Intermediate German: Festivals and Traditions

Explore German traditions, festivals, and public holidays

On this four-week course, you’ll explore some of the traditions and public holidays that are celebrated in Germany and other German-speaking countries, and the festivals that punctuate people’s private lives and community life throughout the year.

You’ll learn vocabulary and structures to describe traditions and celebrations with a focus on Christmas, rites of passage, carnival, and a number of other festivals. You’ll consider the feelings they evoke, and the key role these traditions and customs play in the diverse societies of the 21st century.

Develop your knowledge of German grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation in the context of traditional celebrations

You’ll practise using language to give instructions using the passive, revise the use of the verb werden, and work on your pronunciation of some common diphthongs and syllables.

You’ll also focus on the language and structures used to talk about traditions celebrated in the past, revising and extending your knowledge of the perfect and imperfect tense.

Finally, you’ll refine your skills to use the past tense in German by learning to talk about memories of traditions from the past that are important to you.

Improve your German writing skills by producing your own written account

You’ll have the opportunity to produce a written account of a tradition you have celebrated in the past, accessing a wide range of authentic source materials such as audio and video clips to enhance your linguistic skills. This will be further developed by researching and writing about a tradition in a country where German is spoken, equipping you with the skills to research using original German texts and to confidently discuss your findings using your German speaking skills.

This course is designed for those with a good basic knowledge of German (fully at Level A2 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages ‘Elementary’) who want to improve their German language skills and deepen their knowledge of German culture.

This course will be useful to those who wish to improve their competence in German to help further their career or have a general interest in contemporary German-speaking societies and cultures.

• Traditionen und Bräuche
• Willkommen
• Reflexionen über Traditionen und Bräuche
• Neujahrsbräuche
• Die beliebtesten Traditionen und Bräuche
• Wortbetonung
• Rückblick
• Religiöse Feste
• Reflexionen über religiöse Feste
• Über individuelle Feste und Traditionen sprechen
• Über Daten und Feiertage sprechen
• Das Passiv mit werden, und Satzbetonung
• Rückblick
• Feste, die verbinden
• Gründe fürs Feiern
• Fallstudie Hamburger Hafengeburtstag
• Fallstudie Europäischen Wochen in Passau
• Fallstudie Jugendweihe
• Fallstudie Rock am Ring
• Rückblick
• Die Närrischen Tage und Kritik
• Was ist Karneval?
• Karneval im Rheinland
• Kritische Beurteilung von Traditionenen, Bräuche, Festen und Feiern
• Fragen stellen
• Gefühle, Gefühle
• Rückblick