German 1

Course Overview

Please note that each weekly session will be two and a half hours in length and run from 6pm to 8.30pm (please disregard any other timings on this page).

Learn how to speak and understand German from beginner level and discover the diversity of cultures in the German-speaking world. You can take German 1 as a short course, or as part of the Certificate of Higher Education in Culture and Language (French, German, Italian, Korean, Japanese, Spanish) or a BA degree.

Our German 1 course is for complete beginners with no previous experience of German and leads to *CEFR A2 (Elementary)/GCSE level. You will learn foundational vocabulary and some basic grammatical structures, enabling you to:

• have everyday conversations
• read and write at a basic level.

You will also learn about the cultures of the German-speaking countries as you learn the language. Classes are interactive and taught by native or near-native speakers.

Assessment is via two pieces of coursework (10%), an in-class listening assessment (40%), in-class oral assessment (20%), in-class written assessment (20%), portfolio (5%) and class participation (5%).

We offer German language courses from beginner to advanced levels so you can continue your journey to a high level of competency.

Some classes can fill up quickly and you are encouraged to enrol as early as possible.

As a student on this course, you will study alongside Birkbeck students enrolled on one of our undergraduate or postgraduate courses, giving you the opportunity to network with a range of Birkbeck current students whilst you learn.

This short course runs with classes over three terms every year starting in October.

* Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. Please note: this is only an approximate equivalence.

This can be taken as a standalone short course or as part of:

• Culture and Language (French, German, Italian, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Chinese) (Certificate of Higher Education)

Credits: 30 credits at level 4