Advanced German: Composition & Conversation

Course Title
Advanced German: Composition & Conversation
Course Number
GERM-UA.9111001
SAMPLE SYLLABUS – ACTUAL SYLLABUS MAY VARY
Instructor Contact Information
Dr. habil Elke Brüns
[email protected]
Denise Uhl
[email protected]
Course Details
Kultur Brauerei
Schönhauser Allee 36, Haus 2, Aufgang F
10435 Berlin
Mondays and Thursdays, 11:00am – 12:15pm
NYUB – Room: "Kreuzberg"
Prerequisites
Successful completion of Intermediate German II, Intensive Intermediate German or
approval from the Language Program Coordinator.
Units earned
4
Course Description
Composition & Conversation is designed for post-intermediate students of German who have
a solid grasp of German grammar and vocabulary and wish to extend their knowledge of the
German language, history, and culture through reading, watching films, discussions, and
writing. Conversation & Composition is a reading- and writing-intensive course. Emphasis will
be placed on refining written expression and developing the ability to express, discuss, and
argue opinions.
Course Objective
This course will give you an overview of recent German political, social and cultural history
after 1945 and onwards. Focus will be placed on moments of social criticism and changes –
from the youth cultures in the 50s and 80s to the women's movement and ecological protests,
from love happenings and terrorism to mass demonstrations and the fall of the wall. During
the course, we will explore narratives that are related to our topics from a variety of genres:
newspaper/magazine articles, TV/radio documentaries, music, film, photography, and other
visual material. The class is taught entirely in German and emphasizes the language skills
necessary to communicate effectively in a foreign language –speaking, reading, viewing,
writing, and listening.
Assessment Components
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Preparedness and active class participation, 25%
Presentation/session leading, 15%
Four take-home grammar quizzes, 20%
Final oral presentation, 20%
Berlin diary, 20% (1200 Words)
Failure to submit or fulfill any required component may result in failure of the class, regardless
of grades achieved in other assignments.
Assessment Expectations
Grade A: The student makes excellent use of empirical and theoretical material and offers
well-structured arguments in his/her work. The student writes comprehensive essays /
answers to exam questions and his/her work shows strong evidence of critical thought and
extensive reading.
Grade B: The candidate shows a good understanding of the problem and has demonstrated
the ability to formulate and execute a coherent research strategy.
Grade C: The work is acceptable and shows a basic grasp of the research problem.
However, the work fails to organize findings coherently and is in need of improvement.
Grade D: The work passes because some relevant points are made. However, there may be
a problem of poor definition, lack of critical awareness, poor research.
Grade F: The work shows that the research problem is not understood; there is little or no
critical awareness and the research is clearly negligible.
Grade Conversion
Your instructor may choose to use one of the following scales of numerical equivalents to
letter grades:
B+ = 87-89
C+ = 77-79
D+ = 67-69
A = 94-100
B = 84-86
C = 74-76
D = 65-66
A- = 90-93
B- = 80-83
C- = 70-73
F = below 65
Alternatively:
A= 4.0
B+ = 3.3
C+ = 2.3
D+ = 1.3
A- = 3.7
B = 3.0
C = 2.0
D = 1.0
B- = 2.7
C- =1.7
F = 0.0.
Attendance Policy
Participation in all classes is essential for your academic success, especially in NYU Berlin’s
content courses that, unlike most courses at NYU NY, meet only once per week in a doublesession for three hours. Your attendance in both content and language courses is required
and will be checked at each class meeting. As soon as it becomes clear that you cannot
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attend a class, you must inform your professor by e-mail immediately (i.e. before the start of
your class). Absences are only excused if they are due to illness, religious observance or
emergencies. If you want the reasons for your absence to be treated confidentially and not
shared with your professor, please approach NYUB's Director or Wellness Counselor. Your
professor or NYUB's administration may ask you to present a doctor's note or an exceptional
permission from the Director or Wellness Counselor.
