| Subject Knowledge Audit – German |
| Meta-linguistic and cultural challenges |
| This audit is the first step in your personalised Subject Knowledge Development work; during the year you will work individually on areas of subject knowledge. We begin with grammar here but you will also work on A level topics, set texts and films, choosing areas in which you feel you have gaps in your knowledge or confidence. Review your knowledge of the following lexico-grammatical points and self-assess your learning and your confidence in explaining the point (very confident = 3; quite confident = 2; uncertain = 1). Choose three areas about which you are less certain; research these areas to update your knowledge and then make brief notes to show how you would explain the points to learners. What key points would you need to make to make the lexico-grammatical points clear? For the three areas about which you are less certain, revise these and produce notes/summaries of the key points for submission to your subject tutor on the first day of the course. Please do not write more than four pages. If you are a native speaker, review the extent to which you can give clear, comprehensive guidance about the chosen areas. |
| Meta-linguistic and cultural challenges | Very confident | Quite confident | Uncer-tain |
| Make a list in German of names of towns, cities, rivers, European countries and world countries of origin and interest for your pupils, eg München, die Themse, die Vereinigten Staaten, Indien; where words look the same, make sure you know how to pronounce them correctly in German, eg London, Paris, Hamburg | | | |
| Name 5 of the German Länder. What exactly is a Bundesland, and how does the Bund operate? How is this different from the English political system? Explain the difference between the ‘Bundestag’ and the ‘Bundesrat’ | | | |
| How does the German electoral voting system differ from the English one? | | | |
| What are the major differences between the English school system and the German one? | | | |
| Name three important German companies | | | |
| Name (in German) three of the countries with which Germany has a border | | | |
| Although Germany is largely landlocked, it does have coastlines – along which seas? Name them in German | | | |
| Name three other countries apart from Germany where German is an official or commonly used language (not necessarily in Europe!!) | | | |
| Name 5 famous German or German-speaking people and explain what they are famous for | | | |
| What are the German equivalents of GCSE, A Level, Bachelor degree and Masters? | | | |
| What is the big difference between writing nouns in English and writing nouns in German? | | | |
| Exemplify 4(!) different forms of the imperative which might be used in German eg ‘mach’s gut’, ‘aussteigen!’. Which of these would be most appropriate for use in the classroom? Make a list of appropriate classroom instruction phrases | | | |
| Make a list of useful feedback phrases which could be used in the classroom and in pupils’ books to comment on both work and behaviour eg ‘fantastisch’, ‘fast’, ‘gut gemacht’ | | | |
| Identify the conjugation in the present tense of weak verbs in German and compare their endings with common English regular verbs. How do you explain the extra letter in forms such as ‘er arbeitet’? | | | |
| Establish the patterns of common irregular verbs in the present tense in German – why are such verbs irregular? Compare them with other languages which pupils may know and draw similarities | | | |
| Identify the different ways in which the German present tense form can be translated into English; what are the different meanings in English (continuous present etc) and are there ways in which these differences might be conveyed in German? | | | |
| What different tense can be conveyed by use of the present tense in German? How might the difference between this and normal use of the present be signified in a sentence/dialogical sequence? | | | |
| How does the word ‘seit’ affect our translation into English of a) German present tense b) German imperfect (simple past) tense? Give examples | | | |
| How is the future tense formed in German? What needs to be remembered about word order? | | | |
| How can we distinguish between future and passive in German if the same verb, ‘werden’ is used for both? Give some examples of passive sentences in German | | | |
| How can use of the passive often be avoided in German? | | | |
| How would we translate into English ‘es wurde gesungen’? Provide other examples of such usage | | | |
| Explain the pattern for forming the compound past tense of common weak verbs in German. What needs to be remembered about word order? | | | |
| Give the compound past tense of common strong verbs in German. Make comparisons wherever possible with English equivalents | | | |
| Which common verbs take ‘sein’ rather than ‘haben’ in their compound past tense and why? What is the difference between transitive and intransitive verbs? How can pupils be helped to understand? | | | |
| Give examples of some verbs which might be able to form their past tense with both haben and sein and explain why. | | | |
| Explain how the use of double verbs like ‘schwimmen gehen’ might help pupils deal with the complexities of using ‘haben’ or ‘sein’ in the compound past and provide examples of such verbs in sentences | | | |
| What groups of verbs do not add a ‘ge’ to form their past participles? Provide examples and explain why | | | |
| Give some examples of ‘mixed conjugation’ verbs. What do we need to remember about them? | | | |
