tutoring

A-level german

A-Level German complete content and assessment objectives

Social issues and trends
Students must study the themes and sub-themes below in relation to at least one German-speaking country. Students must study the themes and sub-themes using a range of sources, including material from online media.

Aspects of German-speaking society
Students may study all sub-themes in relation to any German-speaking country or countries.

• The changing state of the family (Familie im Wandel)
• Beziehungen innerhalb der Familie
• Partnerschaft und Ehe
• Verschiedene Familienformen
• The digital world (Die digitale Welt)
• Das Internet
• Soziale Netzwerke
• Die Digitalisierung der Gesellschaft
• Youth culture: fashion and trends, music, television (Jugendkultur: Mode, Musik und Fernsehen)
• Mode und Image
• Die Bedeutung der Musik für Jugendliche
• Die Rolle des Fernsehens

Multiculturalism in German-speaking society
Students may study all the sub-themes in relation to any German-speaking country or countries.

• Immigration (Einwanderung)
• Die Gründe für Migration
• Vor- und Nachteile der Einwanderung
• Migrationspolitik
• Integration (Integration)
• Maßnahmen zur Integration
• Hindernisse für die Integration
• Die Erfahrungen verschiedener Migrantengruppen
• Racism (Rassismus)
• Die Opfer des Rassismus
• Die Ursprünge des Rassismus
• Der Kampf gegen Rassismus

Political and artistic culture
Students must study the themes and sub-themes below in relation to at least one German-speaking country.

Artistic culture in the German-speaking world
Students may study sub-themes Festivals and traditions and Art and architecture in relation to any German-speaking country or countries. Students must study the cultural life of Berlin in relation to Berlin.

• Festivals and traditions (Feste und Traditionen)
• Feste und Traditionen – ihre Wurzeln und Ursprünge
• Feste und Traditionen – ihre soziale und wirtschaftliche Bedeutung heute
• Vielfältige Feste und Traditionen in verschiedenen Regionen
• Art and architecture (Kunst und Architektur)
• Künstler und Architekten
• Kunst und Architektur im Alltag
• Kunst und Architektur – Vergangenheit, Gegenwart, Zukunft
• Cultural life in Berlin, past and present (Das Berliner Kulturleben damals und heute)
• Berlin – geprägt durch seine Geschichte
• Theater, Musik und Museen in Berlin
• Die Vielfalt innerhalb der Bevölkerung Berlins

Aspects of political life in the German-speaking world
Students may study Politics and youth in relation to any German-speaking country or countries. Students must study the sub-themes Germany and the EU and German re-unification and its consequences in relation to Germany.

• Germany and the European Union (Deutschland und die Europaïsche Union)
• Die Rolle Deutschlands in Europa
• Vor- und Nachteile der EU für Deutschland
• Die Auswirkungen der EU-Erweiterung auf Deutschland
• Politics and youth (Die Politik und die Jugend)
• Politisches Engagement Jugendlicher
• Schwerpunkte der Jugendpolitik
• Werte und Ideale
• German re-unification and its consequences (Die Wiedervereinigung und ihre Folgen)
• Friedliche Revolution in der DDR
• Die Wiedervereinigung – Wunsch und Wirklichkeit
• Alte und neue Bundesländer – Kultur und Identität

Grammar

A-Level students will be expected to have studied the grammatical system and structures of the language during their course. Knowledge of the grammar and structures specified for GCSE is assumed. In the exam students will be required to use, actively and accurately, grammar and structures appropriate to the tasks set, drawn from the following list. The mention of an item in this list implies knowledge of both its forms and its functions at an appropriate level of accuracy and complexity. The examples in italics in parentheses are indicative; they serve to illustrate the part of speech or structure that the student must know and do not represent an exhaustive specification of the required grammatical knowledge.

