We certainly aspire to this but, besides being hard work, we hope that pupils will also find German to be enjoyable, stimulating and useful. The Culture and Society test may be taken by examination or by coursework and either on literary or non literary topics. The literary option involves close study of one popular work. Dictionaries are no longer allowed in any part of the exam. It is probably fair to say that German does become more interesting in the Sixth Form, simply because the grind of learning basic grammar in a relatively short time is now in the past, and one is able to say and understand so much more.
Activities are varied.
We aim to use a range of materials in class to enable Sixth Formers to learn more about the German speaking world in an enjoyable way and through the medium of the German language. Pupils may eventually find themselves summarising a speech, rephrasing parts of another article, giving an oral or written summary of the evening news, taking part in a classroom role play, interpreting or even writing letters to newspapers. It is evident from the exam topics that many aspects of German speaking culture are covered and all are approached through the medium of real, authentic materials.