German Major with Adolescence Education

The purpose of the major program is to educate students to think and perceive rationally and critically. The student majoring in German learns about the world of ideas and cultural values through significant texts and how these intersect with the great issues in the world, past and present. This education includes reading and thinking; learning about literary and cultural movements; and making connections between the primarily aesthetic literary artifacts of the related cultures and their political, social, and economic histories. Students learn to interact through rational discourse and presentations, both written and oral.

Students are trained, first, to interact effectively in the German-speaking cultures through language. At all language course levels, students make use of the Emerson Foreign Language Laboratory to allow them to perfect their language skills. Students engage with literature, documents, and artifacts housed in the German Culture Center, as well as with the holdings of the library of the College. All students learn to value and evaluate information available in electronic form. Each student majoring in German studies abroad in the Berlin residential program for a minimum of one semester, in either the sophomore or junior year.

The program prepares students to think philosophically and practically by creating their own linkages between the German major and another major or minor. Students majoring in German may choose a second major in another academic discipline, or one or more minors, to complement their undergraduate education. German may also be combined with a program in education: inclusive or adolescence education.

German Core

German majors are required to take a minimum of ten Upper Division Courses. (Note: Some of these courses may be taken abroad).

Two Upper Division Language Courses (200 level) credits: 6
Two Upper Division Culture Courses (200 level): credits: 6
Six Upper Division German Courses (300 - 400 levels) credits: 18

These include:

GER 221 - Conversation and Composition I Credits: 3
GER 222 - Conversation and Composition II Credits: 3
GER 203 - The German Cultural World I Credits: 3
GER 204 - The German Cultural World II Credits: 3
GER 302 - Metropolis and Modernity: Berlin and Vienna in the 20th Century Credits: 3
GER 303 - Germania: Nation, Volk, and Myth in 19th Century Germany Credits: 3
GER 305 - Enlightenment and Classicism Credits: 3
GER 307 - Commercial German I Credits: 3
GER 308 - Commercial German II Credits: 3
GER 310 - Special Topics in German Studies Credits: 3
GER 312 - Advanced Grammar and Stylistics Credits: 3
GER 485 - Independent Study Credits: 3
GER 486 - Independent Study Credits: 3
GER 499 - German Comprehensive Examination Credits: 0

Berlin Residential Program

The major core includes courses taken at the Berlin Residential Program:

German Language/Culture (200 or 300 Level) Credits: 3
Theatre, Film and Cabaret in Berlin Credits: 3

GER 483 - German Internship Credits: 3

German Study Abroad Program

Students majoring in German regularly study for a fall semester (sophomore or junior year) at Studienforum Berlin, the Berlin Residential Program sponsored by Nazareth College. Additionally, students may supplement the study abroad requirement at a summer language institute for one or two months (i.e., Goethe Institut, etc.). The Berlin residential program is also open to Nazareth and non-Nazareth students on a competitive basis. Courses are taught in English, and students enroll in a German language course at their appropriate level of instruction. Additionally, students complete a professional internship – in English or German - for 3 credits in the major, with a corporation, international or governmental association, law firm, museum, public school or other institution. Three additional courses satisfying Nazareth’s core requirements are offered. Course credit in these is available in Economics, Political Science, Literature, Theater Arts, History, or Sociology. Co-curricular activities are available to the students, such as course weekend trips out of town, field trips, theater visits and tours of government and cultural headquarters.

Required Courses for Adolescence Education

See Education: Initial Teacher Certification in Adolescence Education for course requirements.

German Senior Experience

The Senior Experience for the German major culminates in specially directed advanced level work in two courses in German taken in the senior year. The first course will be in literature and culture (300 – 400 level), and the second will be GER 312 (Advanced Grammar and Stylistics). Here students will further develop their scholarly and critical thinking in preparation for the German Comprehensive Exam.

The German Comprehensive Exam (written and oral), provides students with the threefold opportunity:

To ascertain that seniors have adequately mastered the German language;
To help seniors synthesize the subject matter of the four-year learning experience;
To demonstrate a practical working knowledge of German literature and culture.