Unexcused absences affect students' grades: In content courses each unexcused absence
(equaling one week's worth of classes) leads to a deduction of 2% of the overall grade and
may negatively affect your class participation grade. Three unexcused absences in one course
may lead to a Fail in that course. In German Language classes three (consecutive or nonconsecutive) unexcused absences (equaling one week's worth of classes) lead to a 2%
deduction of the overall grade. Five unexcused absences in your German language course
may lead to a Fail in that course. Furthermore, faculty is also entitled to deduct points for
frequent late arrival to class or late arrival back from in-class breaks. Being more than 15
minutes late for class counts as an unexcused absence. Please note that for classes involving
a field trip or other external visit, transportation difficulties are never grounds for an excused
absence. It is the student’s responsibility to arrive at the announced meeting point in a
punctual and timely fashion.
Exams, tests, deadlines, and oral presentations that are missed due to illness always require a
doctor's note as documentation. It is the student's responsibility to produce this doctor's note;
until this doctor's note is produced the missed assessment is graded with an F. In content
classes, an F in one assignment may lead to failure of the entire class.
Attendance Rules on Religious Holidays
Members of any religious group may, without penalty, excuse themselves from classes when
required in compliance with their religious obligations. Students who anticipate being absent
because of any religious observance should notify the Director or Assistant Director for
Academics in advance of the anticipated absence. If examinations or assignment deadlines
are scheduled on the day the student will be absent, the Director or Assistant Director will reschedule a make-up examination or extend the deadline for assignments.
Late Submission of Work
(1) Written work due in class must be submitted during the class time to the professor.
(2) Late work should be submitted in person to the instructor or to the Assistant Director for
Academics, who will write on the essay or other work the date and time of submission, in the
presence of the student. Another member of the administrative staff may also personally
accept the work, and will write the date and time of submission on the work, as above.
(3) Unless an extension has been approved (with a doctor's note or by approval of the Director
or Assistant Director), work submitted late receives a penalty of 2 points on the 100 point scale
for each day it is late.
(4) Without an approved extension, written work submitted more than 5 weekdays following
the session date fails and is given a zero.
(5) End of semester essays must be submitted on time.
(6) Students who are late for a written exam have no automatic right to take extra time or to
write the exam on another day.
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(7) Please remember that university computers do not keep your essays - you must save them
elsewhere. Having lost parts of your essay on the university computer is no excuse for a late
submission.
Plagiarism Policy
The presentation of another person’s words, ideas, judgment, images or data as though they
were your own, whether intentionally or unintentionally, constitutes an act of plagiarism.
Proper referencing of your sources avoids plagiarism (see as one possible help the NYU
library guide to referencing styles: http://nyu.libguides.com/citations).
NYUB takes plagiarism very seriously; penalties follow and may exceed those set out by your
home school. All your written work must be submitted as a hard copy AND in electronic form
to the instructor. Your instructor may ask you to sign a declaration of authorship form.
It is also an offense to submit work for assignments from two different courses that
is substantially the same (be it oral presentations or written work). If there is an overlap of the
subject of your assignment with one that you produced for another course (either in the current
or any previous semester), you MUST inform your professor.
For a summary of NYU Global's academic policies please see: www.nyu.edu/global/academicpolicies
Required Text(s)
Course Reader
Readers can be bought at Sprintout behind Humboldt University (Georgenstraße/Universitätsstraße – S-Bahn-Bogen 190 - please allow five hours between booking and collecting
readers).
Supplemental Text(s) (not required to purchase)
A good dictionary (English-German).
Internet Research Guidelines
To be discussed in class.
Additional Required Equipment
None.
Week 1
Class on 31 Aug 2015
Vorstellungsrunde, Einführung, Übernahme der Referate und Diskussionsleitungen
Class on 3 Sept 2015
Grammatik
4
Week 2
Class on 7 Sept2015
Die BRD in den 50er Jahren – ‚Wirtschaftswunder‘, ‚Heimatfilm‘ und ‚BRAVO Amerika‘
Bitte lesen Sie:
Kaspar Maase: BRAVO Amerika. Erkundungen zur Jugendkultur der Bundesrepublik in den
fünfziger Jahren. Hamburg: Junius 1992, S. 113-127 [im Reader].
