German: Beginners - Part 1



Overview

This 10-week course is for complete beginners in the language and those who have acquired some expressions informally through travel or socialising. It is pitched at level A1 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), and completion of the course will help you meet some of the level requirements. To help develop your fluency in the language, the course will focus primarily on speaking and listening skills, but will also include practice in reading and writing. You will have plenty of opportunities to practise the target language through hands-on collaborative class activities such as conversations and role-plays.

Programme details

Course starts: 3 Oct 2024

Our public programme is open access, and most adult language classes are mixed ability. The weekly course schedule below is intended to give an overview of the main topics likely to be covered in each session. Please note that these may sometimes change according to the tutor’s discretion to reflect the interests and needs of course participants.

Week 1: Greetings and farewells, alphabet, introducing yourself

Week 2: Forms of address, asking how someone is, introducing other people

Week 3: Leisure time activities, expressing likes and dislikes

Week 4: Countries, languages, numbers up to 20

Week 5: Shopping for food and drinks, numbers up to 100

Week 6: Ordering food and drinks, talking about eating habits

Week 7: Daily routines, days of the week, telling the time (24-hour clock)

Week 8: Accepting and declining invitations, telling the time (12-hour clock)

Week 9: Family and relationships, describing a person

Week 10: Expressing expectations, hopes and dreams

Key grammar points:

* Present tense verb conjugations 

* High frequency irregular verbs and stem vowel change verbs

* Modal verbs wollen, können, müssen

* Word Order 

* Nominative and Accusative cases 

Key functions:

*  Understanding, asking for and giving simple personal information

*  Talking about likes and dislikes (leisure activities, interests, means of transport)

*  Ordering in a café, at a restaurant

*  Accepting and declining invitations 

*  Talking about family and relationships 

 

Digital Certification

Digital badge

Upon successful completion of this course, you will be issued with an official digital badge from the Department for Continuing Education, University of Oxford. After the course, you will receive an email with a link and instructions on how to download your digital badge. You will be able to add your badge to your email signature and share it on social media if you choose to do so. In order to be issued with your badge, you will need to have attended at least 80% of the course.

Fees

Description Costs
Course Fee £275.00

Funding

If you are in receipt of a UK state benefit, you are a full-time student in the UK or a student on a low income, you may be eligible for a reduction of 50% of tuition fees. Please see the below link for full details:

Concessionary fees for short courses

Tutor

Ms Paula Eberlin

Paula is a Departmental Lecturer in German. She contributes to the Weekly Class and Intensive Weekend programmes as well as teaching German and French at the Oxford University Language Centre. She studied at Durham University and previously worked in the City of London before pursing an academic career. She joins us from Regent's University, London.

Course aims

To enable participants to communicate at a very basic level with speakers of the target language in a limited range of practical, real-life settings.

Course objectives:

  • To help students develop the language skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing for very basic routine communication in the target language.
  • To enable students to use a range of high frequency vocabulary and grammar structures for very basic routine interaction in the target language.
  • To equip students with an initial appreciation of the culture and civilisation of the country (or countries) in which the target language is spoken.

Teaching methods

You will learn through a communicative teaching approach with the emphasis on actively engaging in classroom activities in the target language. These are likely to include role-plays, pair- and small group-work, and conversational practice conducted in a supportive, friendly and informal learning environment.

The course has been structured to help you primarily to develop your speaking and listening skills and to gradually gain an insight into the culture and daily life of your target language. You will also learn and practise new grammatical structures in a communicative context and will be encouraged to develop your reading and writing skills in your own time.

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course, participants will be able to:

  • use very simple phrases and utterances to provide basic personal information, such as name, address, family members and nationality;
  • interact in a very simple way provided the other person talks slowly and clearly;
  • understand the gist of very short, simple written texts and audio/video excerpts containing the highest frequency vocabulary items and basic grammar structures;
  • produce simple phrases and very short texts using basic structures and vocabulary items.

Assessment methods

You will be set short, optional assignments to consolidate your learning and to allow you to progress at your own pace.

Application

Please use the 'Book' or 'Apply' button on this page. Alternatively, please complete an enrolment form (Word) or enrolment form (Pdf).

Level and demands

Find your language level

Terms & conditions for applicants and students

Information on financial support