Kompetenzerweiterung II, Both Groups, Work for Week Two

Welcome to Week Two! I hope you're hanging in there alright and have enjoyed the miracle of the lovely weather in the past week. Before I list the tasks for this week, the following are a few suggestions / resources: 

- consider meeting up with a language buddy via Skype, Zoom, FaceTime, etc. during these weeks to keep your English speaking up to par. This might be with someone from our Komp I class, someone you know from your school days, etc. All the better if it's someone with whom you have a F1 or F2 in common, then you can practice both! If you need help finding a partner, send me an email (with your uni email address, please) and I can connect you with others who also in search of one (by sending me the email you are granting me the permission to pass your uni email onto another student). 

- if you are taking the Kompentenzerweiterung II exam in July for the second or third time, please get into contact via email with me as soon as possible. In these cases, I find it best to have a conversation about any concerns you have or challenges you might be facing with regards to the content. This will most likely take the form of a telephone conversation and be scheduled individually. 

- in several essays, I made comments on the following errors. Here are some resources concerning how to avoid them in future writing:
Avoiding run-on sentences: https://www.aims.edu/student/online-writing-lab/grammar/comma-splices
Formulating a strong, distinct thesis: https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/thesis-statements/
Writing good topic sentences: https://wts.indiana.edu/writing-guides/paragraphs-and-topic-sentences.html

Notice that all of these links come from university writing centers, a resource that anglophone unis tend to have. I recommend visiting their main pages and investigating what other resources they have in the form of advice, explanations and exercises (they often have video resources as well). 

Now onto our main tasks for the week. Please read the grammar pages on conditionals for Unit 11 and complete all of the exercises. I recommend reading your answers out loud when you are doing work on conditionals. It's one thing to be able to complete the exercises; it's another to be able to spontaneously speak in if-clauses in English (which is your goal). Learn ALL of the vocabulary for Unit 12 and complete all of the accompanying exercises. Please also do the exercises in the Unit 11-12 review as well.

The following is the design of July's exam: one gap fill exercise (all tenses and aspects + conditionals are fair game), one CLOZE exercise (the one-word-per-gap exercise), one word formation exercise (all of the word formation boxes from the book are fair game for the exam), one key word transformation exercise (the exercises that look like this: https://www.flo-joe.co.uk/fce/students/strategy/transfrm/compare2.htm ), one error correction exercise (I will give you a text that includes errors and ask you to proofread and edit the text), one gerund or infinitive exercise (I will give you the beginning of a sentence like "She pretended..." and you must complete it grammatically), and a 250-300 word essay.

The following are some extra exercises for conditionals (it is type 2 conditionals that German speakers often need the most practice with): 
https://www.usingenglish.com/quizzes/151.html
https://www.eltbase.com/quiz/5061_01.htm
https://www.grammarbank.com/if-clauses-quiz.html
https://www.usingenglish.com/quizzes/36.html
https://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises/if_clauses/type_2_statements.htm
Here is englisch-hilfen's main page of all of their conditional exercises, sorted by type: https://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises_list/if.htm

This video is a nice, quick review of conditionals: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDoBdq0s8eY
And this one is good for mixed conditionals: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Mv7fBqauvc
The BBC Learning English channel is an excellent YouTube channel to subscribe to. 

The optional writing task this week will keep in the theme of nature and the environment introduced in Unit 12. There are three topics to choose from this week (on the exam, there will be two to choose from):
1. Watch the following video and introduce another sustainable invention that you have either seen in real life and of have dreamt up yourself that you think should be in more widespread use:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4Cc5zmy0eY&t=41s
2. The following video introduces the concept of biomimicry: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMtXqTmfta0&t=39s How else can humans learn from nature?
3. If you were a minister for the environment, what policies would you put into place?

Submit your essay of 250-300 words to me at my email address in MS Word by Wednesday, April 1, 2020 at midnight (this is indeed the real deadline and not an April Fool's joke :-) ). Essays submitted after this deadline will be deleted (I'm sorry, but I have to be strict to keep on top of the work coming in).

Kulturraumbezogene Wirtschaftsthemen, Work for Week One

Welcome to the course!

Even though we won't be meeting in person today, I'm still excited about the new semester and hope you are as well. In these days, as always, I hope you will be kind to yourself and to those around you. I personally have found meditation, yoga, and eating well to work wonders in terms of my general mood and as a way to prevent feeling confined in my apartment. I hope these times can have the positive effect of you getting to know yourself a bit better.