| What are the rules about the use or non-use of ‘zu’ with an infinitive? Give some examples, as well as examples of the use of ‘um…zu’ and ‘ohne … zu’ and their meanings | | | |
| Establish the difference between the compound past and the simple past, and explain when each might be best used. Provide examples of some of the most common verbs in the simple past and their conjugations | | | |
| Establish rules for the formation of the pluperfect tense, building on knowledge of other tenses. Give examples of sentences incorporating pluperfect tenses and the conjunction ‘nachdem’ | | | |
| Explain and exemplify the formation and use of the conditional in German, including sequences of tenses and the correct conjunction/connective. What common conditional forms should beginners be taught to use? | | | |
| When is the subjunctive regularly used in German and why? Give examples and explain its formation | | | |
| How is the future perfect formed and what does it mean? Provide some examples of usage | | | |
| How is the future conditional formed and what does it mean? Provide some examples of usage | | | |
| Explain the ‘verb second’ rule and give five examples of subject-verb inversion | | | |
| Which conjunctions/connectives do not affect word order when introduced into a sentence? | | | |
| Which conjunctions/connectives act as subordinating conjunctions and send the verb to the end? | | | |
| What valid reasons can there be for ignoring normal German word order rules? Give two examples in sentences and explain why they are acceptable | | | |
| Conjugate all the modal verbs and illustrate how each can be used | | | |
| Modal verbs have two possible past participles – explain why and give examples of how these are used | | | |
| Explain and exemplify the rules for use of double verbs in German, eg ‘kennen lernen’, ‘schwimmen gehen’ | | | |
| Make a list of common question words. Which of these might cause most difficulty for native English speakers? | | | |
| Which question words need to be declined in German? Explain the rules for this | | | |
| Explain and exemplify other ways of asking questions in German | | | |
| Explain and exemplify the use of ‘ob’ when repeating a question for someone in colloquial German or reporting a question in reported speech | | | |
| Explain the difference in meaning and usage between ‘wenn’, ‘als’, and ‘wann’. Provide examples | | | |
| Explain the difference in meaning and usage between ‘damit’ and ‘so daß’ | | | |
| Identify relative pronouns in German and explain and exemplify how they are used and how they are conjugated | | | |
| Identify common markers for genders of nouns for masculine, feminine and neuter. Give examples | | | |
| What changes are usually made to nouns themselves depending upon their case and/or number? | | | |
| Name and exemplify three groups of nouns which do not follow the general pattern of case change endings | | | |
| How can adjectives be used as nouns and how are they then declined? Give examples demonstrating that you can decline them accurately | | | |
| Establish patterns for the creation of plural noun forms and exemplify them | | | |
| Identify the common article and pronoun forms which pupils will need to associate with the accusative and exemplify their use | | | |
| Explain use of the genitive; give some examples of common usage. How can the genitive often be avoided? | | | |
| Identify the common article and pronoun forms which pupils will need to associate with the dative and exemplify their use | | | |
| Which prepositions always take the accusative case? Provide examples in sentences | | | |
| Which prepositions always take the dative case? Provide examples in sentences | | | |
| Which prepositions can take either accusative or dative? Explain the reasoning and provide examples in sentences | | | |
| Which prepositions always take the genitive case? Provide examples in sentences | | | |
| Which case is needed by the phrase ‘an … vorbei’? Explain your reasoning | | | |
| What is the difference between ‘ich komme aus’ and ‘ich wohne in’? What construction would you use to explain that you came from a different planet? | | | |
| Name as many verbs as you can which are always followed by the dative case, for example ‘danken’. Exemplify them in sentences | | | |
| List nouns and adjectives which are commonly followed by a preposition eg ‘stolz auf’, ‘eine Antwort auf’, and identify which case would follow them | | | |
| Explain and exemplify the word order pattern ‘time, manner place’ | | | |
| Explain the difference between a direct and an indirect object. Explain and exemplify the different word order rules which apply where you have both direct and indirect objects, and either two nouns, two pronouns or a mixture of both | | | |
| List as many separable verbs as you can. What are the word order rules governing a) formation of past participles and b) sentence word order for separable verbs? | | | |
| List the most common inseparable prefixes which can be added to verbs. Give an example for each and explain how they change the meaning of the stem verb | | | |
| Name some verbs which can be either separable or inseparable. How would you know which they were? | | | |
| List as many common reflexive verbs as you can where the reflexive pronoun is a direct object. Exemplify them in sentences, eg ‘ich wasche mich’ | | | |
| List as many common reflexive verbs as you can where the reflexive pronoun is an indirect object and exemplify them in sentences eg ‘ich wasch mir die Haare’ | | | |
| List common verb + preposition combinations along with their required cases, eg ‘ich sehne mich nach ..’ ‘ich denke an ..’ | | | |