Class on 10 Sept 2015
Jugendkultur in den 50er Jahren – Die Halbstarken (Georg Tressler, 1956)
Bitte lesen Sie:
Günter Giesenfeld: “Die Halbstarken“. In: Thomas Koebner (Hg.): Filmklassiker.
Beschreibungen und Kommentare. Bd. 2: 1946 – 1962. Stuttgart: Reclam 2006, S. 316 -318
[im Reader].
Bitte schauen Sie sich den Film Die Halbstarken (1956) auf DVD an.
Week 3
Class on 14 Sept 2015
Die DDR in den 50er Jahren – Revolte am 17. Juni 1953
Bitte lesen Sie:
Myriam Renaudot: “Der Siebzehnte Juni“. In: Martin Sabrow (Hg.): Erinnerungsorte der DDR.
München: Beck 2009, S. 516-525 [im Reader].
Bitte schauen Sie sich die Dokumentation über das Jahr 1953 an
http://www.bpb.de/mediathek/872/60-x-deutschland-das-jahr-1953
Class on 17 Sept 2015
Die BRD in den 60er Jahren – Wohlstand für alle!
Bitte lesen Sie:
Markus Caspers: Wohlstand für alle. Die sechziger Jahre. Köln: NGV 2007 (Ausschnitte) [im
Reader].
Bitte schauen Sie sich die Dokumentation über das Jahr 1967 an
http://www.bpb.de/mediathek/890/60-x-deutschland-das-jahr-1967
Week 4
Class on 21 Sept 2015
Die BRD in den 60er Jahren – Liebe für alle!
Bitte lesen Sie:
Rainer Langhans/Christa Ritter: K 1. Das Bilderbuch der Kommune. München: Blumenbar
2008 (Ausschnitte); Peter Brügge: “Lieber Fritz! Wem soll das nützen?” In: Der Spiegel Nr.
31/1967 [alle im Reader].
5
Class on 24 Sept 2015
Die DDR in den 70er Jahren – Die Ausbürgerung Wolf Biermanns
Bitte lesen Sie:
In Sachen Biermann. Protokolle, Berichte und Briefe. Hg. v. Roland Berbig. Berlin: Links 1994.
S. 68-71, 388f [im Reader].
Week 5
Class on 28 Sept
Die BRD in den 70er Jahren –Terrorismus
Bitte lesen Sie:
Martin Henatsch: Gerhard Richter. 18. Oktober 1977. Das verwischte Bild der Geschichte.
Frankfurt a. M.: Fischer 1998, S. 25-31; Bild-Zeitung 19.10.1977; Joseph Beuys: Dürer...;
Scott King: Mona Meinhof / Prada Meinhof
See also: Gerhard Richter: 18. Oktober 1977 (1988, MoMA New York) [alle im Reader].
Bitte schauen Sie sich den Film Der Baader-Meinhof-Komplex (2008) auf DVD an.
Class on 1 Oct 2015
Grammatik
Week 6
Class on 5 Oct 2015
Die BRD in den 70er und 80er Jahren – Die Frauenbewegung.
Bitte lesen Sie:
Susanne Hertrampf: Ein Tomatenwurf und seine Folgen.
http://www.bpb.de/gesellschaft/gender/frauenbewegung/35287/neue-welle-im-westen [im
Reader]. Class on 8 Oct 2015
Die BRD in den 80er Jahren – “Alternative Kultur” und “Die Grünen”
Bitte lesen Sie:
Axel Schildt / Detlef Siegfried: Deutsche Kulturgeschichte. Die Bundesrepublik –1945 bis
heute. München: Hanser 2009, S. 369-379; Klaus Staeck: Umweltplakate [im Reader].