The other two instructors of this course and I have coordinated a similar curriculum for the following weeks: we will be posting materials on business topics every week (you will find these materials on Ilias) and you will be working on your first Teilleistung (a detailed description is featured in a document on Ilias). (There will be no online lectures.) This first Teilleistung is due by April 20, 2020 at 10 am. Completing this Teilleistung is your priority for these weeks at home. I will also need you to print out and sign the Teilleistung sign up form (also on Ilias) and send it to me via scan or photo by April 10, 2020.

The reading comprehension tasks, vocab exercises and videos posted on Ilias and this blog are meant to keep you on track and to train you for the written exam (which will consist of a 250-350 word response to a case study, some vocab questions and a short-answer reading comprehension section). I will post sample answers to the reading comprehension questions on Mondays when I upload the new tasks. One article will feature the opportunity for you to submit a 250-350 word essay that I will correct and give you feedback on. This essay (featured in the Economist article's questions this week) must be submitted to me via email by Thursday, March 26th at 5 pm. I unfortunately cannot accept any late submissions.

This week's topic is free trade and you might find this video useful in getting some background with the topic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ITyd1Pzek0&t=5s

Kulturraumstudien USA, Work for Week One

Welcome to the course!

Even though we won't be meeting in person today, I'm still excited about the new semester and hope you are as well. In these days, as always, I hope you will be kind to yourself and to those around you. I personally have found meditation, yoga, and eating well to work wonders in terms of my general mood and as a way to prevent feeling confined in my apartment. I hope these times can have the positive effect of you getting to know yourself a bit better.

In the coming weeks, we'll be focusing on some domains of US culture and society and their influence/impact on the trends of today. There will be no online lectures; everything you need will be provided in weekly posts (on Mondays) here on the blog.

This week, I'd like you to watch this documentary in its entirety on the birth of Hollywood: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9-iCdUrnJ0
As you are watching, I'd like to a) make a timeline of developments and milestones featured in the film and place them in a greater context (i.e. Who is the US president at this time? What conflicts have just ended/are about to begin? What other breakthroughs are being made in science and technology?) and b) process the content of the documentary critically and make connections (ex. isn't it interesting how TikTok and other short video platforms features a similar user experience to Edison's Kinetoscope?)

Then, read the article "Hollywood Has a Huge Millennial Problem" https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/06/hollywood-has-a-huge-millennial-problem/486209/ and answer the questions, "Has Hollywood forgotten what brought people to movies in the early 20th century? Is it in Hollywood's interest to reconnect to these 'roots' to attract millennial viewers?"

Feel free to send both your timelines and your response to these questions to me via email if you'd like.

On a completely different note, each week I'm going to post some of my favorite music from the States just for fun. Feel free to send me your tips as well (only two conditions: it must be connected to the US in some way and it needs to be upbeat or chill). One of my favorite YouTube channels is Amoeba Records' "What's in my bag?" series https://www.youtube.com/user/amoeba where famous musicians feature their store picks. Below is what would be in my bag :-):

Bobby Hebb "Sunny" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-5xGXpNt74
Gladys Knight & The Pips "I've Got to Use My Imagination" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kPFrQPdKPM
Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs "Foggy Bottom Breakdown" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_Y3mnj-8lA
Neil LeVang "Ghostriders in the Sky" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ir7fjfqzcOM
Eurythmics and Aretha Franklin "Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tbpk3pYrACs
Alice Coltrane "Turiya and Ramakrishna" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUMuDWDVd20

Kompetenzerweiterung II, Both Groups, Work for Week One

Welcome to the course!

Even though we won't be meeting in person today, I'm still excited about the new semester and hope you are as well. In these days, as always, I hope you will be kind to yourself and to those around you. I personally have found meditation, yoga, and eating well to work wonders in terms of my general mood and as a way to prevent feeling confined in my apartment. I hope these times can have the positive effect of you getting to know yourself a bit better.

My priority for these weeks is that you do as much as possible to prepare well for the exam. There will be no online lectures; everything you need to accomplish this will be provided in weekly posts (on Mondays) here on the blog. As we did last semester, I want our first month to focus on the (new) grammar points relevant for the exam so that we have plenty of time to review in June. Therefore, these first three weeks will focus on the following units of the book (if you do not have the book already, please order Destination C1/C2 with Student Answer Key immediately, ISBN 978-3190629558):

Week One (March 23-27): Units 9-10 + Review Units 9-10
Week Two (March 30- April 3): Units 11-12 + Review Units 11-12
Week Three (April 6-10): Units 25-26 + Review Units 25-26

Using this schedule as a guide, you should complete all of the exercises each week for each of the two units and the review pages. This includes thoroughly reading the grammar pages in the odd units, and learning ALL of the vocabulary in the even units. In addition to this, I will be providing external resources (videos and extra exercises) in each week's post and providing you the opportunity to submit written work each week. These essays MUST be submitted by the deadline provided; I'm afraid that these conditions allow for no exceptions.

