GERMAN - GCSE

EXAM BOARD                                                 AQA 

TEACHER I/C  OF SUBJECT                              Mrs J Davies

METHOD OF ASSESSMENT                           Listening Examination - 20%

                                                                        Reading Examination - 20%

                                                                        Speaking Controlled Assessment - 30%

                                                                        Writing Controlled Assessment - 30%

COURSE DESCRIPTION

The course covers four main topic areas, engaging and relevant to young people.  Assessment is weighted towards speaking and writing, with two less stressful speaking assessments instead of one final speaking examination.  The four main topic areas are:

Lifestyle:

Health - healthy and unhealthy lifestyles and their consequences.

Relationships and Choices - relationships with family and friends; future plans regarding: marriage/partnership; social issues and equality.

Leisure:

Free time and The Media - free time and activities; shopping, money, fashion and trends, advantages and disadvantages of new technology.

Holidays - plans, preferences, experiences; what to see and getting around.

Home and Environment:

Home and Local Area - special occasions celebrated in the home; home town, neighbourhood and region, where it is and what it is like.

Environment - current problems facing the planet; being environmentally friendly.

Work and Education:

School/College and Future Plans - what school is like; pressures and problems.

Current and Future Jobs - looking for and getting a job; advantages and disadvantages of different jobs.

RANGE OF ACTIVITIES

The course will consist of a range of activities, designed specifically to focus on and develop the four skill areas of language learning: Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing, preparing the candidate with the necessary skills and knowledge to complete the required assessments.  Approaches to teaching and learning are varied, and will include individual and group work, role play, use of ICT and pupil presentations.

METHODS OF ASSESSMENT

There are two methods of assessment for the GCSE course.  Formal examinations at the end of the two year course will test the skill areas of listening and reading and controlled assessments throughout the course test the skill areas of writing and speaking.  The writing assessment consists of two pieces of coursework and the speaking assessment consists of two speaking exams both in the form of a previously prepared dialogue.

WHY SHOULD I CHOOSE GERMAN?

If you continue with a Modern Foreign Language your choices go way beyond specialist occupations, like interpreting, translation and language teaching. There are many opportunities in hundreds of industries for people with language skills at all levels.

Here are just a few of them, where having a knowledge of another language could be an advantage: Business Services, Central Government, Engineering, Event Management, Financial Services, Marketing, Media, Public Services, Travel and Tourism, Voluntary Organisations.

When you learn a language you also learn how other people live and find out about the world through their eyes.

German is the language with the most native speakers in the European Union. It is spoken primarily in Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, the major part of Switzerland, Luxembourg, the S�dtirol (South Tyrol) region of Italy, the East Cantons of Belgium, parts of Romania, Alsace (Elsass) and part of the Lorraine region of France. Additionally, several former colonial possessions of these countries, such as Namibia, have sizable German-speaking populations, and there are German-speaking minorities in several eastern European countries, including Russia, Hungary and Slovenia.