introduces the basic structures of the German language. The student develops communicative competences in the areas of reading, listening, speaking, and writing. The course enables the participant to engage in simple conversations in settings such as shopping or restaurants, and to speak in present and (for some verbs) past tense. The student becomes familiar with listening comprehension strategies and develops the ability to extract socio-cultural information from simple texts, accompanied by exercises concerning phonetic particularities in communicative contexts.
Themes:
1. Good day! - Starting a conversation, to greet and to say good-bye, introducing oneself and others, formal and informal speech, numbers to 20, naming telephone numbers and email addresses, spelling the German alphabet, naming countries and languages.
2. Friends, colleagues and I - Talking about hobbies and traveling interests, making appointments, naming days of the weeks, talking about work, professions and hours of working, numbers from 20, talking about seasons and months.
3. In the city - Naming places and buildings, asking questions for places, asking for things, naming means of transport, asking for directions and describing directions, learning articles.
4. Have a good meal! - talking about food, planing shopping, having a shopping dialog, naming drinks and food, understanding texts with “wh”-questions.
5. On day at a time - talking about time and daily routine, asking about the time, talking about family, arranging to go out with someone, making an appointment on the phone.
6. Time with friends - talking about birthday, writing and understanding an invitation, ordering and paying in a restaurant, tipping and following socially expected behavior, talking about events, colors, body parts.
Structures:
simple clauses - “wh”-questions, yes/no-questions – basic word order – the alphabet, the cardinal and ordinal numbers – personal pronouns (Nom., Akk.) - the pronoun “man” - conjugation of regular and irregular verbs in present tense – verbs with vowel change – separable verbs – modal verbs “müssen”, “können”, “wollen” and “möchten” - past form of “sein” and “haben” - formal imperative – definite, indefinite and negative articles (Nom., Akk) – negation with “nicht” and “kein” - nouns and compound nouns (singular and plural) – conjunctions “und”,”oder” and “aber” - preposition of time and place – word and sentence stress, word stress in compound nouns – pronunciation of German umlauts “ä”,”ö” and ”ü”, pronunciation of “ch”, “ei/ie”,”au” and “eu”, long and short vowels – possessive articles (Nom.,Akk.) - graduation of “viel”,”gut” and “gern” - perfect tense of regular and irregular verbs
Skills:
Speaking: Can interact in a simple way in areas of immediate need or on very familiar topics, but communication is totally dependent on rephrasing and repetition at a slower rate of speech. Can greet friends or strangers in an appropriate way and use simple greeting and leave-taking expressions. Can ask and answer questions about personal details, work or family, and other topics from class. The student is also aware of some important phonetic specialties of German and differences from his first language.
Writing: Has a very basic range of simple expressions about personal details and needs of a concrete type. Can write simple, isolated phrases and sentences or simple texts or poems on known topics. Can enter personal details into a form. Can write short messages to friends and family about daily activities or good wishes. Can write dialogues about shopping, eating, drinking, traveling, etc.
Listening: Can understand everyday expressions related to immediate needs, as long as speaking partners are willing to talk slowly and clearly, using repetitions. Can understand numbers, prices, time, spelled words, etc.
Reading: Can understand short and simple texts or visual materials like newspaper articles, statistics, interviews, diary entries, etc. Can get an idea of the content of simple informational material and short simple descriptions, especially if there is visual support. Can understand a form well enough to fill in personal information.
Other activities in class/ excursions:
· Going to a restaurant and ordering in German to practice phrases and expressions
· Going to a café and ordering breakfast in German to practice food vocabulary
· Having a “Movies-Day” with German movies to practice listening skills and learn about German culture/life-style/history
· Eating cakes together and talking about traditional German holidays/events/festivals to learn more about German culture.
· Participating an a scavenger hunt through Marburg to get to know the city, talk to locals and practice vocabulary
· Making traditional Bavarian “Brotzeit” to practice vocabulary
· Visiting the botanical garden in Marburg to practice how to order a ticket at the entrance and learn more about German flora
Evaluation criteria:
Attendance is assumed and does not count towards the grade or credits.
