Durham Public Schools Curriculum Supplement and Pacing Guide for German Language Instruction - Level 2
Spring, 1999

by Nabeel S. Kandah, German Teacher, Southern Durham High School

The following curriculum supplement is designed to be used in concert with the North Carolina Standard Course of Study for Second Language Studies. That document encompasses all the second languages taught in North Carolina public schools (except for Latin, which has its own Standard Course of Study), whereas this supplement describes discrete grammatical and communicative functions which should be covered in a high-school German Level 2 course.

There are two components to the supplement: Communicative Topics and Communicative Structures. The premise is that if we give students the opportunity to use foreign language input in natural communicative spheres, their levels of motivation to learn the language will rise. By coupling this communicative approach with concise structural lessons on the German language itself, the teacher can begin to immerse the student in a modern foreign language without sacrificing accuracy and fluency in the language and without succumbing to a didactic audio-lingual methodology that is at odds with current research on how people learn languages.

Computer technology continues to make in-roads into foreign language instruction. The World Wide Web grows daily, and more and more educators are finding innovative ways to integrate computer technology into day-to-day instructional practice. The author of this curriculum supplement, for example, has begun an Online Exchange with a partner school in Germany. Students write homepages, post them on the WWW and invite fellow students from around the world to visit the pages to comment on what they have read. It is one of several interesting approaches to utilizing technology, both for its own sake and as a way to motivate students to express themselves in unique and original ways. Computer technology is not a major component per se of the North Carolina Standard Course of Study. Its successful inclusion into any curriculum depends entirely on the skill level and the creativity of the teacher. Computers are yet another tool that teachers can utilize to implement and enhance an already established curriculum.

German Curriculum Supplement for Durham Public Schools

Objective 1

Goals

Objectives should be realized by Monday, February 8, 1999

I. Communicative Topics

  1. Discussing travel plans.
  2. Describing airport facilities.
  3. Naming pieces of luggage.
  4. Describing means of transportation.

II. Communicative Structures

  1. Reflexive verbs and pronouns.
  2. Review of present perfect tense.
  3. Word order of dative and accusative case objects.
  4. Review of pronouns.

Objective 2

Goals

 Learning Scenarios
Under development throughout the semester
I. Culture
The following areas should be covered, either in discrete units during the semester,
or integrated with the communicative topics described in each objective.
  1. Proverbs
  2. Songs
  3. Poems
  4. Historical survey of Germany and Europe.

Objective 3

Goals

I. Communicative Topics

  1. Talking about various postal items.
  2. Describing postal services.
  3. Ordering and paying for mail services.
  4. Writing a letter.

II. Communicative Structures

  1. Simple past tense forms - narrative past tense - regular and irregular verbs.
  2. Simple past tense forms of modal auxiliary verbs.
  3. Infinitives used as nouns.

Objective 4

Goals

I. Communicative Topics

  1. Talking about vacation plans.
  2. Naming countries, languages and people.
  3. Describing professions.
  4. Preparing for a picnic.
  5. Describing a soccer game.

II. Communicative Structures

  1. Genitive case.
  2. Additional "der" words.

Objective 5

Goals

I. Communicative Topics

  1. Talking about foods.
  2. Describing how to bake.
  3. Talking about various meals.
  4. Describing rooms and furniture in a house.
  5. Ordering baked goods in a bakery.

II. Communicative Structures

  1. Demonstrative pronouns.
  2. gern/lieber.
  3. question words.

Objective 6

Goals

I. Communicative Topics

  1. Describing grocery shopping.
  2. Requesting and paying for various grocery items.
  3. Describing a department store and an outdoor market.
  4. Preparing a shopping list.

II. Communicative Structures

  1. Adjectives after der-words.
  2. Adjectives used as nouns.

Objective 7

Goals

I. Communicative Topics

  1. Requesting to exchange currency.
  2. Describing a table setting.
  3. Discussing a menu.
  4. Describing an eating establishment.
  5. Ordering a meal.
  6. Converting metric measurements.

II. Communicative Structures

  1. Adjectives after ein-words.
  2. Adjectives not preceded by articles.
  3. Adjectives after nichts, etwas, and viel.
  4. Adjectives following quantity words.

Objective 8

Goals

I. Communicative Topics

  1. Describing how to take a streetcar.
  2. Describing holidays and festivals.
  3. Describing youth hostels.
  4. Holiday greetings.

II. Communicative Structures

  1. Prepositions with dative or accusative case.
  2. da/dahin.
  3. Da and wo compounds.

Objective 9

Goals

I. Communicative Topics

  1. Talking about taking a boat ride.
  2. Identifying animals.
  3. Describing a zoo.
  4. Discussing leisure-time activities.

II. Communicative Structures

  1. Past perfect tense.
  2. Conjunctions.

Objective 10

Goals

I. Communicative Topics

  1. Describing an accident.
  2. Talking about ailments.
  3. Naming some medical items.

II. Communicative Structures

  1. Relative pronouns
  2. Verbs with prepositions.
  3. Verbs with dative case.

Objective 11

Goals

I. Communicative Topics

  1. Naming parts of a car.
  2. Talking about purchasing a vehicle.
  3. Describing traffic signs.
  4. Talking about driver's training.

II. Communicative Structures

  1. Subjunctive mood in indirect discourse, expressions of politeness and wishes.
  2. Contrary-to-Fact conditions using the Subjunctive.