GERMAN 101 is an introductory course for students who have not previously studied German. Learning a new language for the first time is exciting and fun, and the course curriculum and materials focus on engaging students' interest, creativity, and sense of humor. The course focuses systematically on the concurrent development of students' ability to understand spoken and written German, and to speak and write German themselves, and on exposing students to a broad range of aspects of German culture. While children may be good at picking up a second language when living in the culture, adults are much better at learning languages in the classroom than children, and the course aims to take advantage of this by helping students to develop effective language learning strategies, and by providing students with a wide range of tools and resources to help them to learn the language. These include:

• Online video lectures introducing new structures for each chapter, accompanied by online comprehension check exercises or worksheets.
• Online vocabulary practice materials, including a nifty online flashcard program, and online exercises or worksheets for each chapter.
• A "German Lab" in the Language Resource Center where students can practice their German or get help with homework or any questions they have, Monday - Thursday 2-5 (in the Fall and Winter academic terms only)
• Weekly German Tables in the North Quad and/or the MLB (in the Fall and Winter semesters only)
• A feature film (Run Lola Run) and a popular children's book (Oh, wie schön ist Panama) integrated into the curriculum. In addition, enrolled students have access to a wide range of other feature films via the course's CTools site, and in the Language Resource Center (including some popular English-language films dubbed in German, such as the original Star Wars trilogy, the first Monty Python movie, Shrek, and The Big Lebowski)
• Additional cultural readings in English supplementing the cultural information in the textbook. These range from systematic texts exploring the United States' German cultural heritage or the situation of women in Germany to quirky perspectives on everyday aspects of German culture such as "The German National Pastime: Whining, Bitching and Moaning," "The Germanic Stare Down: Watcha Lookin’ at, Granny?" or "Brutally Honest: Have You Gained Weight?"
• Detailed review sheets to help with preparation for tests
• All transparencies used in class are available to students via the CTools site for (p)review outside of class
• Cartoon transparencies and a compilation of "Videos zum Spaß" ["videos for fun"] providing informal reinforcement of concepts from class

By the end of the academic term, students will have a firm foundation in some of the fundamental elements of German grammar and will be able to understand and respond appropriately to a variety of texts and basic conversational situations.