NOTE: At the time of this posting, fall 2021 courses at FSU are scheduled for face-to-face teaching.
GER 1120 – Elementary German I, multiple sections
For more information, contact: Dr. A. Dana Weber
Email: aweber@fsu.edu
Introduction to German. Oral comprehension, speaking, reading, and writing are stressed.
May not be taken by native speakers. Students with more than two years of high school German or the equivalent should consult the department for placement. May not be taken concurrently with GER 1110, 1111, 1121, or 2220. Can be taken concurrently with GET 3130 and GET 3524.
GER 1121 – Elementary German II, multiple sections
For more information, contact: Dr. A. Dana Weber
Email: aweber@fsu.edu
Introduction to German. Oral comprehension, speaking, reading, and writing are stressed.
Prerequisite: GER 1110 or 1120. May not be taken by native speakers. May not be taken concurrently with GER 1110, 1111, or 2220. Can be taken concurrently with GET 3130 and GET 3524.
GER 2220 – Intermediate German, multiple sections
For more information, contact: Dr. A. Dana Weber
Email: aweber@fsu.edu
Serves as final semester of the language requirement and as the transition to upper-level study. Contemporary reading matter, including films, slides, and recordings, serves as the basis for discussion. Prerequisite: GER 1121. May not be taken by native speakers. May not be taken concurrently with GER 1110, 1120, and/or 1121. Can be taken concurrently with GET 3130 and GET 3524.
GER 3400: Composition and Conversation
Course Meetings: Tu/Th 3:05 – 4:20 pm
Classroom: DIF 112
Instructor: Prof. Birgit Maier-Katkin
E-mail: bmaierkatkin@fsu.edu
This course is designed for students who have completed GER 2220 or the equivalent. The objective is to bring the language skills from the intermediate level to the beginning advanced level. Students have an opportunity to develop their ability to write and converse in German at a beginning advanced level on topics of general interest. A student entering the advanced level can narrate and describe events in the present, future, and past (e.g., talk about past events, discuss plans, retell a story). In addition, students can express opinions (e.g., have an argument, participate in a discussion) as well as ask and answer questions and initiate, continue, and close a conversation. A student at the beginning advanced level can speak and write with enough grammatical accuracy that errors do not interfere with comprehension and do not contain mistakes made by beginners. This course is required for German majors, in addition if fulfills FSU´s “Oral Communication Competency Requirement.”
GER 3930 (Special Topics): “Germany and Its Intercultures”
Course Meetings: Tue/Thur 1:20-2:35 pm
Classroom: DIF 112
Instructor: Prof. Tatjana Soldat-Jaffe
Email: tsoldatjaffe@fsu.edu
This course will study literature that addresses and represents different cultures, social, religious, political, and ethnic groups in Germany, and how different identities communicate but also perceive the world around them. We will explore what we mean by a “German-speaking culture” these days considering that the idea of a German culture is not a homogenous entity but rather a concept in different segments of German-speaking populations. We will analyze how globalization influences ways of thinking, beliefs, values, and identity, within and between coexisting cultural pockets in current Germany.
Prerequisite: GER 2220
GET 3524 (German Cinema): “Nationalists, Socialists and Democrats: The Many Faces of Germany on Film”
Course Meetings: Mon, 4:50-7:10 and Wed, 4:50-5:50 pm
Classroom: WMS 320
Instructor: Dr. Christian Weber
E-mail: cweber@fsu.edu
Germany experienced no less than five major regime changes during the past twentieth century: from German Empire to Weimar Republic to NS-Regime to Germany divided in Socialist GDR and Capitalist FRG and eventually reunited in its present state called the Berlin Republic. As such, it has lived through the decisive struggles of the modern and postmodern age, in fact at the forefront: the rise of nationalism, war, women’s emancipation, social clashes, race issues, the ‘Nazis’ and the Holocaust, ideological conflicts between communism and capitalism, migration and immigration, etc.
Accordingly, German cinema underwent transformations as well. This course examines its fascinating history from the silent era to the present and showcases some of the world’s greatest directors.
This course meets the Liberal Studies for the 21st Century competencies in the area of Thoughtful Patrons of and Participants in Cultural Practices, and Diversity in Western Experience.
GEW 4591 (Studies in an Author or Theme) /GEW 5595 (Studies in a Theme): “Heroes and Tricksters”
Course Meetings: MoWe 6:35PM - 7:50PM pm
Classroom: DIF 216
Instructor: Prof. A. Dana Weber
E-mail: aweber@fsu.edu
Heroes and tricksters are the most predominant character models in western cultures, if not universally. The course introduces to examples of such classical figures from German culture, for example Hildebrand and Parzival, Eulenspiegel and Reineke Fuchs, and contemporary heroes and tricksters from literature and film. Theories from ethnology, folklore, and psychoanalysis will guide students in analyzing these models and their workings in current everyday life, cultural production, and ideology. As the class familiarizes itself with German and English texts and other materials in this course, students will also improve their German reading and oral comprehension, spoken and written proficiency through a variety of class activities and assignments.
Prerequisites: Two 3000-level courses or instructor permission. The course is taught in German.
GEW 5596 (Studies in an Author or Movement)/ GEW 4592 (Studies in a Period or Movement): “Postwar Collective Memories”
Course Meetings: Thursdays 4:50 – 7:50 pm
Classroom: DIF 0005
Instructor: Prof. Birgit Maier-Katkin
Email: bmaierkatkin@fsu.edu
The course explores responses in film and literature that treat the legacy of Nazi Crimes Against Humanity from a Postwar Germany perspective. Drawing on the perspectives of victims, perpetrators, bystanders, helpers, resisters, and members of the subsequent generations, the course investigates how cultural memory is created in the aftermath of these horrific events, how filmmakers, writers, and memorials reveal a multiplicity of voices and reflect on the indelible mark of the Nazi past in Germany. The primary aim of this course is to study the ways in which one represents, remembers, and comes to terms with traumatic historical events from the perspective of survivors as well as members of the second and preceding generations. We will examine the techniques by which one bears witness to it, and the extent to which this event challenges the foundational narratives of a discourse of remembrance. The course is taught in English.
GER 5940 – Teaching Practicum
For more information, contact:
Dr. A. Dana Weber
Email: aweber@fsu.edu