German
Willkommen! German is the global language most often recommended or required for a variety of majors at many American and Canadian colleges.
These majors include, for example, history, music, international studies, art history, anthropology, philosophy, economics, political science and sociology.
German is a key business language in the European Union and in the rapidly growing markets of Central and Eastern Europe. Twenty million people in the world are currently learning German as a foreign language. Germany is Michigan's largest trade partner in Europe.
German courses are committed to the following broad goals for its students:
- Increasing knowledge and understanding of historical, cultural, and societal models within the German-speaking world
- Increasing knowledge and understanding of historical, cultural, and societal models
- Increasing knowledge of the diversity of the German-speaking world
- Developing cultural literary and cross-cultural awareness
- Developing the ability to use the German language effectively and meaningfully in a range of personal and professional contexts
- Developing interpretive and critical thinking skills
- Advancing students from the level of Novice speaker to Intermediate High/Advanced Low speaker (ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines)
- Promoting life-long engagement with other cultures.
To meet these goals, the German faculty:
- Engages in proficiency-oriented, interactive teaching which fosters students’ ability to use German within real-world contexts
- Develops courses around engaging topics that highlight the connections between language, content, and context
- Has designed learner-centered, collaborative projects
- Encourages students in courses from the beginning to advanced level to:
- To expand vocabulary and grammar to adapt to various communicative and interpretive contexts
- To make comparisons between their home culture and the pendant in a German-speaking context.
The concentration in International Studies - German combines an advanced curriculum in German language and culture with structured training in a professional field. The professional fields include Art Administration, Business and Management, Communications, Computer and Information Sciences, Economics, Engineering, Environmental Studies, Natural Sciences, or Political Science. A third component, Support Studies, offers cognate courses which reinforce the international context and enable students to integrate the two primary components.
Program Faculty
The German faculty members are committed to an interactive, learner-centered approach to learning and we have designed the curriculum of German Language Program to advance students’ functional language abilities and knowledge of cultures in the German-speaking world. German courses, from the first-year through the third-year, are committed to developing students’ communicative language skills and cultural awareness through a variety of written, aural, visual, and tactile texts, including literature, art, architecture, music, news, film, video, and internet.
Study Abroad and Internships
Students are encouraged to strengthen their knowledge of German language and culture by participating in any approved study abroad program in Germany or Austria. They are also encouraged to complement their coursework by completing an internship in an appropriate government or business placement.
In addition, students are encouraged to take advantage of co-curricular area events at UM-Dearborn as well as area events focusing on culture in the German-speaking world.