Week 7
Class on 12Oct 2015
Die BRD in den 80er Jahren: Alternative Medien Die Tageszeitung (Taz)
Bitte schauen Sie sich den Film Kulturzeit - Geschichte der TAZ im Netz an
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVQrGmh0oAs
Schreiben Sie Fragen für unseren Besuch bei der TAZ auf.
Class on 15 Oct 2015
Besuch der Tageszeitung (Taz) in der Kochstraße
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19 – 23 Oct 2015 – No Class: Fall Break
Week 8
Class on 26 Oct 2015
Berlin in den 80er Jahren – Punk, Protest und Hausbesetzungen
Bitte schauen Sie sich folgende kurze Filme im Netz (youtube) an
1) Ideal: Ich steh auf Berlin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTygF2V0MtY
2) Der Tod von Klaus Jürgen Rattay
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouT_vFwEGdw
3) B Movie: Lust & Sound in West Berlin (1979-1989) – Official Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tj3qj6KNcLU
Class on 29 Oct 2015
Zu Gast: Wolfgang Müller (Autor, Musiker, Künstler [Die Tödliche Doris])
Bitte lesen Sie:
Blutsturz-geile-Punks-und-Ratten-Jenny. West Berlin von 1979-1989: Ein Darkroom für
gefährdete Existenzen und kaputte Künstler. Wolfgang Müller, Mitglied der Band Die tödliche
Doris, beschreibt die Zeit in einem wunderbaren Buch.
Text unter:
http://www.welt.de/kultur/literarischewelt/article112105559/Blutsturz-geile-Punks-und-RattenJenny.html
Formulieren Sie Fragen an Wolfgang Müller.
Week 9
Class on 2. Nov 2015
Die DDR Ende der 80er Jahre– Massendemonstration am 4. November 1989
Bitte lesen Sie:
“Berlin Alexanderplatz: Geschichte wird gemacht”. In: DieTageszeitung 06./09.11.1989 [im
Reader].
Bitte schauen Sie sich diese Dokumentation über die Mauer an
http://www.chronik-der-mauer.de/index.php/de/Start/Index/id/632139
Class on 5 Nov 2015
Grammatik
Week 10
Class on 9 Nov 2015
Heute vor 26 Jahren – Der Fall der Mauer
Bitte lesen Sie:
“Es hat ja schon viele Versuche gegeben, die DDR-Realität einzufangen”. Gespräch mit Ulrich
Mühe. In: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck: Das Leben der anderen. Filmbuch. Frankfurt a.
M.: Suhrkamp 2007, S. 182-200 [im Reader].
Bitte schauen Sie sich den Film Das Leben der Anderen auf DVD an.
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Class on 12 Nov 2015
1989 und danach –Die Revolution frißt ihre Kinder
Bitte lesen Sie:
Alexander Osang: Die verlorenen Revolutionäre. In: Ders.: Ankunft in der neuen Mitte.
Reportagen und Porträts. Berlin: Links 2000 [zuerst: Berliner Zeitung, 30.11.1996], S. 36-60
[im Reader].
Week 11
Class on 16 Nov 2015
BRD heute – Zwischen Establishment, Globalisierung und Kapitalismuskritik
Bitte schauen Sie sich den Film Die fetten Jahre sind vorbei auf DVD an.
Entwerfen Sie eine Diskussion zwischen den jungen Rebellen und dem Business Man, den
sie gekidnappt haben. Präsentieren Sie diese Diskussion in der Klasse.
Achtung: Lesung mit der Autorin Sarah Schmidt am 17 Nov 2015
Lunch-time: 1:45pm – 3:00pm
Texte werden vorab ausgeteilt und besprochen!
No Class on 19 Nov 2015: Make-up Session: Reading with Sarah Schmidt on 17 Nov 2015
Week 12
Class on 23 Nov 2015
German Pop Music: Zwischen Affirmation und Protest
Bitte lesen Sie:
Liedtexte von Tocotronic [im Reader]. David Wagner: Schluss mit dem Parkplatz-Realismus. In: Der Tagesspiegelvom 02.04.2005.
