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Writer's pictureAndrew Starr

COPC_German Beginners - Spring 2024

Updated: May 30

This post is for the German Beginners Class at the City of Portsmouth College (Highbury Campus) on Thursday evenings from 18:00 to 19:30 from January to March 2024.

A shortened link to this page is rebrand.ly/copcgeb24 


The classes run on the dates below:


The classes are due to run from 18:00 to 19:30 on Thursdays.

18th, and 25th January

1st, & 8th, and 29th February (22nd is half term)

7th, 14th, 21st, & 28th March


Classes are now available to book for the Summer Term.

See here for details and here to book online.

German for Intermediate/Improvers is often composed of people who have completed the beginner's class with one or two others with some basic knowledge. So often we work at a slightly higher level than this class, focusing more on the grammatical structures.


The classes are due to run on Thursdays from 7:30 to 9:00 pm. Just 8 weeks.

Thursday: 18th, & 25th

2nd, 9th 16th and 23rd May

6th and 13th June

Sometimes, the start is delayed if there are many applications for all classes in at the last minute.


>> German Socials - Practice your language in a social setting—German Speakers in Portsmouth on Facebook or this blog post.


Use the internet to improve your listening skills and begin to tune your ear to spoken German outside of the classroom.




Free internet radio - This link will take you to Portsmouth's twin city of Duisburg.


(Sadly, since October 2022, the UK government has blocked this website from working outside the UK). However, click on the ellipsis (...). You can see the option to visit the website - click there and go to the website of the radio broadcaster. In the case of Radio Duisburg you need to click on the triangular right-pointing arrow and then on Live to get the radio to stream, but you can still play the radio (there are also many choices from Radio Duisburg of stations on the site.


or German TV News...


Tagesschau - click on "Sendung verpasst" at the top, and it will load the most recent programme you can watch via streaming - Pictures etc. will help you to follow what is being said.


Deutsche Welle  - 24/7 news channel like BBC 24


Many of the leading online TV channels are blocked outside of Germany/EU. However, some programmes, such as news and documentaries, are often available. Again, it is valid more as something to put on in the background to 'tune your ear' to the sound of German.


ZDF Leichtnachrichten - Simpler German news from ZDF (Germany's BBC Two)

ARD (Germany's BBC One)

Arte (A Franco-British TV Channel)


German Music

This link is the blog where I collect German singers and bands from across time together. If you have no or few German favourites, why not have a look? They may pique your interest, and you can explore others by yourself, making your own discoveries.




For the course book, I will use either Menschen or Das Leben (as I have the materials for both, including the listening materials and any videos as I purchased them).


Very useful tools ...

linguee.de For context and more in-depth ideas.

The topic of non-binary terminology in German (I have never heard, read, or seen them anywhere but here).


Donnerstag, den 28. März 2024

Tonight, we will look at telling the time in German in digital and analogue ways ...

Digital is, of course, the simplest way, but it is not exclusively used there.

We will also look at Daily Routine phrases and the times people do certain things in basic detail.

Some Easter "Culture"


Donnerstag, den 21. März 2024

Tonight we will look in simple detail at the town and some key vocabulary for describing what there is in the town.

In meiner Stadt gibt es...

In meinem Dorf gibt es...

We can look at trying to direct and follow directions...


Donnerstag, den 14. März 2024

Descriptions and Housing continued.

Tonight, we will look at describing people.

We can then combine all that with the description of a home and where we live to form a fairly detailed picture of ourselves.


There is more to this video, but this section it should start at was always rather entertaining.

There are some worksheets issued in class to help with this concept too.

You ought to be able to adapt our model document to something more suited to your needs.

Grammar is beginning to be an issue...

Donnerstag, den 7. März 2024

Tonight, we will look at talking about the family in German. Files

Das Leben Kap 10 - (Interactive Exercises)


Hast du/Haben Sie Geschwister?

Hast du/Haben Sie Haustiere?

Hast du/Haben Sie Kinder?

Hast du/Haben Sie Enkelkinder?


Again, if you want extra reinforcement - this episode covers the family in German.




Donnerstag, den 29. Februar 2024

Tonight, we look a little more at food and drink. (Interactive Exercises)

Discussing likes and dislikes. - Very important of course is... "How to pay the bill!"

