German Language Classes
Guten Morgen!
Deutschland Karte
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Learn German at Santa Monica Language Academy. Speak German the very first day!
German is one of the main languages of Europe spoken by over 100 million people. It is spoken in Germany and Austria, and it is one of the four official languages of Switzerland. It is spoken in eastern France in Alsace-Lorraine, in the Italian Alps, and eastern Belgium, Luxembourg and the principality of Liechtenstein. Written German is somehow uniform, but spoken dialects vary considerably. The most important dialects fall into either Low German (spoken in the lowlands of the north) and High German (spoken in the highlands of the south). Today High German is the standard written language, used almost exclusively in books and newspapers, even in regions where Low German is more commonly spoken. Check our Weekly Schedule for times and days of our German lessons. We also offer Intensive Language Program in German. We currently have online German classes available for groups and individuals. |
The German weekly and German intensive classes are structured into three levels: beginner, intermediate, advanced. Each level is divided into four sub-levels: A, B, C, and D.
For the Beginner and Intermediate levels we use Complete German by Teach Yourself and Complete German Grammar by McGraw-Hill.
German beginner A (lessons 1-3)
Topics: greetings and introductions, asking people how they are, writing
Grammar: saying who you are, greeting people and saying goodbye, asking people where they come from and where they live, I andyou, word order, asking people how they are, saying how you are, saying which cities and countries people come from, verb endings, counting from 0 to 100, spelling out names and words, talking about us and them, yes-no questions and plural verb forms, etc.
German beginner B (lessons 4-6)
Topics: Do you speak German?, in town, work and study
Grammar: saying what languages you speak and asking others what they speak, saying whether you are working or studying, saying what nationality you are, formal and informal "you", talking about places in towns and cities, counting from 101 upwards, gender and articles, asking people about their occupation and stating yours, asking people what they are studying and where, the verb sein (to be), expressing "for" or "since", etc.
German beginner C (lessons 7-9)
Topics: food and drink, shopping and ordering, leisure
Grammar: asking the way and ordering food and drink, the accusative case, containers and their contents, talking about going shopping, asking for and giving prices, ordering food and drink in a restaurant, saying what you like eating and drinking, more plural forms of nouns and word order, saying what people are doing, talking about leisure pursuits and stating likes and dislikes, "irregular" verb forms and using gern, etc.
German beginner D (lessons 10-12)
Topics: the time, what are we doing today?, travel by train
Grammar: telling the time and talking about daily routine, separable verbs and more on word order, talking about what there is to do in a given town, making appointments, saying what you would like to do and what you have to do, saying why you can't do things on the date suggested, modal verbs können and müssen, use of "in" for focusing on position, buying railway tickets and reading timetables, saying how you travel to work or university, asking how to get somewhere, dative case after prepositions, etc.
German intermediate A (lessons 13 - 15)
Topics: what did you do at the weekend, a trip to the countryside, living in Germany
Grammar: talking about what happened at the weekend and about recent events, describing purchases, the present perfect tense, adjectival endings (1), talking about past events, talking about different kinds of housing, rooms, the comparative, possessive adjectives, etc.
German intermediate B (lessons 16 - 18)
Topics: at the hotel, fashion, giving presents
Grammar: booking a hotel room, comparing different hotels, describing the location of buildings, the superlative, prepositions, describing items of personal appearance, saying what clothes you like wearing, adjectival endings (2), etwas + adjective, invitations, talking about giving things to people and asking for advice, indirect objects, various uses of the dative case, adjectival endings (3), etc.
German intermediate C (lessons 19 - 21)
Topics: health, weather and holidays, telephoning and the business world
Grammar: discussing health, naming parts of the body, aches and pains, modal verbs, wenn + a verb at the end of a clause, weather conditions and past holidays, revision of the perfect tense, prepositions, the simple past tense of modal verbs, making and answering phone calls, saying what belongs to whom, revision of dative pronouns, the uses of the genitive case, etc.
