Elizabethtown Area School District
Introduction to Modern German Literature
Course Number: 647 Length of Course: 18 weeks Grade Level: 10-12 Elective Total Clock Hours: 120 Length of Period: 80 minutes Date Written: Spring 2009 Periods per Week/Cycle: 5 Written By: Carl Shenk Credits (if app): 1.05 Weighting: 1.10
Course Prerequisite: German III Offered Odd Years Only Course Description: In this weighted course students will read several theater pieces and parts of various novels, and analyze them for the following characteristics: symbolism, plot, conflict, common motifs, character analysis, climax and genre. German grammar concepts covered in previous levels will be reviewed throughout the course as needed. German history of the 19th and 20th centuries will be discussed in the context of the works being read. Class will be conducted in German and students are expected to speak entirely in German as soon as they are ready. Successful completion of German III is a prerequisite for this course.
1 I. Overall Course/Grade Level Standards Students will KNOW and be able TO DO the following as a result of taking this course.
A) Demonstrate knowledge of grammar covered in previous levels that is key to moving forward with writing and speaking exercises. B) Demonstrate familiarity with the dramatic pieces “Biedermann und die Brandstifter,” by Max Frisch, and “Besuch der alten Dame” by Friedrich Dürrenmatt. C) Read English translations or summaries of several longer works and selected short passages from each in German to acquire a sense of the writer’s style, including: “Faust” by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, “Das Erdbeben in Chili,” by Heinrich von Kleist as an example of an early novella, “Der Schimmelreiter,” by Theodor Storm as an example of a late 19th century novella, and “Draußen vor der Tür,” a post-World War II drama by Wolfgang Borchert. D) In addition to plot, demonstrate knowledge of characters, motifs and symbolism in each piece. E) Identify cultural elements of literary works and how they compare to modern German culture, and also to American culture. F) Develop the following: an understanding of adjective endings, a command of complex sentences, an understanding of the use of object pronouns, an ability to correctly use the passive voice in contrast to progressive tenses. G) Be able to give basic facts about German history from 1848 to the present in conjunction with readings to take a multi-disciplinary look at the period of time in which they were written. H) Use logical thinking skills to convey ideas, opinion, and facts in the target language (either orally or written). I) Read one German play or novel in English during the semester.
2 II. Content Major Areas of Study
List all units of study below: Unit Estimated Time Materials 1. Biedermann und die Brandstifter 3 weeks Text, Internet, handouts 2. Draußen vor der Tür 3 weeks Text, Internet, handouts 3. Besuch der alten Dame 3 weeks Text, Internet, handouts 4. Faust 2 weeks Text, Internet, handouts 5. Erdbeben in Chili 3 weeks Text, Internet, handouts 6. Der Schimmelreiter 3 weeks Text, Internet, handouts
3 III. Course Assessments
Check types of assessments to be used in the teaching of the course and provide examples of each type.
Objective Tests/Quizzes Response Journals Constructed Responses Logs Essays Computer Simulations Reports Research Papers Projects Class Participation Portfolios Note Taking Presentations Daily Assignments Performance Tasks Writing Samples Book Presentation
Provide copies of common assessments that will be utilized for all students taking this course. Overall course/grade level standards will be measured by a common course assessment. Unit objectives will be measured on an ongoing basis as needed by the classroom teacher to assess learning and plan for instruction. List common assessments below and recommend date/time frame for administration (at least quarterly).
Name of Common Assessment When given? 1. Quizzes Regular intervals
2. Unit Tests End of each unit
3. Final Exam End of semester
4 IV. Expected levels of achievement
Current grading scale ACTFL Proficiency
92-100: A Guidelines 83-91: B See Below 74-82: C 65-73: D 0-64: F
The following scoring documents have been developed for this course:
Level IV:
Listening: Advanced
Able to understand main ideas and most details of connected discourse on a variety of topics beyond the immediacy of the situation. Comprehension may be uneven due to a variety of linguistic and extra linguistic factors, among which topic familiarity is very prominent. These texts frequently involve description and narration in different time frames or aspects, such as present, nonpast, habitual, or imperfective. Texts may include interviews, short lectures on familiar topics, and news items and reports primarily dealing with factual information. Listener is aware of cohesive devices but may not be able to use them to follow the sequence of thought in an oral text.
Speaking: Intermediate High
Intermediate-High speakers are able to converse with ease and confidence when dealing with most routine tasks and social situations of the Intermediate level. They are able to handle successfully many uncomplicated tasks and social situations requiring an exchange of basic information related to work, school, recreation, particular interests and areas of competence, though hesitation and errors may be evident.
