The Department of Germanics offers an intensive foreign language program during the summer. Whether you are interested in learning a language for work, travel or personal enrichment, or to supplement your other educational goals, we can help. Courses are offered at the first and second-year level, and also with an emphasis on reading skills only. Current course offerings.
Follow this link to find out how to register for summer courses at the UW!
GERMAN 100 Intensive First-Year German (15)
Accelerated first-year German. Speaking and listening. Secondary objectives are reading and writing. This courses allows you to complete the equivalent of one year's worth of a college-level foreign language.
Germ 100 covers the content of the first-year language courses (101, 102 and 103) in one course over the period of three months. In this course, we follow a communicative/task-based approach to language learning. It springs from the idea that languages are best learned when real-world information and real language use become the focus of student activities. The course content takes a balanced approach to engaging students in speaking, listening, reading and writing of German from the beginning. Throughout the course, students will listen to and read comprehensible German and have ample opportunities to use German in autograph, interview, information-gap, role-play, writing and other personalized and theme-based activities.
GERMAN 103 First-Year German (5)
The methods and objectives are primarily communicative, with emphasis on speaking and listening. Secondary objectives are reading and writing. Third in a sequence of three. Prerequisite: either GERMAN 102, GERMAN 111, or score of 36-56 on German placement test.
Aiming at the A2 level, Germ 103 constitutes the last course of our first-year language program. The course follows a communicative/task-based approach to language learning. Its content takes a balanced approach to engaging students in speaking, listening, reading and writing of German. Students will listen to and read comprehensible German and have ample opportunities to use German in autograph, interview, information-gap, role-play, writing and other personalized and theme-based activities.
GERMAN 121 First-Year Reading German (5)
Special beginning course devoted exclusively to the reading objective.
This intensive summer course is designed for students from all disciplines an professionals interested in acquiring proficiency in reading German texts. The course is ideal for those preparing for departmental reading examinations or research with German archives. In 22 sessions, the course will cover fundamental aspects of German grammar while focusing on acquiring essential structures of the German language to develop translation skills. No previous knowledge of German is required; the course is conducted in English.GERMAN 298 A: Topics In Literature And Culture (5)
Literature of War: The Destruction of the Hero
This course focuses on depictions of WWI, WWII and their aftermath, and asks compelling philosophical questions regarding the function and purpose of war and humanity’s relationship to its destruction. What contributes to the relentless drive to war? Can war serve a rational purpose? What is the role of the hero? Central to our inquiry will be the deconstruction of the traditional understanding of the ‘hero’ and the utilization of this figure to perpetuate the push towards war.
Students will examine depictions of war and its effect on society in prose, drama, poetry, film and other visual media. Students will apply an interdisciplinary approach to the material, drawing thematic connections between the various media and analyzing them in conjunction with theoretical texts.
We will engage with works from major 20th century writers, artists and filmmakers: Georg Trakl’s poetic descriptions of the effects of war and Otto Dix’s graphic portrayals of trench warfare vividly undercut any romantic associations with war. Heinrich Böll’s “Stranger, Bear Word to the Spartans We” connects traditional German bourgeois values with the barbarism of modern society, establishing a trajectory between the two. Rossellini’s Germania Anno Zero details the continuation of toxic ideologies and their potential to destroy even after the war has ended. Students will explore these topics through textual analysis and written reflections, group presentations and multi-media creative projects. Students will develop an understanding of the different modes of representing war, develop their competency in analyzing diverse media and presenting their interpretations in a collaborative setting.
No prerequisites. All readings and discussions in English
VLPA credits