The Cactus Course Outlines provide a learning framework for the Cactus Foreign Language Evening Courses. They are designed to provide you with a good idea of what you might cover during the course and include typical themes, vocabulary fields, grammar, cultural content and skills work for the language and the level. The Outlines are flexible rather than prescriptive, in that our teachers always plan their lessons with the specific abilities, aims and interests of the students in their classes in mind.

• German Level 1
• German Level 2
• German Level 3
• German Level 4
• German Level 5
• German Level 6
• German Level 7

Themes/Lexical fields could include the following elements:

• Introductions – inc. greetings, saying how you are, where you come from, where you live, telephone number, marital status, children, etc.
• Nationalities and languages
• Giving directions
• Going shopping, ordering drinks
• Jobs, work and study
• Hobbies and leisure time activities – inc. likes and dislikes
• Daily routine and times of the day
• Booking a hotel, making arrangements
• Family and friends Numbers
• Alphabet, umlauts and ß
• Useful phrases - inc. how do you say...in German?, please & thank you, etc.

Grammar:

• Basic questions and statements – including questions with question words and yes/no questions
• Verb endings (conjugation) of regular and some irregular verbs in the present tense
• You – formal and informal
• Basic word order – statements, questions
• Gender and indefinite/ definite articles
• Possessive pronouns
• Negation
• Imperative
• Singular and plural
• Separable verbs
• Modal verbs können, möchten and müssen
• First approach to the accusative case

Cultural content:

• You – formal and informal
• Usage of titles (Herr and Frau)

Skills Work:

• Lots of speaking – inc. situational exercises & interaction
• Basic pronunciation rules
• Plenty of listening activities
• Writing practice – inc. postcards, e-mails, etc.

Themes/Lexical fields could include the following elements:

• Every day life in a city – inc. where can you do what, where to go, transport, etc.
• Talking about the (personal) past
• Life in a city vs. life on the countryside – inc. living situation, accommodation, etc.
• Clothing and fashion – inc. taste and appearance, appropriate style and gifts
• Offering help and advice
• Holidays and weather
• At the doctor's – inc. healthy lifestyle
• Making personal and business phone calls
• German culture and language

Grammar:

• Revisiting previous level's grammar
• Adverbs of time
• The dative case
• Two-way prepositions in and auf
• Dative prepositions and verbs
• Perfekt (auxiliary verbs haben and sein + past participle)
• Präteritum of haben and sein
• Comparative and Superlative
• Wenn and dass clauses
• Modal verbs dürfen, sollen and wollen
• First approach to adjective endings

Cultural content:

• German speaking countries- similarities and differences
• Regionalisations

Skills Work:

• Lots of speaking – inc. situational exercises & interaction
• Revisiting pronunciation rules and numbers
• Plenty of listening activities
• Writing practice – e.g. CV

Themes/Lexical fields could include the following elements:

• Looks and personality – inc. description, impression, judgements and prejudices
• Jobs and careers – inc., job application and interview
• Entertainment and TV
• Professional life and industries
• Family and personal relationships – inc. upbringing and education today and in the past

Grammar:

• Revisiting previous level's grammar
• Adjective endings according to different cases
• Modal verbs in the past
• Sentence structure with sub-clauses – inc. coordinating and subordinating conjunctions
• Reflexive verbs
• Passive
• Präteritum of some “important” verbs
• Usage of Perfekt and Präteritum in spoken and written German
• Clauses with zu + infinitve
• First approach to the Konjunktiv II

Cultural content:

• German school educational system

Skills Work:

• Lots of speaking – inc. situational exercises & interaction
• Writing practice – e.g. application letter
• Plenty of listening activities

Themes/Lexical fields could include the following elements:

• Nature and invironment – inc. pollution issues and recycling
• Germans abroad and foreigners in Germany – inc. travel preparations and experiences
• News, politics and history
• Exploring generations – inc. ageing of the population and change of family perception in society
• Literature and poetry

Grammar:

• Revisiting previous level's grammar
• Relative pronouns and relative clauses
• Clause constructions with es
• Usage of lassen
• Indirect questions
• Sub-clauses with damit and um...zu
• Genitive case
• Usage of außer and wegen
• Reflexive pronouns in the accusative and dative case
• Further prepositions

Cultural content:

• Germans abroad and foreigners in Germany

Skills Work:

• Lots of speaking – inc. situational exercises & interaction
• Writing practice – e.g. poems, reviews, etc.
• Plenty of listening activities

Themes/Lexical fields could include the following elements:

• Social encounters – inc. how to deal with tricky situations, common sense, etc.
• Locations, accommodation, furniture and city planning
• Leisure time and fitness
• Every day life – inc. habits, routine, having guests, organising parties, etc.
• Education and professional life – inc. training, job advisors, new business ideas, etc.
• Additional or alternative topics of students' choice

Grammar:

• Revisiting previous level's grammar
• Reflexive and reciprocal pronouns
• Clause constructions with wenn...and je...desto
• Konjunkitiv II - inc. giving advice with sollte...and past
• Compound nouns
• Causal clauses with weil and denn
• Usage of obwohl and trotzdem

Cultural content:

• German ways of being direct and straight forward but not rude in giving advice, etc.
• Cinema

Skills Work:

• Lots of speaking – inc. situational exercises & interaction
• Writing practice – e.g. adverts and short articles
• Plenty of listening activities

Themes/Lexical fields could include the following elements:

• Studying – inc. history of (personal) education, teaching styles, adult education in Germany
• Relationships – inc. dream partner, challenges, tips, arguments and reconciliation
• Consumerism
• Globalization
• New media – inc. usage, development, advantages and disadvantages
• Travelling and mobility – inc. making complaints orally or written
• Additional or alternative topics of students' choice

Grammar:

• Revisiting previous level's grammar
• Synonyms and antonyms
• Imperative vs. subjunctive (Imperativ vs. Konjunktiv)
• Past perfect (Plusquamperfekt)
• Usage of als, wenn, wann, ob, bevor and nachdem
• Additional or alternative grammar topics according to students' needs

Cultural content:

• Adult education in Germany
• German, Austrian and Swiss literature

Skills Work:

• Lots of speaking – inc. situational exercises & interaction
• Writing practice – e.g. letter of complaint
• Plenty of listening activities – e.g. phone messages

Themes/Lexical fields could include the following elements:

• Primarily topics of students' choice

Alternative topics:

• The Germans – inc. inside and outside look, prejudices and stereotypes
• Perception of time in different cultures
• Work and occupation – inc. future perspectives, innovative ideas and multicultural approach
• Health – inc. alternative therapies and history of medical science
• Emotions – inc. cultural differences in perception and expression
• University and further education in Germany and abroad
• Artistic life in Germany – inc. introduction of various German artists and their works
• Europe and the European Community
• Reading a book together
• Discussing topical news of the day
• Creative writing

Grammar:

• Choice of grammar topics primarily according to students' needs
• Revisiting previous levels' grammar
• Extended look at the Präteritum- preterite and past tenses
• Konjunktiv I
• Subtleties of German language – inc. modal particles (e.g. bloß, ja, eben, doch, etc.)
• Extended look at sentence structures – inc. writing style and punctuation

Cultural content:

• The Germans – inc. inside and outside look, prejudices and stereotypes
• Perception of time in different cultures
• Emotions – inc. cultural differences in perception and expression

Skills Work:

• Lots of speaking – inc. situational exercises & interaction; focus on discussion
• Writing practice – e.g. short stories, reviews and comments
• Plenty of listening activities – authentic sources, e.g. radio, TV, films and discs
• Advanced pronunciation
• ss vs ß