Intermediate-High speakers handle the tasks pertaining to the Advanced level, but they are unable to sustain performance at that level over a variety of topics. With some consistency, speakers at the Intermediate High level narrate and describe in major time frames using
5 connected discourse of paragraph length. However, their performance of these Advanced-level tasks will exhibit one or more features of breakdown, such as the failure to maintain the narration or description semantically or syntactically in the appropriate major time frame, the disintegration of connected discourse and misuse of cohesive devises, a reduction in breadth and appropriateness of vocabulary, the failure to successfully circumlocute, or a significant amount of hesitation.
Intermediate-High speakers can generally be understood by native speakers unaccustomed to dealing with non-natives, although the dominant language is still evident (e.g. use of code- switching, false cognates, literal translations, etc.), and gaps in communication may occur.
Reading: Advanced
Able to read somewhat longer prose of several paragraphs in length, particularly if presented with a clear underlying structure. The prose is predominantly in familiar sentence patterns. Reader gets the main ideas and facts and misses some details. Comprehension derives not only from situational and subject matter knowledge but also from increasing control of the language. Texts at this level include descriptions and narrations such as simple short stories, news items, bibliographical information, social notices, personal correspondence, routinized business letters, and simple technical material written for the general reader.
Writing: Advanced-Mid
Writers at the Advanced-Mid level are able to meet a range of work and/or academic writing needs with good organization and cohesiveness that may reflect the principles of their first language. They are able to write straightforward summaries and write about familiar topics relating to interests and events of current, public, and personal relevance by means of narratives and descriptions of a factual nature. Advanced-Mid writers demonstrate the ability to narrate and describe with detail in all major time frames. Their writing is characterized by a range of general vocabulary that expresses thoughts of cohesive devices in texts of several paragraphs in length. There is good control of the most frequently used target language syntactic structures, e.g., common word order patterns, coordination, subordination. There may be errors in complex sentences, as well as in punctuation, spelling, or the formation of non-alphabetic symbols and character production. While features of the written style of the target language may be present, Advanced-Mid writing may at times resemble oral discourse or the writing style of the first language. Advanced-Mid writing incorporates organizational features both of the target language or the writer’s first language. While Advanced-Mid writers are generally aware of writing for the other, with all the attendant tailoring required to accommodate the reader, they tend to be inconsistent in their aims and focus from time to time on the demands of production of the written text rather than on the needs of reception. When called on to perform functions or to treat topics at the Superior level, Advanced-Mid writers will generally manifest a decline in the quality and/or quantity of their writing, demonstrating a lack of the rhetorical structure, the accuracy and the fullness of elaboration and detail that would be characteristic of the Superior
6 level. Writing at the Advanced-Mid level is understood readily by natives not used to the writing of non-natives.
Level V: Listening: Advanced Plus
Able to understand the main ideas of most speech in a standard dialect; however, the listener may not be able to sustain comprehension in extended discourse which is propositionally and linguistically complex. Listener shows an emerging awareness of culturally implied meanings beyond the surface meanings of the text but may fail to grasp sociocultural nuances of the message.
Speaking: Advanced-Low
Speakers at the Advanced-Low level are able to handle a variety of communicative tasks, although somewhat haltingly at times. They participate actively in most informal and a limited number of formal conversations on activities related to school, home, and leisure activities and, to a lesser degree, those related to events of work, current, public, and personal interest or individual relevance.
Advanced-Low speakers demonstrate the ability to narrate and describe in all major time frames (past, present and future) in paragraph length discourse, but control of aspect may be lacking at times. They can handle appropriately the linguistic challenges presented by a complication or unexpected turn of events that occurs within the context of a routine situation or communicative task with which they are otherwise familiar, though at times their discourse may be minimal for the level and strained. Communicative strategies such as rephrasing and circumlocution may be employed in such instances. In their narrations and descriptions, they combine and link sentences into connected discourse of paragraph length. When pressed for a fuller account, they tend to grope and rely on minimal discourse. Their utterances are typically not longer than a single paragraph. Structure of the dominant language is still evident in the use of false cognates, literal translations, or the oral paragraph structure of the speaker’s own language rather than that of the target language.
While the language of Advanced-Low speakers may be marked by substantial, albeit irregular flow, it is typically somewhat strained and tentative with noticeable self-correction and a certain grammatical roughness. The vocabulary of Advanced-Low speaker is primarily generic in nature.
