GCSE German WJEC

This subject is broken down into 22 topics in 4 modules:

  1. Listening 4 topics
  2. Speaking 7 topics
  3. Reading 5 topics
  4. Writing 6 topics
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  • 22
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  • 7,384
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  • 57+
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This page was last modified on 28 September 2024.

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German

Listening

Everyday life activities

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Everyday life activities

1. Typical Day Activities

  • Understand the terms for common daily activities like aufstehen (to get up), frühstücken (to have breakfast), zur Schule gehen (to go to school), and Schluss machen (to finish off).

  • Identify the vocabulary for various modes of transport such as Auto (car), Bus (bus), Zug (train), and Fahrrad (cycle).

  • Differentiate between the words for different meals, Mahlzeiten like Frühstück (breakfast), Mittagessen (lunch), and Abendessen (dinner).

2. Leisure Activities

  • Learn the terms for popular leisure activities like Fernsehen (to watch TV), Musik hören (to listen to music), Bücher lesen (to read books) and spazieren gehen (to go for a walk).

  • Know the difference between Sport treiben (to do sports), ins Kino gehen (to go to the cinema) and Freunde treffen (to meet friends).

  • Familiarise yourself with words for more specific hobbies, such as Schwimmen (swimming), Malen (painting), Tanzen (dancing), and Fußball spielen (playing football).

3. Home and Household Tasks

  • Recognise words for chores, like Kochen (cooking), Putzen (cleaning) and die Einkäufe machen (doing the shopping).

  • Understand terms for parts of the house such as die Küche (the kitchen), das Schlafzimmer (the bedroom) and das Wohnzimmer (the living room).

  • Grasp the vocabulary related to family members, for example, Mutter (mother), Vater (father), Bruder (brother) and Schwester (sister).

4. Identifying Times and Sequencing Events

  • Practice identifying times, both formal like Zwölf Uhr mittags (twelve Noon) and informal like um halb fünf (at half-past four).

  • Be comfortable with phrases used to sequence events, for instance, zuerst (first), dann (then), danach (afterwards), zuletzt (lastly).

Remember to listen to each word and sentence carefully. Keep practicing until you develop a solid understanding and can effortlessly translate spoken German relating to everyday life activities. Practice makes perfect!

Course material for German, module Listening, topic Everyday life activities

German

Reading

Understanding personal texts

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Understanding personal texts

Understanding Personal Texts

Interpretation of Information

  • Identify main topics in the text, focusing on understanding the key points instead of every single word.
  • Search for cognates or words similar to English; these can provide valuable context clue.
  • Get used to common German abbreviations like z.B. (for example), usw. (etcetera), evtl. (possibly). They are commonly used in personal texts.

Verbs and Tenses

  • Attach importance to verb tenses. They play a critical role in understanding the message.
  • Familiarise yourself with modal verbs as they often modify the main verb, altering the meaning of a sentence.
  • Pay attention to verb positioning especially in compound sentences, as the verb often takes the last position in some clauses.

Context Clues

  • Use surrounding words or sentences to infer the meaning of unfamiliar words.
  • Recognise negation words like nicht or kein to ensure accurate comprehension.
  • Use the tone and mood of the text to determine the implied meaning.

Identifying Pronouns and Gender

  • Recognise different pronouns; their usage will help understand who is being referred to within the text.
  • Understanding the concept of gender in German language can be vital in identifying the correct pronoun and verb agreement.

Reading Strategies

  • Guess the meaning of unknown words in the context, but be aware that false friends exist - words that look similar in both languages but have different meanings.
  • Use a multimodal approach - reading out loud can sometimes aid overall understanding.
  • Summarising the text in English can be useful to check understanding.
  • Practice regularly with various German texts such as letters, emails, or diary entries to increase familiarity with personal texts.

Course material for German, module Reading, topic Understanding personal texts

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