Year 7 SyllabusTest
Year 7 Syllabus
Year Level Description
Students begin their study of German in secondary school with little to no prior experience of the German language and culture. Many will have learnt an additional language in primary school and bring existing language learning strategies, textual knowledge and intercultural awareness to the new experience of learning German. Skills in analysing, comparing and reflecting on language and culture in the languages are mutually supportive. Students may need encouragement to take risks in learning a new language at this stage in their social development and to consider issues of how the experience influences their first language and culture.
In Year 7, students communicate in German, interacting with peers and known adults to exchange information about self, family and friends, and interests. They engage in individual and collaborative tasks that involve making arrangements, inviting, planning, deciding and responding, or work together to highlight their language learning for family, friends and their school community. Students identify topic, gist and specific points of information from texts related to aspects of their personal and social worlds, convey the information and ideas and use them in new ways. They respond to imaginative texts by discussing aspects, such as characters, events and/or key ideas. Students create simple own or shared imaginative texts by reinterpreting or adapting familiar texts and/or using modelled structures and language.
Students become familiar with the systems of the German language when encountered in simple spoken and written texts. They use features of the German sound system to convey meaning with rhythm, stress, intonation and pronunciation. Students generate language for a range of purposes in spoken and written texts by recognising and using context-related vocabulary and elements of the German grammatical system, including understanding the concept of nominative and accusative cases for the subject and object of a sentence, using subject-verb-object word order, and the present tense of regular and some irregular verbs. They build a metalanguage in German to talk about vocabulary and grammar concepts. Students reflect on their and others’ responses to interactions and intercultural experiences, and use these reflections to improve intercultural communication.
In Year 7, students learn German through rich and varied language input, and the provision of experiences that are challenging, but achievable. English is predominantly used for discussion, clarification, explanation, analysis and reflection. To assist students in the language learning process, support is provided from the classroom teacher in the form of scaffolding, modelling and monitoring, explicit instruction and feedback, structured opportunities for understanding and practising new language, and the chance to revisit, recycle and review.
Communicating
Socialising
Interact with peers and known adults orally and in writing to exchange information about self, family and friends and interests, for example, Ich heiße Bastian. Wie heißt du?; Ich bin vierzehn Jahre alt. Wie alt bist du?; Ich habe blaue Augen und braune Haare. Ich bin nicht sehr groß.; Das ist mein Freund Max. Ich komme gut mit meinem Freund Max aus, weil …; Das sind wir – die Familie Braun!; Ich habe zwei Schwestern und einen Bruder.; Ich spiele Basketball und koche gern italienisches Essen.
Engage in individual and collaborative tasks, such as making arrangements with a friend, planning for a class celebration or performance, or working together to create displays, presentations or performances to showcase their language learning for family, friends or school community
Participate in classroom routines and interactions by responding to teacher talk, following instructions, asking and answering questions, requesting assistance or permission, asking others how they are and offering wishes, for example, Hört zu!; Können Sie bitte langsamer sprechen?; Wie sagt man ... auf Deutsch?; Guten Morgen; Frau Wagner. Wie geht es Ihnen?; Hallo Christian. Wie geht es dir? Nicht schlecht und dir?; Tschüs!; Danke!; Ich verstehe das nicht; Beantworte die Fragen!; Gute Nacht, Papa!; Wir sehen uns morgen, Frau Jones.; Bis später!; Viel Glück!; Alles Gute zum Geburtstag!
Informing
Identify topic, gist and specific points of information from a range of spoken and written texts related to aspects of their personal and social worlds, and use the information in new ways
Convey information and ideas from a range of texts related to aspects of their personal and social worlds, using different modes of presentation
Creating
Respond to imaginative texts by describing aspects, such as characters, events and/or key ideas
Create simple own or shared imaginative texts by reinterpreting or adapting familiar texts and/or using modelled structures and language
Translating
Translate and interpret phrases and short texts from German to English and vice versa, noticing which words or phrases translate easily and which do not
Reflecting
Reflect on own and others’ responses to interactions and intercultural experiences, and use these reflections to improve intercultural communication
Reflect on experiences of learning and using another language, and share aspects of own identity, such as age, interests and family background, reflecting on how these impact on intercultural communication
Understanding
Systems of language
Recognise and use key features of the German sound system, including rhythm, stress, intonation and pronunciation of distinctive sounds, such as those represented by the letters ch (ich or acht), r (rot), th (Theater, Thema), u (du) and z (zehn); consonant blends and clusters, such as sch; short and long vowel sounds and diphthongs, such as au, ei, eu and ie; the impact of the Umlaut (Ü) on a, o and u; and the Eszett (ß)
Use the German alphabet for spelling out names and other words
Begin to apply punctuation rules in German, such as capital letters, full stops and question marks
Generate language for a range of purposes in simple spoken and written texts, by recognising and using
context-related vocabulary and elements of the German grammatical system, including:
- understanding the concept of nominative and accusative cases for the subject and object of a sentence
- understanding that German has multiple words for ‘the’ and ‘a/an’ according to the gender of the relevant noun, and that the article for masculine nouns changes in the accusative case, for example, Die Frau hat einen BMW.
- using die as the definite article of plural nouns and recognising common ways to form plurals of nouns
- using adjectives that follow the noun, for example, Unsere Deutschlehrerin ist intelligent.; Die Berge in Österreich sind sehr schön.; Meine Augen sind blau.