Listening, Grammar, Writing and Vocabulary, Reading: homework, one midterm and one final test
Speaking: one presentation, participation in class and one oral test
Absence: missing 15% of class will result in your failing the class
Example Syllabus A1.2
Elementary use of language – Beginner A1.2
Textbook: Netzwerk A1.2, Klett Sprachen, Stuttgart, 2014
Contact hours: 120 (20 lessons per week for 6 weeks)
This course introduces the basic structures of the German language. The student develops communicative competences in the learning fields reading, listening, speaking and writing. The course enables the participant to take part in conversations in simple settings – in present tense, as well as in past tense. The student develops the ability to extract information from simple texts, the learning process being accompanied by exercises concerning phonetic particularities in communicative contexts.
Topics
- Cultural and social differences between the Unites States of America and Germany
- Occurences during class and during field trips
- Leisure and hobbies
- Living in private: (subconscious) behaviour, manners and habits
- Directions
- „How to get there?“
- description of positions of objects and people
- My house: its different rooms and its furniture
- The human body and its movements
- Fashion and clothes
- Talking to strangers
- ordering food and drinks in bakeries, cafes and bars
- spontaneous talking to strangers (asking for directions, favors, ...)
- Cities and places in Germany
- Talking about Hessian cities and their unique position features (Marburg, Gießen, Darmstadt, Frankfurt)
- Berlin
- talking about the field trip to the German capital
- getting into contact with recent German history („DDR“ – „BRD“)
Grammar
- Verbs
- modal verbs in present tense
- composed verbs in present tense
- knowledge and conjugation of regular and irregular verbs in present tense
- the article
- the defined articles in singular and plural
- the undefined article in singular
- nouns
- nouns and their gender
- composed nouns and their gender
- nouns in different cases (except for Genitiv)
- Nominativ
- Dativ
- Akkusativ
- adjective + noun
- Nominativ
- Dativ
- Akkusativ
- German sentence structure
- in a main clause
- in questions
- (ordinal) numbers
- personal pronouns
- Nominativ
- Dativ
- Akkusativ
- possessive pronouns
- Nominativ
- Dativ
- Akkusativ
- the present perfect (das Perfekt)
- useful expressions of German every day language
Skills
Speaking: The student can interact in a simple way in areas of immediate need or on very familiar topics, but communication is mostly dependent on rephrasing. He/she is able to ask and answer questions about the topics of our class.
Writing: The student has a basic knowledge of simple expressions regarding the topics discussed. He/she can write simple, isolated sentences and is, within the limits given by the language level, able to vary vocabulary and sentence structure according to the thoughts which need to be expressed. The student can write short letters to friends and family about vacation and where they could meet. He/she is capable of writing dialogues about shopping, eating, drinking and about how to give directions.
Listening: The student can understand everyday language related to immediate needs, as long as speaking partners are willing to talk slowly and clearly, as well as to repeat what has been said if necessary.
Reading: The student is able to understand short texts with a basic syntactical structure. He/she gets an idea of the content of simple informational material and short descriptions, especially if there is visual support. He/she can understand a form well enough to fill in personal information.
Evaluation criteria
Attendance is assumed and does not count towards the grade or credits.
Listening, Grammar, Writing and Vocabulary, Reading: homework, one midterm and one final test
Speaking: one presentation, participation in class and one oral test
Absence: missing 15 % of class will result in your failing the class.Example Syllabus A2.1
Elementary use of language - Pre-Intermediate A2.1+
Textbook: Netzwerk A2.1, Klett-Langenscheidt Verlag, München 2014
Additional material: Netzwerk A2.2, Klett-Langenscheidt Verlag, München 2014, Begegnungen A2+, authentical and original materials and literature
Contact hours: 120 (20 hours per week for 6 weeks)
The course is for students with basic knowledge of German. The course extends beyond simple communication, focusing instead on the ability to report in structurally more complex sentences about family, friends, future plans, and aspects of the past. Students learn the declension of adjectives and practice reading and listening techniques. They also improve their pronunciation by means of special phonetic exercises and compose their first more formal texts.
