England.  Change location

Elementary German 3: weiter geht’s

Building on Elementary German 2: sprich weiter! (LGXG005), this short course will increase your language knowledge, providing you with further reading, writing, speaking and listening skills in German. This 16-unit course offers you the opportunity to learn how to talk about different aspects of German culture and society, including cultural events and different countries that speak the language. Little by little, you will improve your ability to use more complex language. In the process, you will work on the present, past, and future tense and study the imperative and other grammatical structures, such as the negative, adverbs, and pronouns.

After successfully completing this short course, you will receive a digital badge. This can be shared on social media, added to email signatures or act as a certificate.

Standalone study only

You will not be awarded credits for studying this course. It is available for standalone study only and cannot be counted towards an OU qualification.

Short course

Short course code

LGXG006

Credits

This is a non-credit bearing course.

Study method

Distance Learning

Short course cost

See Registration

Entry requirements

See Entry requirements
Course details Entry requirements Registration Study materials

What you will study

In this 16-unit short course, you’ll begin to hone your German language skills by talking about aspects of German culture and society, including cultural events and different countries that speak the language, and building up your knowledge of German grammar and tense.

Delivered through user-friendly, ‘bite-sized’ blocks, each week you’ll discover key vocabulary and set phrases. Audio material, featuring recordings by native speakers of German, and a wide variety of speaking activities will aid your pronunciation. Throughout the course, you’ll build up your own German phrase book covering varied topics such as:

  • emergencies
  • crime prevention
  • driving in Germany
  • healthcare and the health system
  • technology
  • the German language outside of Germany
  • seasonal festivals and events
  • education.

Throughout this final course in our ‘Elementary’ series, you’ll also complete weekly activities and quizzes to strengthen your learning and help you build a solid foundation in the German language.

Please note that although this course is non-accredited, it can be used towards the module Making your learning count (YXM130) to gain OU credits.

You will learn

After completing this course, you should be able to:

  • communicate in increasingly complex situations, for example, driving in German speaking countries, COVID and accessing healthcare, education and crime prevention
  • express your opinions on a variety of themes and topics, such as festivals, travelling, seasonal events and celebrations
  • talk about past events, using the perfect tense, genitive case, adjective endings after definite articles and the future tense where appropriate
  • improve your German pronunciation and intonation
  • enhance your intercultural understanding through engaging with learning materials which reflect German-speaking countries and their people and through learning about travel in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. For example, you will look in depth at things like life milestones and important festivals and German cultural events and literature.
The course is designed to help you achieve a level of language proficiency equivalent to level B1 of the Council of Europe Common European Framework of Reference for languages (CEFR).

 

Learner support

You will have access to discussion forums that you are strongly encouraged to participate in as these forums combine support from fellow students with input from a language-specialist learning adviser. Other support is available via the StudentHome website and Computing Helpdesk.

If you have a disability

The course is delivered online and makes use of a variety of online resources. If you use specialist hardware or software to assist you in using a computer or the internet you are advised to contact us about support which can be given to meet your needs.

The OU strives to make all aspects of study accessible to everyone and this Accessibility Statement outlines what studying LGXG006 involves. You should use this information to inform your study preparations and any discussions with us about how we can meet your needs.

Regulations

As a student of The Open University, you should be aware of the content of the academic regulations, which are available on our Student Policies and Regulations website.


Entry requirements

There are no entry requirements for this course.

However, it's beneficial if you have some basic knowledge of German, similar or equivalent to the language, skills and vocabulary practised in Beginners German 1: fang an! (LGXG001), Beginners German 2: mit vergnügen! (LGXG002), Beginners German 3: richtig so! (LGXG003),  Elementary German 1: sprechen und verstehen (LGXG004), and/or Elementary German 2: sprich weiter! (LGXG005).

If you have any doubt about the suitability of the course, please contact us.

Course length

The course is made up of 16 units, with each unit expected to take about 3–4 hours to study. In total, you’ll need around 64 hours to complete the course.

You can begin at any time during the life of the course and study at your own pace. The course will be open to you for a time period of between 6 and 18 months depending on your course registration date and you will be advised of the specific time limitations upon enrolment.

Register

Start End England fee Register
At anytime before registration end date Jun 2025 - see Entry requirements for more detail £195.00

Registration closes 31/07/2024

Register

Ways to pay

Credit/Debit Card – We accept American Express, Mastercard, Visa and Visa Electron.

Sponsorship – If this course is geared towards your job or developing your career, you could ask your employer to sponsor you by paying some or all of the fees. Your sponsor just needs to complete a simple form to confirm how much they will be paying and we will invoice them.

The fee information provided here is valid for short courses starting in the 2024/25 academic year. Fees typically increase annually. For further information about the University's fee policy, visit our Fee Rules.

Can you study an Access module for free?

Depending on eligibility and availability of places, you could apply to study your Access module for free.

To qualify, you must:

  1. be resident in England
  2. have a household income of less than £25,000 (or be in receipt of a qualifying benefit)
  3. have not completed one year or more on any full-time undergraduate programme at FHEQ level 4 or above or successfully completed 30 credits or more of OU study within the last 10 years

How to apply to study an Access module for free

Once you've started the registration process, either online or over the phone, we'll contact you about your payment options. This will include instructions on how you can apply to study for free if you are eligible and funded places are still available.

If you're unsure if you meet the criteria to study for free, you can check with one of our friendly advisers on +44 (0)300 303 0069, or you can request a call back.

Not eligible to study for free?

Don't worry! We offer a choice of flexible ways to help spread the cost of your Access module. The most popular options include:

  • monthly payments through OUSBA
  • part-time tuition fee loan (you'll need to be registered on a qualification for this option)

To explore all the options available to you, visit Fees and Funding.

What's included

All learning materials are delivered entirely online and there is no formal tuition for this course.

Your study is self-directed and you’ll have access to a course website, which includes:

  • a unit-by-unit study planner
  • course-specific materials and activities
  • audio content
  • discussion forums
  • support from language-specialist learning advisers.

A comprehensive resource bank summarizing the language covered in our previous German short courses is also included. It covers grammar, geography and some key historical information about modern Germany to aid your learning.

Computing requirements

You'll need broadband internet access and a desktop or laptop computer with an up-to-date version of Windows (10 or 11), or macOS Ventura or higher.

Functionality may be limited on mobile devices. For example, voice recorder activities, which are common in language short courses, may not work on iOS/Apple devices.

Our module websites comply with web standards and any modern browser is suitable for most activities.

Our OU Study mobile App will operate on all current, supported versions of Android and iOS. It's not available on Kindle.

It's also possible to access some module materials on a mobile phone, tablet device or Chromebook. However, as you may be asked to install additional software or use certain applications, you'll also require a desktop or laptop as described above.