- noticing the relationship between gender, article, case and adjectival ending when using adjectives that precede the noun, for example, Ich habe einen kleinen Bruder.
- joining words, phrases and sentences using the coordinating conjunctions und, oder and aber, for example, Am Wochenende spiele ich Tennis und sehe fern.
- noticing that the pronoun may change after certain verbs with a direct object, for example, Ich mag dich.; Wir brauchen ihn.
- using personal pronouns as the subject of the sentence
- using personal pronouns to refer to people and things, for example, Was kostet die App? Sie kostet …; Wo sind deine Haustiere? Sie sind im Garten.
- using the subject-verb inversion to form questions, for example, Hast du Geschwister?
- forming questions using interrogatives, such as wann, was, wer, wie, wo and wie viele
- using the possessive adjectives mein and dein in nominative and accusative cases, for example, Ich liebe meinen Hund.
- recognising that in German a subject + verb can have multiple English translations, for example, wir spielen can mean ‘we play’, ‘we are playing’, ‘we do play’, ‘we shall/will play’ and ‘we’re going to play’, and applying this understanding to own sentence formation
- using the subject-verb-object word order, for example, Ich spiele Basketball.
- understanding the concept of regular and irregular verbs, and that this is a feature of both German and English
- noticing that German word order is flexible and that other elements apart from the subject can begin a sentence, for example, Am Wochenende sehe ich fern.
- using the subject-verb inversion to keep the verb as the second idea/element in the sentence, for example, Heute spiele ich Basketball.
- using the present tense of regular verbs and some common irregular verbs, including sein and haben
- negating verbs and adjectives using nicht and nouns using kein/e, for example, Er ist nicht älter als ich.; Nein, Marcus hat keine Geschwister.
- noticing informal singular and plural commands, for example, Steht auf!; Komm mit!
- referring to quantities of people and things using cardinal numbers to a thousand, and common fractions, for example, Ich habe eine Halbschwester.
Build metalanguage to talk about vocabulary and grammar concepts
Identify and use text structures and language features of common spoken, written and multimodal texts, and compare with structures and features of similar texts in English
Language variation and change
Examine linguistic features in texts to develop an understanding that languages vary according to elements, such as register
Understand that German, like all languages, varies according to participants, roles and relationships, situations and cultures
Recognise that German is a global language and that German and English are related languages
Role of language and culture
Explore the relationship between language and culture
Achievement Standard
At standard, students use familiar language when participating in spoken and written interactions to exchange information about self, family and friends, and interests, and in classroom tasks and routines. They identify and use some information, including topic, gist and some specific points of information, in German texts. Students convey, in a variety of ways, simple information and ideas from texts related to aspects of their personal and social worlds. They describe aspects of German imaginative texts, and use familiar and modelled language to create simple texts adapted from familiar imaginative texts. Students translate, with a satisfactory level of accuracy, familiar phrases and short texts, identifying some words or phrases that do not translate easily across languages. They reflect on aspects of language, culture, personal identity and experiences of learning a language, and how these may impact on intercultural communication.
Students apply with a satisfactory level of accuracy, most features of the German sound and writing systems when using familiar vocabulary, expressions and modelled structures related to self, family and friends, and interests. They use the rules of grammar, spelling and punctuation, with a satisfactory level of accuracy, to write short texts in German. Students use familiar grammatical terms to talk about how language works. They identify some features of German that may need to be adjusted to suit different situations and relationships, and use most features and structures associated with familiar text types, to make comparisons between similar texts in German and English. They identify examples of the relationship between language and culture, and the place of German in the local, national and global context.
Year Level Description
Students begin their study of German in secondary school with little to no prior experience of the German language and culture. Many will have learnt an additional language in primary school and bring existing language learning strategies, textual knowledge and intercultural awareness to the new experience of learning German. Skills in analysing, comparing and reflecting on language and culture in the languages are mutually supportive. Students may need encouragement to take risks in learning a new language at this stage in their social development and to consider issues of how the experience influences their first language and culture.
In Year 7, students communicate in German, interacting with peers and known adults to exchange information about self, family and friends, and interests. They engage in individual and collaborative tasks that involve making arrangements, inviting, planning, deciding and responding, or work together to highlight their language learning for family, friends and their school community. Students identify topic, gist and specific points of information from texts related to aspects of their personal and social worlds, convey the information and ideas and use them in new ways. They respond to imaginative texts by discussing aspects, such as characters, events and/or key ideas. Students create simple own or shared imaginative texts by reinterpreting or adapting familiar texts and/or using modelled structures and language.
Students become familiar with the systems of the German language when encountered in simple spoken and written texts. They use features of the German sound system to convey meaning with rhythm, stress, intonation and pronunciation. Students generate language for a range of purposes in spoken and written texts by recognising and using context-related vocabulary and elements of the German grammatical system, including understanding the concept of nominative and accusative cases for the subject and object of a sentence, using subject-verb-object word order, and the present tense of regular and some irregular verbs. They build a metalanguage in German to talk about vocabulary and grammar concepts. Students reflect on their and others’ responses to interactions and intercultural experiences, and use these reflections to improve intercultural communication.
In Year 7, students learn German through rich and varied language input, and the provision of experiences that are challenging, but achievable. English is predominantly used for discussion, clarification, explanation, analysis and reflection. To assist students in the language learning process, support is provided from the classroom teacher in the form of scaffolding, modelling and monitoring, explicit instruction and feedback, structured opportunities for understanding and practising new language, and the chance to revisit, recycle and review.