German intermediate D (lessons 22-23)
Topics: job adverts and CVs, history and general knowledge
Grammar: job adverts and writing a CV, the simple past tense, talking about German-speaking countries and historical events, subordinate clauses (with dass), the passive, etc.
The German conversation classes consist of discussions on different topics: news, politics, economy, technology, health, entertainment, culture, sports, style, travel and many more. The students will present a newspaper or internet article on the topic of their choice. They will provide a list of new vocabulary words found in the article and copies of the article for each student in the group. There will follow a discussion on the topic and the article itself.
For the Beginner and Intermediate levels we use Complete German by Teach Yourself and Complete German Grammar by McGraw-Hill.
German beginner A (lessons 1-3)
Topics: greetings and introductions, asking people how they are, writing
Grammar: saying who you are, greeting people and saying goodbye, asking people where they come from and where they live, I andyou, word order, asking people how they are, saying how you are, saying which cities and countries people come from, verb endings, counting from 0 to 100, spelling out names and words, talking about us and them, yes-no questions and plural verb forms, etc.
German beginner B (lessons 4-6)
Topics: Do you speak German?, in town, work and study
Grammar: saying what languages you speak and asking others what they speak, saying whether you are working or studying, saying what nationality you are, formal and informal "you", talking about places in towns and cities, counting from 101 upwards, gender and articles, asking people about their occupation and stating yours, asking people what they are studying and where, the verb sein (to be), expressing "for" or "since", etc.
German beginner C (lessons 7-9)
Topics: food and drink, shopping and ordering, leisure
Grammar: asking the way and ordering food and drink, the accusative case, containers and their contents, talking about going shopping, asking for and giving prices, ordering food and drink in a restaurant, saying what you like eating and drinking, more plural forms of nouns and word order, saying what people are doing, talking about leisure pursuits and stating likes and dislikes, "irregular" verb forms and using gern, etc.
German beginner D (lessons 10-12)
Topics: the time, what are we doing today?, travel by train
Grammar: telling the time and talking about daily routine, separable verbs and more on word order, talking about what there is to do in a given town, making appointments, saying what you would like to do and what you have to do, saying why you can't do things on the date suggested, modal verbs können and müssen, use of "in" for focusing on position, buying railway tickets and reading timetables, saying how you travel to work or university, asking how to get somewhere, dative case after prepositions, etc.
German intermediate A (lessons 13 - 15)
Topics: what did you do at the weekend, a trip to the countryside, living in Germany
Grammar: talking about what happened at the weekend and about recent events, describing purchases, the present perfect tense, adjectival endings (1), talking about past events, talking about different kinds of housing, rooms, the comparative, possessive adjectives, etc.
German intermediate B (lessons 16 - 18)
Topics: at the hotel, fashion, giving presents
Grammar: booking a hotel room, comparing different hotels, describing the location of buildings, the superlative, prepositions, describing items of personal appearance, saying what clothes you like wearing, adjectival endings (2), etwas + adjective, invitations, talking about giving things to people and asking for advice, indirect objects, various uses of the dative case, adjectival endings (3), etc.
German intermediate C (lessons 19 - 21)
Topics: health, weather and holidays, telephoning and the business world
Grammar: discussing health, naming parts of the body, aches and pains, modal verbs, wenn + a verb at the end of a clause, weather conditions and past holidays, revision of the perfect tense, prepositions, the simple past tense of modal verbs, making and answering phone calls, saying what belongs to whom, revision of dative pronouns, the uses of the genitive case, etc.
German intermediate D (lessons 22-23)
Topics: job adverts and CVs, history and general knowledge
Grammar: job adverts and writing a CV, the simple past tense, talking about German-speaking countries and historical events, subordinate clauses (with dass), the passive, etc.
The German conversation classes consist of discussions on different topics: news, politics, economy, technology, health, entertainment, culture, sports, style, travel and many more. The students will present a newspaper or internet article on the topic of their choice. They will provide a list of new vocabulary words found in the article and copies of the article for each student in the group. There will follow a discussion on the topic and the article itself.