Themes:
- Lesson 1: around food
- Lesson 2: school & after
- Lesson 3: media in everyday life
- Lesson 4: emotions
- Lesson 5: work & profession
Extra:
traditional brewery culture, football in Germany, German music, German cinema, vacation and travelling (especially in Germany) Austrian vs. German, speaking activities like describing a picture or giving an opinion, song: Andreas Bourani - Ein Hoch auf uns, game: Wer bin ich?
Structures:
- dative pronouns
- perfect with "sein" and "haben"
- dative possessive articles
- Questions with "ja/nein/doch"
- reflexive verbs
- side clauses with "weil"
- modal verbs in preterite
- position verbs: setzen/sitzen, stellen/stehen, legen/liegen, hängen
- changing prepositions with accusative and dative
- adjectives in comparative
- comparative sentences with "als/wie"
- side clauses with "dass"
- adjectives in superlative
- side clauses with "wenn"
- adjective declination after the specific article
- adjective declination after the undefined article
- Prepositions "mit + dative"/"ohne + accusative"
- the verb "werden"
+ repeating a lot of grammar from A1 like positions of words in a sentence etc.
Skills:
Speaking: Can communicate in simple and daily situations and is able to understand and give direct information. Can talk about themselve or other people, likes/dislikes, emotions, biographies, advantages/disadvantages, profession and work tasks. Can make assumptions and commentaries e.g. for movies.
Writing: Can write short and simple texts using memorised phrases, basic sentence patterns, simple expressions and short directions.
Listening: Can understand the main point in short, clear, simple messages and announcements. Can understand talking about daily situations like family, food, work, as long as the provided speech is clearly and slowly articulated.
Reading: Can understand short, simple texts containing frequently used vocabulary and some international words. Can understand simple written mesages, letters etc.
Others:
- movie night with various German movies to choose
- Grimm-dich-Pfad: Learning about the brothers Grimm and their fairytales represented by sculptures in the city
- Game-Challenge at the last day: various rooms with different topics like a quiz, playing german games etc.
- interactive game kahoot
∙ Excursions:
- Going to a traditional café and learning German café culture
- Scavenger Hunt through Marburg: to get to know the city and learn vocabulary
Evaluation criteria:
Attendance is assumed and does not count towards the grade or credits.
Listening, Grammar, Writing and Vocabulary, Reading: homework, one midterm and one final test
Speaking: one presentation, participation in class and one oral test
Absence: missing 15% of class will result in your failing the class.
Example Syllabus A2.2
Elementary use of language – Beginner A2.2
Textbook: Netzwerk – Deutsch als Fremdsprache, A2, Langenscheid, München: 2013 (coursebook und workbook)
Contact hours: 120 (20 hours per week for 6 weeks)
The course is for students with basic knowledge of German. The course extends beyond simple communication, focusing instead on the ability to report in structurally more complex sentences about jobs, friends, travelling, sports, and different aspects of life in Germany such as music, film and games. Students practice reading and listening techniques. They also improve their pronunciation and compose formal and informal texts.
