Advanced German

Advanced German

Course Description

Advanced German: This course will suit people who have recently completed Level 8 or who can describe themselves as confident German speakers. They are able to function in a variety of environments and to read challenging pieces of writing but would like to improve their fluency and build on nuance and precision when expressing themselves.  

Course participants may be asked to give a voluntary presentation on a topic of their choice in front of the class. This is not compulsory. 

In Advanced German, we work at the B2 level of the CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages*).  

Note that the contents of this class change every term, so you can take it several times. 

Term duration: 10 x weekly 2-hour classes, Tuesday evenings, 6:15pm to 8:15pm

Communicative themes may include: 

• Focus throughout a 10-week Advanced German course may be on a particular German-speaking country – e.g. Switzerland 

• Current events, literature, culture, and geography of a German-speaking country 

• Feature film screening and film discussion 

 

• Key grammatical points may include: 

  • Revision and consolidation of grammar from previous levels 

  • Complex sentences and sentence connectors (including two-word connectors) 

  • Verbs with prepositions – e.g. sich kümmern um, keine Ahnung haben von 

  • Revision of conditional clauses – e.g. Wenn wir uns begegnen, dann unterhalten wir uns immer stundenlang. 

  • Past conditional – e.g. Wenn es gestern nicht geregnet hätte, wären wir spazieren gegangen.    

  • As if comparative sentences in the present tense – e.g. Wir singen so laut, als ob uns niemand hören könnte. 

  • Revision of relative clauses and the passive voice – e.g. Das Dorf, das neulich von einer Lawine verschüttet wurde, hieß Blatten. 

  • The passive voice and its alternatives - e.g. Das Buch wird gelesen. Das Buch lässt sich lesen. Das Buch ist lesbar. 

  • Reported speech 

  • The meaning of prefixes in separable and non-separable verbs  

  • Modal particles – e.g. Hast du ihn denn nicht angerufen?! 

  • Verbs, adjectives, and nouns with prepositions – e.g. sich beschäftigen mit, verrückt sein nach, Hunger haben auf 

  • Pluperfect – e.g. Nachdem er aufgestanden war, ist er in die Küche gegangen

CEFR levels indicated on our level descriptors are not a guarantee that you can take the associated German exam for this level. If you would like to take an external German exam, for instance the Goethe-Zertifikat B1 or B2 (there is an exam centre in London), please speak to your tutor to discuss what they think would be most appropriate. 

See https://uealanguageprogramme.org for more information