Getting to grips with understanding others speaking German.


Folge 40 Bezahlen S.45

Vokabeln - S51.

Likes and dislikes - S54 S56 Folge 51 Folge 52 Folge 53

For reinforcement of food and drink ...



Donnerstag, den 22. Februar 2024

Tonight, we will look at buying food and drink in a café (Interactive Exercises)

The book Das Leben Chapter 3 has some exercises we will examine.


We can look at how to turn 'a' into 'not a' !! If there is time, we will look at basic arrangements to meet and how to pay for the food and drink ordered!


Video 1 No Sub Sub NS SU

Video 2 No Sub Sub



HALF TERM - The college is closed this week. (15. Feb)


Donnerstag, den 8. Februar 2024

Kapitel 1 - Grammatikübung - Vokabeln


We will look at the general regular verb formation of the Present Tense Conjugation in German and then check we have the essential vocabulary noted from the first two introductory sections of the course.


We will look at numbers, telephone numbers, and addresses...


We will look at the celebrations in Germany at this time of year.


Kapitel 2 - DL. Titel 23 Titel 37

This video is all about Cologne's Fachingsparade for German learners.

This one is from the city of Düsseldorf.


Thursday, 1st February, 2024

Donnerstag, den 1. Februar 2024

Most of you can give and spell your names, but can you spell the names of your street and home town?

  • Wie sagt man... pen, pencil, rubber, ruler, sharpener, book, exercise book...


Das Leben - Sommerkurs in Leipzig. S. 17. - Greetings, introducing yourselves and talking about languages.


sich vorstellen



Thursday, 25th January, 2024

Donnerstag, den 25. Januar 2024

Tonight, we will look at what you can remember from last week...

Can you give and spell your names and the names of your street and home town?


Wo in Deutschland kennen Sie?

Wo sind Sie schon gefahren?

From the coursebook Das Leben today, we will look at the German Alphabet and spellings.

(Use 4, 5 & 6) Hören  Einheit 0

We will also look at some basic greetings. (Use 7, 8, & 9) Hören  Einheit 0

We may look at classroom items...


Was bedeuten diese Fragen? (What do these questions mean?)

Wie heißt das auf Deutsch?

Was heißt ... auf Deutsch?

Entschuldigung, kannst du das bitte buchstabieren?

Ich verstehe das nicht. Kannst du das bitte wiederholen?

Können Sie/Kannst du das bitte an die Tafel schreiben?

Können Sie/Kannst du das bitte buchstabieren?

Wie schreibt man das?

Was bedeutet das?


Was gibt es im Klassenzimmer? PPT Das Federmäppchen


Thursday, 18th January, 2024

Donnerstag, den 18. Januar 2024

Tonight, we will look at beginning to learn German.


We will answer the German questions for:


Who are you? Why are you learning German? What does Germany mean for you? 

Wer sind Sie? Warum lernen Sie Deutsch? Was bedeutet Deutschland für Sie?


By the end of this session, you should be able to:

Introduce yourselves and spell your name (possibly the name of your street, city, or place of birth).

Can you give me your age? Your nationality? What about your occupation (i.e. student)?

What else?

What can you tell someone a little about German Grammar?

Gender, adjectives...?

Wie heißen Sie? Wie heißt du?

Wie schreibt man das?

Woher kommen Sie? Woher kommst du?

Wo wohnen Sie? Wo wohnst du?

Was sind Sie von Beruf?* Was bist du von Beruf?*


Ich heiße...

Das schreibt man ....

Ich komme aus...

Ich wohne in ..... in England/ in Großbritannien/ im Vereinigten Konigreich.

Ich bin...*

ich arbeite bei...*


Today, we will begin learning to speak, read and write in German and listen to spoken German.

Wo in Deutschland kennen Sie?

Wo sind Sie schon gefahren?


In the first class, we will introduce ourselves and find our reasons for learning German as we do not all know each other yet.



Das Alphabetlied is a German children's song to learn the alphabet.

Grobi - Sesamstraße - Unser Alphabet ist das...

Die Zahlen von 1. bis 100. (A bit like smurfs on helium!)

Basic counting in German from 1 to 100.

Die Tage der Woche (Lied) - Die Tage der Woche


Die Monate des Jahres



MSC1.1.


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