Themes:
1. Problems of students and employees (learning difficulties, speaking about a work day)
2. Sport as a cultural phenomenon (football in Germany)
3. Living together (moving to a new place, solving conflicts)
4. Entertainment (music, pictures, movies)
5. Trips (wishes, counsels and stories)
6. Typically German? (customs, behaviors, clichés)
7. Songs and lyrics (listening and analyzing)
8. German slang
Structures:
Subordinate clauses (relative; causal, temporal)
Prepositions (local, temporal; different cases)
“Konjunktiv II” (Advices, wishes polite demands)
Pronouns
Short repetition of declination of adjectives and model verbs
Skills:
Speaking: Giving advice; expressing wishes; talking about problems in everyday life; giving a mini-presentation; describing pictures; planning a trip; presenting a dialogue; debating about clichés; acting out a scene
Writing: Commenting on a text; composing a letter, an email or a forum post; writing about a trip, a typical day, a vacation; inventing short dialogues and stories
Listening: Understanding and replying to different media: radio shows, songs, films/series/videos, dialogues, phone calls, presentations; using techniques to simplify anticipation and segmenting of words
Reading: Understanding and replying to different texts: forum posts, emails, dialogues, written reports (job life); (fan) commentaries; extracts of novels or short stories; informative texts; using reading techniques to guess words from the context and improve global understanding
Other activities in class/ excursions:
Photo-Rally to get to know the city and its history: ex. fairy tales by the brother Grimm
Excursion to the university’s sports ground and playing volleyball: communicating in sport games
Hiking to a landmark and picnicking; having a coffee: ordering properly in German
Preparing a three course meal: German traditions and kitchen vocabulary
Discovering German cinema
Having a meal in an alternative and typical restaurant: Playing board games and reciting poetry and jokes
Evaluation criteria:
Attendance is assumed and does not count towards the grade or credits.
Listening, Grammar, Writing and Vocabulary, Reading: homework, one midterm and one final test
Speaking: one presentation, participation in class and one oral test
Absence: missing 15% of class will result in your failing the class.
Example Syllabus B1.1
Independent use of language – Intermediate B1.1:
Material: Netzwerk – Kurs- und Arbeitsbuch, B1.1, Klett, Stuttgart: 2017
Contact hours: 120 (20 hours per week for 6 weeks)
This course encompasses more complex structures and communicative competences in the German language. Students will gain the ability to express desires and intentions, hypothesizes as well as temporal sequences. They will solidify their ability to communicate in every-day situations such as relationships, weather, family, as well as more complex topics such as literature, music and cultural differences. The course also features more demanding texts for listening and reading comprehension. Students become familiar with socio-cultural information about ecology, work life as well as historical and scientific landmarks. In the realm of writing, the composition of basic types of texts is pursued.
Themes:
Traveling
Inventions
Turning points
Work life
Ecology
Anatomy
German music/series
“Der Fremde” by Albert Camus and Absurdism/Existentialism
Structures:
- Adjective declination
- Personal pronouns
- Modal verbs vs. infinitive with “zu”
- Main clauses vs. subordinate clauses (including relative clauses)
- Conjunctions, adverbs and subjunctions
- Conjunctive II
- Past tenses, future tenses
Skills:
Speaking: talking about music, anatomy, work, travels, inventions, events, ecology; describing pictures, analyzing texts and music; expressing desires and conditions; defining preferences and arguing about critical topics; playing German board games (Tabu, Activity); short presentations of group works
Writing: composing emails, short commentaries, support threads; creative writing such as poems
Listening: Understanding and replying to different media: radio shows, songs, films/series/videos, dialogues, phone calls, lectures; using techniques to simplify anticipation
Reading: Understanding and replying to different texts: forum posts, emails, dialogues, written reports; the novel “Der Fremde” by Albert Camus and extracts of other novels and short stories; scientific texts; using reading techniques to guess words from the context and improve global understanding
Other activities in class/excursions: Photo-Rally to get to know the city and its history, Discovering German cinema, Having a meal in an alternative restaurant: Playing board games, reciting poetry and talking about literature, Excursion to the Museum Anatomicum : Crash course in anatomy
Evaluation criteria:
Attendance is assumed and does not count towards the grade or credits.
Listening, Grammar, Writing and Vocabulary, Reading: homework, one midterm and one final test
Speaking: one presentation, participation in class and one oral test
Absence: missing 15% of class will result in your failing the class.
