Studying German in Ffynone

Studying German at Ffynone House School

German at Key stage 3

 

All pupils in year 7, 8 and 9 study German and it is taught by an experienced native speaker. Pupils are encouraged from the start to speak the language using correct pronunciation and intonation. Pupils usually find that German has the advantage of being quite close to English, and that once you know the alphabet well, pronunciation  is relatively easy. Even the grammar is made easy by using it all the time in the context of speech. Pupils are inspired to use what they have first learned with the whole of the class and expand it and be creative in the classroom or at home.

Year 7

In year 7 pupils learn to speak about themselves, describe their friends, their family and their pets. As they are learning this they can be as creative as they want, aunts with green hair make a regular appearance. They also discover the school system in Germany, learn to express themselves about school subjects and they invent a new ideal uniform for their school.

Year 8

In year 8 pupils start the year by learning about sports and free time activities. They speak and write about their and other people's favourite things. They will read a famous Brecht-poem about all of his favourite things that will hopefully inspire them to write their first great German poem on their own! An exciting moment for the teacher as true masterpieces have been created in the past! They learn to describe their house, their room and where furniture and objects are and all the household activities they join in with. They find out about how to describe a town, the buildings and everything you can do for entertainment.

Year 9

In year 9 pupils are encouraged to be more inquisitive about German culture, history and language and draw parallels with their own country to make them aware about similarities and differences. Pupils start to listen to German rockbands like Tokio Hotel and Virginia Jetzt (discovered by a pupil this year!) and study the texts of the songs. They find out about historic events like the Fall of the Berlin wall, investigate the careers of famous Germans, Austrians or Swiss personalities and present their discoveries. Of course they discover many more topics, like the media, films and the world of work, to mention just a few, in order to make the transition to GCSE as smooth as possible.

Key stage 4

German GCSE

Year 10 and 11

German is a challenging and interesting GCSE subject but a GCSE in languages has often been considered in the past as being difficult. There is now a new syllabus for German.

It has been designed in a much more pupil-friendly way. 60% of the overall GCSE grade will be continuous assessment, tests taken in school with your German teacher during years 10 and 11. It means that all the writing and speaking tests will be taken in school, and it is up to your teachers who know best when you are ready, to set the dates for these tests. 40% of the GCSE grade will be an external assessment, a listening and reading exam you will take at the end of year 11.

Topics relevant for young people

These are the topics pupils will study for German GCSE, many of which they will already be familiar with:

Personal and social life

Self, family, friends, home life, shopping, meals, healthy living, illness and accident, free time, fashion, relationships, future plans.

Local community

Home town, school, education, local environment, pollution, recycling, local facilities, comparisons with other towns and regions, weather and seasons.

The world of work

Work experience, part-time jobs, future careers, technology.

The wider world

Travel and holidays, media, social issues (life of young people today, homelessness, crime, drugs, healthy living, religion, politics), life in the countries and communities where the languages are spoken.

Pupils will study these topics using modern text books and through listening items on listening to items on CD's, with short articles from magazines, TV programs, songs and films. Pupils will be encouraged to research and investigate topics of their choice relevant to Germany, Austria or Switzerland on the internet and give short presentations in their small tutor groups. Every pupil will do several of these presentations and the best will count towards the overall GCSE grade.

It is of course crucial for pupils who study German to experience the language and culture, so language trips will be taking place every year.