General Focus:

• Reinforcing understanding of grammatical structures and expanding upon existing knowledge to include more complex concepts
• Systematically expanding vocabulary
• Improving reading and listening skills
• Improving writing skills through self-correction exercises
• Practicing students’ ability to express themselves orally through presentations, mediation exercises, and discussions
• Reinforcing techniques for independent language learning and carrying out academic work (researching, structuring and refining information)
• Work on cultural topics and aspects of intercultural knowledge

Learning Objectives:

After completing this course, students are able to

• understand the main concept, detailed information, and various points of view presented across a broad range of (popular) scientific texts;
• understand long speeches and follow complex lines of reasoning;
• clearly express their thoughts and opinions, argue a point convincingly, and react to the complex arguments of others during a discussion;
• carry out a clear, well-organized presentation, highlight important points, and deal with questions asked by the audience;
• summarize in a structured manner the content of texts that deal with a range of topics, objectively and convincingly present their own point of view, and clarify their opinion using examples;
• actively put listening and reading strategies into practice and utilize appropriate resources (dictionaries, grammar knowledge).

Course Topics:

Course 1:
Current affairs (Berlin as a reflection of the times; current affairs in the media; dealing with time; protest movements)

Course 2:
Language and society (language, cognition, and culture; minority languages; inclusive language; youth language; advertising language; language used in conspiracy theories; language and AI; pop music language)