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You will notice that the topic of weeks 3, 6, and 9 is Review and Reflect. There will be no new content in these weeks, which is meant to give you the chance to review past material, catch up with anything you missed, and complete your assignments.

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Each week, you will work through the posted tasks in Learn. You can find descriptions of the kinds of tasks we will work on in this column.

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You do not need to purchase a textbook for this course. We will sometimes work with the open-access resource Grenzenlos Deutsch (feel free to check it out below); otherwise, all materials will be made available on Learn.

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This full-year curriculum is intended as a no-cost alternative to current, more traditional textbooks in the field. It mixes materials rooted in real-world, contemporary communication scenarios, multimedia content, and online learning activities.The Grenzenlos curriculum ensures that the topics of discussion in the language classroom are relevant to and reflect today's world.

Please note that this page is currently under construction. New units and lessons will be posted as they become available, and the entire project is still in draft form. Thank you for your patience and understanding!

Directions: to access the lessons, click on the drop-down "Curriculum" menu in the upper left. Select one of the modules, or content areas. Once you've clicked on a module, an arrow will appear next to that module when you click on "Curriculum" again. That arrow will navigate to the content of the module: you will then see the different units and lessons for each module.

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Grenzenlos Deutsch - an open-access curriculum for beginning German

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This full-year curriculum is intended as a no-cost alternative to current, more traditional textbooks in the field. It mixes materials rooted in real-world, contemporary communication scenarios, multimedia content, and online learning activities.The Grenzenlos curriculum ensures that the topics of discussion in the language classroom are relevant to and reflect today's world.

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Every Thursday at 14:00 EST, there will be a synchronous conversation hour where you can communicate in real time with your instructor and your peers. Participation is optional but strongly encouraged.

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Welcome to GER 110 Introduction to German Communication. On this page you can find all the information you need to get started.

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He knows some German, too!

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This is an introductory course intended for learners with no previous knowledge of the German language. In this course, students will develop the necessary skills for learning German as a foreign language through investigative discovery and peer collaboration. This course is asynchronous, with the exception of an optional weekly conversation hour, during which learners can hone their German speaking skills.

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In this course, you will:

Set and work towards your own personal language learning goal

Discover and make sense of language structures together with your classmates

Develop communication skills through different media in German (conversation, email, telephone, instant messaging)

Speak lots and lots of German!

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What do you want to be able to do at the end of this course? How much time are you willing to spend learning and practicing each week? These things will vary from person to person, which is why this course is built around setting individual goals and working towards them. Your instructor will help you set a realistic goal when the course begins.

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Maybe you want to be able to order some Brötchen in German?

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You will spend some time listening, reading, and exploring chunks of language with your group. The purpose of discovery tasks is to get you in the habit of noticing the details of German.

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Your instructor will focus on a topic in a short (like, 5 minutes short) lecture. Topics range from food to family to vocab, grammar, and beyond! Following the lecture, you may be asked to answer a short question.

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If you want to improve your German, you have to practice! Practice tasks give you the chance to put your new skills to use and communicate with your classmates.

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Together in groups of 6-8 people, you will come up with a list of vocabulary each week. This, combined with lists from other groups, will make up the course vocabulary list, which will populate the weekly quizzes. The quizzes serve as a weekly reminder to learn vocabulary.

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Reflecting on our learning allows us to think about how what we've learned fits in with what we know. These tasks give you the chance to think about how you are progressing towards your own goal.

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At three points during the term, you will submit a longer assignment for which your instructor will provide you with detailed feedback. Assignments are always due in weeks with no new content.

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Unlike most other courses, you will not be graded on your weekly tasks and assignments. The reason for this is that you are here to learn a language, not become good test takers.

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If you don't complete the tasks and assignments, you will not learn how to communicate in German, which is what you're here to do.

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You will receive a final grade at the end of the course. Generally speaking, your final grade is based on your overall effort, improvement, and self-reflection. We will talk more about final grades as the course progresses. The most important thing: work towards your own German learning goal.

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At the end of the course, you will submit a portfolio, which is meant to illustrate what you've learned and what you found the most helpful for your learning. The portfolio can include the following components:

Any weekly tasks: any task that you found beneficial for your progress in learning German. You may also choose to include your and your group mates' response(s) to the task.

Content: any piece of content from the course including texts, videos, lectures, etc.

Written/spoken work: any work that you completed in the course that you are proud of, or which demonstrates your progress.

Extras: bits of content that were not part of the course that you used to progress your learning of German, such as TV shows/movies, blogs, websites, etc.

Teaching materials: have an idea for how a part of the course could be taught or practiced better? Include it in your portfolio.

For each portfolio item, please include a brief description of the item and why you chose to include it (in English or German).

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In this course, you will be interacting with others on a regular basis. There may be times when you are asked to provide feedback to your peers as you work on your weekly tasks. To ensure a positive learning experience for everybody, please be kind and treat others with respect. Hateful language, slurs, or prejudices of any kind will not be tolerated.

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Hi! My name is Erica Swyers and I'll be guiding you through GER 110 this term.

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Here are some key facts about me:

I'm from St. John's, NL

I looove coffee

I'm working towards my PhD in German linguistics

Teaching German is one of my favourite things to do!

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You got questions? I got answers! Feel free to email me whenever there is something I can clear up. Don't believe that I have mastered the art of explaining German via email? Try me.
eswyers@uwaterloo.ca

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I don't hold regular office hours, but will usually stick around for a few minutes after the weekly conversation hour if anyone has any questions. If you need to discuss something with me, shoot me an email and we can arrange a one-on-one meeting.

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A physical dictionary is not required for this course. If you prefer to work with one, that's perfectly fine. In week 1, we will talk about dictionaries and look at some online tools and how to use them appropriately.

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Academic integrity: In order to maintain a culture of academic integrity, members of the University of Waterloo community are expected to promote honesty, trust, fairness, respect and responsibility. [Check the Office of Academic Integrity for more information.]
Grievance: A student who believes that a decision affecting some aspect of their university life has been unfair or unreasonable may have grounds for initiating a grievance. Read Policy 70, Student Petitions and Grievances, Section 4. When in doubt, please be certain to contact the department’s administrative assistant who will provide further assistance.
Discipline: A student is expected to know what constitutes academic integrity to avoid committing an academic offence, and to take responsibility for his/her actions. [Check the Office of Academic Integrity for more information.] A student who is unsure whether an action constitutes an offence, or who needs help in learning how to avoid offences (e.g., plagiarism, cheating) or about “rules” for group work/collaboration should seek guidance from the course instructor, academic advisor, or the undergraduate associate dean. For information on categories of offences and types of penalties, students should refer to Policy 71, Student Discipline. For typical penalties, check Guidelines for the Assessment of Penalties.
Appeals: A decision made or penalty imposed under Policy 70, Student Petitions and Grievances (other than a petition) or Policy 71, Student Discipline may be appealed if there is a ground. A student who believes their has a ground for an appeal should refer to Policy 72, Student Appeals.
Note for students with disabilities: AccessAbility Services, located in Needles Hall, Room 1401, collaborates with all academic departments to arrange appropriate accommodations for students with disabilities without compromising the academic integrity of the curriculum. If you require academic accommodations to lessen the impact of your disability, please register with AccessAbility Services at the beginning of each academic term.

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Assignment and quiz deadlines are listed in the course calendar. Since assignments do not receive a numerical grade, no points will be deducted for late submissions. However, work submitted later than 1 week past the deadline may not be returned with feedback (or will be returned at the end of the term). Because of university deadlines, I ask that you submit your final portfolios on time. If you need more time, please let me know in advance.