• First Year German I and II (01:470:107:03 and 01:470:108:03)

  Introduction to German language and culture. Four-skills (understanding, speaking, reading, writing) and communicative approach to the language of everyday life in German-speaking countries, the language of their histories and societies, their arts and letters.

• Intermediate German I and II (01:470:135:03 and 01:470:136:03)

Each of these courses builds language proficiency through a topic-oriented syllabus focusing on contemporary German-speaking cultures and societies (family, leisure, work, education, environment, current events)t. Provides a thorough review of German grammar. Authentic texts from a variety of media will provide the basis for discussion and cultural awareness.

• Readings in German Literature (01:470:241:03)

This course is directed toward intermediate language learners beginning to work with German literature. Development of written and oral proficiency in German, as well as the vocabulary and analysis tools needed for poetry and short prose.

• Advanced German in Berlin (01:470:232:03)

Reading and discussion of advanced material centered largely on contemporary Berlin. Development of written and oral proficiency in German, as well as insight into the cultural and historical aspects of the capital.

• Berlin Theater (01:470:391:03)

Based on the Berlin theater schedule, students will attend an array of German classical and contemporary theater, including political cabaret. We will focus on the famous Berliner Ensemble made famous by Brecht, as well as the illustrious Deutsches Theater and the small, experimental venues (Gorki Theater, BE Bühne, etc.). We will read plays in advance so as to ensure comprehension; we will meet briefly after each production to answer basic questions and then proceed to place these works within the larger aesthetic and cultural tradition. Discussion, oral presentations, and short papers

• Aspects of German Culture: Current Issues and Trends in Germany (01:470:343:03)

Topics of social and cultural significance in contemporary Germany, with particular emphasis on media and society.

*NEW* Creative Writing

• English Writing: Creative writing workshop on fiction (01:351:307:03). Professor Magdalena Zurawski.  In this workshop, we will focus on the writing of prose. Reading assignments will present both traditional and innovative forms. Class time will be used for writing exercises, discussion of readings, and sharing works in progress. Whenever possible, the city of Berlin will be used as a site for writing. Students are responsible for reading each others' work and offering careful and respectful critique for revision and development. Class discussions will focus on writers' techniques with the hopes that students will gain an awareness of how  choices in their own writing affect a potential reader. This workshop is designed to be a safe and supportive environment where experiment and play will be highly encouraged. For the final project, students will be responsible for revising thirty pages of original work written over the course of the workshop.
• English Writing: Creative writing workshop on poetry (01:351:306:03) . Professor Susan Miller. A city of great history, the site of one of the most devastating wars and one of the most visible commitments to freedom in the Twentieth century, Berlin holds astonishing literary, cultural, and historic lessons for Americans.  Furthermore, the writing of German citizens and German-language writers still captures our attention: from the lyrical and spiritual poems of Rainer Maria Rilke to the acerbic social criticism and wit of Bertolt Brecht, the literature of Berlin provides many models for writing and the writing life.  We will study the work of these authors and American authors who experienced Germany, reading poems in Twentieth-Century German Poetry as well as selections from other American authors. We will also watch films, take field trips, and explore the streets in an attempt to inspire ourselves.  We will then write poems that use Berlin and our experiences as a springboard, work-shopping through the observation method, producing new work, and coming to understand ourselves not just as American citizens, but as citizens of the world whose new knowledge deepens and expands our artistic and intellectual appreciation both of home and our new environment.

*Students may enroll in three credits of creative writing in the summer

• Art & Architecture of Berlin: Fifteenth to the Twentieth Century (01:470:390:03)

  The main goal of this course is to provide students with an introduction to the visual arts of Germany from the 15th to the 20th century through lectures conducted in Berlin’s museums and cultural institution. Classroom lectures will be kept to a minimum so that students may encounter actual works of art in the city’s magnificent collections. Some lectures will be conducted by guest speakers, such as curators from the Bauhaus Archiv or the Neue Nationalgalerie. Students will learn about the German Old Masters, such as Albrecht Dürer and Lucas Cranach, as well German Romantic and Realist artists, including Caspar David Friedrich and Adolf Menzel. Germany’s powerful modernist art movements, such as Expressionism and New Objectivity, will be considered in relation to the many upheavals in modern German history. By the end of the course, students will not only have a broad understanding of the development of the visual arts in Germany but also of how art has served in the elusive search and articulation of German cultural identity. Includes architectural bus & walking tours, as well as an excursion to the castles of Potsdam.

• Berlin Since the War (01:470:382:03)

This course seeks to understand how Berlin remembers its famous and infamous past since the Second World War—and in some cases reaching back even further. In order to assess the efficacy of public memorials, monuments, museums and manifestos, students are first given a survey of the history of Cold War and post-Wall Berlin. The real work of the course commences as students then set out to explore—with the instructor—how “official” history is constructed, celebrated, contested, re-written—and not infrequently, simply ignored. In addition to seminar discussion, this course consists of numerous excursions to historical sites. The final project requires participants to evaluate the significance of a public memorial (or museum exhibition) based on criteria that are worked out during the course.

• Political Architecture of Berlin (01:470:392:03)

This course will teach students to “read” German culture and history from the buildings and public spaces that constitute the Berlin city center. Foci include the historic Reichstagsgebäude, the Nicolai Kirche, the Pestalozzi Street Synagogue, the Karl Marx Allee, as well as the postmodern architecture of the British and American embassy buildings. Excursions to Dresden and Potsdam extend the scope of the course. Study of history of architectural design and cultural iconography is integrated within a cultural history of Germany as told by Berlin’s extraordinary and exemplary buildings.

• Students should apply directly to Douglass College for funding by the early March deadline.
• All students living in the Douglass Global Village are eligible for study abroad support, regardless of where they want to go. A student living in the French house who wants to go to Germany can and should apply for support.