The Berlin Republic

Aims

Aims

This course aims to increase students' awareness of some key aspects of German society and culture with a focus on historical events and how they shaped German politics and society as it is today. Students will investigate the problems and opportunities facing German society, politics and social policy and how regional varieties, federalism and centralism are causing a constant struggle in the creation of a German national identity.

At the end of the module students should have a good understanding of how the Berlin Republic came to be. Seminars will work on an overview of the historical background and the Berlin Republic’s institutions and political system in the present day.

After satisfactorily completing the module you should be able to show:

• An insight into certain aspects of the history and politics of Germany
• The ability to research a topic independently and present findings at an appropriate level in the seminar and/or in a written format
• The ability to understand authentic materials including videos and audio texts and discuss them critically using cultural knowledge for reference

Prerequisites

Prerequisites

Students must have successfully completed:

• First Year German modules (from either Ab-initio route or A-level route)

Programme

Programme

Contact hours

The module lasts for three terms, two contact hours per week per term in terms 1 and 2 and 2 x 1 hour seminars in term 3. Some time will also be devoted to self-study in the eLab, online or in the library/at home.

You will be expected to complete and submit exercises and other written assignments regularly and to present some of this work in seminars. In addition, reading and other preparation for the seminars will be required.

Teaching programme

There will be weekly seminars which will deal with social, cultural and political issues relating to the German speaking world and practical issues used for year abroad preparation. You will use audio-visual resources, online materials and a number of texts in order to research the topics discussed in class. There will be one prepared oral presentation per year/per student and some topics will be developed in group work and then presented in the seminar.

The teaching will be in small groups and will be conducted in German.

Teaching materials

Students must be in possession of a monolingual German dictionary.

A dossier of texts and materials will be provided by the tutor. Videos and audio passages will be provided or they will be available online/in the eLab.

Assessment and feedback

Assessment and feedback

Feedback on formative work

• Written Formative work:
  • Written comments on the work, and mark on University mark scale
  • Oral/written feedback in class, discussing major issues and mistakes/content/structure
  • Individual feedback during office hours and in progress/feedback meetings
• Oral Formative work:
  • Feedback on oral presentations and class discussions
  • Direct oral feedback in class discussions
  • Written Feedback form for oral presentations with mark on university marking scale, comments on different aspects of the presentation, i.e. content, argumentation, logic, register etc.
  • Individual feedback during office hours and in progress/feedback meetings

Written feedback will usually be given within 1 week to 10 days.

Assessment and feedback

• Open examination
  • Duration: 2 weeks, collected in Week 5 and submitted by noon on Thursday of Week 7 in Spring term
  • Weight: 30%
  • Feedback: written feedback within 3 weeks.
• Closed examination, Summer term, Weeks 5-7
  • Weight: 70%
  • Feedback: written feedback form with a mark on the university marking scale, confirmed by the second marker, and written comments on different aspects of the work, i.e. structure, content, logic and argumentation, grammatical accuracy, examples of typical mistakes (language).