| Explain and exemplify the difference between ‘besuchen’ and ‘besichtigen’ | | | |
| Explain and exemplify the difference between ‘wissen’ and ‘kennen’ | | | |
| Explain and exemplify the differences in both structure and meaning between ‘begegnen’ and ‘treffen’ | | | |
| Explain and exemplify use of ‘es gibt’ | | | |
| Explain and exemplify the dative constructions and impersonal verb constructions with such verbs as ‘gefallen’, ‘schmecken’, ‘weh tun’, ‘Leid tun’. Can you add to these? | | | |
| List common phrases for expressing agreement/disagreement/opinion, for example ‘ich bin damit einverstanden’, ‘meiner Meinung nach’, | | | |
| Exemplify the German habit of using verbs as nouns, for example ‘Beim Fahren’ …. | | | |
| When and how must adjectives agree with the noun? When do they not? | | | |
| How did President Kennedy crack an unintended joke in Berlin? What did he really mean to say? | | | |
| Explain the rule for turning town/city names into adjectives, including the rule about agreements | | | |
| Explain the difference between ‘er ist Fußballspieler’ and ‘er ist ein berühmter Fußballspieler’ | | | |
| Explain and exemplify other instances where the article is omitted in German when we would expect it in English | | | |
| Give the declension forms for weak, mixed and strong adjectives and explain and exemplify which is used when | | | |
| Which group of adjective endings is used after cardinal numbers? Give some examples | | | |
| Explain and exemplify the formation and use of the comparative adjective in German. List as many irregular comparative forms as you can | | | |
| Explain and exemplify use of the superlative adjective in German. List as many irregular superlative forms as you can | | | |
| Explain and exemplify the differences between the use and formation of superlative adjectives and superlative adverbs | | | |
| Many adjectives can be used as adverbs in German without change – name some which can but also some which need to be changed | | | |
| When using cardinal numerals in German, what feature(s) of numbering might cause problems for English speaking pupils? | | | |
| What are the rules in German about dates? What are the equivalents for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc; where do patterns either change or break down. Why is it usual to use the accusative case when writing the date at the top of a piece of work? | | | |
| What aspects of time telling might cause difficulty for English pupils? How can these be explained? | | | |
| Explain the differences in ways of expressing quantities between German and English, eg ‘ein Glas Wasser’, ‘2 Kilo Kartoffeln’ | | | |
| What common preposition is used to describe what materials things are made of? Is an article used here? Give examples | | | |
| List common useful conversation words eg ‘doch’, ‘na ja’, ‘eben’, ‘genau’, ‘sicher’, ‘bestimmt’, and exemplify their use | | | |
| List common conversational repair strategies which pupils could use to maintain dialogue or gain thinking time, eg ‘Tja’, ‘ich weiß nicht genau wie das heißt auf Deutsch’ etc | | | |
| Explain and exemplify rules for the position of ‘nicht’ | | | |
| Explain and exemplify rules for the respective use of ‘nicht’ and ‘kein’. What does ‘nicht ein’ mean? | | | |
| Decline ‘kein’ – which other words follow this pattern? | | | |
| List other words/phrases which can be used for negation and exemplify their use, eg, ‘ich habe niemanden gesehen’; ‘nirgendwo gibt es …..’ | | | |
| Give sentences which exemplify use of the pronoun ‘man’ in various cases and translate them into English | | | |
| Explain how the use of possessive adjectives such as ‘mein’, ‘dein’, ‘ihr’ might be confusing for native English speakers | | | |
| Identify and exemplify the use of possessive pronouns. How are they declined? | | | |
| Identify and exemplify interrogative adjectives and interrogative pronouns – how do they differ in use? Are any of them declined, and if so how? | | | |
| Name some demonstrative pronouns (determiners) and explain the rules for declining them. Provide some examples in sentences | | | |
| Exemplify how present and past participles can be used as extended adjectives, demonstrating appropriate word order | | | |
| Discuss the difference in use of the comma between English and German | | | |
| Descriptions of weather often include two different sentence patterns which beginners can find confusing – identify and exemplify these | | | |
| Explain the origins and function of the umlaut and make sure that you know the various ways of typing umlauts from the keyboard or from inserting symbols | | | |
| Compile a list of key ICT terms and instructions for use with your classes | | | |
| Clarify clear rules for the use of ‘du’, ‘ihr’ and ‘Sie’ in contexts in which pupils are likely to find themselves | | | |
| Establish a range of greetings and closure phrases for use in both formal and informal letters and identify correct register usage | | | |
| Exemplify a range of idiomatic phrases using the verbs ‘sein’ and ‘haben’, eg ‘du hast Recht’, ‘mir ist kalt’ | | | |
| Prepositions and articles sometimes elide to create contracted forms. Give some examples of this | | | |
| Give some examples of indefinite pronouns eg ‘all’, ‘manche’, and their use in sentences to demonstrate that you know how to decline them | | | |
| Establish a rule of thumb for determining the gender of compound nouns | | | |
| Make a list of idiomatic phrases which would be useful for your pupils in social interaction in the classroom, eg ‘es hat uns Spaß gemacht’, ‘sag mir Bescheid’, ‘nicht wahr’ ‘du bist dran’ | | | |