Example Syllabus B1.2
Independent use of language - Intermediate B1.2
Textbook: Netzwerk B1, Klett-Langenscheidt Verlag, München 2014
Additional material: Authentical and original materials and literature
Contact hours: 120 (20 hours per week for 6 weeks)
This course encompasses more complex structures and communicative competencies in the German language. Students will gain the ability to express desires and intentions as well as temporal sequences. They will solidify their ability to communicate in every-day situations such as relationships, weather, family, and general orientation. The course also features more demanding texts for listening and reading comprehension. Students become familiar with socio-cultural information about migration, climate change, and Europe. In the realm of writing, the composition of basic types of texts is pursued.
Themes:
- Lesson 7: Relationship
- Lesson 8: From head to the toe
- Lesson 9: Art
- Lesson 10: Living Together: Social life, EU
- Lesson 11: Living in a city
- Lesson 12: Money rules the world
Extra:
"Typically German" vs. "Typically American", German culture (dialects, food and drinks, history and politics), German fairy tales (espc. Brothers Grimm)
Structures:
- pluperfect and repetition of all German tenses
- temporal clauses, causal clauses
- double conjunctions (sowohl – als auch, weder – noch, ...)
- reflexive pronouns with dative and accusative, reflexive verbs
- verbs demanding prepositional objects
- proper usage of „nur/nicht/kein ... brauchen + zu“
- adjective flection without noun markers
- position of „nicht“ in the sentence, negation
- passive present, preterite and perfect
- passive with modal verbs
- prepostions demanding genitive (innerhalb, außerhalb)
- noun markers as pronouns (einer, keiner, meiner, …)
- adjectives as nouns
- relative pronouns „was“ and „wo“
- double conjunction „je … desto“
- participle I and II as adjectives
Skills:
Speaking: Can give clear, detailed descriptions and presentations on a wide range of subjects related to his/her field of interest, expanding and supporting ideas with subsidiary points and relevant examples.
Writing: Can write straightforward connected texts on a range of familiar subjects within his field of interest, by linking a series of shorter discrete elements into a linear sequence.
Listening: Can understand straightforward factual information about common every day or job related topics, identifying both general messages and specific details, provided speech is clearly articulated in a generally familiar accent.
Reading: Can read straightforward factual texts on subjects related to his/her field and interest with a satisfactory level of comprehension.
Others:
- Short presentations (5-10 min.) about a fairy tale by the brothers Grimm
- Having a “Movies-Day” with German movies to practice listening skills and learn about German culture/life-style/history
Excursions:
- Going to a traditional café and learning german café culture
- A fairytale-tour through Marburg's city including "Cinderella", "Snowwhite", "Little Red Riding Hood", "Hansel and Gretel", "The Brave Little Tailor", The Star Money", "Snow-White and Rose-Red", "The Frog Prince", "The Wolf and the Seven Young Kids", The Fisherman and his wife"
- Scavenger Hunt through Marburg: to get to know the city and learn vocabulary
Evaluation criteria:
Attendance is assumed and does not count towards the grade or credits.
Listening, Grammar, Writing and Vocabulary, Reading: homework, one midterm and one final test
Speaking: one presentation, participation in class and one oral test
Absence: missing 15% of class will result in your failing the class.
Example Syllabus B2
Independent use of language – B2:
Material: Aspekte Neu B2
Contact hours: 120 (20 hours per week for 6 weeks)
This course is intended for students who have largely mastered German and wish to train their use of the language in an academic context. The course encompasses and emphasizes demanding vocabulary and syntax-structures of written German and idiomatic expressions. Students practice reading and listening comprehension of complex texts by means of authentic, current academic and newspaper articles as well as short films.
