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Updates for parents of German students at Frontier Academy |
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Herr
Kraft
[email protected]
Course Overview This is a German class. This means that I will expect you to learn German. Learning any foreign language is difficult and takes time, so I will be patient with those who are making an honest effort to learn the language, if that is you. If you are not making an honest effort to learn German, that will be obvious through missed assignments and little class participation. Either way, I can not teach you everything you need to know about German in the class time offered, so you will need to make an effort outside of class to learn German on your own. What if you make a mistake If you do not make mistakes, you are not learning. I am a thorough believer in no guts, no glory. If you do not make mistakes, you are not overcoming your fear of speaking the German language, and as a result, you will not be using the language. This will negatively affect your class participation grade. MAKE MISTAKES! Grades You will be graded in approximately the following percentages Participation
30% I will post a printout of grades and assignments turned in/not turned in. They will be posted on the peg board in the German classroom. I will post these twice/month or when there are enough assignments to warrant changing the grade sheets. Disputes: It is your responsibility to keep assignments handed back to you. If I have something different in a grade book than you think you got on an assignment, I will only correct the grade if you bring me back the copy of the assignment with the grade I gave it. Late work It is the policy of Frontier Academy High School to not accept late homework. I absolutely agree with this policy, and the only exception which will be made is when prior arrangements have been made to turn in the work late. This means that if you absolutely couldn’t get your homework done the night before because of something that you couldn’t avoid, it is your responsibility to talk to me before class. If you do not email me the night before, talk to me in the morning before school starts (preferable), or before class starts, I will not accept late work. Homework It is you who wants to learn German, and I am here to help you. I will assign homework during the week, most times that we have class. I will not assign homework over the weekend unless a member of the class has not turned in an assignment (without it being excused) during the week. If any member of the class has not turned in homework during the week, I can (and probably will) assign homework over the weekend. If I do not assign homework, you will want to take some time to go to the web site I will be setting up (http://www.strive4impact.com/frontier_german) to find some activities you can do to help your German improve. I will offer homework assignments which I think will improve your German, but only you know how you learn best, so find an activity on the web site to help you learn on your own. If I find that people are not using the resource of the web site to help their German improve, I may also assign homework over the weekend from the web site to assist you in your desire to learn German. Extra Credit I do not accept extra credit unless you have turned in your other assignments. If you have all your work turned in, extra credit can only be arranged by talking with me, and making arrangements to do an extra credit assignment. No more than 10% of your overall grade can come from extra credit assignments. Absences It is your responsibility to come talk to me, if you have had an excused absence, to find out what you are missing. If you do not, I will not come find you, or even tell you what you have missed in class. Grammar We will only resort to rote grammar exercises if the class can’t keep it together enough to have an open class discussion on topics relating to German. There will be times when basic grammar rules will need to be taught, and I will do that, but no one starts off learning a language by learning rote grammar rules. How will I learn German? Listening and speaking are the only way you will truly learn the language. Over time. you will then feel comfortable with it. When you were a baby, no one handed you a book in English and said, “Okay, learn English.” You learned it by listening and speaking. This means that I expect you to listen in class, because I will be doing a lot of talking in German. After a while (for some longer than others) you will begin to hear the language not as a collection of sounds, but actually as words which are being put together to form thoughts and convey meaning. It also means that I expect you to speak in class. If you make a mistake, good for you! You are trying, and it is only through making that effort to speak and make mistakes that you will learn the language.
I have received a copy of the course overview and agree to these terms for the class.
Signed ___________________________________ Date ______________________ |