This course is an introduction to German and leads to communicative competency in German by building on the four primary skills--speaking, listening, reading, and writing--while developing participants' awareness of life and culture of German-speaking countries. Learning German and its structure will also enhance students' awareness of commonalities between the English and the German languages.
The GRST101-102-211 course sequence will help students appreciate that contemporary Germany is economically and politically the leading country in the European Union and has a dynamic multicultural society. Enter the world of poets and thinkers, from Goethe to Adorno, from Schiller's Sturm und Drang to German reggae and hip hop musician Peter Fox. Contemporary German theater is filled with bold productions, ranging from Sasha Waltz's dance theater to dramas by Andreas Kriegenburg, Thomas Ostermeier, and many other artists. In learning German Studies you can experience Oscar-winning films in their original language and at the same time learn much about Germans, their history and lifestyle, whether through Margarethe von Trotta's Rosenstrasse or Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's The Lives of Others and experience how multilayered and beautiful this language is, full of imagery and sensuousness. The German language opens vistas into a world of ideas that is as complex as it is elemental. It provides access to many fields, from philosophy to the natural sciences and many disciplines between them: history, musicology, art history, and environmental studies. Surprise yourself and open your own personal treasure chest of German riches. These three courses prepare students to study abroad in Regensburg, Germany, on the Wesleyan-Vanderbilt-Wheaton Program or for GRST214 here at Wesleyan. |