Course Evaluation: GERM 100

All right, here comes another one, and this time a course non-music students can relate to! GERM 100, or Beginner German.

Course Description: Learn the German language from scratch. Literally, on the first day my professor walked in and said a stream of things in German and then followed with, “And if you understood any of that, you are in the wrong place.” I admit, I breathed a sigh of relief.

Textbook Use:  This course uses Treffpunkt Deutsch by I can’t remember who and you NEED TO BUY THIS TEXTBOOK FOR THIS COURSE.  You use it every single class, as well as for hand-in and online homework, not to mention vocabulary lists for quizzes.

Homework: You get online homework every class, but it’s quick and pretty easy.  Occasionally there is hand-in homework which generally involves writing a paragraph, but that’s about it.  There is a vocabulary quiz at the end of each unit.

Professor: I had Prof. Angelika Struch, and she was FANTASTIC, although I’ve talked to students in other sections and they all love their profs as well.  It seems to me that profs in the German Dept. have very good teaching skills in addition to language skills.  Professor Struch was extremely kind, patient, organized, punctual, very good at communicating, available for questions, was a fair marker, and concerned about her students’ learning. And she gave us candy a lot, that’s always nice too. :P

Class format: Small classes of about thirty people, each class consists of covering concepts, often listening to conversations in German, and practicing as a class and with partners.  Homework is assigned every day.  Actually, every class’s agenda and homework for the next class is distributed for each unit so you know exactly what to expect and if you miss a class, you know what you’re missing. (It’s possible this was only for my class, but I don’t know.)

Additional comments: Honestly, I felt that German was an easy class. (I studied and worked hard and all that so maybe that’s why? :P) The marks just came in, and I finished with a mark of 98! BOOYAH!  But yeah, anyone who wants a fun/easy elective class or wants to learn the language, GERM 100 is the way to go.  I really want to continue learning German next term but don’t have room in my schedule :( Oh well…

Happy Holidays,

Samantha