VCE German

Introduction

Students enrolled in LOTE German Units 1 & 2 must purchase the textbook ‘Zeitgeist 1’ published by Oxford (authors Hermann, McCrorie and Sauer). It is also advisable to buy the ‘Zeitgeist’Grammar Workbook (Oxford, Jones and Hunt). Additional material will be provided when and where necessary.LOTE students doing VCE 1 & 2 will complete classroom activities and assessment tasks so that they achieve the outcomes required them to pass each of the two units. Results are then reported to VCAA (Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority) as S (Satisfactory), if the student has passed each section, or N (Not satisfactory). Students will also receive a grade for each of the assessment tasks on their mid- and end of year reports. At the end of each semester there will also be an exam, the result of which will be given on the report only. As has happened throughout the years of learning a LOTE, there will be some topics that you, as a student, have already encountered, but you will now re-visit these at a more in-depth level with more sophisticated and complex vocabulary and language.

UNIT ONE

A total of four (4) assessment tasks will be done:

Outcome 1 - Choice of:

informal conversation
reply to a personal letter/email/fax

Outcome 2:

listen to spoken texts (eg conversations, interviews, broadcasts, etc) to obtain information to complete notes, charts or tables in the LOTE or English.

AND

read written texts (eg extracts, advertisements, letters) to obtain information to complete notes, charts or tables in the LOTE or English

Outcome 3 - Choice of:

an oral presentation
review
article

Students must respond in the LOTE to all assessment tasks that deal with Outcomes 1 & 3. Of the two tasks for Outcome 2, one will be in the LOTE and the other in English.

UNIT 2

A total of four (4) assessment tasks will be presented to students to show achievement and record either S or N for the outcomes.

Outcome 1 - Choice of:

a formal letter. fax or email
role-play
an interview

Outcome 2:

listen to spoken texts (conversations, interviews, broadcasts, etc) and re-organise information and ideas using another format.

AND

read written texts (extracts, advertisements, letters, etc) and re-organise information and ideas using different text types.

Outcome 3 - Choice of:

journal entry
personal account
short story

All the above assessment tasks must be completed in the LOTE

VCE ASSESSMENT – UNITS 3 & 4

Students doing VCE units 3 & 4 will do classroom tasks in preparation for assessment task in order to achieve the Outcomes which will enable them to pass each of the 2 final units. The Unit 3 and 4 results are reported toVCAA as S (satisfactory) or N (not satisfactory. The final ENTER score is predicated on the student’s performance in the school-assessed coursework (SACs) as well as the two (2) end of year examinations – the oral and written examination . The final grade is calculated thus:

Unit 3 school-based assessment: 25%
Unit 4 school-based assessment: 25%
external examinations: 50%

As the year progresses, students will become familiar with a variety of text types (eg formal/informal letters, interviews, postcards, short story, reports, etc) which they may encounter at the end of year examination, so that they are not only familiar with these formats, but comfortable with their usage. Students must also become competent in knowing the difference between the different kinds of writing – eg. personal, informative, evaluative, persuasive and imaginative.

UNIT 3:

A total of three (3) assessment tasks will be done to show achievement for Unit 3.

OUTCOME 1:

a 250 word personal or imaginative written piece
Marks = 20

OUTCOME 2:

a response to specific questions, messages or instructions, extracting and using information requested (eg using the information contained in a short article)
Marks = 10

OUTCOME 3:

a 3-to-4 minute role-play, focusing on the resolution of an issue
Marks = 20

TOTAL MARKS = 50

UNIT 4:

A total of three (30 assessment tasks will be completed to show achievement of the 2 Outcomes for Unit 4.

OUTCOME 1:

a response to specific questions, messages or instructions, extracting and using information requested (eg using information to write a report)
Marks = 10

OUTCOME 2:

a 250-300 word informative, persuasive or evaluative written response, eg. report, comparison or review
Marks = 20

AND

a 3-to-4 minute interview on an issue related to texts studied, the contents of which will be related to the Detailed Study. The interview is one-on-one with the teacher.
Marks = 20

TOTAL MARKS = 50

THE DETAILED STUDY:

The Detailed Study is intended to allow students to explore in some depth, aspects of the language and culture of the LOTE (in other countries as well as here in Australia). Preparation for the Detailed Study will begin in Semester 2, Term 3. It will encompass at least 15 hours of class time.

END OF YEAR EXAMINATIONS:

Oral exam:

The oral examination is 15 minutes. It is broken up into 2 sections –

Section 1: - General Conversation (approx. 6/7 minutes) focusing on the student’s personal world – eg, school, family, work, hobbies, friends, interests and future plans.
Section 2: Concentrates on the Detailed Study. Students will be given a minute to introduce their topic and resources used. Students will be given an opportunity to say what they have learnt from the texts and resources, give their opinion on them and discuss aspects of their Detailed Study. A poster can be brought in, but there must be no writing on the poster itself.

Written exam

The final written exam is 2 hours long plus 15 minutes reading time. Students are able to use a dictionary (either German/German or German/English). The examination itself does not depend on students having studied all topics covered in detail; it is not content-based, but language-skills based.

The written exam itself is in three (3) sections:

SECTION 1:Listening & Responding – 3 to 5 texts, 4.5/5 minutes in duration and each text is played twice.
- PART A – questions in English, answers in English
- PART B - questions in the LOTE and in English, answers in LOTE!
SECTION 2: Reading & responding – 2 to 3 texts
- PART A - One to two texts, short written responses in English
- PART B - One to two texts, short written responses in the LOTE
SECTION THREE: Writing Write one (1) longer piece in the LOTE (200-300 words). Tasks will be Described both in the LOTE and in English. Topics from which student can choose will cover the five (5) types of Writing (personal, informative, persuasive, evaluative and imaginative).