German Level 8

German Level 8

Course Description

Level 8 Classes: 

This level will suit people who have recently completed Level 7, or who can understand the main points of oral/written standard German on a variety of familiar topics, including situations likely to arise when travelling abroad. By expanding the vocabulary, and by consolidating and advancing the knowledge of grammar, participants will improve fluency and overall conversational skills whilst also honing reading and writing abilities.  Participants may give a voluntary presentation on a topic of their choice in front of the class. This is not compulsory. 

Level 8 is at the upper end of the B1 level of the Common European Framework of Reference for Modern Languages (CEFR) with some B2 level grammar points.  

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

Key Language

Communicative themes may include: 

• Global current events   

• Literature, culture and geography from some German-speaking countries 

• Colloquial expressions with animals – e.g. Da kräht kein Hahn hinterher.   

• Verbalising statistics – e.g. Aus der Statistik geht hervor, dass Barzahlungen in Deutschland zurückgegangen sind.  

• Denglish – e.g. Sie hat gescrollt. 

• Social media 

• Expressing intentions and making assumptions 

• Sequencing facts  

• Feature film screening and film discussion 

Key grammatical points covered include: 

• Revision of adjectives in Positive, Comparative and Superlative – e.g. beschäftigt, beschäftigter, am beschäftigsten 

• Revision of adjectival declension 

• Adjectival use of present and past participles – e.g. ein fliegender Fisch; der gebuchte Flug 

• Modal particles – e.g. Das kann doch nicht wahr sein! Hilfst du mir mal, bitte? 

• Selection of verbs with prefixes and their meanings – e.g. anschließen, aufschließen, abschließen, verschließen 

• Complex sentences and sentence connectors 

• Two-word connectors – e.g. Nicht nur hat der Blumenladen eine große Auswahl an Blumensträußen, sondern er bietet Käufern auch günstige Angebote.   

• Revision of the passive voice in different tenses – e.g. Mein Auto wird / wurde repariert. 

• Revision of indirect speech: useful phrases, Konjunktiv I and Konjunktiv II - e.g. Es wird gesagt, die Flüge seien gestrichen worden, weil Pilot:innen streiken würden.

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 (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