Nouns
Gender
Singular and plural forms
Case marking on nouns
Weak masculine nouns

Determiners
Definite article
Indefinite article, including kein Demonstratives, including der/die/das Possessives
Other determiners (eg alle, viel/viele, welcher)

Pronouns
Personal pronouns
Reflexive pronouns
Relative pronouns
Demonstrative pronouns
Possessive pronouns
Indefinite pronouns (eg jemand)
Interrogative pronouns (eg wer)

Adjectives
Adjective endings
Comparative and superlative
Adjectives with the dative (eg es ist mir klar)
Adjectives with prepositions (eg stolz auf)

Adverbs and adverbials
Time
Place
Direction (eg hin, heraus)
Manner
Degree (eg sehr)
Interrogative (eg wann, warum)
Comparative and superlative
Numbers and fractions
Clock time, days of the week, months

Model particles/discourse markers
eg ja, doch, wohl

Verbs
Principal parts of weak, strong and irregular verbs
Reflexive verbs
Separable/inseparable
Auxiliary verbs (haben, sein, werden)
Use of haben, or sein in the perfect
Modal verbs (dürfen, können, mögen, müssen, sollen, wollen): present and imperfect
Tenses; imperfect subjunctive of mögen and können
Infinitive constructions (um…zu, ohne…zu, verbs with zu)
Infinitive constructions (lassen and sich lassen with infinitive)
Tense, voice and mood:
• present
• past (ie simple past/imperfect)
• perfect
• perfect (modal verbs)
• pluperfect
• future
• future perfect
• conditional
• conditional perfect
• passive with werden
• imperative
• subjunctive in conditional clauses (past)
• subjunctive in conditional clauses (pluperfect)
• subjunctive in indirect speech.

Prepositions
Fixed case and dual case
Prepositional adverbs (da(r)+preposition, e.g. darauf)

Conjunctions
Coordinating
Subordinating
The case system
The subject and the finite verb
Accusative objects
Dative objects
Prepositional objects
The use of the nominative case with copular verbs (eg sein, werden, bleiben)

Clause structure and word order
Main clause word order
Questions and commands
Position of pronouns
Position of adverbials
Position of nicht
Word order variation to change emphasis
Subordinate clauses introduced by a conjunction (eg dass, obwohl)

Word formation
Compound nouns
Forming nouns from verbs
Forming nouns from adjectives
Forming verbs from nouns
Forming verbs from adjectives
Separable and inseparable verb prefixes

Works

Literary texts and films
Students must study either one text or one film from the list below. Abridged editions should not be used.

Texts
• Molière Le Tartuffe
• Voltaire Candide
• Guy de Maupassant Boule de Suif et autres contes de la guerre
• Albert Camus L’étranger
• Françoise Sagan Bonjour tristesse
• Claire Etcherelli Elise ou la vraie vie
• Joseph Joffo Un sac de billes
• Faïza Guène Kiffe kiffe demain
• Philippe Grimbert Un secret
• Delphine de Vigan No et moi

Films
• Les 400 coups François Truffaut (1959)
• Au revoir les enfants Louis Malle (1987)
• La Haine Mathieu Kassovitz (1995)
• L’auberge espagnole Cédric Klapisch (2002)
• Un long dimanche de fiançailles Jean-Pierre Jeunet (2004)
• Entre les murs Laurent Cantet (2008)

Assessment details

Assessment Objectives
  • AO1 Understand and respond: • in speech to spoken language including face-to-face interaction • in writing to spoken language drawn from a variety of sources
  • AO2 Understand and respond: • in speech to written language drawn from a variety of sources • in writing to written language drawn from a variety of sources
  • AO3 Manipulate the language accurately, in spoken and written forms, using a range of lexis and structure
  • AO4: Show knowledge and understanding of, and respond critically to, different aspects of the culture and society of countries/communities where the language is spoken. Across assessment objectives AO1 and AO2, no more than 10 % of the total marks for the qualification may be used for responses in English, including translation into English.