Advanced-Low speakers contribute to the conversation with sufficient accuracy, clarity, and precision to convey their intended message without misrepresentation or confusion, and it can be understood by native speakers unaccustomed to dealing with non-natives, even though this may be achieved through repetition and restatement. When attempting to perform functions or handle topics associated with the superior level, the linguistic quality of their speech will deteriorate significantly.
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Reading: Advanced Plus
Able to follow essential points of written discourse at the Superior level in areas of special interest or knowledge. Able to understand parts of texts which are conceptually abstract and linguistically complex, and/or texts which treat unfamiliar topics and situations, as well as some texts which involve aspects of target-language culture. Able to comprehend the facts to make appropriate inferences. An emerging awareness of the aesthetic properties of language and of its literary styles permits comprehension of a wider variety of texts, including literary. Misunderstandings may occur.
Writing: Advanced-High
Writers at the Advanced-High level are able to write about a variety of topics with significant precision and detail. They can handle most social and informal correspondence according to appropriate conventions. They can write summaries, reports, précis, and research papers. They can also write extensively about topics relating to particular interests and special areas of competence, but tend to emphasize the concrete aspects of such topics. Advanced-High writers can describe and narrate in all major time frames, with good control of aspect. In addition, they are able to demonstrate some ability to incorporate the functions and other criteria of the Superior level, showing some ability to develop arguments and construct hypotheses. They cannot, however, sustain those abilities and may have difficulty dealing with a variety of topics in abstract, global, and/or impersonal terms. They often show remarkable ease of expression when writing at the Advanced level, but under the demands of Superior-level writing tasks, patterns of error appear. Although they have good control of a full range of grammatical structures and a fairly wide general vocabulary, they may not use these comfortably and accurately in all cases. Weaknesses in grammar, syntax, vocabulary, spelling or symbol production, cohesive devices, or punctuation may occasionally distract the native reader from the message. Writers at the Advanced-High level do not consistently demonstrate flexibility to vary their style according to different tasks and readers. Their writing production often reads successfully but may fail to convey the subtlety and nuance of the Superior level.
8 Name of Unit: Biedermann und die Brandstifter
Essential Question: How might the metaphorical meaning of Biedermann und die Brandstifter apply to our world today?
Aligned to Aligned to PA Unit Objectives/Key Question Priority Course Standard Standard 1. What is the plot of the play at a literal level? E 1.2, 2.1, 4.1, 4.2 N/A
2. What are the symbols used throughout the play? E 1.1, 1.2, 3.2, 4.2 N/A
3. What motifs are evident in the play? E 1.1, 1.2, 3.1, 4.2 N/A
4. What do we know about each character or group E 1.1, 1.2, 3.2, 4.2 N/A of characters? 5. What must we know about verbs we encounter in E 3.1, 4.1 N/A our reading? 6. How do we formulate complex sentences, I 3.1, 4.1 N/A including sentences with “zu” + infinitive and with modal verbs? 7. How did Germans react to the rise of Hitler and E 1.1, 1.2, 3.1, 4.2 N/A the National Socialist Party in the late 1920s and 1930s?
4a Name of Unit: Draußen vor der Tür
Essential Question: How might the experiences of post World War II Germany relate to modern experience?
Aligned to Aligned to PA Unit Objectives/Key Question Priority Course Standard Standard 1. What is the plot of the play at a literal level? E 1.2, 2.1, 4.1, 4.2 N/A
2. What are the symbols used throughout the play? E 1.1, 1.2, 3.2, 4.2 N/A
3. What motifs are evident in the play? E 1.1, 1.2, 3.1, 4.2 N/A
4. What do we know about each character or group E 1.1, 1.2, 3.2, 4.2 N/A of characters? 5. What connections can we draw between I 1.1, 1.3, 2.1, 4.2 N/A Beckmann’s experience and that of any returning soldier? 6. What are the verb forms and useful vocabulary we E 3.1, 4.1 N/A encounter in this selection? 7. How do we use the subjunctive mood in our I 3.1, 4.1 N/A writing about this selection? 8. How do we use the passive voice to talk about I 3.1, 4.1 N/A what happened in a story and how does it contrast with progressive tenses in English? 9. How did Germans experience the immediate post- E 1.1, 1.2, 3.1, 4.2 N/A World War II era, especially returning German soldiers?
4b Name of Unit: Besuch der Alten Dame
Essential Question: What does this play have to say about how the human being tends to react in the face of temptation or the need for self-preservation?
