Notes for Students

Dear student:

Welcome to our e-textbook Willkommen: Deutsch für alle 2. This e-textbook will accompany you through two semesters of learning German at the intermediate level. It is designed to be cost-free, user-friendly, and flexible to be used on a variety of digital devices (computer, laptop, tablet, smartphone).

You will learn more about the German language and the culture of the German-speaking countries. In the intermediate level, we will cover topics such as festivities and holidays, different living arrangements, music, inventions, Germany before and after 1989, as well as fairy tales. In both semesters, we read a short novel that you can purchase for a very reasonable price on Amazon. Some units also feature a UNESCO world heritage site which provides further cultural information on the topic of the unit. These topics as well as new grammatical structures will further your skills beyond the beginner’s level to communicate more accurately and with a wider range of vocabulary and grammatical structures in written and spoken German.

If you have forgotten some of your German, want to look something up, or practice some vocabulary or grammar that you think you should know, feel free to go back to our first-year German e-textbook Willkommen: Deutsch für alle.

Here are some important things you need to know:

• Structure:

Willkommen: Deutsch für alle 2 follows a blended-learning format, which is a combination of in-class lessons (face-to-face with your instructor) and online, self-paced individual lessons. The online lessons are more than just homework. It is crucial that you complete the online lessons on your own in between the in-class lessons because they are not only designed to let you practice and review what you have learned in the previous class, but they also help you learn something new that you need to prepare for your next class.

A typical week could look like this:

• Student Handouts:

You will practice listening, speaking, reading and writing in a variety of activities in class. Some of these activities require you to take notes or have additional materials which we provide as a PDF. Please print out the Student Handouts Einheit 1-5/ Einheit 6-10) before classes start so that you have everything handy for your in-class instruction.

• Online lessons:

Each online lesson is clearly laid out in a vertical manner, you scroll from the top of the page to the bottom. You have to complete these lessons at your own pace at home in between the in-class lessons. The lessons feature listening, viewing, and reading activities as well as easy-to-understand grammatical explanations and practice exercises. You have unlimited attempts to practice with these exercises, just refresh the webpage. If you don’t complete the online lessons before you come to class, you will not be prepared to participate in the next in-class lesson.

At the end of most online lessons there is a link to a quiz “Was wissen Sie jetzt?” where you can show what you have learned. These quizzes are housed on a different platform and are only accessible to students at the University of Alberta who are registered in our classes. Some quizzes will also take place in class (Das Quiz ist in der nächsten Unterrichtsstunde).

Finally, some online lessons also feature a section called “Deutsch üben“. In this section you will have an opportunity to practice your German using ChatGPT (or any other AI text generators). You do not need to buy any subscriptions. The prompts have been written for you to copy and paste or even read aloud to practice orally when/where possible. It is important to note, that while we want you to use AI to practice your German skills, you are not able to use AI when handing in any type of assignments. 

• Wortschatz:

Most of the new vocabulary will be taught in class, but sometimes you will also learn new vocabulary in an online lesson. In order to practice the new vocabulary, we recommend that you study the new vocabulary after each sub-topic in each unit, using the Quizlet vocabulary sets that we provide. You need to sign up for a free Quizlet account to access these sets and all their study options. Our username in Quizlet is germanuofa. There is also a list of the new vocabulary as a PDF at the end of each unit. We recommend that you print it out at the beginning of each unit. If you mother tongue is not English, you may want to consider translating into your mother tongue. There is also lots of space to also add other words that you look up in throughout the unit. 

• Tasks:

Each unit features 1-2 tasks which provide you with the opportunity to use your language skills in a meaningful context and show what you have learned in the unit. These tasks are intended to replace more traditional assessments like unit exams and prepare you for real-life language use so that you can function in a German-speaking context.

• Zum Spaß:

Each unit ends with a section “Zum Spaß” (for fun) with links to additional activities, German music, and funny videos which will enhance your understanding of German culture. There are also additional exercises called “Extra Practice (optional)” if you want to practice your language skills even more.

• Back Matter:

Under “contents” on the left hand side of the book and below all the units,  we put a reference section that lists all the concepts that you learn. This is an easy way for you to find a specific item (it is either linked back to the unit where it was covered or is has the PPT linked right there). The back matter contains: 

• Grammatik (all grammar sections)
• Wortschatz Präsentationen (all the vocabulary presentations)
• Redemittel (all the “useful phrases” sections)
• Kultur (all the cultural topics)

We hope you will enjoy learning more about the German language and culture in the German-speaking countries with Willkommen: Deutsch für alle 2!