Priority is given to academic composition and the stylistic improvement of linguistic expression. Students gain the ability of active participation in discussions, presenting and writing about academically or culturally relevant topics.Content of workbook (Aspekte Neu B2):
- talking about home (migration, history of migration in Germany, language situation in Switzerland, miscommunication, integration into German society)
- communication (non-verbal communication, early-childhood language learning, smalltalk, difficult conversations - how to fight and resolve conflict)
- work and leisure (ways to find a job, importance of satisfaction at work, team spirit, how to apply to a job in Germany)
- living together in society (programmes against youth violence, poverty, internet and digitization, gender roles)
- research and knowledge (kid’s university, truth and lies, looking to the future, research about sleep and relaxation)
- competences for real life situations (online shopping, phone conversations in the workplace, communications with colleagues, exam preparation)
- cultural worlds (UNSECO heritages sites, writing a crime story, endangered languages)
- history (experiencing history, a day in history, historical falsehoods, German unification, current politics)
- feelings (music and emotions, colors and emotions, language and emotions, difficult emotions)
- looking to the future (robotics, the future of our health care, jobs of the future)Other themes:
- dialectical discourse: analysis of structure, useful phrases, writing own arguments, group discussiongrammatical structures:
- negation
- word position in complex sentence structures (tekamolo)
- comparison sentences
- usage of the word ‘it’
- complexe separated sentence connectors
- connectors with um zu, ohne zu, anstatt zu
- relative sentences
- noun-verb-connections and idioms
- passive
- complex indefinite articles
- complex modal clauses
- causal clauses
- nominal vs. verbal style
- indirect speech with subjunctive II
- participles as adjectivesSkills
Speaking: Talking about music, identity, describing diagrams, analyzing texts and music; expressing guesses; defining preferences and arguing about critical topics; short presentations about weekly news; group discussions; spontaneous storytelling
Writing: Analyzing literature (structure, form, choice of words, intention); paraphrasing and summarizing; writing an essay and responses to newspaper articles
Listening: Understanding and replying to different media: radio shows, songs, films /videos, dialogues, lectures; using techniques to simplify anticipation and segmenting of words
Reading: Understanding and replying to different texts: Forum posts, dialogues, written reports; scientific texts; using reading techniques to guess words from the context and improve global understandingEvaluation criteria:
Attendance is assumed and does not count towards the grade or credits.
Listening, Grammar, Writing and Vocabulary, Reading: homework, one midterm and one final test
Speaking: one presentation, participation in class and one oral test
Absence: missing 15% of class will result in your failing the class.
Example Syllabus C1
Competent use of language – C1:
Material: Studio – Die Mittelstufe, C1, Cornelsen, Berlin: 2013 (coursebook und workbook)
Contact hours: 120 (20 hours per week for 6 weeks)
This course is intended for students who have by and large mastered German and wish to train their use of the language in an academic context. The course encompasses and emphasizes demanding vocabulary and syntax-structures of written German and idiomatic expressions. Students practice reading and listening comprehension of complex texts by means of authentic, current academic and newspaper articles as well as pieces of literature (including a complete novel).
Priority is given to academic composition and the stylistic improvement of linguistic expression. Students gain the ability of active participation in discussions and of writing essays concerning an academically or socially relevant topic.
Themes:
The world of music (habits, industry and consumption)
Who am I? (Literature and Identity)
The anatomy of colors (The eye, Guerilla-Gardening)
Work environment (modern offices, careers, motivational letters)
German music (Genres; Analysis)
German slangGerman Literature (The novel “homo faber” by Max Frisch; Short stories and novel excerpts)
Structures:
- Attributes (genitive vs. adjectives)
- Nominalization and verbalization (causal, final, temporal)
- Article words, noun-verb constructions
- Nominal vs. verbal style
- Prefixes and compounds
- Indirect speech
- Linking words
- Gender markers in nouns
Skills:
Speaking: talking about music, Identity, anatomy, colors, quirks and work; describing diagrams, analyzing texts and music; expressing hunches and guesses; defining preferences and arguing about critical topics; playing German board games (Tabu, Activity, Dixit); short presentations of group works
Writing: analyzing literature (structure, form, choice of words, intention) and music (rhythm and rhyme); paraphrasing and summarizing; composing a motivational letter; writing an essay
Listening: Understanding and replying to different media: radio shows, songs, films/series/videos, dialogues, phone calls, lectures; using techniques to simplify anticipation and segmenting of words
Reading: Understanding and replying to different texts: forum posts, emails, dialogues, written reports; the novel “homo faber” by Max Frisch and extracts of other novels and short stories; scientific texts; using reading techniques to guess words from the context and improve global understanding
Other activities in class/ excursions:
- Photo-Rally to get to know the city and its history: e.g. fairy tales by the brother Grimm
- Excursion to the university’s sports ground and playing botscha: communicating in sport games
- Discovering German cinema
- Having a meal in an alternative restaurant: Playing board games, reciting poetry and telling jokes
- Excursion to the Museum Anatomicum : Crash course in anatomy
Evaluation criteria:
Attendance is assumed and does not count towards the grade or credits.
