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Deutsch für das Ingenieurwesen--Lehrerseite

Textbook Information
Online Resources Videos and Accompanying Materials

 

Course and Materials Overview

This page is a compilation of downloadable and online resources that may be useful for instructors wishing to teach a course on Engineering German at roughly the third year college level. German for Engineering I & II include:

  • Readings from Wie funktioniert das? Technik heute, with accompanying vocabulary lists. The textbook is occasionally supplemented by current magazine or online articles on topics such as recent trade fairs, emerging technologies, or automobile comparison tests. Students write a short, informal response journal on each text they read.
  • Field trips and/or guest lectures (varying from term to term), such as visits to an automotive lab or a robotics lab on campus, or to nearby manufacturing plants with German connections such as Liebherr or DaimlerChrysler.
  • Miscellaneous videos on engineering topics, which constitute the listening comprehension component of the course
  • Two group presentations on topics students choose, such as rotary engines, "Bagger," the International Space Station, concepts for energy-efficient houses, submarines, etc.
  • One class session devoted to taking things apart and then putting them back together. This requires a box of cheap tools (a selection of screwdrivers, allen wrenches, pliers, etc.), and some cheap electronic items from a goodwill store, such as hard drives, smoke detectors, clock radios, mixers, cameras, VCRs, etc.
  • Grammar review using the "Interactive Grammar Tutor"
  • 4 longer writing assignments on topics students choose
  • Regular quizzes, but no exams

Only resources used specifically for this course are listed on this page; resources used more generally in our courses such as the "Interactive Grammar Tutor," the "German on the Web" link list, information on learning strategies etc., are available on the general resource page.

Please use the "Contact/Feedback" link in the sidebar for questions and comments, or to inquire about incorporating any materials from this site in materials for commercial use.

Feel free to download, use and edit the materials on this page to suit your needs. Please use the "Contact/Feedback" link in the sidebar if you have trouble downloading something, or if something you'd like to download isn't here.

Textbook Information

The textbook is the 5th edition of Wie funktioniert das? Technik, published in 2003 by Meyers Lexikonverlag (ISBN: 3-411-08855-9). Each article consists of one page of text supplemented by one page of illustrations. The book is concise, clear, and up-to-date, covers a wide range of topics, and works well for students at this level.

In addition to the vocabulary lists accompanying each text (see "Online Resources" below), the following worksheets (listed according to the title of the article they refer to) are available to supplement specific texts from the book. These are intended for students to work on in class in pairs or groups:

  • Auto (Übersicht) pp. 100-1
    • For this I've made a set of index cards with multiple choice questions and answers on the back; unfortunately these don't exist in electronic form.
  • Ottomotor pp. 102-3
  • Dieselmotor pp. 104-5, Wankelmotor (Kreiskolbenmotor) pp. 106-7, Aufladung (Turbomotor) pp. 108-9
    • For this, I split the class into three groups. Each group reads one text, discusses it within the group, then summarizes the important points for the rest of the class.
    • In addition, each group of students selects a short list of "test vocabulary" for their article from this long list of vocabulary suggestions.The most recent resulting list is online under "Vocabulary" on the German 325 course home page.
  • Getriebe I & II pp. 116-9
  • Brennstoffzellenantrieb pp. 136-7
  • Elektroauto pp. 132-3
  • Hybridantrieb pp. 134-5
  • Werkstoffliches Kunststoffrecycling pp. 288-9
  • Rohstoffliches Kunststoffrecycling pp. 290-1
  • Kunststoffe pp. 294-5
    • [Worksheet forthcoming]

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Online Resources

Course Homepages

The course homepages include access to

  • Extensive vocabulary lists for each assigned text
  • A complete homework schedule for each course, including supplementary links, essay assignments etc.
  • Useful related links, such as the LEO online dictionary (in the sidebar), the website of the Deutsches Museum München and the German-language version of a wonderful Danish website on wind power

Homepages of Related Courses

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Videos and Accompanying Materials

Intermedia

A variety of excellent engineering-related videos is available for educational purposes for just the cost of shipping from Intermedia. A full catalog of available titles, including short descriptions and some previews, is available on Intermedia's website.

We have successfully used the titles listed below. Please note that the outlines available for download below were made hurriedly while previewing these videos and thus contain gaps, typos, etc., but may be useful supplements to the descriptions available online, and a useful starting point for anyone wishing to create a more thorough outline or a worksheet on one of these videos.

  • Brennstoffzellentechnologie - Energie für die Mobilität von morgen (by Adam Opel AG)
    • This is a very short video (5 minutes) with some helpful diagrams that can serve as both an introduction to or a follow-up for a text on fuel cells.
  • Kraft aus vier Takten (by Adam Opel AG, 1981)
    • This video is old, but students will appreciate the close-up shots of an old carburettor engine, and the speaker's very clear explanations and enunciation
    • Detailed outline/partial transcript
    • Handout It would be counterproductive to make students fill in all the blanks in this long handout, since the task would be too long, and it would keep students from being able to actually see much of the video, swince thy would always be writing. What worked well for us was to have students spend 15-25 minutes at the end of one class trying to fill in the blanks corresponding to the first part of the video, with occasional breaks for them to compare their results in groups, and then the next day to show the entire video again, letting students use the handout to help them follow the video, but no longer requiring them to fill in any of the blanks.
  • Das Opel-Produktionssystem (by Adam Opel AG)
  • So testet Opel - Das Testzentrum in Dudenhofen (by Adam Opel AG)
  • Sonne im Tank/Kein Benzin im Tank (by BMW AG)
  • Erdöl und Erdgas aus deutschen Quellen (by Wirtschaftsverband Erdöl- und Erdgasgewinnung e.V.)
  • Weltrekordprojekt Söhlingen Z-10 Erschließt Deutsches Erdgas (by Mobil Erdgas Erdöl GmbH)
  • All Around You (by Clariant AG)
  • Kunststoff - Entscheidung für die Zukunft (by Verband Kunststofferzeugende Industrie e.V.)
  • Verantwortung Zukunft - Wege des Kunststoffrecyclings (by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Kunststoff-Recycling Mbh (DKR))
  • Verpackungsrecycling (by Duales System Deutschland AG)

Other Sources

Other Resources

  • Kennen lernen A transparency with some entertaining questions for the first day of class.

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