Aligned to Aligned to PA Unit Objectives/Key Question Priority Course Standard Standard 1. What is the plot of the play at a literal level? E 1.2, 2.1, 4.1, 4.2 N/A
2. What are the symbols used throughout the play? E 1.1, 1.2, 3.2, 4.2 N/A
3. What motifs are evident in the play? E 1.1, 1.2, 3.1, 4.2 N/A
4. What do we know about each character or group E 1.1, 1.2, 3.2, 4.2 N/A of characters? 5. How does the reaction of the townspeople make us I 1.1, 1.3, 2.1 N/A feel? 6. What are the verb forms and useful vocabulary we E 3.1, 4.1 N/A encounter in this selection? 7. What are the object pronouns and how are they I 3.1, 4.1 N/A used in context? 8. How do we use the various prepositions in German I 3.1, 4.1 N/A and how do they affect articles and endings? 9. How is the experience of Ill and the town of I 1.1, 3.1 N/A Gullen similar to what East Germany experienced with the long-anticipated dream of reunification in the 1990’s?
4c Name of Unit: Faust
Essential Question: How is Goethe’s Faust radically different from other versions of Faust and how does one respond to Goethe’s resolution of the Faustian dilemma?
Aligned to Aligned to PA Unit Objectives/Key Question Priority Course Standard Standard 1. What is the plot of the play at a literal level? E 1.2, 2.1, 4.1, 4.2 N/A
2. What are the symbols used throughout the play? E 1.1, 1.2, 3.2, 4.2 N/A
3. What motifs are evident in the play? E 1.1, 1.2, 3.1, 4.2 N/A
4. What do we know about each character or group E 1.1, 1.2, 3.2, 4.2 N/A of characters? 5. How does this version of Faust compare with I 1.1, 1.3, 2.1 N/A earlier versions? 6. What are the verb forms and useful vocabulary we E 3.1, 4.1 N/A encounter in this selection? 7. How do we use adjective endings in German? I 3.1, 4.1 N/A
8. What was the experience of Germans during the I 1.1, 3.1 N/A late 1700’s and the time of German Classicism?
4d Name of Unit: Das Erdbeben in Chili
Essential Question: How does our view of the purpose of life compare to that of Heinrich von Kleist in Das Erdbeben in Chili?
Aligned to Aligned to PA Unit Objectives/Key Question Priority Course Standard Standard 1. What is a novella? E 1.2, 3.1, 4.2 N/A
2. What is the plot of the novella at a literal level? E 1.2, 2.1, 4.1, 4.2 N/A
3. What are the symbols used throughout the piece? E 1.1, 1.2, 3.2, 4.2 N/A
4. What motifs are evident in this work? E 1.1, 1.2, 3.1, 4.2 N/A
5. What do we know about each character or group E 1.1, 1.2, 3.2, 4.2 N/A of characters? 6. What is my/our reaction to the resolution of this I 1.1, 1.3, 2.1 N/A work? 7. What are the verb forms and useful vocabulary we E 3.1, 4.1 N/A encounter in this selection? 8. What was the experience of Germans during the I 1.1, 3.1 N/A end of the French Revolution and the era of Napoleon? 9. What do we know about Heinrich von Kleist and I 1.2, 3.1 N/A the reason for this piece?
4e Name of Unit: Der Schimmelreiter
Essential Question: What does this novella say about the results of adhering to one’s principles, in spite of the likelihood of a tragic ending?
Aligned to Aligned to PA Unit Objectives/Key Question Priority Course Standard Standard 1. What is a novella? I 1.2, 3.1, 4.2 N/A
2. What is a “Rahmengeschichte?” E 1.2, 2.1, 3.2, 4.2 N/A
3. What is the plot of the novella at a literal level? E 1.2, 2.1, 4.1, 4.2 N/A
4. What are the symbols used throughout the piece? E 1.1, 1.2, 3.2, 4.2 N/A
5. What motifs are evident in this work? E 1.1, 1.2, 3.1, 4.2 N/A
6. What do we know about each character or group E 1.1, 1.2, 3.2, 4.2 N/A of characters? 7. What is my/our reaction to the resolution of this I 1.1, 1.3, 2.1 N/A work? 8. What are the verb forms and useful vocabulary we E 3.1, 4.1 N/A encounter in this selection? 9. What were some of the key events in German- I 1.1, 3.1 N/A speaking lands during the 1800’s leading to the Germany of Storm’s Schimmelreiter in 1886?
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