Listening, Grammar, Writing and Vocabulary, Reading: homework, one midterm and one final test
Speaking: one presentation, participation in class and one oral test
Absence: missing 15% of class will result in your failing the class.
German Culture Class
The German Culture Class will take place during weeks 2 to 6 of the program. The topics are split into four subject areas:
• Week 1: German Culture and Politics in Germany & the EU
• Week 2: German History & the German Education System
• Week 3: Religions in Germany
• Week 4: Integration and Inclusion in Germany
During these four weeks, you will join a guided city tour, a tour on renewable energy, visit Marburg´s Mosque and Synagogue, experience how students learn at the blista and much more.
Expectations and Requirements
For ECTS Points
- Attendance
- Participation in the field trips
- Two reflective essays:
→ beginning of class
→ end of class
NOTE:
→ Absence of 15% (8 hours) of the class time or more will result in failing the class
→ Absence due to illness is excused, but cannot prevent a possible fail since credit points consist equally of contact hours and workload.For Your Grade
- Learning Journal (15%)
- Short presentations (25%)
- Final paper (40%)
- Participation in class (20%)Example Syllabus (Short Form)
Day
Time
Topic
Presentation by
Info
Mon
14-16
Pre-Course: Introduction
Tue
14-16
Pre-Course: Introduction to scientific working methods
Wed
14-16
Guided City Tour
3 tour guides from Marburg Tourism
Group will be divided into 3 groups.
Mon
14-16
German Society – Facts and Myths Part I
Tue
14-16
German Society – Facts and Myths Part II
Wed
14-16
Intercultural Skills
Thu
14-16
Cultural Characteristics of Marburg
Fri
14-16
Newsflash 1
German Education
Mon
14-16
Newsflash 2
GDR, FRG & the Fall of the Berlin Wall, 2 + 4 Agreement
Tue
14-16
German Political Parties
Wed
14-16
German Politics Today & the EU
Thu
14-16
German Economy: Business and Innovation
Fri
14-16
Renewable Energy
Stadtwerke Marburg
Mon
14-16
Newsflash 3
Religions in Germany
Tue
14-16
Visit to Marburg’s Mosque
Muslimische Gemeinde
Wed
14-16
Visit to Marburg’s Synagogue
Thu
No class
Fri
BERLIN
Sat
BERLIN
Sun
BERLIN
Mon
BERLIN
Tue
14-16
Integration
Wed
14-16
Visit to blista
Blista
Thu
14-16
Visit to Dunkelcafé
Fri
14-16
Newsflash 4
Inclusion
Culture Class Trips
In addition to the regular study program, our program fee also covers an interesting cultural program with excursions to important historical and cultural sites.
The excursions take place on weekends. We will stay in shared rooms at local hostels (only breakfast is included in the program fee).
Trips Spring Semester: Berlin & Dresden
Trips Fall Semester: Berlin & Leipzig or Weimar
The field trips are part of the official program and count as contact hours for Culture Class. Hence, attendance is mandatory.
There is also a day trip which is not part of the Culture Class. Thus, attendance is not mandatory. However, if students would not like to participate in this trip, the program fee cannot be reduced.
