GERMAN 503: CONTEMPORARY LIT
Prof. Dr. Martina Wagner-Egelhaaf
MW 3:30-6:20, DEN 313
5 credits, sln: 14133

Seminar: Uwe Johnson, Jahrestage (1970-1983)

Das Seminar möchte Sie zu einem Leseabenteuer einladen, das uns das Amerika der Jahre 1967/68 vermittelt über die Erinnerungen einer in New York lebenden jungen Frau mit Tochter an ihre Kindheit und Jugend in Mecklenburg und darüber hinaus über rund fünfzig Jahre deutscher Geschichte präsentiert. Umgekehrt perspektiviert die amerikanische Geschichte der Zeit zwischen dem 21. August 1967 und dem 20. August 1968 die deutsche Vergangenheit von der Weimarer Republik über die Zeit der nationalsozialistischen Diktatur, die Nachkriegszeit mit der Gründung der Bundesrepublik und der DDR bis zu den politisch bewegten 60er-Jahren. Über die Lektüre der Jahrestage werden Sie Freunde für’s Leben gewinnen: Gesine Cresspahl und ihre Tochter Marie, Jakob, Frau Abs, D.E., die rote Anita, Heinrich Cresspahl und viele andere mehr…  Die Sache hat allerdings auch einen Haken: der Roman umfasst knapp 2000 Seiten – aber, keine Sorge, wir werden entsprechende Lektürestrategien entwickeln. Und Sie werden sehen, es lohnt sich! Themenschwerpunkte des Seminars werden sein: das Verhältnis von Literatur und Politik, Geschichte und Geschichten, Erinnerung und Gedächtnis, Intertextualität, Topografien, Individuum und Moral. Außerdem werden wir die Verfilmung des Romans von Margarethe von Trotta aus dem Jahr 2000 gemeinsam anschauen und besprechen.

 

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GERMAN 518: LANGUAGE TEACHING METHODS
Klaus Brandl
T 3:30-5:20, DEN 316
2 credits, sln: 14134

The purpose of this course is to introduce you to core issues involved in teaching modern foreign languages and to guide you along your first quarter of teaching at the University of Washington.
This course has been designed to provide you with the theoretical background of most recent trends in foreign language teaching methodologies. The theoretical foundation will be applied to the teaching of the four skills such as speaking, listening, reading and writing and the teaching of culture to help you develop a repertoire of teaching techniques and strategies in any of these areas. This will further allow you to develop your own philosophy of foreign language teaching, matching your own teaching style with the needs of a diverse student body. By and large, this course takes a combination of a pragmatic and theoretical approach to training you as a foreign language teacher.

More specifically you will learn:

Ø how to reflect about yourself as a learner and a teacher

Ø about theoretical issues underlying communicative and task-based language teaching

Ø how to identify and analyze well designed language learning activities that engage the learners in communicative language learning tasks

Ø how to develop detailed lesson plans

Ø how to teach communicative languages skills (e.g., speaking, reading, listening, and writing)

Ø how to design pedagogical tasks that test speaking, listening, writing, reading, vocabulary and grammatical skills

Ø how to apply appropriate language teaching terminology during class discussions

 

 

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GERMAN 560: MODERN DIALECTS
Charles Barrack
MW 1:30-3:20, DEN 311
5 credits, sln: 14135

This course deals with the basic phonology, morphology and syntax of five contemporary West Germanic languages and dialects. We study one southern, one central and one northern German dialect. Then the basic structure of Yiddish and Dutch are considered. Short reading selections from each of these speech communities are exegeted.

 

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GERMAN 576: MTH & MAT TCH GERMAN
Klaus Brandl
Th 1:30-3:20, DEN 311
3 credits, sln: 14137

This course deals with the historical development and present trends in the methods of teaching modern foreign languages. Various methodological concepts and their practical application in the classroom are discussed. Foreign language curricula and teaching materials are evaluated. (Taken in conjunction with German 518) Credit/No Credit only.

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GERMAN 580: SMNR IN GERMAN LIT /C LIT 502
Diana Behler
Th 3:30-6:20, DEN 312
5 credits, sln: 14138

German Literature and Philosophy
Nietzsche, Freud, Schnitzler and Thomas Mann
               
Critics have often linked the reflections of Friedrich Nietzsche and Sigmund Freud to two major authors of the early 20th century, the Austrian physician/writer Arthur Schnitzler, and the Nobel-prize winning German author Thomas Mann. This seminar will focus on key writings of Nietzsche and Freud that constitute philosophical and psychological turning points or transgressions that mark the modern age.  We will then read relevant fiction texts by Schnitzler and Mann to discover in which ways they mirror some of these theoretical insights, but also how they diverge and surpass them in their narrative and dramatic formations. Nietzsche's Birth of Tragedy and the Genealogy of Morals, along with excerpts from other writings, will focus on Nietzsche's cultural critiques, his views on art and morals, and the crisis in language and culture in dealing with modernity.  Freud's ideas about the unconscious, dreams, and sexuality that deal with the individual complement Nietzsche's sweeping typological assessments and provide insights into the complexities of modern human relationships reflected in the imaginative stories.   We will also pay attention to various critical receptions of these authors' ideas and their relationship to earlier 19th century thought, especially those of the romantic period (language skepticism, values, and historical change).  Attention will also be paid to George Bernard Shaw’s, Man and Superman and Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House.  
Texts include The Portable Nietzsche, The Birth of Tragedy, The Genealogy of Morals, The Freud Reader, Schnitzler's Dream Story, La  Ronde,  and Anatol, Mann's Death in Venice, Shaw’s Man and Superman, and Ibsen’s  A Doll’s House, and various essays.   

While all students should be prepared to discuss the texts scheduled for each seminar meeting, they should focus on one topic for a research paper to be submitted at the end of the quarter.  Discussions will take place in English (readings may be in English or German).

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