Teaching Business German at Wenzao Ursuline College Teaching Methods and Curriculum
Business German becomes more and more an important part in German language teaching, because language students with a broad knowledge in German are more eager to look for a career in the field of business. Teaching Business German therefore has to be orientated on the practical work in the field of business. In order to achieve this goal new teaching methods have to be introduced. In the first part of this contribution an overview is given over experiential methods in the classroom like role-plays, simulation and project work. The material being used in this course is introduced. The methods are based on a curriculum especially designed for teaching Business German at Wenzao Ursuline College of Languages. In the second part the curriculum for Business German with its underlying objectives and goals are explained and discussed.
German for Business and Economics
erman teachers at all levels face many challenges. G The biggest of all is steadily declining enrollment in their classes. Although foreign language instruction has increased by nearly 10 percent in elementary schools and remained stable at the secondary level in the last decade, that results mainly from increased offerings in Spanish. Of elementary schools teaching a foreign language, 79 percent reported offering Spanish in 1997, up from 68 percent in 1987; at the secondary level, schools offering Spanish jumped from 86 percent in 1987 to 93 percent in 1997. All other language offerings-except Spanish for Spanish speakers, Japanese, Italian, American Sign Language, and Russian in secondary schools-remained stable or decreased during the ten-year period. Next to Spanish, French and German are still the most common languages taught. However, the elementary schools reporting that they teach French decreased from 41 percent in 1987 to 27 percent in 1997, and those reporting that they teach German declined from 10 percent to 5 percent. Among secondary schools with foreign language offerings, French was taught at 64 percent of schools, down from 66 percent in 1987, and German was taught at 24 percent, down from 28 percent (Rhodes and Branaman 1999, 15-19). Interest in Spanish is expanding: economic ties, proximity to Latin America, and an increasing number of native Spanish speakers in the United States add to the growing demand for Spanish classes. To compete worldwide, however, students will need foreign language abilities in a variety of languages and an understanding of different cultures. The German language, for instance, is highly important in the European Union: more EU citizens are native speakers of German than any other language, including English. As the European Union expands into Eastern European countries, the importance of German will grow even more. In addition, the United States has strong economic and diplomatic ties to the European Union, and especially to Germany. Among the top twenty employers worldwide are three German companies: Daimler-Chrysler (ranked eighth), Siemens (ninth), and Volkswagen (nineteenth). Only Chinese and American companies rank higher (Globus Infografik 2000, Kc-6469). Aside from being the strongest economic power within the European Union, Germany is a major player in mega-mergers across national boundaries: “Germans had gone on an international shopping spree . . . , with Daimler-Benz AG merging with Chrysler Corporation, Deutsche Bank AG swallowing Bankers Trust, and Deutsche Telekom AG taking over UK’s cellular carrier One2One” (Cothran and Gramberg 2000, 148). Considering the importance of Germany in the business world and the fact that students like to apply their foreign language skills in a practical way, it is no surprise that one field in the discipline has actually flourished. Despite the general decline in instruction of German at all levels, enrollment figures at universities have significantly increased in content-oriented classes: German for Business and Economics, German for Engineering, and German across the Curriculum. A major survey, recently conducted by Cothran and Gramberg (2000), of all German and foreign/modem languages departments in the United States and Canada showed a 74.2 percent increase in the enrollment of classes teaching German for special purposes between 1991 and 1999. The success of content-oriented instruction affects the future plans of German departments and programs; forty departments wanted to expand or
Marie Curie's doctoral thesis: Prelude to a Nobel Prize
This paper is a critical account for the most significant body of Marie Sklodowska Curie's scientific work, presented in the hopes that she be remembered for more of the "right" reasons. It also offers some new insights into her methods and results.