I invite you to submit any questions you have to me via email; I will collect these questions and post answers to them each Monday on the blog (generally not individually via email) so that everyone can profit from them.

The following is your work for week one (March 23-27):

Complete all of the exercises for Units 9-10 and the exercises on the review pages for the Units 9-10. I also recommend completing the following online exercises on modals:
https://www.eltbase.com/quiz/200_01.htm
https://web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/courses/elc/studyzone/410/grammar/410-modals-of-possibility-and-probability-for-past-situations1.htm
https://www.really-learn-english.com/english-modal-verbs-exercise-01.html
https://sites.uclouvain.be/gramlink/Gramlink-AN/exercices/auxmod/auxmod08.htm
https://www.esl-lounge.com/student/grammar/4g3-modals-deduction-exercise.php
https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/grammar/intermediate-to-upper-intermediate/modals-deductions-about-the-past
https://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/could-have-should-have-would-have-exercise-1.html
https://www.ldoceonline.com/exercise/section-advanced-grammar/ (Here, click on "modal verbs" to get a complete drop-down of quizzes and explanations)

This video provides a complete overview of modals (including the basics): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GMU08J98MQ

For your writing assignment, please visit the following page and scroll down until you see "discussion topics" on the right-hand margin: https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate Click on one of these topics and select one of the questions. Read all of the responses to the question and then write your answer, pretending that your essay would be published among the other contributions (this means no repeating someone else's essay or thesis one-to-one). Submit your essay of 250-300 words to me at my email address in MS Word by Wednesday, March 25th at midnight. Essays submitted after this deadline will be deleted (I'm sorry, but I have to be strict to keep on top of the work coming in).

Kompetenzerweiterung I, Monday/Wednesday Group, Link and Exercise Answers

This page features a nice overview of informal vs. formal writing: https://awelu.srv.lu.se/grammar-and-words/register-and-style/formal-vs-informal/

self-check for the exercises on the sheet "exam practice 3":
exercise 1: 1. will, 2. chances/odd, 3. may (or will), 4. well (likely), 5. tempted/inclined/obliged/driven/compelled, 6. certain/sure/bound, 7. distinct/definite, 8. may/will, 9. has/needs/ought, 10. doubt/question, 11. do/can, 12. needn't/won't/doesn't, 13. obligation, 14. probability, 15. may/might
exercise 2: unacceptable, unpardonable, unlawful, irrationally, unreasonable, permissable, unethical, immoral, illegal, disqualified

Kulturraumstudien USA, Tips for an Enriching Break

Thanks for a productive semester! Below are some tips for keeping your English and cultural knowledge active during the break:

- aim to read at least one novel or work of non-fiction in English.  Good book reviews can be found on the NY Times, Guardian and Globe and Mail websites. Have a look at the books available in our book swap shelf on the fourth floor in the main wing of offices.

- watch some films in English (obviously Netflix is great, but explore the cinemas in the region that offer English-language films in the original, like Odeon, Off Broadway and Filmpalette in Cologne, Brotfabrik and Neue Filmbühne in Bonn, and Black Box in Düsseldorf).

- check out the documentaries on US history and culture available on Netflix. Documentaries by PBS and part of the series called The American Experience are of a very high quality.

- keep up to date with US news by regulary watching news clips (PBS NewsHour is my favorite US news source) on YouTube or reading headlines from news outlets like the NY Times, the Guardian, or the BBC. The Atlantic and National Geographic are great resources for long reads.

- when we reconvene in March, the primary period for the 2020 elections, so keep up on who is in the lead among the Democrats, possibly by watching some of the debates and campaign speeches made.

- check out the YouTube channels of major publications like the NY Times and the Economist. Bonn-based Deutsche Welle has excellent English-language content. Content made by YouTube influencers can also be very interesting to analyze culturally.

- the Literaturhaus Köln invites a lot of US-based authors for readings and Lit.Cologne is an annual literary Festival in Cologne that also invites many "A-list" US writers to read and lecture.

Some interesting links concerning our last topic, i.e. Trump's Wall:
Walking to America with the Migrant Caravan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWq0v4ucav0&t=5s
Landowners in Texas and the Wall: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/26/us/politics/trump-border-wall.html

Kompetenzerweiterung I, Monday/Wednesday Group, Homework for January 15th

For homework, please try to be finished with your exam review for next week (you'll feel a lot better going into the exam if you get it done now). This includes consulting the study pack for extra practice and reviewing exercises completed this semester on handouts and in the textbook. Bring in any points that you need covered to class on Wednesday.