[im Reader]. Class on 26 Nov 2015
Grammatik
Week 13
Class on 30 Nov 2015
Weihnachtsfeier!
Class on 3 Dec 2015
Grammatik
Week 14
Class on 7 Dec 2015
Empört Euch!
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Bitte lesen Sie:
Stephan Hessel: Empört Euch! (Auszüge). In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung vom 09.02.2011
[im Reader].
Class on 10 Dec 2015
Empört Euch?
Bitte lesen Sie:
Jan Brandt: Empört euch! Zum 1. Mai kommen alle nach Kreuzberg: die einen wollen feiern
und wissen nicht, was, andere wollen Randale und wissen nicht, warum. Ein Essay zur Frage,
warum Demonstrationen gerade jetzt wichtig sind. In: Zitty10/2015 vom 30. April bis 13. Mai.
A-16 [im Reader].
»Nein! Nein! Nein!«: Ästhetik der Rebellion: Das neue Album von Tocotronic erscheint nicht
ohne Grund am 1. Mai. Ein Gespräch mit Sänger Dirk von Lowtzow und Bassist Jan Müller
über alte Straßenkampf-Zeiten, neue Widerstandsstrategien, getanzten Hass die Liebe und
die Liebe als revolutionäre Kraft. In: Zitty 10/2015 vom 30. April bis 13. Mai. S. 17-18 [im
Reader].
Week 15
Class on 14 Dec 2015
Final Oral Representation
Class on 17 Dec 2015
Farewell
Classroom Etiquette
Be nice. No eating during class. The use of technology in class is not permitted.
Required Co-Curricular Activities
None.
Suggested Co-Curricular Activities
Explore the city. Talk to Germans. Read German Newspapers.
YourInstructors
Elke Brüns studierte Germanistik und Psychologie an der Freien Universität Berlin. In ihrer
Doktorarbeit analysierte sie den Zusammenhang von Psychosexualität und Autorschaft, in
ihrer Habilitationsschrift Nach dem Mauerfall untersuchte sie die symbolischen und
ästhetischen Dimensionen der jüngsten deutschen Geschichte. Ihr aktuelles Forschungsinteresse gilt den Armutsrepräsentationen in Literatur, Film und politischen Diskursen. Ganz
neu ist ihr Interesse an der (literarischen) Phantastik. Neben ihrer wissenschaftlichen Arbeit
hat sie eine feministische Zeitschrift mitgegründet, Beiträge und Kolumnen für die Tages- und
Magazinpresse geschrieben, Features für den Hörfunk verfasst und vier Jahre lang einen
kulturwissenschaftlichen Blog geschrieben. Sie ist Gründungs- und Vorstandmitglied des
deutschen Chapters von Academics Stand Against Poverty (ASAP), einer globalen
Vereinigung von Armutsforscher_innen.
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Elke Brüns studied German Literature and Psychology at Freie Universität Berlin. In her
dissertation, she analyzed the relation of psycho-sexuality and authorship and in her postdoctoral lecture qualification (Habilitation), she described the symbolic and aesthetic
dimensions of recent German history. Her current research focuses on representations of
poverty in literature, film and political discourses. Totally new is her interest in (literary)
fantasy. In addition to her scientific work, she has co-founded a feminist magazine, written
articles and columns for newspapers and magazines, composed features for radio stations
and written a cultural science blog for four years. She is a co-founder and board member of
the German Chapter of Academics Stand Against Poverty (ASAP), a global coalition of
poverty researchers.
Denise Uhl teaches classes for the German Language Department at NYU Berlin. She holds
an M.A. German Literature, Comparative Literature, Modern History and German as a Foreign
Language from Freie Universität Berlin. She has been working with international student since
2006 and has worked at NYU Berlin since September 2009.
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