PROF:
Dr. Nikolai Penner
He's a really outgoing, understanding guy. Really flexible if you have any tests that you need to reschedule because of a midterm/club activity etc. If you have any questions then I would really recommend going to his office hours since his one-on-one sessions are really helpful in understanding the concepts.
LECTURES/TEXT:
DO NOT SKIP. This is where you'll learn all the concepts, you do not want to miss these! They are very interactive and the prof really helps you visualize how the grammar structure works (for example when we were learning about clothing, the prof would put his jacket on and say "Ich ziehe die Jacke an" (I put the jacket on) and ask everyone else to do it). Sometimes we play matching games to help with some content - they're really fun.
You're very much thrown into the language at first but once you get used to it, it becomes very nice and easy. The lectures have quite a bit of participation.
The textbook (Berliner Platz) is divided into short chapters with a 2-page synopsis of the chapter at the end. In the class we go through the content of the book and some extra language lessons in class. Usually it's about 2-3 lectures covering the chapter and then a quiz the next lecture - following up with a head start on the next chapter.
WORK LOAD/TESTS:
For first semester:
Chapter Quizzes (8 quizzes x 2.5% each) 20%
Journal Entries (8 x 2.5% each) 20%
Participation 10%
Independent work 20%
Midterm 10%
Exam 20%
Chapter quizzes you'll do well on as long as you participate in class and do the homework (not mandatory) that he assigns. It doesn't take much time
You have to work fast with these as you get 15 minutes or so for each quiz.
Journal entries are little assignments that you have a week to do with some grammar requirement based on the chapter. Best not to leave these last minute.
Participation marks is just so that you come to the lecture. Really easy 10%, and you're allowed to miss 3 lectures in the year without a penalty - leave these for just in case!
Independent work - you have two options with this one. You can do the 'Tell Me More' program or you can buy the workbook (also Berliner Platz) and do audio exercises with it. I heard people had some problems with Tell Me More and said they didn't really learn much from it - people ended up preferring the workbooks more. I did the workbook. These take quite a while to do, and if you don't want to do the homework then do some of the workbook. The audio exercises you can usually leave to last minute, but the workbook takes a really long time - I recommend doing a little bit at the end of each class. They really help with learning the material!
Midterm and Exam are a little challenging - the second semester ones are a lot more difficult than the first semester, so watch out.
Workload - it's really not that much. About 30 mins each day and you'll be good.
OVERALL:
I really loved this course - the prof gave a really nice environment in the classroom and when I did my work I was doing it because I wanted to - not because I had to. If you're a kinesthetic learner then this is the course for you. There's not much memorization (you have to know the gender of some words and some verb conjugations by memory) but as long as you participate then it will be fine.
The course is very consistent and unfortunately if something comes up and you have to miss a lecture, it's a bit hard to learn things by yourself. The office hours really help.
It's perfect for a beginner!
Disclaimer:
I have taken 4 years of French and I speak Russian at home so languages are a bit more familiar to me - BUT I have never spoken a single word of German nor knew anything of the German culture before taking this course.
